Survivors of recent school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and Conyers, Ga., will speak at a rally

near Atlanta on Saturday protesting the lyrics of the Offspring, Silverchair, Better Than Ezra

and other bands who will be performing at a festival there.

The rally is being organized by a group of church and civic leaders

calling itself Be Level-headed. The name is a play on an Offspring song,

"Beheaded" (RealAudio excerpt),

that the group said it found particularly offensive.

Be Level-headed formed in May to seek cancellation of Saturday's Hard Rock RockFest in

Hampton, Ga., which features those bands and several others, including Everlast, Collective Soul,

Sugar Ray and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Their music, the group said, could inspire

young concert-goers to commit acts of violence.

At the rally, about a mile from the concert site, survivors and families of

victims of the shootings will target rock lyrics that they feel are responsible for what happened,

according to Tim Bach, a Be Level-headed leader.

Protesters are "barking up the wrong tree," said Kevin Griffin, singer of Better Than Ezra,

whose 1995 song "Porcelain" (RealAudio excerpt) was cited by Bach as

problematic. The song includes the line "I wish I could kill you and savor the sight."

Griffin, who works with the gun-control group PAX, said the prevalence of guns in the United

States, not song lyrics, is the main factor behind the recent school tragedies. The shootings,

Griffin said, "are the result of age-old high-school problems, [but] the difference is that guns are

there."

But Bach, a 26-year-old youth pastor, argued that gun control isn't the answer to youth

violence. "What needs to be controlled, more than a weapon, is the motivation for using that

weapon," he said. "If a kid doesn't have a gun, who's to say he's not gonna stab someone?"

In a letter faxed to the media, Bach also cited the lyrics to the Offspring's "Cool to Hate" and

"Kill the President" and Silverchair's "Suicidal Dream" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Israel's Son" as

songs he and his group found offensive.

Representatives for Silverchair and Offspring did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

But Griffin, 30, speaking from his home in New Orleans, said he found it ridiculous that

protestors have focused their anger on such mainstream bands. He said his own band's hits,

including the melodic "Good" and "King of New Orleans," are "hardly hardcore."

He said the Offspring are known for tongue-in-cheek lyrics. "Their songs are hilarious," Griffin

said. "If you take their lyrics seriously, you need to have your head checked."

Griffin also defended the young members of Silverchair. "They're just making music with what

teenage guys like to sing about -- you know, cool stuff," he said.

In the end, the singer said, it shouldn't be necessary for artists to

defend or explain their lyrics. "I don't care what someone says

in a song -- they're not responsible [for people's] actions," he said.

Concert organizers and sponsors, including Hard Rock Cafe International, issued a statement

in May reading, "RockFest was conceived and developed as a celebration of music, art and

community. RockFest organizers are pleased to offer music as a uniting, healing force in these

particularly trying times."

Ed Clark, president of the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where RockFest will be held, said last

month he would ask Silverchair and the Offspring not to play the songs cited by protesters.

But Clark later admitted he has no control over what songs the bands play.

"All we can do is ask them to have good common sense," he said. "I can't get up there and

force something to come out of their mouth. I just hope they exercise good judgment. ... If

they play [the songs] it will certainly show that they have no sensitivity to the current state of

affairs."