Jason and Scorchers - heavy metal hills

By Laura Outerbridge
The Washington Times
September 7, 1989, Thursday, Final Edition

Copyright 1989 News World Communications, Inc.

When Jason met the Scorchers, it was an alliance that would make Nashville history, at least on the underground rock scene. In 1981, young Jason moved to the city from his family's Illinois hog farm, intent on pursuing a musical career. "A hard, clean country rock band" was what he had in mind. But he quickly hooked up with three of Nashville's most flamboyant musicians: guitarist Warner Hodges, drummer Perry Baggz, and bass player Jeff Johnson.

"They were like the wildest guys I could ever imagine - they were hellions," recalls Jason, who doesn't use a last name. "Everyone told me, 'Whatever you do, don't play with those guys,' but they also said they were the best in the business, and I definitely wanted to play with the best."

So he formed Jason and the Scorchers, a band specializing in a strange hybrid of heavy metal and country, by turns sweetly harmonious and hard and fast. "We have this [sense of] tradition to us," Jason says. "We understand the tradition of what we're dealing with, but also the violence and intensity of real life. It creates a real strange sound. But behind the violence, there's a thin sliver of hope."

The Scorchers' formula quickly gained them a following on the national independent rock scene, but there was still some personality adjusting to do for the band members. "It was culture shock for several years," says Jason, who jokingly refers to the musical combination as "John Denver meets Bauhaus [an early '80s British doom-rock group]."

The Scorchers have a lot riding on their new album "Thunder and Fire." The group's first release on A&M Records, the effort also is the band's first in two years, and the first with new bass player Ken Fox and new guitarist Andy York, says Jason. "This album especially was very heavy to write," he says. "I felt like it was the moment of truth - we all wanted to make a big album, a real landmark career album, and I really feel like we made it."

The band had been suffering morale problems, after the loss of Mr. Johnson and subsequent lawsuits that "threatened to destroy the band," Jason says. "Plus never really having a hit and always having to worry about money" also contributed to the Scorchers' dark days.

Now that the album is out, however, many of the band's worries have evaporated: Having become what Mr. Hodges calls "semi-famous," the group has toured all over North America, Australia and Europe, consistently filling clubs and small halls and attracting critical acclaim. And with the new A&M deal, "we don't really have to worry about money anymore," says Jason.

The Scorchers will open for .38 Special Saturday at Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Also on that bill is another slightly bent band from Nashville, Webb Wilder. The group's sound has been described by critics as "sci-fi psycho rockabilly," and "swampadelic uneasy listening." The bespectacled lead singer, whose name is also Webb Wilder, calls it "Roy Orbison jamming with Billy Idol at the Saturn teen center." Could be an interesting night for the .38 Special fans.

GRAPHIC: Photo, Jason and the Scorchers. From left: Andy York, Perry Baggz, Ken Fox, Jason, and Warner Hodges. The group performs with .38 Special and Webb Wilder Sept. 9, at Merriweather Post Pavilion.

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