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Jason and the
Scorchers Are Back Cranking the Heat on Country Beats Copyright 1993 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
With the recent spate of rock bands reuniting, it comes as little surprise to anyone that Jason and the Scorchers, one of the 1980s' finest, is doing the same. Well, almost anyone. "I was shocked," says Warner Hodges, the Scorchers' guitar talent. "I was surprised people would still be interested, doubly so since it was Jeff (Johnson, the band's bassist who resigned in 1987) initiating the idea. Hell, I looked at him and thought, 'The boy's drinking again.'" Johnson wasn't drinking. The success of "The Essential Jason and the Scorchers," a CD of the group's first two albums, "Fervor" and "Lost and Found," plus live cuts and outtakes, had spurred him into action. "I got a call from him at 2 a.m.," says Jason Ringenberg. "I thought, 'Here we go again.' But he sensed something in the air. We agreed to book 15 dates and reunited the band." Ringenberg, who had released a solo country disc, "Jason," that wasn't going great guns, was all for it. So was drummer Perry Baggs. "I guess I took a little convincing," admits Hodges. "I had been approached by (Paul) Westerberg to tour with him and I turned it down. I had played some with (ex-del-Lord) Eric Amble when I lived in New York, and I really wasn't anxious to play out, but Jeff changed my mind. By the time Jeff left the band in '87, we had really grown apart. All of us were really messed up on booze, drugs. I hardly recognized him. I agreed because it was my old buddy Jeff who was asking." It was Ringenberg who formed the band, then called the Nashville Scorchers, in the early '80s. Their initial EP, "Fervor," got picked up and re-issued by EMI in 1983. "I don't think any label understood us," says Ringenberg. "We were plagued by bad luck, guys who signed us getting dropped off the label, etc. But I tell ya the truth, I think we were ahead of our time." Ringenberg isn't being smug or bitter. The band's deft handling of straight country was unheard of for a band that could then open up full-throttle and crank out. "Warner was a punk and metal fan, he liked AC/DC," says Ringenberg. "Jeff was into the Pistols and the fast stuff. I really loved country music, so the mix created something unique." Ringenberg's yelp, part Hank Williams, part Jethro Clampett, was the kicker, though. He could croon a love-lorn ballad one minute, then howl his way through a fire-breathing rocker the next, Hodges' mixed bag of guitar tricks in hot pursuit. "We had a reputation of being a white-hot live band," says Hodges. "That's still the case, only this time we're not fueled by drugs and booze and drugs. This time it's a really strong substance called pride." GRAPHIC: Jason Ringenberg (left) and the reunited Scorchers will play tonight at the China Club, 616 W. Fulton.
© 1993-2001 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. — All Rights Reserved |
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