Scorchers still on fire after reunion
By MELANIE CREDLE The Herald-Sun May 05, 1995, Friday

Copyright 1995 The Durham Herald Co.
The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.).

If you listen to the words from the song, "Somewhere Within," from Jason and The Scorchers' reunion album, "A Blazing Grace," you will understand just how far they've come.

"The sun is sinking hot red and close
Your life is coming up like an overdose
The pain you're feeling runs so deep
It even dominates your dreams when you sleep
The life you had is crashing down
While all around a darkness settles in . . .
Somewhere within somewhere within
Salvation is waitin' for you like a long lost friend"

Formed back in the early 1980s in Nashville, Tenn., Jason and The Scorchers
turned the city upside down with their revved-up, high octane musical statement.
Their take on the yet-to-be embraced country-rock genre (these were the days
before any one had ever heard of Garth Brooks or Travis Tritt) left traditional
Nashville bewildered.

Disillusionment took its toll on the band. They did the touring. They did the albums. But no one knew what to do with Jason and The Scorchers. They were too country for rock radio and too rock for country radio. Soon they were trying to please people other than the fans. That, coupled with some of the members' drug and alcohol problems, caused the band to break up for good in 1989.

Original bassist Jeff Johnson, who had left the band in 1987 before Jason and The Scorchers recorded their final album, "Thunder & Fire," in 1989, instigated the reunion in 1993. It started with a visit to the record store. "I picked up a copy of 'The Essential Jason and the Scorchers' (a compilation of the band's first two albums). When I got home and listened to it, it stood the test of time. It didn't sound dated," Johnson said during a recent telephone interview from his home outside of Atlanta.

With encouragement from his wife, who is the band's business and tour manager, Johnson started calling the rest of the guys. Drummer Perry Baggs committed to the reunion immediately. Lead singer Jason Ringenberg and guitarist Warner Hodges needed prodding.

"I had talked to Jason around Christmastime," Johnson said. "It was the first time I had talked to him in years and we were getting along great. Jason and Warner were each saying they would do it but they didn't think the other one would."

Before 1993, the music business had extracted a heavy personal price on the
original Jason and The Scorchers. Johnson, who returned home to Nashville saying
he didn't want to play music anymore, was lured to Atlanta in 1991 to play with
another band. Baggs did session work. For a time, Hodges left music completely
and did video production in Los Angeles. Ringenberg released a solo album.

"We lost our focus," Johnson said. "During the 1980s with EMI playing the major label game, we lost sight of what we were about. By 1987, I was done.

"We had had enough. There was a lot of drinking and disillusionment. We were
thinking music had ruined our lives. We had never gotten our due. We were
confused by all of it and we were basically blaming the music. We had worked so
hard and never gotten accepted for it."

For this incarnation of Jason and The Scorchers, the skeptical Ringenberg and Hodges agreed to the reunion if Johnson lined up the shows. Johnson went through a booking agency in Chicago and then came back with dates. The four members assembled at Ringenberg's home to talk. They rehearsed for two days and hit the road in 1993.

"The first gig was in Bloomington, Ill. Halfway through the set, I was home," Johnson said. "This never ended. It was a continuation of five years ago. Everybody was happy we did it and made it and we weren't booed off the stage."

According to Johnson, Ringenberg and Hodges finally believed the reunion was
going to work by the fifth show of the tour in Atlanta. Now it was time to see if there would be any interest from record labels. Ringenberg decided the vibes were best from the Carrboro-based Mammoth label. Recording studio owner Jozef Nuyens offered the band cheap studio time. The band members produced the album themselves.

"There's a lot of respect for each other in the band, more so than in the past," Johnson said. "We've all grown. We missed each other. We listened to each other. In that way, it was easy doing the album because there wasn't a lot of fussing and fighting, but it was hard because we were producing [the album] ourselves."

Released in February, "A Blazing Grace" features eight original songs and two
cover tunes. The first release and one of the covers is John Denver's "Take Me
Home, Country Roads." The band has turned a folksy, 1970s, campfire ditty into
one ferocious, kick-butt, take-no-prisoners rock tune. Johnson said they've been
playing the song in shows for 10 years. The other souped-up country tune on the
album is "Why Baby Why" which George Jones made famous.

"We've got this formula. We think Hank Williams is cool, but we like the guitars a bit louder. And Jason has got the knack for bringing this craziness to covers," Johnson said.

"We were concentrating on getting the best songs and getting back to our roots and not designing the album for radio."

The originals on the album certainly don't pale in comparison to the two covers. One listen to songs such as "Cry By Night Operator," "200 Proof Lovin'," "Where Bridges Never Burn," and "The Shadow of Night" and you understand why their music has been called "punkabilly" or a combination of the Ramones and Hank Williams.

And don't think because the guys are older (and that old cliche, clean and sober), that their live shows are any less exciting. Baggs is still a frantic drummer. Hodges, a seriously underrated guitarist, still swings that guitar around his body. Johnson has changed over the years. He used to be skinny with teased blonde hair and eye-liner. Since then, he beefed up, lost the makeup and got a haircut, but his playing hasn't been compromised. And when Ringenberg, the mild-mannered son of an Illinois hog farmer, steps on stage, he is like a man possessed.

"Everything is great. Most people only get one chance to do this and this is our second time," Johnson said. "We corrected our mistakes."

Jason and The Scorchers play tonight at Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St.,Carrboro. Tickets: $ 7. Call 967-9053.

GRAPHIC: Photo: JIM HERRINGTON, BACK TOGETHER: After disbanding for four years, Jason & The Scorchers got back together in 1993 and are on the road again.

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