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Jason
and the Scorchers news -
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The current state of Jason
and the Scorchers
Here is
a rundown of what the band’s members are up to. JUNE 2002: MOMZINE: Speaking of the Scorchers, drummer/songwriter Perry Baggs recently quit. Any thoughts? JR: “Well, we’re still living with it, you know? We don’t know what this means...and I think it’ll be a long time before we do know what it means. I’m not even sure why he left yet. It’s very raw. It really does hurt and I’m very disappointed. I see nothing positive in it. When Jeff (Johnson) left, it was a different thing — I kind of saw it coming. He played out the shows we had booked and wished us well. I’m not sure the band can survive this...we can go on stage and do these songs and have a lot of energy and feeling, I’m sure, but there’s a certain something that Perry Baggs had, a certain soul, that I’m not sure can be replaced. Everything is completely up in the air.” JULY 2002: Rob Patterson of the Houston Press talked to Jason a few days before their Texas shows. “We don’t know anything other than we’re going to do the shows we have booked,” Ringenberg states. “But we’re not certain what’s next. We may go on, and go on stronger. We may call it quits. Who knows?” “We had a pretty ambitious run in the ‘90s,” he says. “But these days, ‘ambitious’ is not a word to use with the band. I think we’re just happy with what happens and whatever falls our way.” http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2002-07-18/music.html/1/index.html SEPTEMBER 2002: Jason sent this email message to the Reckless Country Soup, a mailing list for Jason and the Scorchers fans. “Hey Soupers “How y’all doing? As some of you know, I don’t read all the postings or “lurk about” on the Soup too much. I just don’t feel quite right doing that. I think the Soup should be an uninhibited forum without folks thinking that I may be reading everything they say. “Having said that I do enjoy checking out what is being said on occasion, especially when a new CD or tour is happening. I’m heartened to see that All Over Creation seems to be getting favorable Soup reactions. “While touring lately I have been asked a lot about the status of the band. Perry’s departure was so unexpected and abrupt it really threw us for a loop. To put it plainly I don’t know if it is possible to truly replace Perry, he was such an integral part of what we did. However, we are going to give things a rest for a while and not make any snap decisions. I’m going to be tied up touring behind All Over Creation until next summer anyway. Europe in particular is looking very good. [That’s not hard to take.] Rest assured we do respect the heritage and legacy of this band and will think this through to the fullest extent. Unlike when Jeff left, in this case there doesn’t seem to be any clear obvious alternatives. The decisions will be difficult, that is about the only thing that is certain.” Jason hasn’t made public statements to the media about the band in 2003. When I saw him in Columbia a couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he would like to take some pictures of the band with Fenner during the July shows. I took this as a positive sign that hopefully the band was not finished. In an interview me and Chris Rafferty did with Warner in October 2002, he discussed how he felt in July 2002 after the Texas shows: “When I came off the last Scorchers trip, it was the first time I’d come home in a long time that it just didn’t feel right that we were coming home. I felt like we finally had everything clicking again, and we should be going to New Orleans, or somewhere else. Not flying from Houston back home and shutting down - again. Over and over and over.” This feeling Hodges had became the impetus for, and genesis of, Disciples of Loud. Warner had this to say about being in the Disciples and the Scorchers: “I’m hoping it [Disciples of Loud] ain’t just a short-term thing. I mean, why can’t I do this and the Scorchers? It just depends, we’ll see. I know I have managed to put together a bad-ass band. I’m extremely excited about that. But we’ll see. Do I have anything to say? That’ll be the biggie. I’m pretty fired up about it.” So, piecing all that together, I would say that the band has a better chance to live as 2003 ends than it did when the year began. These July shows will be important, as the band will be re-creating the positive musical “vibe” that is essential to Jason and Warner’s on-stage experience. Hopefully, lots of fans will come out to the shows, and the band will catch fire in the summer air. I also hope fans will embrace Fenner in the group, as they have embraced Kenny. One can appreciate the original band, when it contained Perry Baggs and Jeff Johnson, but it is instructive to consider how different bands have closed chapters and opened new ones. How far should an artist go to preserve the original substance and spirit of a particular band? Does a current incarnation of their band do justice to their songs? We have seen bands refuse to change their personnel and fold, preserving their legacy but frustrating fans who want to hear those songs. And there are bands whose ranks have become revolving doors, so they resemble their roots little. How important is Jason and the Scorchers to its members? Does Jason feel he is compromising the songs by singing them without Perry and Jeff? Does Jason still have the rock and roll urge, now that he is a family man and a successful solo performer who hops genres at will? Are Warner and Kenny still having fun in the Scorchers, now that they have their dream group? Will Fenner slip in easily and help kick the band resolutely into the 21st century? While we fans can help them feel appreciated, only the members themselves can answer these questions. Will the prototype alternative-country band be alive in 2004? Stay tuned.
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