Well, I was very fortunate my dad played and very fortunate my parents made me aware of all the great country music and ’50s rock. How did you learn to play guitar once the decision was made to grab it? Hell, no (laughs)! And when I started talking about playing guitar, my parents bought a ’62 Fender Jazzmaster from a guy who used it for a bit then put it in a closet. It was Jeff Johnson and I – we were kids. I didn’t want to be stuck on the drum stool. It was like “Lord have mercy! I want in on that,” you know? Three chords and a cloud of dust! It was my “My God!” moment. Watching Angus Young at my first AC/DC concert, going back and forth onstage. The stage being literally set, he instantly became hooked on performing, even if being behind a drum kit lost its appeal… “I was 10, and their drummer didn’t show for a gig. “The first time I played was when we lived in Germany in the late ’60s,” he said. His first instrument was drums because, “Every kid is interested in pounding on stuff like a drum kit!” His father, Ed, played guitar, his mother, Blanche, was the primary singer, and they introduced Warner to the potent effect of playing onstage.
#Guitar rig 5 player after going 30 minutes what happens professional#
Hodges, the son of accomplished professional musicians who for years toured with USO bands in England, Germany, and the U.S., grew up immersed in the 1950s/’60s “cry in your beer” country that was his parents’ specialty. The Scorchers were local boys looking to play most anything but country. Jason and the Scorchers wound up in Nashville via different roads Ringenberg was an Illinois transplant who brought a cowboy hat and twangy voice to the bright lights of Music City. Deville and Steve Vai neon green with envy – except maybe on those occassions where he bloodied himself by bashing his face into a mic stand or breaking a tuning key off his guitar – which he did while maintaining a rep for not missing a note! With stylistic roots in country and a mindset to rock, the band offered audiences songs that were equal parts Faron Young and AC/DC, delivered with an over-the-top physicality epitomized by Ringenberg’s seizure-like stage moves and Hodges’ guitar-flailing spins and jumps that would’ve left C.C. Music in the early ’80s was more than just “country” or “rock.” There was “new wave” and “pop punk” and “hard rock” and “NWOBHM.” But JATS drew no such lines. They were rock… most of all, they were originals.” But Jason and the Scorchers embodied all three prongs of the hypothesis. Calling the band “musical pioneers,” the AMA noted “generation after generation have fallen under this sing-songy definition of success in one way or another. In September of ’08, the Americana Music Association honored JATS with its Lifetime Achievement in Performance Award. But Ringenberg and Hodges are still performing and recording, their work dwelling in quite different worlds. Baggs passed away in July of 2012 after dealing with kidney disease. In the years since, the band has seen ups and downs. They followed with Clear Impetuous Morning in ’96 and the live Midnight Roads and Stages Seen in ’98. Two years later, the band released A Blazing Grace to a strong reception from fans and critics, and toured yet again. They rehearsed and rolled – and reaction from fans knocked the band on its collective ass. But with Johnson and Baggs being every bit as into their newfound sobriety as Hodges was, he decided to go for it, especially since Johnson was proposing only a brief tour – two weeks, sticking close to home and playing friendly haunts. It took some doing, but he convinced Jason and the Scorchers to reunite – Hodges being the primary sticking point. Next thing you knew, bands like Uncle Tupelo and Wilco were in fashion and carrying the “alt country” flag. Strange things, though, musical trends and tastes… the advent of “alternative” rock, epitomized by the likes of Nirvana, had a sweeping effect. Then, when 1989’s Thunder and Fire didn’t take off and drummer Perry Baggs was subsequently diagnosed with diabetes, guitarist Warner Hodges decided he’d had enough of fighting fate. After being dropped by its record label in 1987, original bassist Jeff Johnson quit and the band took two years to release another album. When you consider the bombast with which they hit the stage, the punch they conveyed in the studio, and their massive influence, it’s no surprise that Jason and The Scorchers worked so well even if it never earned the label “superstar.”įor better or worse, the band’s post-/neo-rockabilly style was dubbed things like “cowpunk” “country punk,” “punkabilly,” and “alt country.” And despite receiving huge props from critics, Top 25 album sales, videos on MTV, and a devoted following, JATS was never awarded its stripes.
0 kommentar(er)
