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Widespread Panic

Twenty-year vets Widespread Panic — known for their non-stop touring and rabid fan base, supporting their ninth studio album, “Earth to America” — roll into Chicago a band that has dealt with change the only way they know how: straight ahead

By Eric Edholm

Widespread Panic has been a band in flux. Ever since the death of guitarist and founding member Mike Houser in 2002, the band has ridden out a rough road but maintained its loyal following — known as “Spreadheads,” who tour the country seeking out shows in random cities where the magic tends to happen — by going back to work early and often.

Panic always has been a band of synergy. Individually, there are no headstrong, me-first entities in the group, but collectively it creates an ethereal and cerebral hodgepodge of Americana, blues and heat-stricken whiskey. Some say they shatter the “jam band” label as much as they help foster it.

The latest change has been the mid-tour departure of lead guitarist George McConnell, Houser’s replacement, effective Aug. 1. According to the band’s Web site, McConnell left the band amicably to “pursue further adventures.” It wasted no time securing his replacement, Jimmy Herring, a longtime friend of the band who has reached cult jam status with Aquarium Rescue Unit and, most recently, with Phil Lesh and Friends. Herring won’t join the band full-time, however, until the recently announced three-night run at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from Sept. 14-16. Panic has been touring all summer with old friend and sometimes producer John Keane on guitar and pedal steel, as well as frequent on-stage appearances by longtime guitar tech and Houser disciple, Sam Holt (a touring musician in his own right with Outformation), even putting as many as six guitars on stage at once. Eat your hearts out, Tesla.

As Panic is in the midst of their 20th anniversary with the bulk of the original lineup intact, everything appears business as usual despite the varied path. Their new album, “Earth To America,” out now, is another departure of sorts; the band left their cozy, Athens, Ga., confines to record at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas. Terry Manning, of Led Zeppelin III fame, produced it — the first time the band had gone without Keane in years. The album title suggests an attempt to arouse those who might have forgotten what Panic is capable of putting together, both in the form of personal songwriting on the LP and in their nightly, had-to-be-there musical kairos.

On this tour, they have fearlessly dusted off a few long-shelved classics and fan favorites, including “Heroes” and “A of D,” staples from the early days, made so by the signature sound of Houser’s lingering leads. Everything appears fair game with the band in mid-career form, even with constant change swirling. Perhaps it’s chaos that governs Panic’s daily order.

The band descends on the Second City to play three sold-out and hotly anticipated nights at the Chicago Theatre — August 11-13. But the party doesn’t stop there. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist John Bell, the band’s soul and backbone, has been summoned to sing the national anthem at the White Sox-Tigers game — an honor he handled flawlessly at a Cubs game last spring — on the Sunday of the three-show stand. These shows are the final three of the 37-date summer tour, so expect some fireworks from the veteran rockers, who often pay tribute to their crew at the ends of tours with a bonus cover-song selection.

John “Jo Jo” Hermann — the band’s full-time keyboardist and vocalist since 1992 whose staccato, syncopated key mashings are perhaps as much an earmark of Panic’s sound as Bell’s caterwaul vocals or Dave Schools’ sledgehammer basslines — took a few minutes to chat with The Real Chicago during a brief tour break in Colorado. He spoke with TRC about the new album, getting harassed by Lollapalooza security last summer, Chicago baseball and his upcoming film project.

(Note: This interview was conducted before McConnell took a leave from the band.)

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Q: So far, this has been an interesting tour. You have a new album and have been featuring the new material quite a bit, but you also have been playing with John Keane all tour, and Sam Holt has been out there with you guys here and there. Plus, you’ve dusted off some old songs. What has been the biggest difference for you this tour?

A: Oh, man, summer tour is like vacation usually. We play resorts out west, places like Jackson Hole, and McCall, Idaho, which is like Lake Tahoe, and we were in Tahoe for three days. It’s just like a big vacation out here, and it gets back to the grind for fall tour. It has been a great tour. With John Keane … there are just so many songs in the back catalog, and (we’re playing) a lot of the instrumentals that Sam knew. So it just kind of happened without really thinking about it, like, ‘Hey, let’s play these songs.’ And we have four guitar players on stage, and I joined on guitar out there a few times, just to make it five.

Q: You guys are a band, it seems, that thrives on onstage communication. At times you have had eight guys on stage — including four guitars. How has it gone?

A: It’s just kind of happening natural. Every night it’s getting better and better. Jackson Hole was fantastic, Winter Park (Colorado) was great. Jerry Joseph joined us in Winter Park, so I think we had six guitars up there at once. I just figured they needed one more … the sound just wasn’t thick enough and I needed to pick up a guitar (laughs).

Q: It’s like “This is Spinal Tap,” when they go up to 11 “to push us over the cliff” (in a bad English accent). Have you had a favorite show of the tour so far? Jackson Hole you mentioned. Does one really stick out?

A: Yeah, I really liked Jackson Hole. I remember the second night in Los Angeles (which featured a rare cover of Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money” plus standbys “Diner” and “Tie Your Shoes”), but I don’t remember why.

Q: Talk about how you went about recording your latest album, “Earth to America,” a bit of a departure from what you have done recently in terms of recording and songwriting.

A: Well, we had a new producer, Terry Manning, and the studios were in Nassau, Bahamas. And he has produced and recorded some of the classic rock albums of all time — and rap albums, too. So it was an honor to work with him, and it was great. I think the thing with this record is that we all holed up in one big house for three weeks, which, in Athens, we were never able to do. I really enjoyed that aspect of hibernating and getting away, really bearing down on the band. And that took us back to the old days when we did that a lot more.

Q: Do you have a favorite song to play from the new album?

A: I love how “From the Cradle” came out. And I remember “From the Cradle” came in pretty much as a straight rock song. My wife listens to Jack Johnson a lot. And we rearranged it, and it had that (Johnson-like) feel to it. I just love the way it came out. And I love “Crazy,” which I think has one of my favorite bridges we have ever done.

Q: You guys have done it both ways: played “new” material live before you lay it down and you’ve done brand new songs for an album before anyone has heard them before. Is there a way you prefer to do it?

A: I like it both ways, but I kind of like to go in (to the studio) knowing the direction of the album, knowing the core of the material, but then also being able to write new songs in the studio as well to put it over the top. Yeah, I like it when we go out and do it live for a year then go into the studio and just kick it.

Q: You close the tour here with three shows at the Chicago Theatre. You’ve now played something like eight or nine different places in the city, going back to the early 1990s when you played at places like the Aragon Ballroom, Park West, The Riviera and the Vic Theatre. Is there a favorite room you like to play here in Chicago?

A: I always prefer theatres. Theatres, especially the old ones, have the history and were built with the audience and the music and the aesthetics in mind. And the big sheds and the big arenas are built more with the idea of crowding the people in like cattle. They are just not aesthetically built with the audience in mind. The theatres were built before television. So it meant a lot back then, with all the details of the theatre. The Vic and the Chicago Theatre are classic theatres — they are beautiful.

Q: Lollapalooza is the weekend before you guys come out here. You headlined the festival last year — was there any talk about doing it again?

A: Well, we would love to do it again one day. I remember it was 105 degrees out there last year. I remember that. When I walked into Lollapalooza, the security guard took one look at me and they were like, ‘There’s no way this guy plays in a band at Lollapalooza, man.’ So they threw me out.

Q: No way! So did you sick (tour manager) Trey Allen on them?

A: Yeah, Trey got in there and said, ‘No, I swear he’s with the band.’ And they were like, ‘OK.’

Q: We know John Bell will be signing the national anthem at the White Sox-Tigers game the weekend you’re here after he sang at the Cubs’ game last year, and some of you guys went to that game. And you guys are just big baseball fans in general. So Chicago people want to know, who’s the band’s choice — White Sox or Cubs?

A: I am a National League guy. And, God, I really wanted the Cubs to win that playoff series a couple years ago. I’d say, in general, we’re non-denominational.

Q: How about Wrigley or US Cellular?

A: Well, I would have liked to check out the old Comiskey. There was a lot of history there, too. I am excited to check out the new park. I am really, really looking forward to going there and trying to make JB laugh while he’s singing the anthem (evil laugh).

Q: Nice. What about before and after the Chicago shows, where do you guys like to hang out? Are there any places you like to visit when you come here? Restaurants, bars, sights to see?

A: My fondest memory is from Kingston Mines, and going to see (Roosevelt) “Booba” Barnes (who died in 1996) there. Booba was an old friend of mine from Greenville, Mississippi. I used to jam at his juke joint. He was kind enough to let me play there. He taught me a lot about blues music and stuff. So Booba at the Kingston Mines — that was the highlight.

Q: Any new music you’ve been checking out that you really like? Are you an iPod guy?

A: Oh yeah. I just got my iPod — it’s great. Well, I have been really getting into Vic Chestnut (Panic covers several of Vic’s songs). I am doing a little film on Vic, and the guys from Golden Rule productions, who do the Regal shoots, were in L.A., and I told them I was doing this thing on Vic Chestnut’s songwriting. They are going to be in Atlanta; they’re coming up and filming it. So I have been really delving into Vic’s work lately, and he’s just the best songwriter in America — no doubt about it. And his voice, God, what a singer.

Q: Last spring you ended your tour with a surprise cover of the Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

A: Oh yeah! That was for the crew.

Q: Got any tour-ending surprises for us here in Chicago?

A: Well, it’s the last show of the tour, so it will be for the crew again. So I am not sure what it will be, but there will be a lot of cynicism attached to it.

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