Jason Ricci and New Blood are perhaps one of the hardest working bands in the business. Since the first of the year, they have crissed- crossed the United States playing somewhere every night except for those when they were driving between venues, and driving they do. For example, according to their itinerary, they were in Flagstaff, Arizona, March 21st and on the 25th they arrived in Birmingham, AL for a two night gig. They would later play at the House of Blues, April 29th and 30th, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and then pack up their gear and head for Kansas City, Missouri (May 3rd and 4th) where they would gig for a two night gig; On May 22nd, they gigged in Medford, Oregon, and then left for Maple Grove, Minnesota(May 23rd); on May 29th, a Sunday , they gigged in Rockford, Illinois, and then the following day, May 30th, they appeared in Sharon, Pennsylvania. On June 19th they rocked the Niagara Falls, New York area, and then the following day, when many other bands may have been recovering from the night before, they appeared in Knoxville, Tennessee to shake the floors at the Preservation Hall there. Upcoming, the y are scheduled to gig October 7th and 8th in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, and then be in Del-Mar-By-The-Sea, California the 14th through the 16th. All totaled they will average over 300 club dates on both coasts and all points in between, and travel an untold number of miles-- which as they travel, is no small feat. It might leave the lesser artist bruised and road weary.
They have also released three new CDs, something almost unprecedented in the music business. For one of these, Jason had to fight with the label owner and then when the new CD was released, a reviewer reduced the band's efforts to a four line misleading ambiguous review--something any artist would have taken as a slap in the kisser. What the hell is an "Attack dog guitarist?"
Add to this the August 16th Harp Blowout that Jason is promoting in association with SPAH, featuring Lee McBee (Kansas), Pat Ramsey (Mississippi), Chris Michalek (Arizona), Joe Fillisko (Illinois), and Dennis Gruenling (New Jersey)--only the biggest names in the business-- and you get the impression that his energies are boundless.
If you should ever have a chance to catch this band in concert, and you will if you check their website, or your local paper (with the way these cats travel, they will be in your area regardless of where you live), be forewarned, you may find yourself a puddle of sweat if you get on the dance floor when they start a "jam band" fashioned twenty minute number asking yourself "where do they get the energy they have to crank as hard and long as they do?"

CHC: Since the first of the year (?) you, and your band New Blood,  have released three new CDs. Here is an open ended question: Tell us about each.  

Jason Ricci: The First one we released: "Her Satanic Majesty Requests Harmonica Music" is a CD that was intended to be sold to a harmonica audience only. It is a compilation spanning the last 12 years of my playing, with all kinds of bands from folk and acoustic duos to New Blood. All the key charts are listed on the inside along with the harp positions and a brief explanation as to why I chose that position in a few circumstances. Also, all the years of each recording are noted from 1995-2005. It was a fun CD to make.  I did it at home in Nashville and,  unfortunately,  it kind of looks like I did it at home. I just wanted to put out something that showcased some different,  perhaps more relaxed sides of my harmonica playing for all the players and fans to be surprised by.  And, No...  I don't worship the Devil.  The title is a spin of the Stones album "Their Satanic Majesties Request the Rolling Stones". It was originally titled "Queen of Harps".

"Live At Checkers Tavern" ( Blue Sunday Entertainment) we did this one live obviously for a small record label out of Iowa. It took two tries and two years to put out. The delay in it's release helped inspire "Her Satanic Majesty Requests Harmonica Music" . .  I needed a new product so bad and had all this great unreleased music just sitting around my house.  So,  after I put out the Satan album next thing you know I get a call from Blue Sunday saying "your records done; so that's that."  Everyone is always wanting Live albums from the band,  because since we play like 300 dates a year that's what they're  all use to. I think the record's definitely an accurate portrayal of the band on any given night.  The songs are long, the CDS 80 minutes and there's 8 songs so there's a lot of Jamming on it. We are as much a Jam Band as a Blues Band and this occasionally hurts us as much as it helps us as evidenced by the most recent treatment in review by Blues Revue Magazine.  They ripped it to shreds in four sentences without even mentioning anything positive or negative about the harp playing. They also described Shawn Starsk's playing as "attack dog guitar".  I like My harp tone a lot on this recording I used a newer Bassman and my normal set up. The new Green Jensen speakers add a little more distortion than normal for me and I think its cool. There's a ton of fancy jam arrangements, middle eastern motifs and regular old blues for the fans. Also anyone can down load songs from any of these records through my site www.jasonricci.com  or even download whole live shows from venues anywhere. http://www.jasonricci.com/music.html

"Blood On The Road" After Checkers came out in March we had a really hard time getting the CDs from Blue Sunday Entertainment.  You can read about it on my forum page on my site under the heading of "Why not do business on a hand shake" ( a letter to P.J. Harrington): http://www.jasonricci.ne … m.php?f=6  So.  essentially after five years I still only had one CD available to the fans at shows, The Satan one, which was more for harp players than music fans,  so this was extremely frustrating. On top of that our regular bass player Slim Louis had been absent during the recording of Checkers due to a quadruple by-pass heart surgery,  and our drummer,  Maki Bergara,  had been deported back to Argentina. All the fans always ask: "is that drummer on the CD?", "how bout Slim is he on it?" and it sucks to say no and not have a release with the current line up on it.  So enter "Blood on the Road."  We had just got our new Drummer Steve Johnson "The Swinging Johnson" who had,  in the past, played with Jerry Portnoy, Annie Raines, and Pine Top Perkins. Steve brought out all this traditional behind the beat blues flavor out of the boys and I as well as keeping up exceptionally with all the newer more modern grooves.  His funk stuff was really inspiring and we all just fell in love with the new sound of the band after a week or two of gigs. We didn't have any copies of "Live at Checkers" and had two days off the road in Denver where my booking agent Doug Tackett said there was a cool studio I should look into called Global Sound. We called them up and decided we'd give it a shot for two days, maybe get a track or two, maybe more, maybe a whole record, who knows just thought we'd see what happened. The result was definitely the best record I've done to date. We were all really happy with it,  and I can't wait for everyone to hear it. There's more traditional style blues on this recording.  I'm really proud of it,  as well.  There's a number of solos I just could never have ever done better and that's a great if some times annoying feeling. We've gotten some feed back, but it's on my own label (Rah Fox Records) named after my pet name for my long time boy friend Brady Mills, so it's not being distributed widely. We do have a couple of big labels considering it now, so we'll see what's happens.   It's two days in Global Sound Studios in Denver sandwiched in between 65 one-nighters at clubs all over the U.S.. Global Sound was amazing and I'll definitely be back there despite the altitude's (Colorado) effect on my harp playing. It's our current line up, our current tunes, and we love it.

   
CHC: On each, other than for the covers you have done, you were personally responsible for writing the lyrics. Where does one find the inspiration for this volume of writing?    

Jason Ricci: I spent a year in jail down in Florida in jail.  I wasn't allowed to have a harmonica, so I wrote a lot of songs. Some of the tunes are from that period. Some of the others are songs I wrote and recorded back in my drinking and drug days that I have revised and chose to re-record. The others are all inspired from being sober, gay, and working all these crazy bars dates 300 days a year, and how that can make you feel alone, different, and exhausted. If art imitates life, which it does, I am sort of forced to write about things I know, and being on the road the last five years, being gay, and being sober and trying to overcome all of the obstacles all those things present seems to produce a wealth of lyrical material. Additionally,  Shawn Starsky,  my guitarist and vocal confidant,  writes constantly ( music,chord changes,hooks etc..),  so I am always having to be on my toes to keep up with him on that end. He inspires me as a soloist, as well,  as he's always growing there too. So,  I don't want my own band to surpass me musically,  which is always a clear and present danger if I spend too much time doing business and interviews etc... instead of practicing.

CHC: For any band this is an unprecedented number of recordings released in what is essentially a six month period. We are of course basing this on the copyright dates of each, and as each shows a 2005 copyright, we are assuming this be the case. How is the sale of each CD doing?   

JR Well your assumption is correct. No doubt this has affected the sales to a degree in that it has just sort of confused the buyer. Most of our fans,  though,  just buy all three,  or are delighted to see a new addition so soon. I'm going to definitely rest now for a while unless some label comes a long and wants to make a record I can actually profit from.

CHC: You emailed us that you were having trouble with one of the labels on which one of these CDs was recorded. Would you like to give us some insight as to what was happening?  

JR: The "Live at Checkers" Yeah basically I invite all to read the above mentioned letter http://www.jasonricci.ne … hp?f=6  to the head of the label to see what can happen to bands like us if you're not careful. For those that won't read the whole letter... Iin short: we did business on a hand shake, the deal evolved and changed rapidly and sporadically as it fit the needs of one individual.  We had no control over any of this and lost a lot of money.  The real irony is that the label lost as well, which is so sad because if they had been realistic about our needs or at least just stuck to the original deal everyone would have profited big from the CD! But at the last minute they got short sighted and greedy and put us in a position to essentially boycott our own CD. They're not bad people,  just bad business men which is sort of a roll reversal for the music business. So the copy you got of LIVE AT CHECKERS is one of very few because I paid 10.00 dollars for each CD I sent out. Nothing was given to me for promotional purposes and they barely sent out a dozen on their own. It has been real tough! I have now stopped buying CDs from Blue Sunday at 10.00 per copy.

CHC: You and band have to be one of the hardest working bands playing since the first of the year you have criss-crossed the United States maybe twice playing from the east coast to the west, with play dates almost every night except when transversing distances, ie, Indiana to Colorado, and Arizona to Alabama. While other artists/bands are complaining about the growing competition and not finding gigs, you guys are working. Do you have a secret to finding this work? An agent? 

JR:  Well,  first of all, we realize you can't get 800.00 dollars or more a show every day of the week and in every market. You have to know that first and be flexible with clubs that have proved good faith over the years. You have to treat the road like the stock market. Sometimes your stock is low and other times it's high.  You have to be flexible to stay in this for the long run. That doesn't mean allowing yourself to get taken advantage of, but it does mean you have to lower your price some times when there is no other option besides not working and raise it when it's deserved. I keep my band on a steady salary whether they play or not and they get that every week like a pay check no matter what.  The salary business allows me to make this happen and keep great players all year long, thus keep great songs and a good vibe on and off stage.   I do have a secret:  his name is:
DOUG TACKETT ROAD DAWG TOURING Company.  He's a pit-bull on the phone and the best agent in the biz!
 

You emailed us some time ago about looking for a drummer. We assumed you found one. Would you like to introduce us?  

Steve "The Swinging" Johnson,  originally from my home state of Maine.

Photo by Blogger Jared

Born in Auburn, Maine- Steve Johnson began studying drums with Dick Demers at the age of 12 and playing professionally at the young age of fourteen. He developed what became a life long love for jazz and blues. He studied at the University of Maine at Augusta and had the opportunity to perform regionally in New England with a number of different bands. He had the fortune, during his years in Maine, to play with many great musicians including T. J. Wheeler with guitarist Tony Gaboury, D. W. Gill and Doug Wanoris of the Blues Prophets, and Jerry Portnoy with Pinetop Perkins. He toured with Boston’s Queen of the Blues, Shirley Lewis. He toured and recorded with recording artist Peter Galway. He shared the stage for a performance with Bob Hope in Bangor, Maine.
After moving to Nashville in 1996, Steve immediately made connections with Nashville Blues icon, Casey Lutton and His Blues Jam, the longest running in Music City. He toured and recorded with Nashville’s Queen of the Blues, Marion James.
In 2000 Steve began recording with the band, Virgil, lead by Ronnie Godfrey- formerly with the Marshall Tucker Band. Over the last several years, Steve has performed with many greats including Ricky Godfrey, Kim Morrison, Archie Bell of Archie Bell and the Drells, recording artist Clifford Currey, James “Nick” Nixon, Amy Watkins, the legendary Billy Cox of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, saxophonist Bobby Keyes of the Rolling Stones, as well as country artists Hank Snow, Freddie Hart, and Hank Thompson.

Introduce us to the other members of your band. 


TOM LOUIS

Shawn Starski born in Detroit, Michigan moved to south florida and started playing guitar at age 11. As time went on he became one of south Florida's great guitarists.
Shawn has played many styles of music ranging from chicago blues,swing,rock, and country. One of the things shawn is known for are his heart felt solos, that start slow and build to an explosion.
Shawn also plays a great acoustic. some of Shawn's heroes are Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, and many many more.
What big plans do you have for the future? 

 I just want to get a little more time off the road, spend more time with our dog Bjalla, two cats Kidogo and Seresta and Brady,  get some wider recognition and keep going the way we are! Maybe get into the Jam band arena where well be a little happier. 

For more on Jason and New Blood www.jasonricci.com

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