Date: Fri 17-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Spring-Heeled-Jack-Tune-Inn

Full Text:

A Connecticut Band Returns The Favor

(with cut)

BY SHANNON HICKS

NEW HAVEN -- For years, the Connecticut band Spring Heeled Jack played at

clubs in its home state, Boston and New York. One of the places the band found

itself returning to again and again was Tune Inn in New Haven. The owner of

the club, Fernando Pinto, has booked the band for nearly 70 appearances at the

club during the course of the last three years. On July 25 the band will

return the favor when it unveils its new album during a CD release party at

Tune Inn.

The band's new album, Songs From Suburbia , will be released officially by

Ignition Records on July 21. (The band's first full CD was called Static World

View . It was released in 1996 on the Moon Ska Records label.) The

seven-member band is on a short break at the moment, resting in their

respective homes for just a few weeks before getting back on the road full

time.

Lead vocalist and guitar player Mike Pellegrino called from his home in Monroe

last week. Ron Ragona, guitar and vocals, lives in Newtown; a few other band

members live in Monroe. The band's press release makes it sound like a

stunning upset -- much bigger and more inconceivable than Norway over France

in a recent World Cup game -- that the guys and their music came out of

suburban Connecticut. But if Norway can -- and did! -- defeat France, why not

have a ska/rock/punk/blues/swing band come out of Connecticut?

In addition to Pellegrino and Ragona, Spring Heeled Jack is Bass player Rick

Omonte; drummer Dave Karcich; Chris Rhodes on trombone and vocals; Tyler Jones

on trumpet; and sax man Pete Wasilewski. The band is primarily ska in its

sound, but as Pellegrino said last week, Spring Heeled Jack is a lot more than

ska.

"There are so many good, traditional ska bands out there," he started. "I

can't say we're a regular ska band. We're not trying to be traditional,

although we do enjoy being traditional.

"People ask us what we play and we tell them `feel good music. We love to get

people dancing, and they love to hear us play. It's bouncy and it's happy

music." Spring Heeled Jack is primarily ska, but there is also a lot of rock

and funk in the mixture.

Pellegrino grew up listening to a lot of Beatles music, and songs from bands

like Murphy's Law, Fishbone, Frank Zappa, and Phish. Certainly that music is

going to influence what he helps write now, as does input from all band

members. Pellegrino admits the band tries to incorporate ideas it has heard in

the songs of others, but never tries to completely mimic anyone.

"We try to incorporate their ideas, but not exactly the riffs or chord

progressions to get the similar sound" he said.

The material on the new album has already been played quite a bit on the road.

Area fans of the band may have even heard it when SHJ performed at Tuxedo

Junction in Danbury in June and November. There was a feeling, while recording

the new work, that the band did not want to start all over with all new

material at once. So the band started performing much of the new material,

getting it tight live before it was released.

"About half the set on the last tour, always at least 6-7 songs, were new

songs," says the vocalist. "We went on this tour thinking `Let's get this new

song tight.'"

Somewhere along the way, Spring Heeled Jack from Connecticut and Spring Heel

Jack, a band out of England, learned about each other. So did fans. Bands with

such similar names always find each others' fans. Pellegrino says fans of his

band have shown up at shows by the UK band, and vice versa.

"In Austin Texas, a huge crowd had come out to see [the other band]," he said,

"and when they found out it was us most of them turned around and left."

Fortunately, not all mistakes result in the audience leaving. Both bands have

found people who came out to see one band, but stayed -- and enjoyed -- the

band that was playing.

Unfortunately, each band had been playing under its name for a number of

years, building a solid fan base, before learning of the other. It would have

been difficult for either band to have changed its name completely, and not

expect to alienate some fans. The solution? Add a national tag to the end of

the band's name, which is why the new album is called Songs From Suburbia by

the band Spring Heeled Jack USA. Written much smaller than the original band

name and almost hidden in the crook of the K in "Jack," the tag seems almost

an afterthought.

"It's not really an addition to the name, it's just a tag," Pellegrino pointed

out. Not an addition, but a modification that should help alleviate some

confusion in the future. The English band is now using Spring Heel Jack UK,

and the story has a happy ending for everyone.

On July 25, the Spring Heeled Jack USA story begins a new chapter.