Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A.

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This article is about the American third-wave ska band. For the English electronic music group, see Spring Heel Jack. For other uses, see Spring Heeled Jack (disambiguation).

Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A.
Origin New Haven, Connecticut
Flag of the United States United States
Genre(s) third wave ska, ska
Years active 1991– 2000
Former members
Ron Ragona
Dave Karcich
Mike Pellegrino
Rick Omonte
Chris Rhodes
Tyler Jones
Pete Wasilewski
Pat Gingras
James Riley
John Powers
Justin Frazier
Joseph Busch

Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A. (more commonly known simply as Spring Heeled Jack) was a third wave ska band based out of New Haven, Connecticut. The band was formed by guitarist/vocalist Ron Ragona and drummer Dave Karcich in 1991. After a short breakup, Ragona and Karcich reformed the band with a new lineup. This lineup would record two albums before announcing a hiatus in 2000. While the band members moved on to new bands, their intention was to play the occasional reunion show. This idea was would never come to fruition as a cerebral aneurysm would be cause for Karcich's sudden death in 2002.

Contents

[edit] The early years

The original lineup of the band featuring Ron Ragona, Dave Karchich, John Powers, Justin Frazier, and Joseph Busch was short lived due to Ragona moving to Boston, in order to play guitar for Skavoovie and the Epitones. After six months in Boston, Ragona returned to Connecticut and reformed Spring Heeled Jack. The only other member of the original lineup to return would be Karcich. By the time the band decided to record its first demo tape, the lineup consisted of Ragona on vocals and guitar, Karcich on drums, Mike Pellegrino on vocals and guitar, Rick Omonte on bass, Chris Rhodes on trombone, Pat Gingras on trumpet and James Riley on saxophone. The demo tape was titled CT Ska and was released in 1993. The band played many shows and soon had a devoted following amongst the strong New Haven ska scene. The band would also contribute studio and live songs for various ska compilations over the next few years.

[edit] The Moon Ska years

The band's popularity did not escape notice by Robert "Bucket" Hingley, founding member of The Toasters and owner of Moon Ska Records. Hingley signed the band to the label and had them start recording their debut album. By this time, the lineup had changed again. Gingras had left and was replaced by Tyler Jones. Riley had also decided to leave the band and, as a result, half of the album featured him playing saxophone, while the other half was recorded with new member, (re)Pete Wasilewski, who had previously played with Rhodes in the Connecticut band, JC Superska. In 1996, their debut album, Static World View, was released. The band filmed a video for the song, "Pay Some Dues." To support the release of the album, the band started touring outside of their usual territory. During this time, the band became friendly with The Amazing Royal Crowns who would become frequent touring partners in the years to come. The friendship between the two bands would lead to the Spring Heeled Jack horn section performing on the song "Do The Devil" from the 1997 debut album by The Amazing Royal Crowns.

It wasn't much longer before ska began to break into the mainstream due to commercial hits by bands such as No Doubt and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Major labels started looking for ska bands to sign and Spring Heeled Jack did not escape notice. The band declined recording a second album for Moon Ska and, instead, signed a deal with Ignition Records, a record label that already had a distribution deal with Tommy Boy Records.

[edit] The Ignition years

With the band's signing to a major label, came a minor name change. The addition of U.S.A. to the band's name was the result of a legal agreement with the British electronic group, Spring Heel Jack. It was done to avoid confusion between the two musical acts on album covers and live performances. While some considered it an actual name change, the band rarely referred to themselves as anything but Spring Heeled Jack. Rumor has it that Spring Heel Jack was to add UK to their name, as part of the agreement, but this never occurred. With this legal business out of the way, the label booked the band to record at the legendary Hit Factory recording studio in New York City. The same studio had previously been used by musicians such as John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, & The Rolling Stones. The resulting album was Songs From Suburbia, released in 1998. To promote the album, the band toured extensively with bands such as Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dance Hall Crashers. One such performance, at Roseland Ballroom, was filmed for use in an episode of the HBO music series, Reverb. They also played several dates on the 1999 Warped Tour. The band also filmed their second video, for the song "Jolene". The song was about the band's first tour van, which, by the time the video was filmed, had been sold in order to purchase a new one. The band didn't feel right about doing the video without the original van and it was bought back. After filming, the van was sold yet again. Some fans from Connecticut were upset when the novelty license plate, shown in the video, was from New York. This was a circumstance of the video being filmed in New York City and therefore the prop plate that was made for the video, was from New York as well. The video received minimal MTV airplay but a clip of the video appeared regularly as part of the introduction to the daily MTV show, I Spy Video. Soon after the video was shot, the band featured a contest on their website that allowed fans to submit name suggestions for their new van. Once all of the submissions were in, the band decided on "The People's Van" as the name.

It was during this period that the Skalars, tour mates and friends from St. Louis, Missouri, were in need of a trumpet player to record their second album, Change Up. Tyler Jones was invited to fill in for the recording of the album which was released in 1999. Spring Heeled Jack entered the studio, once again, to record three new songs that would never be released to the public. One of the songs was a cover of The Stray Cats song, "Sexy & 17" which the band regularly performed during live performances. A second song was titled "Lonely." A third song, titled "Josie," a re-worked version of the band's single, "Jolene," was submitted for use in the Drew Barrymore film, Never Been Kissed but it was rejected. The band changed the title to "Josie" due to the fact that it was the name of Barrymore's character in the film.

Things seemed to be going well for the band when it was announced that the Ignition Records label would be going out of business. Suddenly, the band no longer had a recording contract and therefore, no label support. As this was happening, the band was in the middle of what would be their final tour of California. Kyle Herrman, a friend of the band, accompanied them for several days and filmed what would become the documentary, Mass Appeal Madness. While inititially only available at the band's final show, the movie would continue to be sold on the internet for several more years.

[edit] The end & new beginnings

Shortly after being dropped by their label, Dave Karcich decided to leave the band, in pursuit of making new music. He played, what he intended to be his last show with the band, in Long Island. Soon after, the band set out to find a replacement drummer yet were unsuccessful by the time their next performance came about at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Karcich returned to play drums with the band one last time. It was after this show that the band announced their intent to go on hiatus. Their goal was to continue recording music and playing shows together, without the constant need for extensive and expensive touring. In the meantime, they'd be free to pursue new bands and projects. They announced their final show, for the time being, and it was held at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut in May, 2001. Unfortunately, by the time the show was booked, Chris Rhodes had already become a full time member of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who were on tour. In his place, a microphone stand stood on stage with one of his shirts hanging from it. Earlier that same day, the Bosstones had recorded a performance on Late Show with David Letterman. The club had a large projection screen airing the television show and when the Bosstones segment aired, the band took a break from performing to watch and call Rhodes via cellphone. Together, the band and audience sang a variation of the Bosstones song, "Where'd You Go," entitled "Where Is Chris Rhodes," to him.

Almost immediately, rumors about the next possible reunion began to surface. The band did intend to play the occasional show and possibly record new material but those plans came to a halt on April 2, 2002, when Karcich suffered a sudden cerebral aneurysm and passed away three days later, at the age of 28. Eight months after his passing, a tribute show was held at Toad's Place, in honor of Karcich. Each band that performed had some prior connection to Karcich's life. The show ended with the one time reunion of Spring Heeled Jack. Dan Paternostro, Karcich's good friend from grade school, and Dave Sharma from the Skalars took his place during the performance. Over $8,000 was made and put into a scholarship fund, in Karcich's name.

[edit] After Spring Heeled Jack

After the breakup, all seven members continued working in music.

Ron Ragona became the singer for Lost City Angels, and released two albums with the band before departing in 2006. He has since formed the band, The Murder Mile, consisting of Mike Gill (Johnny 2 Bad, Damn Personals) Michael Faulkner (Nigel Six, Damn Personals) and former Spring Heeled Jack band mate, Mike Pellegrino.

Mike Pellegrino now performs with Lord Fowl, a New Haven based three piece rock band. In the spring of 2008, he also joined back up with Ragona to play in The Murder Mile. He occasionally performs with Cenzo, a band he helped form with Karcich and former Pilfers and Bim Skala Bim member, Vinny Nobile, for a World Trade Center benefit show in 2001. Shows performed after Karcich's death featured a new lineup which did not include Pellegrino but, in 2005, he returned to the band. Pellegrino also briefly played with Ragona in Lost City Angels, before joining the Connecticut based band, Ladyfriend. He appeared on Ladyfriend's album, I Am An Autumn, before leaving the band, who, soon after, changed their name to Welcome.

Tyler Jones was a member of Reel Big Fish for a brief time, after the departure of trumpet player, Tavis Werts. He performs on several songs appearing on their Cheer Up! album as well as the entire Reel Big Fish: Live at the House of Blues DVD.

Rick Omonte remains a strong contributor to the New Haven, Connecticut music scene. He plays bass for the bands Crooked Hook and The Mountain Movers. Both bands made their recording debut in 2006. Crooked Hook released a five song, self-titled EP while The Mountain Movers released their debut album, We’ve Walked in Hell and There is Life After Death. When not playing music, his promotion company, Shaki Presents, books bands for "Sundazed at BAR", a free Sunday night event at local New Haven club, BAR.

Chris Rhodes just become a member of Bim Skala Bim when he was invited to join The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He appears on their A Jacknife to a Swan album and wrote the album's single, "You Gotta Go!". After their hiatus, he began performing with The Toasters, where he continued to play until his departure in 2006. Rhodes has also performed with Omonte's band, The Mountain Movers and makes an appearance on the band's debut CD. He has also made live appearances with bands such as Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish and NOFX. In 2007, Rhodes reunited with the Bosstones for a series of shows and new recordings. It is currently unclear if the reunion is permanent or temporary.

Pete Wasilewski is now a member of Less Than Jake, but is known better to their fans as JR, to avoid confusion with former trombone player, Pete Anna. His first album with the band was Anthem. He also made a guest appearance on the debut album by The Mountain Movers.

After leaving Spring Heeled Jack, Karcich temporarily filled in on drums for Mephiskapheles. He went on to audition for several other bands, such as 2 Skinnee J's, before he was asked to join Pilfers, who were looking to replace their rhythm section. Karcich performed with Pilfers until they too disbanded. Afterwards, he was a founding member of Cenzo with Pellegrino and former Pilfers bandmates, Vinny Nobile and Carl Barc. At the time of his death, he was a member of Avoid One Thing with Bosstones bass player, Joe Gittleman. Although featured in the artwork for their debut release, Karcich does not actually perform on the album.

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Demos

  • CT Ska (1993 cassette only)

[edit] Studio Albums

[edit] Compilation Albums

  • Collision With Tradition (1994)
  • WHCN Presents - Zomething Different - Live at the Sting (1994)
  • Skarmageddon (1994)
  • Oi! / Skampilation Vol. 1 (1994)
  • i95 FM Garage Jam (1994)
  • Skanarchy (1996)
  • This Are Moon Ska (1996)
  • This Are Moon Ska Vol. 2 (1996)
  • Ska - The Instrumentals (1997)
  • Welcome To Skannecticut (1997)
  • Asbestos Records presents... The Best Bands You'll Ever Hate (1997)
  • Mashin Up The Nation - The Best of American Ska Vols. III & IV (1998)

[edit] External links