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"If the Song is Good, You Can Do it by Beating on a Box":
Stepping Up to the Plate with George McConnell
Mark R. Pantsari
2003-10-28

On August 10, 2002 Michael Houser passed away and Widespread Panic lost its
founding namesake and trademark ‘lingering lead.' But the band got by and
continued to let the music play—finishing out their summer and fall tours
with guests Randall Bramblett and George McConnell. The release this year of
the group's eighth album Ball seemed to make the statement that the Panic
would continue to spread. Meanwhile, George McConnell made the transition
from special guest to full-time guitarist.

I recently had the chance to talk with McConnell concerning his role in the
band, the shoes he had to fill, and a bit about Panic's upcoming
hibernation.

For additional perspectives on these events (as well as an archived
interview with Mike Houser and some additional words from George) pick up
the latest issue of Relix.


MP- Can you tell me a little about how your role in the band developed?

GM- I'm an old, old friend of the guys and the way that it all started was
me just coming to help out on the tour when Mikey (Houser) got too ill and
went back home. I knew right after that tour the band was going to head into
the studio. At that time, that was all I was hired for and I thought it was
a great experience and it was great time going out with those guys. I had
great fun playing with Randall Bramblett, that was just an honor--what a
great guy and just a fantastic musician. He's just as good of a piano
player, drummer, and guitar player as he is a saxophone player. He's also
one hell of a songwriter. So it was great hanging out with him.

To be honest with you, at the end of that tour I assumed that would be it
and I knew the guys were going into the studio. In a way I felt a lot of
pressure, but not so much in that I was just helping out. And I know that
how close the Panic audience is, they're family to each other. They see each
other over the years and the people in the audience know way more about the
inner-workings of the band than I do. They know them way better than I do as
far as what was happening in the in-and-out days. I knew the audience was
aware of what was going on and that they were sympathetic to it. I really
didn't feel a huge pressure from the audience as I did just to do Mikey some
justice. I love their songs and I'm a fan first. There's no way, nobody, or
any machine or computer that could ever replicate the way that Mikey played.
And I knew that from the get-go and I wanted to get the signature licks
down, but the guys in the band for the most part were really encouraging me
to "aw man, play it the way that you want to interpret this part. We hired
you to come play guitar the way that you play."

When they went into the studio they went in by themselves for a couple of
weeks. And still at that point I thought "wow, it was a great experience and
a lot of fun, and I'm just gonna hang close and see what happens." Close as
far as being a support member for Mikey's illness, I didn't think about
playing, I thought of being close as being a friend and try to offer some
type of support.

I was just as shocked as anyone as everybody that they were doing whatever
they were going to write that day in the studio, that was what was going on
the album—whatever they had written in the studio. I was kind of shocked
about that and from there was when it became more concrete when I began
playing on the studio stuff.

MP- I would imagine that the decision to record was both a big step and kind
of therapeutic at the same time. Can you share your unique perspective on
these events?

GM- I've always respected these guys a lot and my level of respect for them
shot up immensely because those guys stepped up to the plate big time. The
guys were extremely broken up about all of it, I don't even know the right
words to use to express how hurt, bewildered, freaked out and lost—lost
seems to be more appropriate than anything. In my opinion it was really huge
of them to do this (Ball), and to be honest—all the guys in the band are
pretty serious contributors to the songwriting. That was something I
realized when I went into the studio, was how much they equally contribute
to each other's stuff. Somebody might bring in the idea or the germ of it,
but they're very open to each other's suggestions and that comes from their
brotherhood. Hell, those guys have been slugging it out in the bar scene for
about 20 years and they know each other so well and know enough to
appreciate each other's input—the strength of the team basically. They
realize that.

Anyways, I realized the guys were doing something pretty major to do this
without Mikey. In my eyes I give them a lot of respect for getting back out
there. A lot of people would've quit. But this is just part of who they are,
their make up. In a way it was sort of therapeutic.

MP-What about your first official show as the quote/unquote new guitarist,
to what extent did you consider fan expectations?

GM- It was in Milwaukee, right around July 4th. Me and Randall had gotten
used to hanging out with the crew more than anybody, I know a bunch of the
crew from other bands they had worked with that I had in my bar-circuit
playing. So we were just kind of hanging out, I was playing maybe one song
every other show or something like that—just hanging out and having fun and
being there to help out.

I guess we had left the hotel and were on the way to sound check when the
road manager came on the bus and told us that Mikey was heading home. There
was nobody in the audience that was more shocked than I was I promise you.
It was weird, but once again this goes back, and I can't say enough good
things about the boys. They were very supportive and were like "man, don't
worry about that shit, just get out there." Basically we got back into the
dressing and it was like "well, what songs do you know?" I guess maybe they
had 50 or 60 that I had worked up, and some of those weren't in rotation—and
for the most part we tried to keep that alive. They worked really hard with
me. Hell, JB came in every day early and sat down with me and went over
stuff. Sam Holt (guitar tech) would come into the dressing room with me and
would sit down and show a specific lick—wherever I could grab it from. They
all were helpful and still are—I'm still going in pretty much everyday and
trying to learn the back catalogue and get some new songs in. They have a
really strong work ethic, these guys are no slouches. They know about work
and that is something that is a part of this band. There are no prima donna
instances at all, and that's really refreshing to be honest with you--a band
of this popularity and caliber to be as easy going as they are and easy to
work with. I was freaked out but I gotta say that the guys really gave me
courage about it."

PM- What about direct response from the fan base?

GM- It was weird at first, I don't have a computer and the guys were like
"Do you surf the web very much?" So they said, "Don't read the Spreadnet." I
asked why and they said, "Well, they get a little crazy over there and
there's going to be somebody out there that's not going to like you.

I really didn't pay much attention to anything. I had a couple of instances
along the tour where somebody was a little buzzed and wanted to speak their
mind about some stuff—a couple of instances where somebody wanted to give me
grief. For the most part, I think everybody put it into perspective—and I'm
this way too—where if I start thinking about my personal loss with Mikey
about me missing hearing him play or getting to hang out with him
backstage—and I think the majority of the fans are the same as me. My loss
pales in comparison to what his family has gone through and I think about
his wife Barbette and his two kids and his mom and dad who came out for that
last leg of the tour. When I think about their loss anything else seems
silly. I'm not trying to make it trite, each of us—the fans—the loss with
Mikey, I'm not trying to make that trite in any way, but when I really think
of it in that way it really puts it into perspective of what's real to worry
about and what's frivolous. And that, to me, is a big part of it too—and I
think about the personal loss of the guys in the band.

So for any negative comments I hear I immediately slag that off and I think
about Mikey's family and his brothers—these guys in the band. I think about
their tightness and everything else seems to pale in comparison.

MP- Talking about voices on the Internet, how cognizant is the band of what
goes on via the fans on-line?

GM- They're actually very aware of what's going on, these guys are in the
high-tech world, they've got all kinds of gadgets. I think it's a weird
catch-22—they know that the fans like the fact the band is playing stuff
that they enjoy and that's what the fans enjoy. That's how it appears to me.
If the band is having fun, getting off, playing what they play then the
audience is going to enjoy that. And I think if the audience saw the band
coming out trying to put on an oldies-review or a greatest hits or starting
to pull out new hit cover songs, I think the audience—and that's what I love
about the Widespread audience—they can smell a fake from a mile away. They
really can. That's why they've chosen this band. It's hard to find Panic,
it's much easier to find the bands that are in Rolling Stone and on MTV,
basically the stuff that's shoved down your throat by the media.

I always look at in that regard, these fans over growing up have been force
fed this type of music or told this was cool or this was hip, and somewhere
along the line they've shed all that and they've come to this band. Why did
the come to this band? Because it's honest and it's real as the damn day is
long. To me I get tickled when people use the phrase jamband because to me
it's about the song and the jamming is the consequence of good songwriting.
It's like, "Hell the song is so good, they didn't want to quit playing it."

I look at a lot of other bands, and I've been around, I'm an old man I've
been around a while, so many other bands come up and just jam and write a
nursery rhyme on top of the song just so they can make it song. It's really
nothing about the song; it's more about the jamming. Not that those guys
aren't technically good and don't have incredible musical prowess, it's just
that the songs aren't there.

By the same token, if the song is good, you can do it by beating on a box,
you can play it on a piano—you can play it on any instrument and the song is
good. That, to me, speaks a lot to that songwriting and that's what Panic
was always about—the song itself.

It's a thing where I think Panic realizes their audience has come to them
because of their honesty and their integrity and the fact that they will
take a chance. They're one of the few bands out there anymore, especially on
the level—they get mad when I say ‘they' they want to me say ‘we,' but I've
been a fan for so many years and they punch me in the arm when I say it, you
get beat into the band and beat out of it, sort of like a gang—they're
aware. When they get to a certain town they'll think about what are going to
be good songs to play in this town, but they don't necessarily say. "Oh we
have to play something popular for this audience."

In fact I've seen times where there were TV crews and stuff there and they'd
chosen the setlist and I said, "Man, we got national TV here and all this
shit and all this other stuff going on" and they were like, "Man, we ain't
playing for them. We're playing for these people. Those TV cameras are going
to be gone tomorrow. The fans are going to be at the next show." That's
their attitude.

Getting back to your question, they do listen to what's up and they got
their ear to the ground, but it's a weird catch-22. They know if they
catered to their audience's whims, it'd kill it all." It's funny because
there's no criteria or ground rules set as far as "oh well, we do this we or
we don't do that." It's pretty much wide open how these guys work."

MP- Speaking more on the fans, I'm sure a few are frantic about the hiatus.
Can you set some minds at ease and explain the reasoning behind it?

GM- Basically, number one, these guys deserve it bigger than Dallas. It's
been 18 years and I don't think they've ever had a break if I'm not
mistaken. I know they've taken Christmas vacation or if somebody was getting
married or something really big like that. But other than that, if they
weren't on the road then they were in the studio. And I got to be honest
with you, studio work is way more frustrating and more of a mind-fuck—going
on the road is a relief. The road work is not as painful as the studio stuff
is and anytime that they had anytime off, they sequestered away in some
cubby-hole studio and started writing songs and recording stuff.

It's pretty impressive compared to other bands that take two years off and
write a record and won't play at all. Number one, the guys deserve a break
and deserve time to reflect about everything that they've been through this
past year. They were hit really hard by this and I hesitate to speak on
their behalf in that regard. But as an outsider just watching it, it was
obvious that they took all this really hard. And in a way it was also a slap
in the face in that you never know what's going to happen and you better
enjoy each day as it comes to you. And that seems to be, once again, the
unspoken overall philosophy that is permeating around right now. "Let's
enjoy this." It's been bittersweet, but it's been that type of attitude.

I really don't get the vibe at all—we're all kind of joking "I bet it won't
last a year" or someone will crack after six months and say, "I gotta go on
the road I'm going crazy." I really think it's a time to take time to smell
the roses, smell the coffee, smell the dog, get outside some and be with
their families.

I think that's something we as fans overlook; these guys have families and
kids and have some really cool, understanding families by the way. Not many
people could have the strength in their relationship to allow each other to
do these types of things. These guys have really strong, committed
relationships and they've got some great people with them. And that goes
down to the crew guys. To the guys in the band, the guys in the crew are
just as important as they are and are just as much part of their family as
anybody else. That's also a big part of the consideration as well."

MP- Kind of let everybody take a freaking rest for once?

That's the bottom line of it. And I know, Jo Jo's got his side project. And
Todd's got his band Barbara Cue and Dave has his band Acetate which is
bad-ass, they're really good. And I got an acoustic duo called Drunk and
Disorderly, so I know we're all gonna be doing little side projects and
chomping at the bit.

The other thing about this year off, the guys have talked about other
projects and projected releases. They've talked about getting some things
out there--something from the vault, something from recent times and who
knows what else.