Spring Heeled Jack

Spring Heeled Jack (known alternatively for a time as Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A.) is a third-wave ska band based in New Haven, Connecticut. The band was formed in 1991 by guitarist/vocalist Ron Ragona and drummer Dave Karcich. After a brief breakup, Ragona and Karcich reformed the band with a new lineup, which went on to record two albums before announcing a hiatus in 2000. While the members went on to perform in several other bands, they intended to occasionally record new material and play occasional reunion shows. However, this plan never came to fruition, as a cerebral aneurysm led to Karcich's death in 2002. In 2015, several former members returned to reform the band full-time. A third studio album, Sound Salvation, followed in 2017. The original lineup of Spring Heeled Jack, featuring Ron Ragona, Dave Karcich, John Powers, Justin Frazier, and Joe Busch, was short-lived due to Ragona moving to Boston to play bass for Skavoovie and the Epitones. After six months in Boston, Ragona returned to Connecticut and reformed the band, with only Karcich returning from the original lineup. By the time the band recorded its 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, titled Connecticut Ska, was released in 1993. The band performed local shows and soon developed a devoted following in the New Haven ska scene. They would also contribute both studio and live tracks to various ska compilations over the next few years. The band's rising popularity did not escape the notice of Robert "Bucket" Hingley, founding member of The Toasters and owner of Moon Ska Records. Hingley signed the band to the label and had them begin recording their debut album. By this time, the lineup had changed again, with Gingras leaving and the joining of Tyler Jones. Midway through the recording process, Riley also decided to leave the band. As a result, half of the album features Riley on saxophone, while the other half was recorded with new member Pete Wasilewski, who had previously played alongside Rhodes in the Connecticut band JC Superska. In 1996, the band's debut album, Static World View, was released, and the band filmed their first music video for the song "Pay Some Dues." To support the release, the band began touring outside of their usual territory. During this time, they became friendly with The Amazing Royal Crowns, who would go on to become frequent touring partners in the years to come. The friendship between the two bands led to the Spring Heeled Jack horn section performing on the song "Do the Devil" from the 1997 debut album by The Amazing Royal Crowns. Ska began to break into the mainstream due to commercial hits by bands such as No Doubt and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, leading major labels to seek out ska bands to sign. The band declined to record a second album for Moon Ska, opting instead to sign a deal with Ignition Records, a label with a distribution deal through Tommy Boy Records. The band's signing to a major label led to 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 potential confusion between the two musical acts on album covers and live performance advertisements. While some considered it an actual name change, the band rarely referred to themselves as anything but Spring Heeled Jack. Spring Heel Jack was expected 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 performed on several dates during 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 City 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. 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. Tyler Jones was invited to fill in for the recording of the album, titled Change Up, which was released in 1999. Spring Heeled Jack entered the studio, once again, to record three new songs that were not released. One of the songs was a cover of The Stray Cats song, "Sexy & 17" which the band regularly performed during live performances. That song was released through a digital re-release of the album years later. 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 was rejected. The band altered the title to "Josie" to coincide with the name of Barrymore's character in the film. Things seemed to be going well for the band until it was announced that Ignition Records was shutting down, leaving the band without a record label or label support. As this was happening, the band was in the midst of what would be their final tour of California. Kyle Herrman, an old friend of the band, accompanied them for several days and filmed the documentary, Mass Appeal Madness. While initially only available at the band's final show, the film would continue to be sold on the internet for several more years. Shortly after the closure of Ignition, Dave Karcich left the band in pursuit of creating new music. On December 30, 1999, he played what was intended to be his final show with the band, in Plainview, Long Island. However, the band was unsuccessful in their search for a replacement drummer by the time their next performance came about at Rutgers University in New Jersey and Karcich returned to play drums with the band again. After this show, the band announced their intent to go on hiatus. Their long-term 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 which was held at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut in May 2000. Karcich returned once again, but by the time the show was booked, Chris Rhodes had already become a full-time member of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who were already on tour. In his place, a microphone stand stood on stage with one of his shirts hanging from it. Earlier that same day, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones had recorded a performance on Late Show with David Letterman. The club aired the television show on a large projection screen as Spring Heeled Jack performed and when the Mighty Mighty Bosstones segment aired, interrupted the set in order to watch and call Rhodes via cellphone. Together, Spring Heeled Jack and the audience sang a variation of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones song "Where'd You Go", titled "Where Is Chris Rhodes", to him.