Vegas braced for Widespread Panic

Spencer Patterson

Monday, July 28, 2003 | 8:18 a.m.

A week before his band's bus pulled into town, Dave Schools already had his spare time in Las Vegas planned.

"Everybody's got their own thing they like to do in Vegas. I like to find some comedy," Schools said. "It doesn't really matter who it is, as long as it's good and it makes me laugh."

Schools' desire for a few good guffaws shouldn't surprise fans of his jam band, Widespread Panic. The past 12 months have been tough on the men of Panic, as bassist Schools and his four co-founders recover from the tragic loss of guitarist Michael Houser.

Last August the 40-year-old Houser succumbed to pancreatic cancer, one month after dropping out of the band's summer tour due to the illness. Honoring their fallen mate's wishes, the band has carried on as Widespread Panic, supplemented by longtime friend George McConnell on guitar.

The new-look lineup plays The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8. Both shows sold out weeks ago, a testament to the 20-year-old band's continued popularity despite the death of one of its key musicians.

"It's tough. It's taken a lot of time, and I don't think it's something that you'll ever overcome," Schools said in a phone interview from his hotel room in Santa Fe, N.M., last week.

"There will be times when I've got my eyes closed and George plays something that sounds so much like Mikey, that I'll look over and be shocked to see George standing there," Schools said. "But I don't think that's a bad thing. I guess the older you get, the more you realize that it's life, and that the longer we stick around, the more friends we have to say goodbye to."

Bringing onboard a new guitarist, even one as familiar with the band's music as McConnell, was no easy task for Widespread Panic. It meant getting McConnell up to speed on a vast repertoire of songs, which the improvisational outfit rotates in and out of its shows in traditional jam-band style.

"It's been difficult, but he's been a champ," Schools, 38, said. "He's had to learn 150 songs, and in front of some of the most hyper-analytical fans in rock 'n' roll history. We finally told him, 'We're done with all the old songs. It's nothing but new stuff from here on out.' The look on his face was ... well, let's say he didn't look pleased (laughs)."

Since joining the band's touring lineup last summer, McConnell has also had to adjust to the particulars of Panic's trademark jamming techniques.

"Technically, as a player, he was on the same page. But as far as things that are intangible that Widespread Panic accomplished over 20 years, you can't learn that from a book or a chart or anything. That's just plain experience onstage," Schools said.

In addition to adjusting to their new bandmate, the five Panic holdovers -- vocalist/guitarist John Bell, keyboardist/vocalist John "JoJo" Hermann, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo Ortiz and Schools -- have also spent this year's concert schedule adapting tracks from their latest album, "Ball," to a live setting.

Panic took a new approach for the April release, opting not to road test any of the new music beforehand, a first in the band's history. The result is a tight (by jam-band standards, anyway) series of Southern-flavored, bluesy rock tunes.

"One thing that was great about going in the studio with a blank canvas was that it reflects our songwriting more than the jamming and the noodling," Schools said. "We just didn't realize what a challenge it was going to be to recreate them live, to reverse the process. "

Widespread Panic has the rest of its summer dates and a short fall tour to continue tweaking its new material. After that, the band will take an extended hiatus -- "at least a year," according to Schools -- giving the six musicians some much-needed time to regroup after the flurry of recent activity.

"Most bands put a record out, tour for 18 months to support it and then disappear for like two or three years," Schools said. "Jam bands don't have that luxury, because jam bands don't sell multiplatinum records. So the touring is our bread and butter, and it's a constant thing."