Don’t call it a jam band. That’s a way to start controversy, if you’re into that, but the guys from Widespread Panic are more down to just go with the flow. They’ve been on the road since their early beginnings as college students in Athens, Ga., at the University of Georgia, and even now as “aging gentlemen rockers,” they still somehow find the energy to brave the road, have families and record studio albums on a regular basis. However, things have changed for Panic: a new guitarist, more fans than ever, more sold out shows, the Internet and Westins instead of “roach motels.”
“You know, it’s two different lifestyles,” Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz, the band’s percussionist, said. “When we’re at home, we pretty much take off as much time as we can. And when we’re on the road, in order to fill our day, we pretty much stay on top of things, we rehearse a lot, we come up with new ideas, new songs.”
If you’re not familiar with Panic, just think The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd-type southern rock with a gritty jam feel thrown in. Panic first formed in the dorm room of lead guitarist and singer John Bell when he met former guitarist Michael Houser. That was in 1981. Since then, the band has toured extensively, amassed a cult following, and produced a prodigious volume of studio albums. Their newest and 11th release, “Dirty Side Down,” is a continuation of their innovation and creativity.
“We didn’t necessarily have an overall vision for the album going in, because we never really have things that cut and dried,” Bell said.
That unrefined sound comes across strong in songs like “North” and “Clinic Cynic,” where drummer Todd Nance throws down some dirty, dirty vocals. However, unlike other performance-driven bands like Umphrey’s McGee or the String Cheese Incident, Panic’s performances aren’t tailored specifically to locale. Many jam-oriented bands make adjustments to fit the region or venue they’re playing at; in the Northwest, there’s been a tendency to be more experimental, capitalizing on the more open-minded nature of the audience.
“The bottom line is that whichever songs haven’t been played in a while, those are the songs that we use on those particular nights,” Ortiz said.
Panic rarely plays the same set twice and is able to do so by creating their set lists from a master list.
“We have a master song list and that song list has like 300-plus songs and they’re all color-coded with four different colors and as we go through a night, obviously the next day when we’re wherever there’s a list of crossed out songs,” Ortiz said. “So the next day we make another list and then we use a different color for that night. Then the next day it’s a different day so it’s a different color so now you have two groups of songs that are two different lists that are crossed out.”
It’s a pretty simple concept the guys have been using to keep each night a different show, which is smart when you have a traveling fan base like they do. Though we can’t expect a Eugene version of Panic, Ortiz attributes the Northwest, particularly Jerry Joseph’s band Little Women, to being able to reach the region in a unique way.
“In the music business, you get where you are with a little help from your friends. Our friends have grown from bar size, club size, theater size, and now for this season, amphitheater size and so on and so forth,” Ortiz said. “It’s a big change, but we’ve always been known to go with the flow. Go with what’s going on in our environment. The Northwest has always been good for that, and it’s unfortunate that we don’t travel up there as much as we would like to.”
Things have changed for Panic. Changing technology has played a huge role in making life easier for the band. They have full control over their soundboard archives, which are posted after each performance online for fans to buy. (Although the band’s taping policy allows for fans to tape the concerts and trade them among each other, as well.) Keeping in touch when they’re off the road has also been made dramatically easier.
“Now with conference calling and Internet, it’s so easy to get in touch with somebody and whenever we need to converse with one another,” Ortiz said.
After nearly 25 years, Widespread has continued to enchant audiences with what can be equated to performance art. In their growth in popularity and in growing older, many aspects of their lives have changed.
“You’re still doing your own laundry, and you’re still doing all the things you normally do, but your values have changed a little bit,” Ortiz said. “The perception of what you want to do and the direction you want to go has changed.”
Although the band has moved through different phases, guitarists, and even in accumulating a newer, younger fan base, their sound is true and pure Panic.

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