TexomaConnect.com - everything fun in Texoma

 

Main Navigation

Spur 503

Spur 503 looks toward a new future, new sound

BY MARY JANE FARMER

HERALD DEMOCRAT

A Denison-based band has been around for years with two CDs under their guitar straps, chosen by the public as the "Best Texoma Band" award several years running, and shared billing with Willie Nelson, Jack Ingram, Pat Green, the Randy Rogers Band, Charlie Robison, and a myriad of performers of national and regional renown.

And yet, it's a band on the threshold of a new season.

Chance Cody & Spur 503 is working with two new musicians, Johnny Waitt on bass and Jared Mitchell on rhythm guitar; Cody picking up the lead guitar duties; and its fiddle player, Eric Peel, is facing the possibility of relocating through his day job. Drummer Adam Doty is holding the anchor position through it all, and despite the shake-up, the band is in the studio recording its third album.

That's a lot of changes going on at the same time, any one of those in itself could produce a stress level some bands might not be able to survive. But Spur 503 is more than surviving it, the band is taking advantage of every change to turn it into a positive.

"Except for Adam and Eric, it's new for all of us," Chance said. "Johnny and Jared are our newest members, and we hit them with a lot of new songs all at once. And I have started playing lead guitar, which is a totally new beast for me. We've been through so many lead guitar players over the years, that I just decided that I'm gonna do it myself."

Dustin Perkins, whose band has shared stages with Spur 503 several times in the past year, said about Cody's newly-developing guitar talent, "He has come so far, I am very impressed. I can definitely tell he has been working hard and it's like he has done it for years."

Doty described what he's seeing Waitt and Mitchell bringing to Spur 503 by saying, "Johnny and Jared have a hunger and desire that is extremely contagious. This is translating to giving us new energy that makes a Spur 503 show more entertaining and more enjoyable for everyone involved." Doty, a banker by trade, is, like Cody, a Denison native. In fact, four of the five band members make their homes in Denison. His drumming is almost lyrical, and he provides harmonies and occasionally lead vocals for the band.

Peel makes his home in Paris, Texas, and is in real life an airline pilot. It's that airline company that has promoted him to the rank of captain, and thus the reason for his potential professional relocation.

"Eric became a brother of ours 3 1/2 years ago. He's a very talented guy in a lot of different areas, and one of those includes flying airplanes," Cody said. "He has been a pilot for as long as I've known him, and he just recently was promoted. That puts his future in the band in limbo, because we're not real sure of his schedule yet, or even where he will be based. But as of right now, he makes all the gigs he can, and we have a few fiddle players that we can call in for back-up. We'll wait on him, though - he's worth it."

Waitt started playing guitar when he was about 12 years old, he said, but switched to bass when he joined a band in high school. "I have kind of switched back and forth between the two ever since," Johnny said. Since joining Spur 503, he added, "Those guys have taught me a lot. I never really played country music before joining (Spur 503), so it took some adjusting to their style."

Jared said he began carrying a guitar around when he was about 2 or 3 years old, but didn't really start to learn anything until he was about 6. "My grandpa plays the guitar and sings," said the youngest member of this band. "He is the reason I first picked up a guitar."

It was in those young years when he also began singing. "I started having a music opinion as well," Jared said. "When I was 3 at church, they asked all the kids in the nursery with me what our favorite songs were. All the kids were saying things like, 'Jesus Loves Me' and such. My big sister was next to me telling me to just say what those kids were, but when it got to me I said proudly, 'That Drunken Ira Hayes' by the one and only Johnny Cash. Oh yeah, and I was the pastor's son saying that." He added that he didn't actually start to play and sing in front of people at church until he was about 14.

Adam and Chance both play in the church band where Jared's father serves as pastor, and so, Jared said, "I have been watching them play since I was 4 feet tall." This last year, he too joined the church band, and then when Cody asked him to join Spur 503, "I learned all the songs, and here we are," he said.

There's a sixth member of Spur 503, Brian Willis, or Lil B as they call him, who has been handling their sound and stage equipment for years. With a background in sound and light design that few his age can touch, Brian puts the polish on the Spur 503 sound.

And that is Spur 503, as it stands now - not standing still, but speeding toward a new future, new sounds. "That being said, we really try to focus on playing just our (original) music, and we're about to add a lot more songs and show elements as we near the completion of our third album," Chance said.

It may be those two younger Spur 503 members who are the most excited about playing the upcoming Texas Music Revolution. "It is probably the most important gig I have ever played," Waitt said. "I am looking forward to being able to play our music for so many people that haven't had the chance to really hear us. At the same time, I look at the rest of the bands playing and I am just as thrilled to watch those guys play."

Jared echoed that feeling. "This will be the first time since I have been playing with Spur that we will be at a show with bignames - even though almost anyone we play with is a big name to me," he said. He added that the nervous part of the approaching gig hasn't started to sink in yet. "But I'm pretty sure, once the day comes, I'm going to be a little shaky. It's going to be a good, fun experience."

Cody, program director at Americana radio station KHYI, which is sponsoring TMR, said it's a little weird to be playing it. "I didn't ask to play, I was informed," he said with that signature chuckle heard most every morning. "It's a real honor to be playing with such a broad group of talented musicians, and not just introducing them on stage. And yes, I'm very nervous, but that's what it's all about."

TexomaConnet.com
Web Hosting