The New What Next

In 2004 Florida punks Hot Water Music plunged into that almost purgatorial realm of the "indefinite hiatus", as all four members, burnt out, looked to focus on various individual endeavours. Though they eventually called it quits two years later to pursue subsequent musical projects, 2008 saw HWM reforming in drips and drabs; basically whenever they could quite happily and above all, physically, make it work.

Following the band's initial decision, the band's burly, gravel-throated frontman Chuck Ragan quite simply went back to his roots and soon dove pretty much headlong back into his former trade as a carpenter and got stuck into some good ol' fashioned hard graft. Throughout this time, he continued to jam on his acoustic guitar, penning songs of a more folk/bluegrass ilk.

Having previously mused in other interviews over every musicians inherent desire to go solo at some stage in the game, this perhaps somewhat unexpected leap from brazen melodic punk rock to mellow, "porch songs" doesn't appear to have been a particularly laborious task for Ragan, at least not to begin with: "Well, really, it's not something that I hadn't been doing before" says Ragan. "Its just something that I haven't put as much focus on; something that not many people cared about or paid any attention to," he laughs. "Even in the early HWM days, we pretty wrote everything on acoustic. We all lived in a small complex when we weren't able to plug our amps in all the time, so we used to sit around on porches and play folk songs."

The decision to take his casual compositions a little more seriously came about as a result of some fairly pro-active spousal support: "Honestly, one day my wife just encouraged me to go and record some of the songs i was sitting around playing in the kitchen. That was about 5 years ago." Ragan recalls. "Then I just put my head down and started focusing on it, and went at it full force" Since then, Ragan has recorded a number of short releases - including an early collection of 7" singles, released as part of a "7" club" - as well as a live album and two full-length studio records, Feast And Famine, and last year's Gold Country.

As you might expect upon further perusal of the HWM catalogue, Ragan's voice, with its deep, ragged timbre, still evokes much of the power and unbridled energy of his earlier punk days. However, growing up in the south of Florida within a devout religious community lent Ragan some colourful additions to his musical canon which also seem to have bled through: "The home that i was raised in was fairly conservative and we were surrounded by old gospel music and bluegrass, all kinds of stuff like that." he explains. "I was hearing that stuff way before I heard Bad Brains or The Germs or whatever. But, even through all those years of getting into punk rock, and just rebelling against everything i was raised on, a lot of it still stuck with me."

Recent years have seen Ragan delve deeper and deeper into these influences, even spawning several "Revival" tours. These annual tours, organized by Ragan and his wife, and spanning the U.S., boast a revolving cast of traditional folk/bluegrass musicians as well as a variety of fellow punks - such as Tim Barry (Avail) and Tom Gabel (Against Me) - who have also turned their hands to "roots" music. The resulting shows operate a fully engaged and collaborative approach that is reflective - and by no means accidentally - of that same sense of community and raw musical energy that is synonymous with Punk Rock. The album, Gold Country, was also born of combining these elements, as Ragan explains: "I wanted to make a record that was a little more raw and had a bit more of a "live" feeling than feast or famine." he says. "I just wanted to do it in a more relaxed fashion and take more time with it; do it in a really simple studio, and invite my friends."

This month sees Ragan return to the U.K. with fellow folk/punk anomaly and frequent tour buddy, Frank Turner as they take on pretty much every "Academy" known to man. And if heading up this rather sterling bill with the former Million Dead man - which takes in our nation's capital along the way - isn't enough to whet one's appetite, then the announcement of Hot Water Music's return to our fair shores for a smattering of shows this summer will surely be the makings of a veritable punk rock feast. Sadly, no Scottish shows have surfaced, as yet. However, for anyone unwilling to make a fateful southern road-trip, the capable hands of Chuck Ragan and his punk rock porch songs will more than suffice.