Widespread Panic reflects on 25 years of band-dom

ATHENS -- In early February 25 years ago, Widespread Panic played its first gig, a charity show at Athens' Mad Hatter Ballroom (now the Classic Center).

The band didn’t necessarily realize what was happening at the time, other than it being the first show that members John Bell, Michael Houser, Todd Nance and Dave Schools played as Widespread Panic, a moniker derived from the panic attacks that afflicted Houser.

Later that year, an Austin, Texas-based percussionist, Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, drove the 16 hours to Athens looking for a change of scenery. Instead, he found his musical home.

Zip forward to Monday, when Widespread Panic plays an anniversary show at the Fox Theatre, and then Tuesday, when the band will (possibly) dress up to receive a resolution passed by the state’s House of Representatives and Senate in honor of its longevity.

Yes, it’s been a long, strange trip for the renowned band, which has only sold about 3 million albums, but, like other jam bands of its esteemed status, packs hundreds of thousands of fans every year into its live shows.

To wit: The group holds the record for the most sellouts at Philips Arena (17) and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado (35).

Throughout the decades, Widespread Panic has coped with the usual minor headaches of band marriages, but also, in 2002, a devastating loss: the death of guitarist Houser from pancreatic cancer.

Though Houser’s place onstage has been filled, first by George McConnell and since 2006, Jimmy Herring, his passing remains the most gut-wrenching difficulty Widespread Panic has faced.

Earlier this week during a chat at the Brown Cat, the band’s longtime Athens business office, Ortiz lived up to his “Sunny” nickname as he chewed a plastic toothpick while Nance chain-smoked Winstons and displayed big smiles and pure affability while discussing the band’s past -- and future.

Q. What are these rumors that after this year you’re going on indefinite hiatus?

Ortiz: We don't know if that's official yet.

Nance: We don't have the particulars worked out, but we're working our tails off this year, and next year [we] might sit back but we don't know. We play 100 shows a year here, and sometimes you saturate the market and just need a breather. But it's nothing big. Nobody is quitting or anything like that. No divorces. We're just going to take a breath and assess the situation and get a game plan.

Q. There was some grumbling by fans that you didn’t play Philips Arena this past New Year’s Eve. How come you decided to do Denver?

Ortiz: As a band we like to be unpredictable, and it's cool to do other cities for special occasions. We like to change it up and keep the fans on their toes.

Q. Do you have anything special planned for the anniversary show?

Ortiz: We'll have some special guests come up, maybe John Keane and the Colonel [Bruce Hampton].

Nance: We'll play some stuff we did back in the early days that we don't do anymore.

Q. Would you say the hardest thing the band has had to overcome was Michael’s death?

Ortiz: For me, yeah. That one really takes the cake for me. We never anticipated losing a member that way. We proceeded to get this far, but it's been tough. I see his son constantly; he's the spitting image [of Michael]. We keep in touch with his parents, too, and they come out to the shows. It's kinda humbling to know that they still want to hang out with us and we can all still be a family.

Q. You have some of the most loyal fans in the industry. Why do you think that is?

Nance: We bust our [butt] for our fans. We never phone it in. We always sit down and consciously try to come up with something new that they will enjoy. We play for ourselves, our integrity, in a way, and that comes across to the crowd ... and we pay a lot of attention to doing the right thing.

Q. How would you like to be remembered as a band?