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Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A. (more commonly known simply as Spring Heeled Jack) was a third wave ska band based out of New Haven, Connecticut. The band was formed by guitarist/vocalist Ron Ragona and drummer Dave Karcich in 1991. After a short breakup, Ragona and Karcich reformed the band with a new lineup. This lineup would record two albums before announcing a hiatus in 2000. While the band members moved on to new bands, their intention was to play the occasional reunion show. This idea was would never come to fruition as a cerebral aneurysm would be cause for Karcich's sudden death in 2002.

The early years
Shortly after forming the band, Ragona moved to Boston, to play guitar for Skavoovie and the Epitones. After six months in Boston though, Ragona returned to Connecticut and reformed Spring Heeled Jack. The only other returning member would be Karcich. By the time the band decided to record its first demo tape, the lineup consisted of Ragona on vocals and guitar, Karcich on drums, Mike Pellegrino on vocals and guitar, Rick Omonte on bass, Chris Rhodes on trombone, Pat Gingras on trumpet and James Riley on saxophone. The demo tape was titled CT Ska and was released in 1993. The band played many shows and soon had a devoted following amongst the strong New Haven ska scene. The band would also contribute studio and live songs for various ska compilations over the next few years.


[edit] The Moon Ska years

Moon Promotional PhotoThe band's popularity did not escape notice by Robert "Bucket" Hingley, founding member of The Toasters and owner of Moon Ska Records. Hingley signed the band to the label and had them start recording their debut album. By this time, the lineup had changed again. Gingras had left and was replaced by Tyler Jones. Riley had also decided to leave the band and, as a result, half of the album featured him playing saxophone, while the other half was recorded with, new member, (re)Pete Wasilewski. Wasilewski had previously played with Rhodes in the Connecticut band, JC Superska. In 1996, their debut album, Static World View, was released. The band filmed one video, for the song, "Pay Some Dues." To support the release of the album, the band started touring outside of their usual territory. During this time, the band became friendly with frquent touring partners, The Amazing Royal Crowns. As a result, the Spring Heeled Jack horn section performed on the song "Do The Devil" from the 1997 debut album by The Amazing Royal Crowns.

It wasn't too much longer before ska started to break into the mainstream due to commercial hits by bands such as No Doubt and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and major labels started looking for ska bands to sign. This led to Spring Heeled Jack's eventual signing with Ignition Records, an imprint label of Tommy Boy Records.


The Ignition years
With the band's signing to a major label, came a minor name change. The addition of U.S.A. to the band's name was the result of a legal agreement with the British electronic group, Spring Heel Jack. It was done to avoid confusion between the two musical acts on album covers and live performances. While some considered it an actual name change, the band rarely referred to themselves as anything but Spring Heeled Jack. Rumor has it that Spring Heel Jack was to add UK to their name, as part of the agreement, but this never occurred. With this legal business out of the way, the label booked the band to record at the legendary Hit Factory recording studio in New York City. The same studio had previously been used by musicians such as John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, & The Rolling Stones. The resulting album was Songs From Suburbia, released in 1998. To promote the album, the band toured extensively with bands such as Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dance Hall Crashers. One such performance was filmed for use in an episode of the HBO music show, Reverb. They also played several dates on the 1999 Warped Tour. The band then filmed their second video, for the song "Jolene". The song was about the band's first tour van, which, by the time the video was filmed, had been sold in order to purchase a new one. The band didn't feel right about doing the video without the original van and it was bought back. After filming, the van was sold yet again. Some fans from Connecticut were upset when the novelty license plate, shown in the video, was from New York. This was a circumstance of the video being filmed in New York City and therefore the plate that was made was from New York as well. The video received minimal MTV airplay but a clip of the video appeared regularly as part of the introduction to the daily MTV show, I Spy Video. Soon after the video was shot, the band featured a contest on their website that allowed fans to submit new name suggestions for their new van. Once all of the submissions were in, the band decided on "The People's Van" as the name.

It was during this period that the Skalars, tourmates and friends from St. Louis, Missouri, were in need a trumpet player to record their second album, Change Up. Tyler Jones was invited to fill in for the recording of the album which was released in 1999. Spring Heeled Jack entered the studio, once again, to record three songs that would never be released to the public. One of the songs was a cover of The Stray Cats song, "Sexy & 17" which was regularly performed during live performances. A second song was titled "Lonely." A third song, titled "Josie," a re-worked version of the band's single, "Jolene," was submitted for use in the Drew Barrymore film, Never Been Kissed but it was rejected. "Josie" was the name of Barrymore's character in the film.

Things seemed to be going well for the band when it was announced that, due to a merger between record labels, Tommy Boy Records would be dissolving their Ignition Records imprint and dropping the majority of acts signed to the label. Suddenly, the band had no record label and therefore, no label support. As this was happening, the band was in the middle of what would be their final tour of California. Kyle Herrman, a friend of the band, accompanied them for several days and filmed what would become the documentary, Mass Appeal Madness. While inititially only available at the band's final show, the movie would continue to be sold on the internet for several more years.


The end & new beginnings
Shortly after being dropped by their label, Dave Karcich decided to leave the band, in pursuit of making new music. He played, what he intended to be his last show with the band, in Long Island. Soon after, the band set out to find a replacement drummer yet were unsuccessful by the time their next performance came about at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Karcich returned to play drums with the band one last time. It was after this show that the band announced their intent to go on hiatus. Their goal was to continue recording music and playing shows together, without the constant need for extensive and expensive touring. In the meantime, they'd be free to pursue new bands and projects. They announced their final show, for the time being, and it was held at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut in May, 2001. Unfortunately, by the time the show was booked, Chris Rhodes had already joined The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. In his place, on stage, a microphone stand stood with one of his shirts hanging from it. Earlier that day, the Bosstones had recorded a performance on Late Show with David Letterman. The club had a large projection screen airing the television show and when the Bosstones segment aired, Spring Heeled Jack called Rhodes via cellphone. Together, the band and audience sang a variation of the Bosstones song, "Where'd You Go," entitled "Where Is Chris Rhodes," to him.

Almost immediately, rumors about the next possible reunion began to surface. The band did intend to play the occasional show and possibly record new material but those plans came to a halt in April 2, 2002, when Karcich suffered a sudden cerebral aneurysm and passed away three days later, at the age of 28. Eight months after his passing, a tribute show was held at Toad's Place, in honor of Karcich. Each band that performed had some prior connection to Karcich's life. The show ended with the one time reunion of Spring Heeled Jack. Several of Karcich's drummer friends took his place during the performance. Over $8,000 was made and put into a scholarship fund, in Karcich's name.


After Spring Heeled Jack
After the breakup, all seven members continued working in music.

Ron Ragona became the singer for Lost City Angels, and released two albums with the band before departing in 2006. He has since become a member of the band, The Murder Mile.

Tyler Jones was a member of Reel Big Fish for a brief time, after the departure of trumpet player, Tavis Werts. He performs on several songs appearing on their Cheer Up! album as well as the entire Reel Big Fish: Live at the House of Blues DVD.

Mike Pellegrino now performs with Lord Fowl, a New Haven based three piece rock band. He also performs, from time to time, with Cenzo, a band he helped form with Karcich and former Pilfers and Bim Skala Bim member, Vinny Nobile, for a World Trade Center benefit show in 2001. Shows performed after Karcich's death featured a new lineup which did not include Pellegrino but, in 2005, he returned to the band. Pellegrino also briefly played with Ragona in Lost City Angels, before joining the Connecticut based band, Ladyfriend. He appeared on Ladyfriend's album, I Am An Autumn, before leaving the band, who, soon after, changed their name to Welcome.

Rick Omonte remains a strong contributor to the New Haven, Connecticut music scene. He plays bass for the bands Crooked Hook and The Mountain Movers. Both bands made their recording debut in 2006. Crooked Hook released a five song, self-titled EP while The Mountain Movers released their debut album, We’ve Walked in Hell and There is Life After Death. When not playing music, his promotion company, Shaki Presents, books bands for "Sundazed at BAR", a free Sunday night event at local New Haven club, BAR.

Chris Rhodes played briefly with Bim Skala Bim before joining The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He appears on their A Jacknife to a Swan album and wrote the album's single, "You Gotta Go!". After their breakup, he began performing with The Toasters, where he continued to play until his departure in 2006. Rhodes has also performed with Omonte's band, The Mountain Movers and makes an appearance on the band's debut CD. In 2004, he has made live appearances with bands such as Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish and NOFX.

Pete Wasilewski is now a member of Less Than Jake, but is known better to their fans as JR, to avoid confusion with former trombone player, Pete Anna. His first album with the band was Anthem. He also made a guest appearance on the debut album by The Mountain Movers.

After leaving Spring Heeled Jack, Karcich temporarily filled in for Mephiskapheles. He went on to audition for several other bands, such as 2 Skinnee J's, before he was asked to join Pilfers, who were looking to replace their rhythm section. Karcich went on to perform with Pilfers until they too disbanded. Afterwards, he was a founding member of Cenzo with Pellegrino and two of his former Pilfers bandmates. At the time of his death, he was a member of Avoid One Thing with former Bosstones bass player, Joe Gittleman. Although featured in the artwork for their debut release, Karcich does not actually perform on the album.


Members
Dave Karcich - drums
Ron Ragona - guitar, vocals
Tyler Jones - trumpet
Chris Rhodes - trombone, vocals
Rick Omonte - bass guitar
Mike Pelligrino - guitar, vocals
Pete Wasilewski - saxophone, vocals
James Riley - saxophone
Pat Gingras - trumpet