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It isn't just about being fast, it isn't just about speed, it isn't just about energy. It's about what's behind the music and what's behind the singing and what's the emotional depth of a song and how can that be reflected in some way in the actual music. -Nick Forster |
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Photo of Hot Rize by Nathan Rist
In 1990 the band members made the decision to go their separate ways and devote themselves to their individual projects. O'Brien explains, "I was feeling like I wanted to do something different. I felt we had really accomplished a lot of good things but I felt like I wanted to try some other things. It was really just time for me."
 Hot Rize in the 80s |
Wernick believes they went out on a high point. "The first time IBMA gave away their main award for Entertainer of the Year, we got it. It was the last year for the band, so it was kind of like just in time. As we retired, the bluegrass community gave us their highest endorsement. That felt great."
These days Hot Rize plays sporadically. There were only two shows on their calendar for 2009, both in Colorado, and the most recent this past Sunday at the RockyGrass Festival. "Hot Rize just does a few gigs when it's a special occasion or when it's been too long between shows together because we need to check up on one another," O'Brien laughs. "We sort of grew up together and we need to check up every once in a while." Forster elaborates, "There are two things. One is that we've recorded probably 150 songs or something like that with a pretty good percentage of that being unique material to us, either original songs or something we arranged and claim as our own and so for the most part none of us is playing. So, we've got this great body of material and it's really fun to play those songs. Secondly, we have a thing. When we get together we do that thing and none of us gets that thing in a different context. Musically it's great material and a musical interaction that's really unique. Some of the other factors include schedule, logistics, and opportunity."
Forster agreed that they could do more. "We could easily play more," he says. "There are occasionally pressures to do more. There's a bunch of places we could play where folks would love to hear us play, but I think we are all understandably focused on our own things and that's the way it is right now."
 Hot Rize :: 1982 |
Those individual projects are many. Wernick plays in Flexigrass, Long Road Home, Pete and Joan Wernick, and conducts jam and banjo camps across the country. His activities are itemized on his website. O'Brien plays solo and with different bands and is producing a record for a songwriter from Salt Lake City, with another project involving an Irish band on tap for the summer. His website details his ongoing projects. Forster is focused on his radio show, Etown, and has been playing on numerous recordings. Etown can be found at etown.org.
When O'Brien reflects on what he learned from Hot Rize and from the Trailblazers he says, "You learn to make fun of yourself because that's the only option. I learned that you take the music seriously and you work your hardest to do what you want to do, but you can't take yourself too seriously. You need to loosen up every now and then. I learned how to work as a team with Hot Rize with what we had in our bag, what our available tricks were and how to use them. We grew together as a group and learned as we went along. It's always been a fun part of my history, those 12 years with those guys, just amazing."
"I don't know how many relationships you've had that have lasted more than 30 years. So, in most people's lives that is limited to the sphere of siblings. We're kind of like that, we're kind of like siblings," Forster sums things up. "Charles was an absolute brother to all of us. Brian Sutton is doing a great job of fitting in and absorbing. Brian, lucky for us, grew up listening to Hot Rize. He's got a great, dry sense of humor kind of like Charles did. So, he's really a wonderful addition to our unit. But Tim and Pete and I have this bond that is unique in my life. I don't have any other relationships like that with people with whom I was that close for that long. And that can be both good and bad, just like siblings. You have this enormous range of common experience. We did all this stuff together. We traveled all over the place. We had so much amazing, indescribable, weird stuff that happened with us uniquely together. That creates a pretty deep bond."
 Hot Rize by Chris Stone |
"I was 22 when I joined Hot Rize and in some ways it was my first serious bluegrass band. I grew up with those guys and I learned a lot about music from those guys," continues Forster. "A lot of the sensibilities and the things I came to appreciate about truth in music and what's real and what's soulful and what's moving in music came from my time in Hot Rize. It was a broad mix of music, it wasn't just bluegrass. Charles made these amazing mix tapes that would have Blind Willie Johnson, and others, like a really cool radio show. We would listen to these cassette tapes for hours as we were traveling. We would all make these mix tapes for each other for the road trips, but the ones Charles made were the most memorable. I learned a lot about soulful music. It isn't just about being fast, it isn't just about speed, it isn't just about energy. It's about what's behind the music and what's behind the singing and what's the emotional depth of a song and how can that be reflected in some way in the actual music."
"Nick and Tim and I have these deep connections and we're like family to each other. It's really hard to imagine what my life would be like without either of those guys," Wernick says. "The Hot Rize band made a huge amount possible for me. It's helped me to achieve dreams that were beyond dreams that I had. I never dreamed I'd be a professional musician. Every time I've ever gotten on stage with Hot Rize that music is exhilarating to play. I have a huge amount of respect for the other band members as people as well as musicians. I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to do my part in what we've been able to make happen as a group. It's so neat that we've inspired kids, we've inspired bluegrass professionals, we've inspired writers, DJs, people who don't even speak English. I consider myself lucky, but not lucky like I drew a lucky lottery number because I worked really hard to make a lot of this stuff happen, so it's not just pure luck. But I'm also lucky it worked out because a lot of people work really hard and it doesn't work out."
"We won Entertainer of the Year from IBMA for good reason, I think, which is we really put on a good show" reflects Forster. "We always thought about that - trying to make an entertaining program for everyone. That included a lot of great music. We had original songs. The music was the first priority, but we thought about how we looked on stage and we thought about pacing and timing and what the setlist should be and the whole evolution of the Trailblazers as an adjunct and a part of our show was a really wonderful kind of coincidence in that it enabled what we were allowed to present to an audience to grow and expand. It was really pretty unique. A good Hot Rize show was a pretty entertaining evening and we were proud of it."
JamBase | Right In The Skillet
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