Muddy Violets make most of musical reunion
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

When Muddy Violets prepared to release their long-awaited first CD, singer/songwriter Jason Longo knew exactly what he wanted to call it. “‘Reclamation’,” he says. “To reclaim something, to take something back from a wasted state. I always felt that (Muddy Violets) was something that had that purposeful, ‘meant to be’ feeling and that something was holding it back. This was meant to be.”

Formed in the mid-1990s by Longo and drummer Louis Butler, the band splintered three years ago after a promising start on Tempe's Mill Avenue music scene. Butler took a job — which he still holds — as a drum tech for P.H. Naffah of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, and Longo began gigging around town as a solo acoustic act, and later with guitarist Scott Johnson of the Gin Blossoms accompanying him.

But something was missing for Longo, and he often thought of calling his old bandmate, whom he hadn't spoken with in three years.

“I was thinking about calling (Butler),” Longo says. “And then my phone rang, and it was Louie.”

“I had a gut feeling — that's the only way I can explain it,” Butler says of making that first phone call. “I love his songwriting and his music, and I wasn't in any better band as I was with him, so I called him and he was ready to go.”

To round out the lineup, the band recruited wunderkind bassist Roy Valencia (who attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music) and guitar-slinger Brandon Goehner, formerly of Shooter. The re-formed Muddy Violets booked a show immediately and began working toward filling out their set list. Longo wrote plenty of new songs, and the rest of the band pitched in their own ideas to flesh the tunes out.

“With some of the songs, I'd have an idea on guitar and we'd go from there,” says Goehner, who often calls his answering machine to sing guitar ideas to himself.

The band recorded “Reclamation” live at the Last Exit Bar and Grill during just their second show back, a gutsy move that pays off as the band's tight chemistry is in full bloom on the disc.

“This is the most ideal situation,” Longo says. “Everybody does their own thing in the band, everybody has their knack — lyrics are my deal, Louie is on drums and is great at arranging ideas, Brandon comes up with leads and melodies and Roy is a great bass player. “I'm playing in the band right now that I've always wanted to be in.”