The past couple of weeks have seen a continuous stream of newly-released archive content from Widespread Panic via the veteran rock band’s YouTube channel. That stream continued to flow on Friday with a bit of a twist as, rather than concert footage, the band shared a backstage interview with guitarist Michael Houser and drummer Todd Nance which origially took place back in August 2000.
The newly-shared YouTube clip is pulled from the band’s Live at Oak Mountain concert DVD, which captured Panic’s 8/12/2000 performance at Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, AL. This footage follows other recently-shared videos of the band’s 1990s TV appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and CNN news, interviews and performances from the 2002 documentary The Earth Will Swallow You, and the 2003 concert film, Live from The Backyard, along with other archival performances.
This five-minute interview sees the band’s two now-departed members–Houser who died in 2002 and Nance who passed away just last year–and lifelong friends trace the origins of their musical histories together going back to adolescence when they would play guitar together over the phone. Given the state of technology at the time, however, this operation wasn’t as easy as the casual FaceTime. Instead, both musicians would tie the phone to their heads using a belt so that they would each be able to play the guitar with both hands while staying on the phone. Nance simply noted of his and Houser’s early cover bands together, “Back then we just wanted to rock.”
Fast forward a bit to when Houser is down in Athens, GA and Widespread Panic are looking for a drummer but nobody is able to fill the spot properly with Houser noting, “The people we played with before were not used to starting and stopping in the middle of a song and they just couldn’t get it.” After an early mix-up when Nance came down to practice with the band and nobody was around, they soon hit it off and agreed that Nance was the missing piece of the group.
From there the band took off with Houser and Nance noting their gradual climb up the ladder of success. From getting a tour bus to getting tuners, getting more than three pitchers of beer for a concert to getting paid actual money, to going around the world and getting your own hotel room, Houser and Nance traced Panic’s meteoric rise. Through all of that success, however, the late guitarist noted that the band has remained committed to its mission.
“We still do what we set out to do the first day we ever played together which was play good music,” Houser said.
Watch the full interview with Michael Houser and Todd Nance from the Widespread Panic DVD Live at Oak Mountain below.
Michael Houser & Todd Nance Interview – Live at Oak Mountain
[Video: Widespread Panic]