Hot Water Music Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

Gainesville has always offered a distinctive, magical vibe unmatched by other towns in the so-called Sunshine State. Moving there in the early-’90s was what you did when you wanted to be in Florida but feel like you didn’t dwell in the state. It was a town that gave priceless lessons in regards to the opportunities for anybody to form artistic coalitions and create.

People literally learned to play their instruments on the stages of places like the Hardback Cafe, or at house shows in spaces like The Utility House, The Barcelona House and most notably, The Spoke House.

One could go to the corner of 13th and University and hit up Leonardo’s Pizza, grab a slice and check out bulletin board show flyers to see who was gonna rip tunes for the upcoming week. Kinkos was the nerve center for the creation of all this DIY promo, and folks littered the town with works of beauty that weren’t digital. They were actual show flyers. This was before the internet. This was before social media. This was before cell phones.

Gainesville was the start of the path for Hot Water Music, which has spent the last three decades cultivating a hypnotic, potent and excoriatingly inspirational sound which to this day can still galvanize a room regardless of size.
The band will bring fans together again this weekend when it co-headlines Jannus Live in St. Petersburg along with Avail. It’s the third time the bands have played together in Tampa Bay.

The endurance of a band is largely measured by the amount of give and take to which each member will permit themselves to indulge. It’s not uncommon for most bands to write a compelling freshman album and follow up with a sophomore release only to fade into other projects or just shelve the body of work in its entirety. Staring down the barrel of that gun which shoots most bands down after two solid LPs has left Hot Water Music essentially bulletproof.

So here it stands—unmoved by statistics after 25 years of multiple breakups, hiatuses, solo albums and headlining international tours—ready to release a miraculous 10th full-length LP, Feel The Void, due March 18 on Equal Vision Records.

Guitarist and vocalist Chris Wollard stepped away from playing live shows and touring with the band back in October 2017. Chuck Ragan, who also handles vocals and guitar, bassist Jason Black and drummer George Rebelo completely supported the choice and discovered a way to make the band still work on all levels and keep its 25-year songwriting partnership intact.

Enter Chris Cresswell of Canadian punk band The Flatliners. Cresswell filled in, last minute at The Fest in Gainesville a few years back. He knew a good portion of Hot Water Music songs and is now a permanent member who contributes to composition, performance and tours with the band. The arrangement essentially has the band banging all five cylinders at full speed.

Tampa and St. Petersburg have seen a lot of change in 25 years used to be home for venues ranging from the now defunct, 30-person capacity DIY record store 403 Chaos to larger 800-person capacity live music rooms like the beaux-art style State Theatre—now the Floridian Social Club.

As he drove through the early California morning on the way to the fly fishing charter business that pays his bills these days, Ragan reflected on some of the changes that’ve happened in the Bay area since his band started playing here years ago.

“The record store. That was an awesome time. I mean, it was a crazy time. We were doing a lot with Steve Heritage (Asssück guitarist/producer and 430 Chaos owner) at that time. He was running the record store with Diane and back then,” Ragan told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “It was really common for us to be playing crazy, obscure small places and strip malls off the beaten path, little record stores—that was super cool.”

In 1999, BYO (Better Youth Organization Records) asked Hot Water music to do a split for series that ended up including UK punk band Leatherface.

“Our minds were just blown,” Ragan said. Upon hearing the news, Wollard completely cold called Leatherface frontman Frankie Stubbs to ask if the band wanted to go on a U.S. tour. Stubbs said yes, and in no time they were on the road together.

“At the time Leatherface was our absolute favorite band that we thought we would never see live. Then all of the sudden were bringing them on their first U.S, tour,” Ragan told CL. That tour in the hot summer of 2001 included a St. Patrick Day stop at the State Theatre where Leatherface gave one of its best performances ever (Small Brown Bike and The Honor System were also on the show).

“I have so many memories of that area. The State Theatre, the Ritz, the Cuban Club which was pretty much the first big show I ever saw,” Ragan said. “I think it was Sick of it All, Nasty Savage and DRI.”

Memories exist always, even if they’re in the back of the mind. It’s like they get locked in a vault and the key to that vault is embroiled in the music that was blaring over the speakers at that place and time.

“It never mattered who you were or where you worked. It never mattered who you were or what you earned,” Ragan sings on the song “Southeast First,” a highlight on Hot Water Music’s 1999 album No Division. “What mattered was what you gave and what you loved. What mattered was what you gave and what was learned.”

Hot Water Music will unlock memories again this weekend, and we’re lucky to still be carving out a path with the band so many years later.