Widespread Panic's 'JoJo' Hermann Is a Missing Cat

Posted on Aug 12th 2009 4:00PM by Benjy Eisen
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Although Widespread Panic didn't anchor as many festivals this year as they have in the past (including majors like Bonnaroo, Rothbury and Outside Lands), the band is still in the midst of a healthy touring season, shredding summer sheds on a co-bill with their spiritual Southern Rock forefather, the Allman Brothers Band. The bands will continue to combine forces throughout the fall, leading up to a headlining slot for Panic at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans on Nov. 1. But they're taking September off. Technically, anyway.

While his bandmates rest or play golf or whatever it is jam bands do when they're not jamming, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann just can't stop. In mid-September, he'll hit the road with singer-songwriter Sherman Ewing for five club dates in the southeast under the moniker Missing Cats. Not only will the venues be a lot smaller, but it will just be two cats on stage. The setup is a lot more stripped down than Panic -- it's just an acoustic guitar and an upright piano. "Not having the rhythm section to carry me through the songs definitely forces me to play the New Orleans-style boogie bass lines more true to the old styles," Hermann tells Spinner. "Sometimes those licks creep into Panic jams when I come back from something like that."

All the same, don't expect Hermann to bring the Panic catalog to these Missing Cats gigs. After all, he's on vacation. "If people are expecting Panic songs on these nights, they'll probably be disappointed," Hermann says candidly. "If you enjoy some New Orleans boogie piano in a dark, musty bar and a dust-laden glass of cheap red wine, you can find that at Missing Cats."

He might be romanticizing dingy nightclubs with a statement like that, but Hermann says that returning to the club level after playing amphitheaters and festival stages feels like a sort of homecoming. "I definitely enjoy connecting with the audience in a more intimate way," he says. "The dressing rooms, however, in these places ... I do not miss in the least."

In other words, he prefers when there is a wall between the urinal and the catering tray, and we don't blame him. Following their short outing, Missing Cats will hit the studio to record original material for their debut album. But by October, Hermann will be back out with Panic, playing in places where the dressing rooms aren't so sticky and where the red wine isn't so cheap.