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Mississippi Gun Club reloads and raises aim
By John Benson
Chuck “Hill Jack” Jackson is kind of embarrassed to admit there are times more often than not where he often chooses listening to his own music over established bands.
“To tell you the truth, every band I’ve ever been in which I’ve written original music for, it’s basically started as something where I was tired of hearing what was on the radio and all of the new fads and everything that was out,” said Jackson, who is the singer-guitarist of hard-rock act Mississippi Gun Club.
“I just wanted to listen to the music I wanted to listen to, so it came down to me recording our own songs, be it on a four-track, eight track or with Josh Roman in MindRocket Studios. I listen to my own music – not to toot my own horn – just as much as I would listen to any other favorite band or release that I have at home.”
In fact, it was just after the turn-of-the-century’s nu-metal phase that Jackson had had enough of rap-n-rock and decided to form Mississippi Gun Club with C.J. Haden (drums) and Ray Smegal (bass).
Inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Clutch and TAD, the threesome released a CD and a compilation roughly a decade ago before going on hiatus. After reforming for a 2010 Pabsolutely gig, the band has played out sparingly since.
That is until recently when the outfit decided to rededicate its effort toward Mississippi Gun Club.
“It’s just something we missed,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot of fun. We love writing our own music, and we enjoy the fact other people enjoy listening to us. It’s our hobby. It’s our baby, and we do have a lot of new songs.”
Those new songs include the Black Sabbath-meets-Kyuss sounding “A Few Years From Now” and the ’70s jam “The King.” Those tracks meld perfectly alongside fan favorites such as the heavy “Slowly,” the driving “60 Miles to Baghdad” and the anthemic “I Got Nothing.”
“It’s all basically your hard ’70s classic-rock sound with a lot of riffs and good hooks.” Jackson said. “Even though we’re a three piece right now, we actually found a singer we really love. He won’t be ready to join us until December, so right now we’re just playing out and staying warm.”