Scott Terry is very, very excited to be getting back to performing. The lead singer and founder of the rock group Red Wanting Blue had spent almost all of his adult life touring before last year, playing around 200 shows live around the country every year. So when the world suddenly stopped, it was particularly jarring for someone like Terry, who is used to always being on the move.
“What a wild feeling to feel like you’ve kinda had everything swept out from under you, and you’re like, ‘oh well.’ Until further notice, your services are no longer required. So that’s been a really wonderful thing, to get to see things opening up. So for me, I couldn’t be happier,” Terry said.
Not that Terry is complaining about the hiatus. The time has given he and his bandmates— Dean Anshutz on drums, Eric Hall and Greg Rahm on guitar and Mark McCullough on bass— time to work on their next album, for one thing. For another, it has meant getting a chance to spend time with people that sometimes take a back seat in the trip to rock stardom.
“For our band, and certainly some other friends of mine— my compatriots who are of similar age and have been performing about as long as we have— a lot of us were able to, over this last year-plus, make up for a lot of lost time with family, and getting a chance to be together. For me and my wife, we’ve been together for 20 years, and we’ve never been together for as consistently long of a stretch as we have during this time.”
Running To Red Hawk
But now, slowly and deliberately, Red Wanting Blue is getting back to performing again. The group will take the stage at the Red Hawk Run Pavilion on July 10, as part of the Route 224 Summer Bash. It’s not the group’s first show back, but it’s clear that Terry and his bandmates are still feeling out how gigs will go in this new reality called “almost-post-COVID, maybe.”
“A few months back, people were talking about, ‘How’s it going to be? Are people going to be scared to go out, are people going to be coming out very carefully? Or are people going to be voracious for life kicking back on?’ I feel like it’s certainly been more of the latter, and I think that people have really done a great job for the most part, doing whatever we have to do to be safe,” Terry said.
“Within those parameters, it’s been like, ‘Party on!’”
Slow and steady
The party has been pretty consistently a part of Terry’s life since 1995, when he founded Red Wanting Blue while attending Ohio University. Though Terry himself is a native of New Jersey (he currently lives in Brooklyn), the band has steadily grown into a staple of the midwest music scene, a distinction that Terry is clearly very proud of.
“It’s like small, concentric circles that started in southeast Ohio and then just kept kind of widening in scope and widening in scope until you find yourself being a nationally touring band,” he said.
Through years of touring and 11 studio albums, Red Wanting Blue built a loyal fanbase that has followed them loyally. Over time, the group’s fans allowed Red Wanting Blue to build an infrastructure of support that Terry said was invaluable to them as the band faced the reality of a tour-less world.
“It’s funny, when I wanted to be in a rock and roll band, I think that’s probably the greatest way of saying that I don’t wanna grow up, I don’t wanna have a ‘real’ job, you know? And then, to be in the position of when the world was managing whatever it was managing, being able to say, ‘Wow, what we built was strong enough, and solid enough and secure enough that the company will remain intact, and the company will be okay, and people will be taken care of.’ And that was such a blessing.”
Familiar stomping ground
Now that performances have begun to open up again, Red Wanting Blue is doing something that is very Red Wanting Blue— taking it slowly, picking and choosing events, gradually getting back into the game. But playing Findlay is a gig that Terry is clearly happy about.
“I’m just thrilled to be able to go out and play. Findlay is a very familiar stomping ground for us, 224 Fest, we’ve been a part of it before, we’re close with the organizer. And we’re just so glad to get to be able to do it.”
$25. 6:30pm. Saturday, July 10. Red Hawk Run Pavilion, 18441 US-224. To purchase tickets, visit ticketweb.com.
