SAVING ABEL - Photo by Jeff Forney

By Mary Ouellette

Warming up the stage for Nickelback on their upcoming North America arena tour are Southern rockers Saving Abel.  Having lived on the road since the release of their self-titled debut album in March of last year, Saving Abel is no stranger to the stage. However, an opportunity of this magnitude is something  they truly appreciate and won’t take for granted. “Nickelback is the biggest band in America right now; the stages don’t get any bigger than that.  I think we’re ready for it,” reported guitarist Scott Bartlett on a recent call to Pulse Magazine.

Hailing from a small town in Mississippi, the founding members of Saving Abel (Jason Null on guitar, Jared Weeks on vocals) remember a time not so long ago when they were working their day jobs and driving back and forth to Memphis to lay down an EP they hoped might get heard by someone.  Bartlett, who originally came in as a session player, never knew that it would turn into a full time gig ~ but before he knew it, Weeks and Null were asking him to join the band.  The rest of the line-up was rounded out by Blake Dixon on drums and Eric Taylor on bass ~ local musicians and friends that Null and Weeks had known from school.  Now a full-fledged band, they never expected what would soon follow ~ a record deal transforming their lives and subsequently giving them the chance to live out their dreams.

Saving Abel’s first single, the sexually charged “Addicted,” lived up to its moniker by taking up permanent residence in the heads of music fans worldwide and acted as the unofficial rock anthem of the year.   Making its way up both rock radio and Top 40 radio charts at warp speed, “Addicted” has given the band the opportunity to connect with a whole new range of fans by transcending the rock charts.

About their sound once described as comfortable and accessible, Bartlett offers, “I believe that there’s something in it for everybody when it comes to our music.  I was born on Southern rock and we’re bringing that style to our music with great melodies and rock licks but we’re still bringing the screaming guitar solos.  Who’s not comfortable with rock and roll?  It’s been around for awhile and it’s not going anywhere and there’s a reason for that.  So as far as us being comfortable and accessible I think it’s just that we identify with people and people can identify with us because of the way we write songs.“

And identify they do.  With their new single “18 Days,” the band has struck a chord quite close to home for many Americans.  The song, originally penned about a sheriff in their hometown of Corinth, was reinvented when a fan sent the band a video she made displaying a collage of touching photos of members of the military with “18 Days” playing in the background.  Soon after, the band started hearing from members of the military directly who thanked them for the song, something that Bartlett reflected on. “We just wanted to make sure that everyone knew how much we appreciated the military who are risking their lives for us.  You don’t have to be a Republican or a Democrat, you don’t have to support the President, but you do have to support the troops for what they do for us every day.”   The band’s video for “18 Days” pays homage to those far from home but close to our hearts and was filmed on the USS Hornet, the San Francisco based naval carrier that won 9 battle stars for her service in WWII.

With their first two singles showing two very different sides of Saving Abel, it’s easy to see why this band has attracted such a wide range of fans. While their sound might not stray too far “out of the box,” it has a versatility to it that makes their songs easy for music fans to relate to.  Following in the footsteps of bands like Nickelback and Hinder, Saving Abel has the opportunity to stay relevant for as long as they can continue to make music.  In parting, Bartlett summed it up in true rock n’ roll fashion: “There are a lot of people out there saying that rock and roll is dead, and they are f*cking morons.”

Catch Saving Abel opening for Nickelback March 5th at the DCU Center!