Saving Abel will be headlining the second stage June 7 at Rockfest.

Addicted to rock on the road

By: Heather Sprigler

Posted: 6/2/08

Ladies and gentlemen, summer has officially arrived and, for some of us here in Kansas City, that can mean only one thing: Rockfest.

It's a beautiful thing to see 50,000 people gathered together in one huge, happy, communal sweat. It is the largest one-day concert this summer in the Midwest, but as of May 29, only 2,000 tickets were still available. If you don't already have a ticket, you'll probably have to succumb to the likes of scalpers to gain access to this mega-party. I certainly won't sell you mine.

This year's bash has 15 bands playing June 7 at Liberty Memorial. Another Animal kicks off at lunchtime on the main stage while Redline Chemistry fires up the second stage starting at noon. This year's headliners are the newly-reunited Stone Temple Pilots on the main stage and Saving Abel will be rocking the second stage.

University News caught up with Saving Abel somewhere between Iowa and in Omaha, Neb. They've been playing a killer schedule of roughly 12 days on and one day off and will continue to do so through the end of September. Lead singer Jared Weeks was pretty shocked at the schedule himself.

"I was like 'Damn, I'm Superman,'" Weeks said. "We've pretty much played any and everywhere we've been told to play. We haven't canceled a show yet."

Saving Abel has been touring with several different bands in the last year, including the likes of Chevelle, Korn and Theory of a Deadman.

"The first time I ever met the Theory of a Deadman guys was in Jacksonville, North Carolina," Weeks said. "We ended up standing in a circle with a soccer ball playing hacky sack. What we ended up doing was pouring Bacardi 151 on the soccer ball and lighting it on fire. It made the game a little more difficult. It was a real bonding experience."

Nothing says "friendship" like kicking around a flaming soccer ball, right?

Saving Abel is mostly known for the first single, "Addicted." This track has literally exploded on the airwaves since the group's self-titled album was released in March.

Weeks said the band took about 14 1/2 hours to shoot two videos for the song and both are big hits on YouTube with about 330,000 views. The unedited version filmed with topless models for Playboy.com may have had something to do with the clip's popularity.

A second track (and my personal favorite), "18 Days," also has a video making the rounds on the Internnet, but it was not released by the band or their label, Virgin Records. This video is a slideshow put together by a fan of several soldiers coming home and seeing their families again. It's a real tear-jerker. Bring tissues.

"They're talking about either letting that one be the second or maybe the third single out," Weeks said. "'18 Days' has been around longer than 'Addicted' has been. It's been around for a good couple of years. It was on our first EP album and it made it on our second album."

Judging by the album, I think Saving Abel definitely merits the top slot on the second stage at this year's Rockfest. It should be a real kick to hear them live, just before heading over to catch the awesome STP as the big event.

As to when we can expect new stuff from Saving Abel, Weeks couldn't be pinned down.

"We've got a few songs we've been writing on the road," he said. "I don't know if we're going to go to the studio and start recording those or not, nonetheless, we do keep writing. We try to keep our minds sharp. There's a lot of stuff to write about when you're on the road."

hsprigler@unews.com