Steamboat Pilot & Today

It has been seven years since the Freddy Jones Band played together.

But now that the band is back on tour, the band members feel a responsibility to their fans after the long absence. "What if we suck? What if we are terrible? How do you compete with someone's memory?" drummer Simon Horrocks asked.

"We were always a fun-oriented jam band," Horrocks said. "We were never one of those bands that played the framework of the song and jammed on it for six hours. Maybe a few hours, but not six."

From 1991 to 1998, the band produced five records and extensively toured the country. At the height of the band's career, when members were playing shows with Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Sheryl Crow, they stopped because they were frustrated with their record label.

"We were on major tours with every artist, and our record company lost distribution, couldn't keep our records in stock and was having financial problems," Horrocks said.

The band had two songs on the charts, and no records in the stores.

"You get to the point that the business sort of makes you lose sight of what you got into the business for," Horrocks said. "We got in because of the love of the music, and we got out because of the love of the music."

Everyone in the band had become successful in other endeavors. They now own businesses and are involved in real estate and commodities trading, but Horrocks never left the business. He is a general manager for an urban-based record label.

"It's really funny. You have your regular job, and then you get the call that you have to go put on your cape and go play music again," Horrocks said.

And that's what the Freddy Jones Band did. The first show the band played in seven years was for a benefit for The Boys and Girls Club of Chicago in August. "We had the goofiest-looking smiles on our faces. It was a toss-up on who had more fun -- us or the audience," Horrocks said.

The band members now play for fun, not money. This time around, they say it's important to give something back.

"We've decided that we will take a share of the money and donate it to charity," Horrocks said. Band members pick different charities for each show they perform. The first organization they gave money to was The Boys and Girls Club because it brought them back together.

They probably will donate money from this tour to Mountain Rescue because they know that it's an important organization here. They want to give back to Colorado because it's been good to them.

"Steamboat was the first time that we played live on the radio," Horrocks said. "Colorado is the logical place for us to go back. It was one of the first markets that really embraced us as a band."

The band is once again working with John Waldman, who promoted the band's first show. "We made a lot of friends, not fans, out there," Horrocks said. "I'm looking forward to coming back to hang out with the people who helped us out in the beginning of our career."