Everett’s Jason Webley gets the band back together

Baking under a scorching hot sun alongside the highway outside of Gallup, New Mexico, musicians Jherek Bischoff and Alex Guy retrieved their instruments out of a broken-down van and did what they do best — make music.

Jason Webley and Michael McQuilken sat and watched, waiting for the tow truck. That was 2008 and the four were touring the Southwest as the Jason Webley Quartet in support of the band’s album, “The Cost of Living.”

Three years later they’d tour the West Coast, capping it in Seattle with a memorable show at the Moore Theatre. After that concert, having played together for more than a decade, the four would scatter, taking on projects separate from each other.

On May 17, as the final performance of this year’s Fisherman’s Village Music Festival, they’ll reconvene and play together once again. Webley and his band — Bischoff, McQuilken and Guy — will perform at 10 p.m. at the Historic Everett Theatre.

“I’ve always enjoyed the chemistry of this band,” said McQuilken, who now runs a theater company in Brooklyn, New York. “We make good music together. I’m just looking forward to catching up and playing.”

It was Webley, an Everett resident, who had the idea of getting the band back together. He wanted to do something special as headliner of the second annual festival. The shows on his recent “Margaret” tour were the only ones he’d booked since walking away in 2011. Webley wanted the upcoming show to be more than just him getting up and playing music.

So he contacted Bischoff, McQuilken and Guy and gauged their interest. To his surprise, all three said yes. It was no easy get. Besides McQuilken having to fly cross-country, Bischoff now lives in Los Angeles where he scores music for films and Guy, who lives in Seattle, recently released an album as her nom de plume, Led to Sea.

“There all so busy that when I threw this date at them I didn’t expect them to be able to do it,” Webley said. “I’m really touched that they would take time to come and do this gig in Everett.”

Webley’s history with the band members goes back to 1999, when he first met McQuilken at a show at the Sit and Spin in Seattle. Webley was performing a solo show and McQuilken was drumming for his band, Player King. Webley, a theatrical performer himself, was impressed with McQuilken’s stage presence.

“He had this incredible, unbridled enthusiasm,” Webley said.

Soon after, Webley met Bischoff while visiting a friend on Bainbridge Island. Bischoff, who had a nomadic upbringing on a sailboat, was playing bass in an improv jazz band at a local cafe. Webley sat in on some songs, they ended up hanging out and Bischoff eventually joined Webley and McQuilken.

The trio became a quartet when Webley met Guy, who plays viola and violin, while working with renowned violist Eyvind Kang on Webley’s album “Counterpoint” in 2001.

Webley said that early on it seemed that the four were always around each other, playing shows and recording music. The band toured the West Coast in 2005 after Webley released “Only Just the Beginning,” which all three played on, and later embarked on a larger tour of the West in 2008 after the release of “The Cost of Living.”

Three years later, Webley released a live album that Bischoff and Guy played on, and the four played a five-show tour up the West Coast from Los Angeles to Seattle. Following the final show at the Moore Theatre in November 2011, Webley, who was coming off of a year in which he’d played 200 shows in 40 countries, led a procession from the Moore to Elliott Bay, eventually walking into the Sound and into semi-retirement.

From there, the four went their separate ways. McQuilken, who was attending theater school at Yale University, and Bischoff went on tour as part of Amanda Palmer’s backing band, Grand Theft Orchestra, in 2012. Bischoff later moved to Los Angeles, where he put out an album, “Composed,” that included collaborations with David Byrne, Nels Cline and Brazilian pop singer Caetano Veloso. Guy moved to New Mexico and Spain, before returning to Seattle.

“I’m often in awe of the people that I’ve been lucky enough to play with,” Webley said. “They’re phenomenal musicians — in musicianship and taste.”

Webley, who is mostly known as a solo artist with a flair for the dramatic, said playing with a band brings a different dynamic to his shows.

“When I play alone the rhythm (of the show) can be all over the place. With the band those things have to be a little more scripted,” Webley said. “There’s spectacle and tricks and games that can be tough to pull off when I’m alone, whereas with the band there’s more flexibility for me not to have to always be playing. I try to play with that a bit.”

As for the upcoming show, Webley said the four will run through a quick rehearsal early in the day and then let it fly.

“I don’t really have it all planned out,” Webley said.

Aaron Swaney: 425-339-3430; aswaney@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @swaney_aaron79.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.