Band's Middle East military tour opened musicians' eyes
by Joe Tarr
There were a lot of things that staggered Sarah Lewis as she toured U.S. military bases in the Middle East for a month of shows with her band Jag Star. There were the malaria prevention pills that made her delirious for several days, the harsh accommodations in tents, the "yankin' and bankin'" landings of combat airplanes she road on, and the mortar fire she heard in Afghanistan.
But perhaps the most confounding were the words that all the servicemen said to her: Thank you.
"They would keep thanking us, and I'm like, 'Stop thanking us. You're the ones that are doing all these great things, and we're only out here for three weeks.'"
The tour of the Middle East and Asia took them to Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar and Bahrain. It was an unlikely stint for a group that hopes to sign a major label record deal soon, but one the band won't forget. "It was so out of our range of normal experiences. We're a rock band used to touring the Southeast," Sarah says.
Jag Star's first show back in Knoxville will be Saturday.
The group had applied to play military gigs back in 2001. At the time, they had no idea where they'd be sent but figured it would be good exposure and fun.
Not long after they applied, terrorists attacked the country. Subsequently, the group forgot about their application. So it was quite a surprise when they were contacted early this year and asked if they were still interested. Lewis had never been out of the country before, but she was thrilled to have the chance.
Four of the five band members made the trip with their manager (violinist Erin Tipton didn't.) The group played every day, sometimes twice a day, with crowds ranging from a couple hundred to 1,500.
The band's first stop was in Bishkek, in Kyrgyzstan. They quickly realized they were in a different world. Bass player Jay Daniel remembers watching in awe as a "huge Marine, locked and loaded with an M-16," searched their bus before the group loaded their equipment, to make sure it was safe. "From that moment on it was like, 'Wow, we're here.'"
Except in Bahrain—where the group stayed in a five-star hotel—the band slept in tents, just like the troops.
The scariest place was Bagram, Afghanistan. The group flew in on a C-130 military transport, sitting on benches with their backs to the windows, as they clung to cargo netting for support. Instead of slowly dropping 25,000 feet like a commercial jet would, the plane made a combat landing, plunging that distance in a matter of seconds, Sarah Lewis says.
At the base, everyone was armed. They had an armed escort wherever they went, and stench of jet fuel filled the air. Their main escort barked warnings and commands at them. Drummer Brad Williams remembers the escort saying, "Do as I say, when I say it, unless you want to die."
"They told us, 'Don't step off the concrete because there's land mines everywhere," says guitar player J Lewis.
"He said, 'Nobody's shot at us in three weeks—we're good.' I'm like, 'Oh, shit,'" Williams adds. (The gruff demeanor of the escort was partly show—he quickly warmed up to the band.)
The noise was overwhelming as well. Harrier jets and helicopters zoomed in an out around the clock. They also heard mortar fire—fired amongst warring Afghani tribes—a few miles away.
"It was just cold and intense. It's a blackout base so there are no lights at night. Everyone is armed," Daniel says. "Harrier jets sound like an earthquake. You mix that in with all the helicopters and mortar fire—it's just amazing."
While there, they took a helicopter ride to Kabul, where they played a show for U.S. and Afghani troops there. They toured some of the wreckage from the war with the Taliban and saw Afghani troops in training.
About half the crowd at the show there were Afghani troops. "They'd smile and grin," J Lewis says. "They couldn't understand anything we were saying. They'd probably never seen anything like it."
Nevertheless, the Afghani troops swamped the band after the show to get their autographs.
They were told in Bagram not to eat the Afghani food, but an Afghani general had prepared a feast for them, and the U.S. military in Kabul said it was OK. But when the group returned to Bagram that night, the doctor at the base ordered them to take antibiotics and de-worming pills. And they had to stay two extra days.
"Everybody's spirits [had been] good," Daniel says. "And then it was like—bang. They knocked us back to square one. Plus we had to stay there two more days."
From there, the band flew to the Pakistani base. "It was awesome. I felt so much better in Pakistan," Sarah Lewis says. "We felt like we were on a beach vacation."
There, the weather was warmer and the accommodations better. The male-to-female ratio was more even and there were fewer guns. They had a cookout, with near-beer, and got to go mudding in some Humvees.
One intimidating sight was the Taliban flags displayed around the outside of the base by Pakistanis sympathetic to the ousted Afghani regime. There was little danger, however, as the U.S. base was on the inside of a Pakistani army base. "Nobody would attack the U.S. base because it would make the Pakistani army look bad," Williams says.
After Pakistan, the group flew Qatar, to an enormous Air Force base.
They ended the trip in Bahrain, where they played three shows, got to hang out on the beach, and could drink beer. "Qatar is very strict. They cut off your hands for stealing, put you to death for doing drugs. Jail is tough. It's not maintained. If you don't have family to bring you food, you die," Daniel says. "Bahrain is like Vegas. You got your drugs, drinking, prostitution."
They were put up in a luxury hotel and got to go out on the town one night. They flew back to the states two days before President Bush gave Saddam Hussein a 48-hour deadline.
Throughout the trip, the band was struck by how the servicemen were desperate for attention. Not many other groups or entertainers have gone over there, they say.
"Some are starved for entertainment. They're starved for people interested in their lives," Daniel says.
Wherever they played, the soldiers were already familiar with the band, having researched them on-line. Jag Star played a mix of originals and covers, including Grand Funk's "We're an American Band," Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain," and the La's "There She Goes."
During their trip, there wasn't much news of what was happening with the United Nations, Iraq and the United States. The newspapers were filled with fluff and entertainment pieces. "We were on the front page in the military papers," Sarah Lewis says. "It wasn't about what was going on."
The troops also had little idea what life was like at other bases. In Bahrain, some soldiers complained about only getting three beers each the night Jag Star played. "They had no clue that the other bases were worse," Sarah Lewis says.
In Bahrain they watched some of the regional TV and were surprised at how Bush was portrayed. "On the TV news, Bush is portrayed as a dictator. They made him look like Hussein. It was weird how it was reversed," Daniel says.
Some British and Australian troops didn't think much of the president either. "They said, 'What do you think about this war-hungry...Bush?' They just see him as a redneck who is going to mess the place up."
They didn't talk much with the U.S. troops about what they thought of the conflict and whether a war was needed. None of them seemed distressed or worried about the pending conflict. "I think everybody out there was mentally ready," Williams says. "They didn't necessarily want to go to war. But there was no doubt in anybody's faces."
Daniel says the coverage of anti-war protesters in America distressed them, however. And now the anti-war protests bother him as well. "I'm not saying [the war] is right or wrong. But I've come back with a huge amount of respect for the guys and girls willing to die over there to complete their mission," Daniel says.
Jag Star also had their hearts broken a few times seeing what the soldiers endure.
"Sarah got a package to bring back for somebody's wife," Daniel says. "Some of these guys can't call or communicate with their families."
"Some guy's daughter is graduating from college, and he wasn't going to make it. Some guy's dog was sick, and he couldn't take it to the vet. Little things like that you don't think about," Sarah says. "There were guys I got particularly close to. It was sad when we were leaving, because they wanted to go with us too."
All of it has made the war a lot scarier for them. They've been in email contact with many of the people they met.
"I've been checking CNN for the casualty list," J Lewis says. "It's become real personal.
"You come back and the things you thought were so important you're like, 'whatever.' It gives you perspective."
April 10, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 15
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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