Hardesty Homecoming

"Some nights we shoot the Jager hard, and others we just sip it. We drink tons of water and take multi-vitamins. I am having the time of my life, but I miss my dogs, family and friends. I can't wait to jam with the Rich Hardesty Band again."\nThese are the words of Rich Hardesty in his online journal about the 36-city, six-week Jagermeister Tour. Indeed, the Bloomington solo artist/band frontman has sipped and gulped the sponsor drink with such widely recognized tourmates as Drowning Pool and diverse fans from Orlando to St. Louis. \nHardesty has slumbered in a "coffin-like" bunk in his million-dollar tour bus and spent Sunday afternoon lounging in a Las Vegas hotel with his tour companions, "Little People" named Joe and Jonny. They accompany him on stage six times a week, attempting to warm the hearts of punk and heavy metal-loving crowds with jokes and giveaways. As the tour emcee armed with an acoustic guitar, Hardesty performs two songs for about 15 minutes between each of the tour's acts. \nDespite the glamour and fame, Hardesty, 34, admits he misses Bloomington, the place that harvested his musical career for 10 years. After all, he's skipping a Saturday night tour stop in Dallas featuring Kid Rock as the headliner to revisit Kilroy's Sports Bar. \nAfter flying from San Antonio early Saturday, he'll shoot the Jager hard again at Sports, 319 N. Walnut St., from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. It's his first return to IU since playing two three-hour sets at the bar on the night the Hoosiers lost in the national final game. \nDuring Little 500 weekend, he'll encourage others to hit the Jager hard, too, as Sports tries to establish the record for selling the most bottles (100) of the licorice-tasting alcohol in a night, a contest Hardesty started that earned him a spot on the Jagermeister Tour. Sports set the previous record with 87 last year. With his acoustic guitar, Hardesty will perform such local hits as "I Never Want to Fucking See You Again" alongside bassist/guitarist Kelley Isenhower. \n"Little 5 gets crazy," Hardesty says. "More importantly, I'm proud to come home and do a show. It's nice to know I can fly in from a national tour to be in Bloomington as an IU alum. I miss the fans."\nSaturday will culminate coast-to-coast travel in front of crowds of differing opinions. Fresno, Calif., was his favorite stop on the Jagermeister Tour -- which started at Orlando's Hard Rock Cafe on March 8 and concludes at Howlin Wolf in New Orleans on April 23 -- because the passionate, mainly Latin audience accepted him with open arms, he says. In contrast, unruly fans at a tour stop in New York threw beer and bottles at every band. He says he's had to adjust his verse-chorus-verse style to please heavy metal-loving crowds and reassure his own longtime fans that he isn't crossing over by joining the tour.\nHomegrown in LaPorte, Ind., Hardesty says that on the tour he has had to woo listeners from a musical genre unlike that of his original fan base. Accompanying bands include Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber, Ill Nino, 40 Below Summer and Black Belt Jones, who all evoke heavy metal and somber lyrics, while Hardesty usually lets loose with up-tempo, college rock discussing ex-girlfriends, drinking and Jamaica, his favorite getaway. \nDuring the tour, Hardesty says he often started his songs with the chorus first, so the fans could immediately join a sing-along. He played grittier songs such as "The Dooby Song" and Black Sabbath cover "War Pigs." In comparison, IU students adore his covers of "Cecilia" and "American Pie."\nBut even the local crowd grew hostile about Hardesty's Jagermeister deal. He says he received angry emails from longtime fans when he first signed with Jagermeister.\n"Fifty percent of my fans freaked out about this. They were mad," Hardesty says. "This is the first time in 10 years I've been able to walk away. It's a good thing for me to walk into something completely off the hook.\n"They didn't understand that," Hardesty adds. "They're not sure why I would go on tour with heavy, heavy bands. A lot thought it wouldn't work. They're not mad (now). I would never take this back. It's one of my biggest accomplishments."\nAt least one person is happy to see Hardesty back in town. After eight years together, Isenhower says he hasn't played with Hardesty for six weeks. Although the national tour has momentarily split apart the Rich Hardesty Band, Isenhower says the break will only benefit the group.\n"It's great promotion, especially because it's associated with Jager," Isenhower says. "More people are subjected to the music; it widens the fan base. If he gets five to 10 people from that crowd, that music genre, to go to his Web site or download our music from the Web or buy a CD, I would consider that a success."\nBut at first Hardesty hedged at performing in front of crowds as big as 60,000, Isenhower says. Yet, through the "Almost Famous"-like experience, Hardesty says he has learned the insides of the music business, picked up on street smarts and experienced various cultures.\n"He was worried at first," Isenhower says. "But I'm glad he did it. It's helped him out, getting him into the music business more. It's the best move he's ever made. He's never left home, left the band and his family for that long. He didn't know what to expect."\nWith the surprises and unfamiliarity, Hardesty is learning the music business is tough. But he is already an example of how to make it in the industry, says professor Jack Gilfoy, director of jazz studies and music business studies at the School of Music at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis. Gilfoy didn't teach Hardesty, who earned a marketing degree from IU in 1992. But Gilfoy heard about Hardesty through a newsletter by Disc Makers, the pressing plant he and Hardesty both use. \nGilfoy notes that Hardesty touches on all three points necessary for entertainment success. He's performed live concerts, sold recordings and persuaded radio stations to play his material.\n"You can't just dwell on getting the musical act together," Gilfoy says. "Whether you're in a band or a solo artist, you can't spend your whole time putting music together. You have to do the marketing."\nAfter all the publicity, Hardesty at last gets a bit of a break. Saturday's show might prove more relaxing than his last in Bloomington, when he performed before and after the national title IU men's basketball game. Sports contacted Hardesty the night before the game, prompting him to fly after a show in St. Louis. He performed for nearly four hours before the game on no sleep, and then played another three hours after IU's loss.\nThe Jagermeister Tour also demands much exersion without much sleep. The bands travel during the night. Hardesty performed Saturday night in Albuquerque, N.M., and awoke in Las Vegas Sunday morning before preparing for a 5 p.m. show. Saturday's act at IU will involve a little less glamour, but possibly a little more partying.\n"We're going to drink a lot of Jager and raise some hell," Isenhower says. "We haven't played in so long. It's refreshing for Rich because he's been in a tour bus, waking up in a different city every day. It'll be a nice homecoming, especially since he's an IU grad."\nThe Rich Hardesty Band will take the stage at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at Kilroy's Sports Bar.