CAMDEN — The year was 1995, Camden, Maine. On any given weekend night, the Sea Dog or Gilbert’s Publick House were the places to be. Celebrated singer-songwriter Jason Spooner was 21 at the time, having just graduated from Colby College. A Connecticut native, he decided to move to Camden to live with several roommates who attended the the former Film and Television Workshops. Spooner, who’d played in bands all through high school and graduated with a degree in performing arts and Spanish with a minor in sociology, was pretty sure he wanted to be a musician, but like most 20-somethings, he wasn’t quite sure how to go about making it work full time in a place where everyone his age had to have several jobs just to pay the rent.

"I lived in this little lake house on Megunticook Lake for two years," he said. "At that age, I was naturally figuring out how to get started. Camden was the first place I'd ever lived year-round out of school. I'll never forget that lake and how it anchored a soul-searching time for me. It was a great place to write. I really took advantage of the beauty of the area and a lot of the songs from my first album were written during my time there.”

Spooner kept plugging.

“I kept trying to finagle ways to continue working as a musician and play gigs,” he said.

He was fortunate at the time to have a fall-back job working for record label located in Waterville, Deluge Entertainment, which taught him how to book bands, marketing and publicity, artist management and studio work — skills that would eventually help him form his own successful band. 

“After a couple of quiet winters though in Camden, it became clear that a city would be the first lily pad I'd need to jump to,” he said.

In the late 1990s, complete with an album’s worth of songs under his belt and a desire to form a band that could start performing in clubs regularly, Spooner moved to Portland where he formed The Jason Spooner Trio.

Nearly two decades later and with four albums under their belt, the band added one more member and decided to leave Portland and relocate back to Camden for the winter of 2014.

“The reason that I left the Midcoast several years back ultimately became the same reason that I returned... simple peace and quiet,” Spooner said. “It’s easy to get lost in the distractions of the city. Life on the coast is simpler and it breeds clarity and focus. It’s a place where you can be left alone with your thoughts, something that is becoming harder and harder to make time for in the era we live in.”

It so happened that in looking for a a Maine studio to record their fifth album chemical, Camden’s technologically advanced studio HEARSTUDIOS came across Spooner’s radar.  The owner and head engineer of HEARSTUDIOS, Jason Hearst happened to be a Colby alumnus and dorm acquaintance of Spooner’s.

“Being there 24/7 and living in the studio’s band house [right next door] made it very seamless and cohesive,” he said. “We could experiment in the studio, track late, talk about the tunes as a group after the sessions over dinner and then get up early, talk more over breakfast and start fresh in the studio... fully focused on the songs and the project. The lack of distraction was unprecedented and we really worked as a team by being focused.”

The Jason Spooner Band’s signature sound appeals to a wide range of audiences, blending a variety of musical influences and flavors into a cohesive, energetic and listenable experience with Roots Rock, Americana, blues, folk and groove-oriented jazz, with some elements of reggae and soul. In addition to glowing recent press in High Times Magazine and USA Today, the band was named one of Relix Magazine's coveted "On The Verge — Bands you should know."

Spooner will share the stage with another prolific and celebrated recording artists Seth Glier at the Strand Theatre in Rockland April 11 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15/Advance, $18/Day of Show, General Admission. The Strand lobby and balcony bars are open for all concerts for 21+. To buy tickets, or for more information about all upcoming live concerts, films, HD broadcasts, and events at the Strand, visit www.rocklandstrand.com. Tel: (207) 594-0070

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com