Forecast: Chance of Hellcats Likely : Lake Forest-Based Band Gathers Momentum Like Its ‘Raging Wind’

This month the nation was amazed by a tornado that swept into the Orange County community of Lake Forest. By next year the country may be talking about the tornado that swept out of Lake Forest.

The Lake Forest-based Honky Tonk Hellcats, who open for Leon Russell at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight, have a habit of exploding onto a stage with the fury and energy of a twister. Powered by an intriguing mix of traditional acoustic instruments and screaming electric guitars, the Hellcats mow down country standards such as “Dang Me,” “Whiskey River” and “Once a Day.” Then they can shift gears into their own richly detailed, original songs.

The six-man group, which includes singer/guitarist Frank Jenkins, singer/guitarist George Koen, bassist Ben Arrington, drummer David Jenkins, fiddle player Bob Helm and guitarist/instrumentalist Pat O’Brien, has already attracted industry interest. Country legend Merle Kilgore (co-author with June Carter Cash of “Ring of Fire”) has agreed to manage the band, and a deal with a major record label seems just around the corner.

The seeds of what was to sprout into the Honky Tonk Hellcats were sown years ago in Arkansas when brothers Frank and David Jenkins started playing music with best friend (and eventual brother-in-law) Ben Arrington. As might be expected of teen-age baby boomers, they played rock and roll. They were also deeply influenced by country music and rhythm and blues.

“When you’re from southern Arkansas,” Frank Jenkins explained, “the music you couldn’t get away from is country. It’s everywhere. But actually we started out when we were kids pretty much doing rock. By the time I was in my mid-20s, I was entrenched in country. This was about the time that Waylon (Jennings) and Willie (Nelson) came out with the outlaw stuff. I liked their style of country because it was harder. I was into country way before but by that time I was totally country.”

The Jenkins Brothers and Arrington started to make forays to Nashville, where Frank’s songwriting elicited considerable interest. He almost landed a song on a Jennings album, but the tune was axed at the last minute. That song, which at the time was called “Take Me Back Gentle Wind,” is still a part of the Hellcat’s repertoire. The song is now called “Raging Wind,” and the arrangement is much more rocking. The lyrics are even more applicable today than when Jenkins wrote them 15 years ago. The second verse says, “I don’t like crowded freeways or packed parking lots / I don’t like all my neighbors looking in.”

The group, at that time known as Kingfish, came close to a record deal. Somehow, though, the money never quite came across the table. Frank Jenkins got frustrated and headed for the Ozarks.

“Some other things happened in my personal life,” he said, “And then disco hit. I just got bummed out, sold all of my equipment and played in a bluegrass band for several years. I moved out into the mountains and went into hibernation for a while.”

David Jenkins joined a touring band and spent some time in Canada. Arrington kept developing his licks in country bar bands in southern Arkansas. He attributes his aggressive sound to that period when he played in noisy barrooms. “That’s how that hard edged country evolved,” Arrington said. “Young musicians back in the South are forced to play that way. When you play in a club you rock it up. You end up playing really loud and using distortion.” “One of my main influences is definitely the Stones,” Frank Jenkins added. “But then one of my main influences is also George Jones.”

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After six years, Frank Jenkins was ready to come out of the hills and get back into the business. He invested in a recording studio in New Orleans, where he produced R&B; acts and worked on recording original songs. “My plan was always to move to California,” Jenkins said. “I’d been to Nashville, and it’s too cold, and I like to be by the beach. Plus there’s a ton of record companies here.”

Shortly after Jenkins arrived in California in 1988, the Kentucky Headhunters shook up the country music establishment with a hard-rocking country sound remarkably similar to the music the Jenkins brothers and Arrington used to play. Jenkins phoned Arrington in Arkansas. A few months later Arrington moved to California, and the Honky Tonk Hellcats were born.

How did Jenkins manage to persuade Arrington to drop everything and take another shot at country music? “I was willing to do it totally if we went back to our roots,” Arrington explained, “and that is exactly what we have done in the Hellcats. We’ve gone back to playing country hard and heavy with all that energy.”

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“It was doing what came naturally to us,” Jenkins said. “This sound is the same sound that we were doing back then. I went through my bluegrass period, too, when I was in the hills. Bluegrass is also a big influence on us right now.”

It took David Jenkins a little longer to relocate, but he made trips to California to work with the fledgling band. The Honky Tonk Hellcats found their fourth member, George Koen, through Arrington’s day job as a hair stylist in a Lake Forest salon. Arrington discovered that Koen, his boss, was also a country musician. They exchanged tapes, and soon Koen was a Hellcat.

Like Frank Jenkins, Koen is a singer and a songwriter. Although Jenkins’ singing and writing currently dominate the Hellcats, the plan is for Koen become a second lead vocalist. “From the beginning we always had the idea of being a duo vocally,” Jenkins said. “Right now you are not hearing that so much, because George hasn’t been with us as long. We want to keep the same style on the guitars but have George sing lead more often.”

The Hellcats completed their lineup by adding Orange County musicians Helms and O’Brien. Jenkins said, “From the first day that we formed the Hellcats, I know we would have a fiddle.”

Helms’ credits include stints with Rusty Weir and with Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. O’Brien’s versatility on a variety of instruments gives depth and texture to the Hellcats’ sound.

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“Pat plays about everything you can think of,” Jenkins said. “He plays harmonica, banjo, electric mandolin, violin, and he’s a really great guitar player. He even plays the cello. We’re going to start working the cello in on some of our songs. Back in the old days, the string groups would have cellos and violas. Nobody does it anymore, but I think if you could come up with the right thing that it would be great.”

From the beginning, the Honky Tonk Hellcats set their sights on a recording contract. They avoided playing dance clubs and country Top 40 rooms because they figured that if they were a cover band, they would eventually become a great cover band but not necessarily a good original band. Instead the Hellcats concentrated on showcase clubs such as the Coach House and the Rhythm Cafe. The Hellcats have been known to tear up the Marine Room in Laguna Beach, and, once in a while they may even sneak into some of the smaller local clubs to work out a few songs in front of an audience.

The Honky Tonk Hellcats are now in the second year of a five-year plan, and their career seems right on schedule. They are set to open some dates for Hank Williams Jr. this summer, and such country hotshots as Pete Anderson, who produced Dwight Yoakam’s records, and John Jorgenson, who was formerly lead guitarist with the Desert Rose Band, have expressed interest in working with the group.

Whatever happens, the Honky Tonk Hellcats are determined to stay together and play music in their own way. Jenkins said, “I’ve always had the philosophy that if a good group will stay together with the same name for a long time, it will eventually get a pretty good-sized following and that is enough to make a good living. I will never dissolve the Hellcats. The Hellcats will go on until the day I die.”