Caleb Livingstone – Culture & Entertainment Correspondent
MILLSTRATH – More than forty years after the band’s fiery breakup, legendary pioneering rock group Seraphim will return for one last farewell late this summer. During the official announcement this Saturday, lead vocalist and keyboardist, Jerry Rhett, expressed his hope that the reunion would “give the fans closure, and the band the proper sendoff it deserves.” The seven-date tour will culminate in a final show in the Beaumont-Foster Arena in Millstrath, Newcastle.
In 1972, Millstrath natives Jay Carter, Jerry Rhett (born Jeremy Mausbach), Isaiah Leary, and Richard Alan Lewis formed Seraphim as an experimental progressive rock band. Although the group garnered a devoted following after the release of their eponymous debut album “Seraphim,” they struggled to attract mainstream appeal for many years, nearly dissolving, until the massive success of their 1976 album, “Max Jones Learns to Swear.” By the late 1970s, Seraphim enjoyed worldwide acclaim, topping the charts in Libertas Omnium Maximus and abroad. Beneath the veneer of success, however, the band developed a notoriety for vicious creative disagreements and public feuds between its members, particularly Rhett and Leary, pervasive drug use, and trouble with the law. The name Seraphim became synonymous with the hedonism and excess of the popular music scene in Libertas Omnium Maximus in the late 1970s and ‘80s. Shortly after the release of their unfortunately-named hit single, “Relapse,” in 1980, Carter died of a heroin overdose at just 27 years old, leaving the band in a state of mourning, disarray, and without a drummer or backup vocalist. Unable to overcome the loss of their drummer and as a consequence of mounting creative disagreements, Seraphim dissolved later the same year and Rhett and Leary both obtained restraining orders against each other, seemingly forever ending the possibility of a reunion. Evidently, the years have cooled animosity between the two beloved musicians.
Although Seraphim’s run was short lived, their influence on progressive rock, particularly in the Maximusian Republic, cannot be overstated. The band’s use of surrealist lyrics and unique, dissonant sounds left a lasting impact on the rock scene, while their willingness to produce lengthy ballads challenged the dry, “radio-friendly” formula for composition many of their contemporaries relied on. The band’s often outspoken political dimension cannot be overlooked, either. “Rust Monk,” a 1979 rock opera and Seraphim‘s most commercially successful album, was at the time controversial for its focus on the Maximusian working class’s apparent disillusionment with the extant political establishment, lamenting the death of industry and economic recession across the nation. Music historian Anne Wyman suggests “Rust Monk” uniquely embodied a certain proletarian solidarity, providing catharsis for those who felt left behind and abandoned by every major political faction.” The success of “Rust Monk” emboldened many of Seraphim‘s contemporaries to delve into the political and controversial in their lyrics. Rhett, Leary, and Lewis all went on to have successful careers after the tumultuous breakup, but none were able to replicate the lightning in a bottle creative output of Seraphim in its prime.
Fans were stunned by the reunion announcement, given Rhett and Leary’s decade spanning feud, but the two have apparently buried the hatchet. In an interview with Rock! magazine in September, Leary, 74, who recently retired as the frontman of pop-rock group, The Isaiah Leary Band, expressed a willingness to reopen dialogue with Jerry Rhett, stating, “I’m getting older now, and I realize that I’d hate to go out with things left unsettled between me and Jer. I don’t think we’ll ever be friends again, but our disagreements were ultimately playground stuff; pathetic, trivial concerns, really. I’m going to set things right.” Beyond the interview, fans had little indication that Rhett and Leary’s relationship was on the mend. After Rhett, 73, experienced a medical emergency while touring with his band, The Sordid Affairs, in late 2024, many assumed he would never tour again, forever quashing hopes of a Seraphim reunion, but fan concerns were apparently unwarranted.
In promotional material for the tour, Seraphim emphasized that the reunion would have been impossible without the loyalty of the band’s many generations of fans. Bassist and original band member, Richard Alan Lewis, expressed his disbelief and excitement that Seraphim would get to go out on a high note. He told the Litudinem Herald, “Forty years ago, I lost three of my friends. One to addiction, the other two to an entirely different sort of obsession. I thought, you know, that was that. Seraphim would be the band that burned bright but also burned out. I guess that’s still how Seraphim is remembered, but now we get to go out on our own terms, surrounded by fans. We’ll end things triumphant and together, rather than divided.” Lewis clarified that the three surviving members collaborated with the estate of their bandmate, Jay Carter, to ensure that his memory was appropriately honored during the tour. Consequently, all profits from the reunion will be donated to various Maximusian charities focusing on drug addiction prevention and rehabilitation.
Saturday’s announcement did not specify which songs the reunited Seraphim will perform, but they are expected to cover most of their greatest hits, in addition to a few deeper cuts and cult favorites. Fans have speculated whether the farewell tour’s seven concerts are meant to correspond with Seraphim’s seven studio albums. Regardless, Seraphim will perform outside of Perra on July 18; in Broadmoore on July 25; in Burton on August 1; near Chester on August 8; in Lumeniola on August 15; in Via Regis on August 22; and, ultimately, in their hometown of Millstrath on August 29. Tony Jones, drummer for the modern alternative rock group, DNR, will join Rhett, Leary, and Lewis on the drums, filling the role of the deceased Carter. Saxophonist Eric Watkins and singer-songwriter Michelle Church will both accompany the surviving members of Seraphim and Jones on the tour. Tickets are expected to go on sale in March.
