AirMed docs and pilots didn't quit their day jobs, started a band

The Unusual Suspects, L to R, Scott "The Saint" McIntosh, Eric "The Sacred" Swanson, Jeff "Sacrificial Animal" Burns, Jeff "Fallen From Grace" Gerrard, Mike "The Angel From Arkansas" Haines, and Jason "Downtown Bearded Man" Brown. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah. — Making the world a better place and having fun, not necessarily in that order, was the order of the day for the Unusual Suspects, a couple of weeks ago. They’re a new band comprised of doctors and pilots from AirMed. It was one of their bigger gigs in front of folks who weren’t their neighbors, friends, and family members, attended by approximately 100 people.

Right after the afternoon rain stopped the musicians plugged it and tuned up. Some of them even had shoes on. They were:

Eric Swanson, AirMed Medical Director
Scott McIntosh, AirMed Flight Physician and Associate Medical Director
Jeff Gerrard, AirMed Medevac Airplane Pilot
Jason Brown, Airmed Helicopter Pilot

Accompanying them on stage and through life as friends were Mike Haines and Jeff Burns. The two were given the reverential title of ‘frequent AirMed Patients’ and Gerrard affably said in between songs via self-deprecating humor amid the comfortable witty banter spoken from many of them between songs, “The ones who don’t work for AirMed are the ones with the talent.” Gerrard has been an AirMed pilot for 30 years.

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Andy VanHoughton out front with the Park City Mountain and Deer Valley where WBR serves in the background. Photo: Michele Roepke

The night began with an impassioned plea at the mic from the Snow Safety Director of Park City Mountain Resort and President of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue (WBR), Andy VanHoughton. He said, “During the pandemic, a lot of people were avoiding the resorts and hitting the backcountry instead which meant we had one of the busiest seasons ever trying to keep people safe.” The Unusual Suspects played this concert as a fundraiser not for themselves, not for their organization of AirMed, but for WBR since the two organizations work inextricably closely.

Covering the entire state of Utah, WBR trains 45 dogs to assist them in their life-saving work, the newest to the team being eight-month-old Eddie and next is ten-month-old June. Donations may be made to WBR here if interested.

Then, it was time to rock, for hours, bringing the house down and the sun down. The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Little Feat were covered before the original songs were broken out.

McIntosh wrote the lyrics and since COVID protocols kept them apart, each band member wrote their musical contribution and digitally sent it to him where he compiled the parts into this song. The audience was rolling in the aisles.

COVID Blues

We are sittin’ here in desperation

The Unusual Suspects in social isolation

Yeah we’re sittin’ here in desperation

Playin’ the blues and monitoring our respirations

Ain’t nothing left to do,

But sing the COVID blues

Now it started with just one case in the city of Wuhan

Not its got all of us from Utah to Bhutan

People sheltering in place, can’t go to work

Makes the sanest of us, wanna go berserk

Well there ain’t nothing left to do

But strum the COVID blues

In a constant state of boredom,

The ski resorts are all closed

I roam up and down the highway, in search of TP and hand sani

All the while tryin’ not to get exposed

Ain’t nothing more to do, baby

But sing the COVID-19 blues

McIntosh said, “During 2020 there were no options for live music so a friend asked if we’d play in the cul-de-sac-at the end of the street in the Sun Peak neighborhood right up the hill from where we’re playing tonight at Temple Har Shalom. People showed up and they had a ball, they loved it, we all wore masks and they put x’s on the pavement for social distancing and everything. We’d been playing together informally every month or two for a couple years. No fundraisers or anything, people would sometimes just give impromptu donations of six-packs. We just play to have a good time, for ourselves and hopefully, people have a good time as well.”

McIntosh with one of his custom, hand-made guitars available at unusualsuspects.live. Photo: Michele Roepke

The guitar he wrote that song on is one of his own hand-crafted models made from the barrels used at Park City’s High West Distillery. They are available at stokeguitars.com.

At intermission, Gerrards two daughters, Syd and Libby, who perform under the same names, sang. By contrast, they definitely had shoes on, couldn’t kick those Dr. Martens off as easily as dad could his flip-flops. The duo wowed the audience with acoustic renditions from Blind Melon and Casey Musgraves.

They’re pictured below along with Allison, Haines’ wife who all joined the Unusual Suspects on stage, while members of the crowd danced, for the final two songs of the night to sing the Marshal Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See” and John Prine’s “Angel From Mongomery” also famously played by Bonnie Raitt.

Stepping out a little more, they’ve got some gigs on the horizon for private birthday parties, however, they are open for bookings at unusualsuspects.live.

With a helicopter base in Park City, AirMed utilizes a combination of aircrafts from six locations throughout the state to transport approximately 2500 patients per year. During the winter months, a team is dedicated to the ski resorts and mountain rescues every day. AirMed also has a protocol with WBR to use two helicopters in the event of an avalanche rescue which allows one aircraft to perform a search and a second aircraft to help WBR professionals arrive on scene. They fly trauma, burns, medical, pediatric, neonate, high-risk OB, and cardiac assist device patients using the most state-of-the-art equipment available, which includes digital capnography, invasive line management, and intra-aortic balloon pumps for transport. Additionally, they utilize cutting-edge airway technology including video laryngoscopy, advanced portable ventilators, and a variety of adjuncts for securing difficult or complex airways.

The show was organized by The Women of Har Shalom.