When you first began with the Jerry Garcia Band, was there anything specifically you found unique in Jerry’s playing compared to prior guitarists you played with beforehand?
He taught me something and he taught it to me well. I come from the R&B, rock gospel school where you dot all your i’s and cross your t’s. I knew all the accents and the feel that everybody knows and made sure all my notes were timely and tight. With those guys, NOTHING was tight. I couldn’t understand. There were some nights that I would be standing there thinking, “This band is way too good to be so sloppy.” But I didn’t understand Jamband music. It’s not meant to be the same thing every night, it’s meant to breathe and just be as it is. Play with your heart, play with your mind, play what you feel. So the more I started playing how I felt, the accents began to cease lining up on time. Sometimes the bass groove was so high it sounded like guitar. I was used to the bass rollin’ along with the drum. I had to learn this whole new style of music. It’s not necessarily dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, it’s actually the opposite. I had to learn that that was the way it went. He taught it to me quite well, and I’ve loved it ever since. To this day I play the same way.
We spoke about Stu Allen, but how did the rest of this current JGB lineup materialize?
It changed a number of times while I searched for the best possible musicians. There are some great musicians that I know who play anything well, but did they have the right drive, spirit and heart? No. Sometimes when I would be out looking, I would find someone who could play the hell out of the songs, but they couldn’t quite fit the position in JGB. Before I found Stu Allen, I went through a number of singers as I did a number of bass players and drummers over time since Jerry died. It was all for the purpose of trying to hold on to JGB. I recently, within the last year, have a lineup that everyone says is THE one. My drummer, Pete Lavezzoli, and bass player, Jimmy Tebeau, are somewhat new. Add the two girls I have and I feel we have recreated the Jerry Garcia Band the best that it could possibly be.
JGB is obviously a cover band, but it’s interesting to hear your feelings about that description as you were a member of the original Jerry Garcia Band. Were the intentions always to focus on the same material as the Garcia Band?
We are just trying to keep the vibe and spirit alive. I heard an interview Jerry gave some time ago, and he was asked what he thought would happen once he was no longer around. Jerry said that he would like to believe that the music would live on beyond his existence. So when Jerry died, the first thing that happened was that the Grateful Dead announced that they weren’t going to work anymore, that was it. Of course I was sitting in a limbo, who was I? I didn’t know anything. But I remembered what Jerry said. So John Kahn formed a band called the John Kahn Band. Everyone that was playing with Jerry played with him. We only had two dates, two shows in Santa Cruz. The first show sold out so fast that they added a second show.
Did the John Kahn Band perform the songs from the Jerry Garcia Band or did he compose original material?
Well, John only did three or four Jerry tunes and the others were songs that he said Jerry would have done. There were songs that he could have done with Jerry’s style. He was basically trying not to be the Jerry Garcia Band. All night long, folks would holler the same type of songs we did with Jerry. Of course, John didn’t do it, but this made me aware that folks still wanted to hear classic JGB stuff. Even with the emotion of Jerry passing, while a lot of folks couldn’t handle it, they didn’t want the music to die. Unfortunately we only did the two shows with John, because right after, he passed away. After mourning, I immediately said, “Let’s see if we could go out and continue in the likeness of the Jerry Garcia Band.” We’re just trying to keep the spirit and the vibe alive. It’s not one fifth of what we did with Jerry; financially and all. We’re just barely making it, but when I see the smiles on people’s faces and they’re dancing and having a great time, it’s all worthwhile.
Would you ever consider creating original music in JGB?
I have tried originals and looked into moving on with original material, but when I throw a few in the set, folks often ask if Jerry did that song? When I would say no, they would look at me like why was I doing it then [laughs]. So I learned that these folks who come to see JGB want the Jerry experience. Whatever we meant to them, whatever we gave them, that’s what they wanted. If I want to do originals, I do it under another name and another band. That’s why I went on this search to find the best musicians and singers to create the JGB. I do have other things that I am working on, but JGB is strictly doing the same thing we did with Garcia.
Tell me a little about your relationship with Steve Kimock. I know a bit of your history together, and read in recent news that you will be playing in Kimock’s Crazy Engine at some live events…
I played with Kimock all last year for some time. I was barely able to work on JGB because I gave him first priority. You have to remember that I played with Jerry for 18 years, and about a year after his death, I began JGB. So it has been a long time playing nothing but those songs. As a producer, writer and arranger, I do a whole lot more than what people hear me do. I’m getting up in age and decided that I have to begin doing my own stuff and my own material. That’s why I was eager to join up with Kimock. He is such a phenomenal guitar player.
How did you divvy up your time with Kimock and JGB gigs this year?
JGB has a full calendar until August. Most of my work will be with JGB this year; about 10 Kimock gigs and two gigs under my own group which will be called Melvin Seals is Second to None. My first two dates are next month in Colorado. I’m looking to make a switch and get stronger on my own thing just after the summer.
The current JGB format allows free live taping distribution just like the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band did throughout their tenure. Did you give it much thought in terms of keeping it the way it was?
I don’t follow it very much, but I do know that they tape. I just figure who am I to come in and tell them they can’t now when Jerry always allowed it. If they did it then, I don’t want to be any different. The only time I won’t allow taping is like last week, at the Great American Music Hall, when I’m trying to put out a new live record, with new material. So I didn’t allow taping at that event hoping that people will buy the recording of the performance.
What other instruments besides the Hammond B3 do you play live?
I have something better than a Hammond that I had custom made, making it the only one on this earth. It’s big so I don’t play it a whole lot because it’s just too large to carry through doorways. I made a mistake there. I call it the Maybelline the Dream Machine and it’s quite an organ. I do take it on tour for larger venues, but it’s just too big for smaller clubs. I’m actually having a second one made now because I love the instrument so much. B3 is still my main organ, but the one that I had customized is much more than a Hammond.
The original JGB are part of the founding fathers that created the Jamband genre we celebrate today. Throughout the years, how have you seen this movement evolve?
It’s funny because what I notice now is that there are so many more festivals today that it is hard to even keep up with. Back when Jerry was alive, there were just a few. Now there are festivals blooming out of nothing, there are so many of them. I personally think that Jerry was the seed and the water that planted the festivals we have now. All of them are Jerry’s children, from what I see. Even though there are festivals with all types of bands and genres, many of whom may not even know Jerry, it still comes from that Garcia/Grateful Dead syndrome. When I go to some and see Phish and Widespread Panic, all these bands to me is just a result of the seed the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia planted… All of them.
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