How do you approach original songs in the live setting?

It’s one of those things where we just experiment live and do all kinds of different things, just depending how we are feeling or the circumstances of the evening. There is really never anything set in stone. I really appreciate that aspect of Dakini. There are songs that are pretty much routine and we go by that with different element of improvising each time the song is played. I don’t think anybody in the band considers ourselves a jamband, more like a band that can jam when the need arises. There are instances where it’s the song writing that is the main focus of the tune and there is very little jamming. We do pride ourselves in writing good songs musically and especially lyrically. That is a very important part of our style. We want to be known as a band that writes great songs, not just jams!

What about covers, can you talk about what songs you toss in from time to time? Who selects them?

Covers are a very important part of Dakini. It is our way of showing where we came from and the music that we really dig. We have so much original material, but there will always be covers thrown in the mix, just because we enjoy doing them. We really try to play them in our own style, and if you didn’t know the cover you very well might think it is a Dakini original. As for cover songs we play, well we do a lot of Bob Dylan. John Prine,The Band… There is so many artist swe do. When we first started we mostly did early Grateful Dead material: “New Potato Caboose,” “The Eleven,” “St. Stephen.” the early bluesy stuff, where they were trying to get there style down. Now you could hear anything from Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Blind Melon and a lot of traditional tunes. We all pick the cover tunes, I think it is probably equaled out between the four of us.

In terms of cover tunes can you talk about any spectacular successes and failures?

They have all been successes and failures! That’s just how it goes sometimes.

How often do you rehearse? What do you focus on when you get together for rehearsal?

There have been times when we rehearsed on a daily basis, there have been times when we hardly rehearsed at all. There is a lot of old and new stuff we are trying to get together again, so now we are focusing on that. Getting it back to where we have a large repertoire of material again. It has almost been like starting over, but we are getting there, it is just a matter of time.

Can you talk about some of your performance highlights thus far. Is there a gig (or gigs) that stand out? Why?

Some highlights of Dakini have been opening for Dickey Betts and Great Southern, and also Melvin Seals and the JGB. Headlining Musikfest was a great experience. We got the opportunity to play in front of a couple thousand people for that. It was an amazing feeling, that is for sure. Two shows that really stand out at the moment was opening for the David Grisman Quintet at Harvest Fest, and New Year’s Eve with The New Riders Of The Purple Sage, two group that we really admire. All the festivals we have had the opportunities to play also stand out just because of the grate atmosphere and the grate music you get to be a part of.

You’ve released three studio discs. Can you talk about the experience and also the challenges of bringing your live energy into the studio for the debut?

The experience of being in the studio has always been great for us, and it is always nice to hear your music with the best sound quality that you can get, or shall I say afford? We are extremely lucky with our latest studio release, because we had sponsorship for it, and we really got to go into a professional studio, at Stressfree Studios in Harrisburg, Pa. and work with Marshal Deasy who really got the album to represent the group to its fullest. I think the biggest challenge in the studio is to keep the sound live and not over produced. At least for us that was a major concern. To keep it so it still had that live sound, emotion and energy. We were lucky enough that our latest release we had a lot of control over the way we did it and the sound we wanted. For the most part it was done live, with some overdubbing to add that flash and studio sound, but it was still done with the integrity of our live sound so we are all very happy about that. It can be purchased at our shows, our website, (www.dakiniband.com), and other various places on the net. i.e cdbaby, amazon, and other site you can find threw our web pages.”

Any final thoughts to folks across the country who may be hearing about you for the first time from this piece?

Yes! Please go to our websites and check us out, come to a live show if we are in your area, come out and enjoy an evening of music with us, and help us to create. It is as much about you as it is about us making the music, they go together and form from one another. If you dig what you hear or experience tell a friend and pass the word. We will be forever Grateful! Peace, and Love!”

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