Soulive at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas- photo by C. Taylor Crothers

The musical vibe tends to change from night to night. As you look at the upcoming shows and you know all the people who are scheduled to perform with you, does that put you in a particular mindset? Like, “Okay, this evening’s going to be a little bit like this thematically”?

We don’t want the guests to perform like you would see them in their specific environment. For instance, if Susan [Tedeschi] is playing with us, we’re not gonna do the Tedeschi Trucks set, so we try to pull them into doing ether our songs or some songs that we all would like to play together. Each night is different. With Bill Evans and John Medeski last year, it was awesome because they actually learned a bunch of Soulive material. And they wanted to. Usually I’ll throw out there, “Hey would you guys like to do these songs?” And a lot of times people are like, “I’d really like to do these songs.” But with them they both unanimously wanted to play Soulive tunes. It was awesome for us because we didn’t have to learn any other material, [Laughs] But also to hear their take…“Tuesday Night Squad” was like 25 minutes long because you had Medeski re-harmonizing the whole thing and then Bill Evans doing his thing. So we did all these tunes a different way. It was so cool to hear the songs go through their filter. I expect every night to be great but that night was way beyond my expectations. I like not really knowing where it’s gonna go and then it takes on a whole new life.

You mentioned Susan, looking back at all those dates with Tedeschi Trucks Band, to what extent did you find that your bass chops improved?

Oh my God, like night and day! That thing was a challenge. I started as a bass player and played bass on a lot of recordings and I definitely consider myself a bass player, but I never played in that capacity really ever. I used to do gigs in high school and college playing bass, and I play bass with Nigel [Hall] if he’s playing in town, but it pushed me super hard. It was great, we had such a great time. I learned maybe 70-80 songs with very intense songs. Their arrangements aren’t simple, there’s tons of twists and turns and long solos and improvised sections, so it was a great experience and definitely a challenge. I was happy to have a guitar back in my hands, though. (Laughter)

What else did you take away from that experience?

Oh, tons, tons. From a business perspective, from a touring perspective, from a song selection perspective and how to run a band, those guys are top notch. Derek treats everyone with the highest respect and he’s a great band leader and Susan is a great front-singer and they’re great people. I would pretty much do anything for them; whatever they ask me to do, I’m there.

So, the Allman Brothers Band, it appears this is gonna be the last Beacon run for all intents and purposes. I’m just curious – you’ve been all around the city and you’ve seen it from both sides of the stage and it occursat the same time as Bowlive, so what’s your overall take on the ABB at the Beacon?

You know what’s crazy is I’ve been deep in the zone because I’ve been reading the One Way Out book that Alan Paul wrote. Yesterday I listened to all the Allman Brothers albums in conjunction with where I was in the book. That’s how freaked out I got. So really right now I really dove into the history which I didn’t know that much about before. But [the Beacon Theatre run] is just a New York staple; I’ve heard about them since I was a kid. I’ve been to many of them and I’ve sat in on them, and it’s just a huge part of New York and it’s kind of an integral part of Bowlive because people come into town and do both or they do one night with us and then there and they pop back and forth, so there’s some kind of symbiosis there. I think they’re doing it right in terms of leaving on a high note. That’s the way to go. And to switch around a bunch of members at this point? It’s not something I can really judge, but I think they’re doing it right. It’s two of the greatest guitar players of our time. The fact that it was able to keep going and still is where it is now is a huge testament to Derek and Warren, too. There’s not many people that could fill those shoes. I can’t think of any. They also speak to Duane’s original vision. So I’m hoping I can catch a few of these because I’m really busy these next couple weeks. But I hope I can catch one or two [On Wednesday night Krasno watched the show from the side of the stage, other than two songs where he joined in on guitar: “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” and “Southbound.”]

Last question: looking ahead into 2014, what will do the upcoming months look yourself and your many projects?

I’m finally gonna release this solo record I’ve been working on for a while. It’s more psychedelic and more vocal based. I’ve done a few shows as the Eric Krasno Band over the last couple years but I’m finally gonna release that. I’ve been working with Pretty Lights as well and he helped me mix my first single. I’m also gonna do some shows and some sessions with him; I’m not sure where or when that will culminate, but we’re planning on doing some stuff together. We’ve got a bunch of Lettuce dates happening; we’ve got Red Rocks coming up this summer and a new record that we’re gonna do. And I’m producing a lot of stuff, too, so I’m in the studio building a new space in Greenpoint where I’ll be working out of. So it’s a lot of things; a lot of irons and fires. And balancing between those things is the other part of it.

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