How does a song like “A.E.I.O.U. (State of the Art)” find its way into the MMJ repertoire? It’s like a whole other animal with a full band behind it, and probably my favorite addition to the band’s shows in recent years.

That was a song I wrote on piano but for my solo record I had my friend Dave Givan play drums on it – he plays drums in my live solo band – and I play drums with him. I’ve known him and Patrick both since fourth grade. I met both of them and the same time, and it’s so weird that they’re both my drummers. We’ve all known each other since fourth grade. We’ll do so many Jacket shows where we’ll do three nights somewhere or whatever and we’re trying to pick different songs so three nights, no repeats… so to bring diversity to setlists on multiple night stands, we’ll play some of the solo stuff.

What do you do to break up monotony in your creative process and stay awakened?

I walk a lot. And I read a lot. I’m a pretty fast reader so I kind of burn through books. I just love walking, oh my god. I mean, LA, there’s so many really crazy places you can go – like hiking around in the mountains, hiking in Griffith Park, going to the beach and fucking walking around the beach for hours, I like just walking around the neighborhood… going downtown, walking down Broadway with all the old theaters, there’s so many worlds in LA to walk along. It’s a great walking town. I’ve been to Joshua Tree and Yosemite – I really like going around. Oh my god – driving along the coast is so great. You have to take the time just to take it.

Do you have any rituals or sanctuaries you go to for peace and quiet? Whether a real place or quiet spot in your mind?

That’s one of the reasons I meditate. I feel like just sitting and meditating is a good way to see what’s going on in your mind and also hopefully to get to a place where you reach the same level of consciousness as a tree, a drop of water, or a deer – you’re purely alive, but it’s like you’re taking a wonderful vacation from thinking, and chaos, and all the stuff that goes on in your head, and all the stuff you worry about. I think that’s so important and its so tough because we get so busy and so stressed – sometimes it’s hard to find the time to sit down and be still – like you said, it’s hard to take the drive to San Francisco the ocean way, instead of just hopping on the 5… It’s like, [in life] we’re always hopping on the 5 just shooting up to San Francisco when if you can take the time to drive the scenic route, it’s so much better – and I kind of feel like that’s what meditation is for me, at least. When I give myself that time, it helps me recharge and feel more peaceful.

How does it feel to be a part of the Grateful Dead canon with your contribution of “Candyman” to the Dessners’ _Day of the Dead _compilation?

It was great. I feel like the Grateful Dead is such a universe, so vast of a universe, of so much stuff. I really just love the spirit and it’s been really cool to play with Bob Weir a few times… and just Jerry’s spirit is so beautiful. I just feel like there’s so much to love about Jerry and the Dead, and it’s so limitless. I feel like that compilation was such a good example of how limitless it is just from how many songs were on there and how many bands and how many directions can you take it – it’s such a beautiful universe.

What ever happened to the additional material that was supposed to be the “sequel” to The Waterfall ?

We released a song “Magic Bullet” to end gun violence, and we released a song called “The First Time” as part of Cameron Crowe’s Roadies soundtrack – so two songs have been out. The rest of it may be worked with, but I’ve got a whole new batch of songs that’ll be the next Jacket record that kind of came out of nowhere – so that’s another direction. The other stuff, I’m sure we’ll use it for something, but the idea of that being a record has kind of moved on.

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