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 Interview: Bob Weir - Paris (06/07/02)

 You hear a lot of things about people. And because of
 what you hear, you form opinions about people you don't
 know. I do it just the same as anyone else. I thought I
 knew Bob Weir before I sat down with him. I came to find
 out I didn't know anything about him at all, actually.
 But what I came to know of this person is that he is a
 true gentleman and a kind-hearted soul who likes to talk
 about music. When he spoke of "our scene" and "my kind of
 musicians," a certain glow came over him; a certain
 excitment you usually only find in fans. If anyone was
 wondering, Bob Weir feels very much a part of what is
 going on in this realm of North American culture and he
 is eager to continue what he helped start all those years
 ago.

 Bobby is currently gigging full time with his band Rat
 Dog and has begun to play shows with his Grateful Dead
 brethern once again under the moniker of The Other Ones.
 Word on the virtual street is that the beast is awake and
 looking to play some more gigs. Stay tuned for that.

 CJ: Last time you played in Europe, was it 1990?

 Bob: Yeah

 CJ: Why did you choose to come over now? Is it like
 vacation tour?

 Bob: Nah. We... it's two things, really. We wanted to
 establish a new fan base over here. And second, we wanted
 to challenge ourselves. We wanted to bring what is
 ostensibly new music to fresh ears and see what lights
 them up.

 CJ: So the shows you've played so far... you play at
 smaller, more intimate places over here. Do you notice
 any difference in the way your shows play here as
 compared to the States?

 Bob: Uhh...

 CJ: Is it working? Are you lighting people up?

 Bob: Very enthusiastic - I'll say that. We did a tour of
 England in the midlands and we didn't get big crowds, but
 the folks that came are glad they did.

 CJ: Lots of Deadheads in the UK. Do you find that the
 crowd is mostly Deadheads or people that are 2nd, 3rd
 generation people that want to go out and experience a
 bit of the magic?

 Bob: We have seen all ages at our shows. Back in America,
 it's mostly younger fans. Over here, we get more older
 fans, but significantly more younger fans as we keep
 pressing onward.

 CJ: Did you imagine that the movement that is going on -
 for instance I write for a publication that wouldn't
 exist if you hadn't have done what you've done in your
 life, basically... Did you ever imagine that this
 movement that you helped to create would have grown to
 the proportions that it has grown to today?

 Bob: In the States, it's big. Though, really... I trace
 our lineage back to Louis Armstrong and stuff like that.
 They played pretty much jam music. When the band got real
 big, it was fairly arranged, but still the sections
 worked fairly loosely... in the best of them. So what I
 mean to do is debunk the notion that the Grateful Dead
 actually originated something. We just started doing it
 with electric instruments and with different ensembles
 and a different song book.

 CJ: You set some people free in there, though.

 Bob: Yeah.

 CJ: You showed them a different way to live and things
 like this.

 Bob: Well we like to live our lives kind of open-ended,
 keeping our options open, I guess. We like a little
 adventure. And that's going to come out in the music. And
 a certain kind of person wants to have that in their
 life. Maybe they don't play music, but if they listen to
 music, they want it to sound like that, to be like that.
 (chuckles) And we're more than happy to provide that for
 them with that kind of music.

 CJ: Have you noticed the scene as it has grown from the
 Grateful Dead, and now you have all the baby bands that
 have come up and made their bones, etc.. Have you noticed
 the scene surrounding it change for better or worse over
 the years?

 Bob: I think within the jamband scene, that whole section
 of the music industry, if you will, has changed for the
 better. Way back when, in the 60's. We didn't want to go
 into what was available then in terms of the business
 arrangements and the kind of business that was being done
 because it was sleazy. You know, it was not really far
 off from the kind of thing you get in professional
 wrestling. It was all packaging and people were being
 horrendously exploited. And to be sure, it still goes on,
 but in the "jamband" scene people are a whole lot more
 direct. And I think the business end of things is more on
 the up and up.

 CJ: Do you find any difference between... I was showing a
 video to a friend of a big Dead show or something, I
 can't remember what it was, but he noted that there
 wasn't much difference between the person on stage and
 the person in the audience. In pop music, you have all
 these beautiful people that are so glitzy up there, and
 people, I guess, want to be like them. It seems to me, in
 the jamband scene, if you have the spirit and know-how,
 you can draw people to support you and buy tickets to see
 you play. Obviously this is different from the pop scene.

 Bob: Well, we're all the same kind of people, as we
 covered earlier. There isn't a whole lot of emphasis
 being put on the spectacle or the show. The show is the
 music. However many guys that you get up on stage that
 have developed an ability to play their instrument and
 play off of one another - and find a thread and develop
 it.

 CJ: You just played Bonnaroo. Do you think in that
 scene... it's so massive - in the Dead you played to
 bigger crowds than that. But what's going on with like
 Gateway computers and their media tents and whatnot. Do
 you think that it's becoming over commercialized? Do you
 think you see corporate American wanting to sink its
 teeth in this ever-expanding thing that is going on here?

 Bob: Well, there is one advantage that this kind of music
 has. For instance with Gateway or Apple, or whoever wants
 to get involved. Those people, by and large, are of our
 ilk. They are people who like adventure and they like
 this kind of music, and so they bring their wherewithal.
 There is a danger that it can become over commercialized.
 We'll just have to trust our own foot steps. And if it
 doesn't seem right, we'll just have to not do it. And I
 am speaking for all of my kind of musicians.

 CJ: What were your general impressions of this Bonnaroo?
 Was it a positive experience for you?

 Bob: It was a great experience for me - big fun. There
 was a lot of music. I personally can't imagine going
 there for three or four days or whatever it was, and just
 getting hammered with music from before you get up to
 after you just want to fall down. So it may have been too
 heavy on the music. They should, and I don't know how you
 can do it, but there should be an area where you can go
 get some down time. That's my only real criticism.

 CJ: Like "the nap tent" or something? (laughs) The
 "chill-out tent".

 Bob: And another thing is water should be plentiful and
 cheap.

 CJ: Are you going to do it again next year? They said
 they are going to do it.

 Bob: Uhh... I expect so.

 CJ: Do you ever grow tired... you're Rat Dog. You're
 playing with Rat Dog. The last album that you put out got
 really great reviews from people that didn't even know
 much about Dead music or maybe there were fans who came
 in by way of another musician in the band. Would you like
 to identify yourself more with Rat Dog and move away from
 what you've done in the past?

 Bob: Well, I have that legacy with what I have done in
 the past. And I didn't play those songs for a couple of
 years and I got lonesome for them. So we worked a lot of
 them up. But at the same time, I am anxious for this band
 to get back home and get writing and develop our own
 legacy. This is the main thrust of my endeavor.

 CJ: Do you feel like there is still something that you
 need to do musically?

 Bob: Lots and lots of stuff.

 CJ: Is there anyone you want to play with? You've been
 
de1
playing with Logic lately.

 Bob: Yeah, Logic has been lots of fun to work with. And
 we'll be hooking back up with him when we get back to
 America. Ummm... we were just down at the Jazz Fest in
 New Orleans, and we had we had a couple of trumpet
 players on the stage who were amoung the very best
 trumpet players on earth. This one guy, Nicholas Peyton -
 he's gotta be the new Louis Armstrong. I mean he's one of
 those guys that can hang a note there and just hang it
 and hold it... he'll visibly be doing nothing, audibly
 doing nothing, but you can watch it change colors - he's
 that good. So to answer your question 'who do I wanna
 work with', sure, but I don't know who they are. They
 just keep arriving.

 CJ: As far as Logic goes, it was a bit hard for me to get
 my head around: a turntablist playing Dead music.

 Bob: Well we had to find where he lives and he had to
 find where we live. And that's still in progress, but
 it's a lot better now than when we first started out.
 When we first started out, it was just wicky-wicky stuff
 over the top of the music. There are more things that he
 is capable of doing. So we said go there and we'll
 surround you. But it's a big learning curve. He's not
 familiar with this type of music at all. And a big
 learning curve for me. And that's why I was anxious to do
 it.

 CJ: So this term... "jamband". Do you think it's going to
 stick? Is it gonna go away? Is it stupid?

 Bob: Oh, we're stuck with it. It's short, it says what
 needs to be said. So fine.

 CJ: The things is, the bands that do it the best... I
 interviewed Billy Martin from Medeski Martin and Wood not
 long ago and he said he felt like that label
 short-changed what his band was doing. For me, their
 music is pure jams. So I do think of them as a jamband. I
 guess there are lots of younger bands out there that
 haven't put in the time and effort and they are calling
 themselves a jambands and they can play a tune for 20
 minutes, but it's not the inspiring.

 Bob: Well, for that matter, you get all kinds of jazz
 bands, too. Some good ones and not so good ones: junior
 high bands and then the Doc Cheetums. You know those
 guys, the word jazz short-changes things depending on
 your interpretation.

 CJ: Good point. Okay, the last bit I have here is a word
 association. I say a word and you shoot back with what
 comes to mind.

 Bob: Sure.

 CJ: Okay. Bonnaroo.

 Bob: Sea of people.

 CJ: Space.

 Bob: I love it. You know space only occurs - I am talking
 about space in music - if people let it.

 CJ: Time.

 Bob: What I like best about music is when time goes away.

 CJ: Grateful Dead.

 Bob: It's a legacy. I still don't know what to make of
 it.

 CJ: John Cage.

 Bob: John Cage! (laughs) Ummm... interesting guy. He was
 a good pal of a friend of mine: Robert Rashinburg. I
 learned more about him from Rashinburg, I think, than I
 did from his records. But he'll teach you a little about
 what music can be - where to hear the muse in the music.

 CJ: Willie Nelson.

 Bob: Willie Nelson, oh he's... whoever called him the
 penultimate bar-room poet pretty much nailed that one. I
 love Willie.

 CJ: The 80's.

 Bob: The 80's? I had fun. (big laughs all the way around)

 CJ: Perfect. That's all we have for you.

 Bob: Okay, great.

 by Craig Judkins

 -------------------

 A big thank you to Dennis McNally who made sure that this
 interview happened. We really do appreciate it!

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