Wednesday August 23 03:47 AM EDT
Other Ones Prepare To Take New
Lineup Furthur
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Contributing Editor Richard B. Simon reports
NOVATO, Calif. — In a huge rehearsal studio lined
with black velvet curtains and piled high with well-worn
road cases, former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir sits on a stool, leading the
latest incarnation of the Other Ones through the vocal harmonies on the Dead
classic "He's Gone" (RealAudio excerpt).
"The idea is to get a gospel quartet or gospel trio," Weir says of the song's outro,
an extended, bluesy vocal jam on which he, pianist Bruce Hornsby and guitarist
Mark Karan riff on the line "Oooh, nothing's gonna bring him back." The song
has taken on new meaning since iconic Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died
in 1995, leading to the disbanding of the improvisational American rock
powerhouse.
Refreshed with a new lineup, the Other Ones are gearing up for this summer's
Furthur Festival tour with Ziggy Marley and the Melodymakers, which kicks off
Aug. 23 in San Diego and wraps Sept. 24 in Atlanta.
The band's studio complex is laden with the working artifacts of the Dead's long
career. A 5-foot-high ball of black gaffer's tape sits on a cart behind Hornsby's
grand piano. A picture of Elvis Presley with the caption "I'm dead" clings to an
amp cabinet.
The Dead's ubiquitous skull-and-lightning-bolt logo adorns a forklift outside,
where a maze of stage set scaffolding and black mesh creates a tentlike lounge
area. Various personnel wander in and out of the rehearsal space, occasionally
tweaking a rainbow-knobbed, 128-channel mixing console.
Two sound engineers work in a separate studio, remixing old live tapes, and the
band's business offices — now the hub of the former Grateful Dead members'
various side projects, as well as Grateful Dead Records, merchandising and other
ongoing pursuits — bustle with preparations for the tour.
Founding Drummer Returns
Named for an early Dead tune, the Other Ones first convened to tour in 1998
with Dead alumni Weir, drummer Mickey Hart and bassist Phil Lesh and
latter-day sideman Hornsby. Jazz saxophonist Dave Ellis and two guitarists —
Steve Kimmock (Zero) and Karan (Ratdog) — explored different leads on
classic Dead tunes, the bulk of the band's repertoire.
Ellis is no longer with the band, and Lesh, at odds with his former bandmates
over business and philosophical issues, opted out of this summer's road trip —
but founding drummer Bill Kreutzmann, lean, clean-shaven and well-rested, has
returned to the fold after a five-year respite.
"I miss the sh-- out of playing music, man," Kreutzmann says, sitting in an
air-conditioned trailer outside the studio. The drummer has been living in
Hawaii and spending more time fishing than playing. The easiest part of joining
the Other Ones, he says, was locking in with longtime co-drummer Hart.
"It's automatic," Kreutzmann says.
Hart skips an Aug. 16 rehearsal to attend the Democratic National Convention,
but the rest of the band works diligently, if casually, to work out songs from a
long list scribbled on three dry-erase boards in the studio, including a few
chestnuts long absent from the Dead's repertoire as well as mainstays such as
"The Music Never Stopped" (RealAudio excerpt of rehearsal take).
On a stage-height drum riser loaded to the brim with an eclectic collection of
toms, timbales, bongos and other, more exotic percussive devices, Kreutzmann,
in shorts and a blue Hawaiian shirt, dances behind his drum kit as the Other Ones
hash out classics such as "He's Gone," "The Wheel" and "Uncle John's Band," as
well as Hornsby's tunes "The Way It Is" and "Valley Road."
"It's nice to get back playing with Billy, and Billy's having a field day playing
with [bassist Alphonso Johnson]," Weir says, sitting cross-legged on a road
case during a break, his toenails painted different colors. "Alphonso is real
good. ... His approach naturally takes stuff to new places."
Johnson, who played in Weir's 1980s side project Bobby and the Midnites,
as well as with Santana and Weather Report, checks the sheet music for the
changes on "He's Gone," then settles into the pocket with Hornsby's lush,
jazzy honky-tonk (RealAudio excerpt of rehearsal take). Weir punctuates the tune
with scrunchy, flanged chords.
Old Guard Meets New Breed
With three longtime Dead members and three next-generation players,
balanced by Hornsby, the band sounds at times like the Dead. At other
times, it's a whole different group, the newer members infusing the music
with new colors and flavors.
Karan's guitar twang and Kreutzmann's easy drumming give "Ripple" an
ambling country feel. Johnson plucks and slides on a red electric upright
bass and Hornsby squeezes soft chords out of the accordion, while
Kimmock strums a mandola.
Kimmock's snaking leads, Karan's whammy-bar bends and Hornsby's
capable lyrics darken the early Garcia gambler's lament "Loser" (RealAudio
excerpt of rehearsal take).
Between songs, the bandmembers joke about adding a Latin rhythm to
"Ripple," and pick out little pieces of songs such as Bill Monroe's bluegrass
standard "Uncle Pen."
"Wouldn't that just be the sh--, if the first song on the first night, we did
[Madonna's] 'Like a Virgin?' " Hornsby quips. "Those Deadheads would be
horrified!"
"Like a Virgin" probably won't see the light of day, but Weir says the band
is working on a few new songs, with lyrics provided by Robert Hunter. A live
CD likely will result, and a studio disc may eventually follow but not before
a solid group of new songs has been road-tested.
"As we learn each other's moves and how to sort of coax stuff out of each
of the players in the band, it's gonna develop into its own entity," Weir says.
"The most fulfilling thing is finding new ways to lock together, new
harmonic constructs and stuff like that — rhythmic constructs — and
having them fall together, and having the joy of discovery occur. It's kind of
what I live for." |
