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In this episode of Only in the Green Room, we sit down with Stephen Inglis, Barry Sless, Rob Barraco, and Pete Sears of Skeleton Crewe to explore the unlikely beginnings of the band and the musical chemistry that brought them together.
Stephen shares fascinating stories from growing up immersed in Hawaiian musical culture, including a remarkable connection to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's iconic recording of "Over the Rainbow" and an unforgettable story involving Jerry Garcia.
Rob discusses performing his original compositions written with legendary Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, while the band reflects on its experiences playing alongside musical heroes, including Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann.
Along the way, we explore Hawaiian slack key guitar, the freedom of improvisation, personal memories of Bob Weir, and the challenge of building an original sound while honoring the musical traditions that inspired them.
It's a conversation about friendship, musical discovery, and the rare chemistry that cannot be planned.
Only in the Green Room — Where Artists Remain Human.
Creators and Guests
Host
What is Only In The Green Room?
Welcome to Only In The Green Room - Backstage conversations from popular music venues around the country curated by Mount Tam Media.
Buckle up and listen in, as host Dennis Strazulo and Mount Tam Media founder, Tami Larson, dig up conversations with artists - before and after shows - in the exclusive confines of the green room. Barriers are down with stories abound!
In this episode, we sit down with
four of the incredible musicians of
Skeleton Crew, Steven Anglais, Barry
Sless, Rob Barraco, and Pete Sears,
for a conversation about the unexpected
beginnings of the band, and the musical
chemistry that brought them together.
What started as a chance collaboration
has evolved into something truly
special, blending Hawaiian slack-key
guitar, the improvisational spirit
of the Grateful Dead, and original
music, including songs written with
legendary lyricist Robert Hunter.
Steven shares some remarkable stories
from his upbringing in Hawaii, including
an incredible connection to Israel
Kamakawiwohle and his iconic recording,
Over the Rainbow, and a little-known
encounter involving Jerry Garcia.
We also hear about the band's personal
connections to the Grateful Dead,
their experiences playing alongside
some of their musical heroes, and
why they're more interested in
carrying that creative spirit forward
than simply recreating the past.
It's a conversation about friendship,
musical discovery, and the kind of
chemistry that can't be planned.
Welcome to the Green Room,
where artists remain real.
We have a chemistry.
It's, it's palpable.
Yeah.
Uh, and all five of us have it.
Uh, and that's, that's what, that's
what keeps me, sucking me into doing it.
Yeah.
I wanna do it because I
know how rare that is.
Yeah.
And I've played, you know, I've played
in a … I've, I've been lucky in my life
that I've played in a couple of bands that
had great chemistry, but I've also played
in plenty of bands that had no chemistry.
Welcome to Only in the Green Room,
backstage conversations from popular
music venues around the country.
Listen in as Dennis Truhlsen, Tammy
Larsen, and surprise co-hosts dig
up conversations with artists before
and after shows in the exclusive
confines of the green room.
Stephen Inglis, welcome
to Only in the Green Room.
Well, thanks for having me.
I tell you, it's really a pleasure.
Yeah.
We, uh, we came across you, and heard
about you before that, probably in, I
was looking back, October of '24 at the
house party- Okay … Chris Applebaum.
Chris Applebaum.
Yeah.
Right?
And so how, how long had the
band been going at that point?
So that was, um, October of 2024.
Yes.
So not too long.
That was only about the, the th-
the third, third or fourth time we
played together, um, in this… And
that's the current line-up, um- Right.
Yes … so I can, I can kinda
rewind a bit to- Yeah … but it
started in, uh, in January of 2024.
Um, so I was gonna do a
house concert in Mill Valley.
Here, here we are, look.
Here we are.
Here we are.
And there was a bad, um- Full
circle … there was a bad winter storm.
Hey, sound guy over there.
Yeah.
Bad winter storm.
And, um, uh, the con- the concert
got canceled because of the weather.
Yeah.
So a good friend of mine and, um, Barry's,
Rachael Anne, she, she did, um, publicity
when I did, along with Dennis McNally,
when I released the album Cut the Dead
Some Slack back in 2018, and- Yeah
she's a friend of Barry's, and went with
him, and- Shout out to, shout out to her-
Shout out to Rachael … she's amazing.
Rachael Anne, uh, we- Rachael Anne,
we love you She'll be here in a bit.
Yeah.
And we, we, uh, we started the ball
rolling getting you here with her.
Oh, awesome.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thanks, Rachael.
So, um, anyhow, uh, I called Rachael.
I was coming from the, the, uh, NAMM Show
in LA, and I had a couple other gigs.
I had a gig in Santa Cruz.
And, uh, and I said, "Oh, yeah, Monday
night was gonna be a house concert,
but I'm, I got a night off now.
Let's go grab a bite or
something." She said, "Oh, no.
No night off for you.
I'm gonna book you a gig." She said,
"You wanna do a duo with Barry Sless?"
I'm like, "Hell yeah." She called
Barry and said, "Do you wanna do a duo
with a Hawaiian slack key guitarist?"
Uh, and he said he- Barry's been
going to Hawaii for a long time-
Yes, he has … loves Hawaiian music.
And we met very briefly at, at
Terrapin Crossroads, um, back
before COVID when I did that- Yeah
Cut the Dead album.
I did a handful of shows there with,
um, Mark Karen and Robin Sylvester-
Yeah … and, and Ezra Lip- Robin
Sylvester … and Danny Eisenberg.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So great, great times.
Um- Terry.
But anyhow, Barry came by after,
after one of his gigs, and we, we
talked for about five, 10 minutes just
kind of a quick, we never really…
And then I opened, my band in Hawaii
opened for the David Nelson Band in 1999.
Wow.
And so of course Barry
meets a million people.
I was probably gushing, "Oh, you
guys are awesome," kind of thing.
But anyhow- Fan boy.
Wow … Rachael, um, got Perry
Eese to open for us on a Monday
night, and we did a duo thing.
So- Yeah I'd been multitasking.
I spaced, I thought I'd booked
a Southwest flight from Anaheim
to Oakland for these gigs.
And I went to log in, and like, "You
have no upcoming reservations." Oh, no.
I'm like, "What do you mean?
I thought…" And I went to, to book
a flight, and it was like six times
as much, so I'm like, "Screw it, I'm
just gonna rent a car and drop it off."
So I rented a car.
I drove straight to Barry's house
from, you know, about s- Yeah … eight
hours from, from So Cal. Right.
And we had about 90 minutes to show time.
We, we played for about 20 minutes.
We go, "This is fun." Went to the gig.
We had a quick dinner, and the
second song we're like, "Oh,
man, we gotta keep doing this."
So- Wow … so that's kind of how the,
the ball got rolling that year- Right.
2024. So that we're- That was just,
just a few months before- Before that?
Yeah.
Okay.
So- That's amazing.
So in, in April I opened up for Dark
Star Orchestra in, um, Honolulu.
Yeah.
Um, and Barry and I, we'd al-
we'd already booked some shows in
April, duo shows here, 'cause we,
we loved doing what we did so much.
And we, we did an opener
for the Dave Nelson Band.
That's the last time they went to
Hawaii was in March of that year.
So- Nice … we did our thing there.
Um, where, and Jay and Pete and, um,
ended up, and, uh, Mookie s- ended up
sitting in with, uh, Barry and I. Nice.
So it wasn't really a duo thing,
so that kinda- That was a blast.
Fun.
went to soundcheck at DSO,
Barako was there right away.
He said, "Hey man, I heard you've been
playing with my buddy Barry Sless." I
said, "Yeah." And so Rob s- sat in for my
opening set, so we did a duo thing there.
And, and right after that- Wow … before
we were even done soundcheck, we said,
"Oh man, we gotta call Barry and book some
trio shows," which we did- Oh my goodness
uh, in June of that year.
So we did five shows here in
Northern Cal with the three of us
in June- Yeah … of, um, 2024.
It was a Skeleton Crew trio?
Not, not yet.
We called, we just called it
we're- What'd you call it?
'Cause Barry and I called our duo,
we still do, Slack Steel and Sons.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
We just did a, um, 10 shows up in Alaska.
Uh, we just got back on Saturday.
Yes.
Um, so we, we do the duo thing
now, which is a lot of fun.
Yeah.
Um- And, and what about Skeleton?
Where, where's the Skeleton Crew?
So, so, so where'd that start?
Yeah.
Oh, that's right.
Where does it all get the name?
It's, it's a, it's a long-winded answer.
Yeah.
That's okay though.
No, it's okay.
But anyway, anyhow, that summer- The
people wanna know … yeah, that,
that summer- They do … of 2024.
So, so we got the trio thing going, we're
having a blast, and I got approached by a
promoter in Hawaii to do a, um, like a, a
Garcia tribute the week of his birthday.
Oh.
Um, like at the Blue Note
Honolulu and some other shows.
And- Mm-hmm … and so after playing with
these guys, oh man, we gotta … I, I, we
had, they had enough of a budget, said,
"Let's get everybody out here." So we
got, uh, the first run we got Wally Ingram
and Barako, which is, Wally's a fan-
fantastic drummer, because you have- Yeah.
Just add Wally.
Just add Wally.
Yeah.
I'll take a
That was a blast.
So we did… This was
all Garcia, Grateful- Oh.
But heavily Garcia, 'cause it was, it was
his birthday thing, so we did a lot of
Garcia band material and a little Grateful
Dead and… But also, but even within
that context, we were, we were already
doing Barry and I playing electric guitar,
but also slack key and pedal steel.
Right.
So it was kind of a, a different
thing, and we had a blast doing that.
So the promoter appro- uh,
approached us to do it again and
more outdoor, a different thing,
um, in September of that year.
So for those shows we
had Jay come out also.
So we had Wally and Jay.
Barako couldn't make that, so we had, um,
Muki Seagull on keys, which was a blast.
Yeah.
But it was still a tribute thing, um,
you know, doing Grateful Dead stuff
and- Are we in '25 now or- What's that?
… or are we still in '24?
We are '24 still.
We're still in '24.
Still in '24.
Wow.
So this is all-
Amazing … all that summer.
Sorry.
No, this is good.
But anyhow, for, for
the… I, I gotta rewind.
I forgot to- No.
Yeah … get the Skeleton Crew thing.
For the first round of those shows
of, of the summer, the Blue Note thing
we did, um, so we needed a name and
we didn't have a… 'Cause we thought
it was gonna be a one-time thing, and
we're like, "What are we gonna call
it? We've gotta use everybody's name
because that's gonna draw people."
Uh- Yeah … but we also gave it a name.
Barry said, "Well, I had a, I had,
I had a pickup gig I had to cover
one time, I think for Steve Kimock.
Someone, somebody asked Barry to
put together a band last minute,
um, and they called it Skeleton
Crew just 'cause… It's good.
Okay.
Let's… That's all right.
Perfect, uh," so we went with that.
Um, and it, for that, it worked out great-
Yeah … and we did it again for the
later, but then we found out that that's,
that's a, there's other bands called-
Right … there, there was a band, there
was like a- Never, never fails … I
think an avant-garde rock band on the
East Coast in the eight- they recorded
in, in the '80s that are not a band
anymore with the regular spelling C-R-E-W.
Yeah.
So for a while we had the New
Orleans K-R-E-W-E thing going.
Yeah.
But then we didn't wanna step
on that, 'cause that's, it's,
that's a long tradition there.
Yeah.
So at that point we'd already done
enough gigs, we're like, "Oh, man,
um, we, we could think about changing
it, but people are already calling
us that, so we gotta keep it."
So we decided to just
put the E on the end.
Add the E on the end.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But the name does market.
It stuck and we, we, we, we dig it.
There's another house show you did with
Barry at, uh, Vicki Goldman's, right?
Vicki- Oh, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, Vicki and, um-
Yeah … so happy to see them.
Yeah.
Yeah, Vicki and Eric.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Vicki and Eric, and that was
great, and we- We did a duo there.
Yeah.
We, we also did a trio thing with,
um, Tim Bloom and Mother Hips.
We're doing some more shows
in a few weeks with him.
Wow.
Oh, that's great.
It'll be great.
We had, we had Tim Bloom in this room.
Right in this room.
Tim's, Tim is awesome, so.
Yeah.
Yeah, right in this room with Barry.
So Barry and I are recording,
we're recording a, um, a duo thing
at his house, his home studio.
And so while we started to do that we, we
realized he was laying, Tim's laying some
beautiful harmonies on our stuff- Yeah
… and we're like, "Man, we should… I think
the three of us would, would sound…"
So we, we did a house concert this past
year at St. Patrick's Day at Eric and
Vicki's- Yeah … here in Mill Valley.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so now that, that, we're gonna do a
few more in the end of September out here.
It's- We are so lucky that, uh, we're
here and that you found all these
people and you found- I, I, I consider
myself incredibly lucky to have- Yeah
as you know, every one of those guys.
They're just incredible.
Well- But- But in, but in, like… In
learning a little bit more about you
and, and your, just your life and your
past and your history in Hawaii and,
and, and now I just found out here as
well, your mom is from San Francisco.
So my, yeah, my, my gra- my, my
grandfather was born here- Yeah
in Tiburon, like I said, in, in 1912.
Right.
Um, back when it was a- Crazy.
Back when it was the sticks, and my,
my mom was actually born in Salt Lake
City for, so she was six month old
and then she, they came 'cause he was
tra- Right … traveling, a salesman.
He came back and then settled here.
And my auntie, her younger sister,
was born here, so they grew up
in the Richmond in the projects.
I'm gonna say this was all meant to be.
Even though the flight got canceled.
Yeah, right.
Like the whole, yeah.
You made it happen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, so.
Wow.
Um, this is, all right, so
let's talk a little family.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because the reason I wanna say
that- Of course … or am saying
that is last night your sister, um,
who apparently lives in Santa Rosa?
She does, yeah.
Okay.
I've heard, heard about it.
She, um, just tell everybody,
she showed up, uh, at the gig.
Is she coming tonight?
Not tonight unfortunately.
Damn, okay.
Yeah.
I, yeah.
The reason I say damn is because she
got on stage and, uh, did a, just
a beautiful hula- It was beautiful,
yeah … hula dance, uh, to your music.
Nevermore to say goodbye
about your sister and that song, and what
you can about that whole relationship.
Yeah.
Well s- well, you know, we were, we
were fortunate to, uh, myself, her,
to have… I'm the middle, I have
a older brother, she's about five
years younger than me, then my, my
brother is two years older than me.
Speak of the devil.
Right?
Yeah.
Um, so we all, we were all born
and raised here i- or here,
there, because it's not here.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes, yes, yes.
In Honolu- you know, Hawaii.
I like that button.
Very clever glasses.
Come on in, Barry, 'cause we
were just talking about you.
Come on in, Barry.
Here's your brother.
So nice to see you.
What do you say?
We were just talking about you.
What do you say?
It was all good so far.
Yeah.
Now we gotta… It was all bad,
now we're gonna make it good.
But yeah, I got, I got the whole story
of how, how we started our thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, but so- But, but we were
talking about his sister last
night … so- Oh yeah, that's right.
That's really cool.
My older brother, younger sister,
and myself were all born in Honolulu.
Um, but we were fortunate to grow up close
to the culture too, 'cause you know, a lot
of… You can grow up, you know, being a
haole, a wh- a white kid in- Yeah … in
Hawaii and not maybe not be too plugged
in- Yeah … to the, to the, you know,
the Hawaiian culture, or the- Yeah
there's local culture,
there's… But there was a,
um, my parents were activists.
They were b- they were respectively
a, a Catholic, a nun and a
priest be- when they met.
So my mom was in the convent here.
She taught in the miss- first
in Burlingame in the late
'50s and in the Mission.
And the… She was actually, uh, living
s- stationed as a nun on Haight Street
in 1966, so she was ground zero- Sinners
uh, for… But they, you know,
they're, but her and my dad are
both, they became, you know, civil
rights and anti-war activists, and
my dad was at Dr. King's speech.
And, but they met while they were in, uh,
southern Cal. But she was a, a nun during
the, the peak of the Haight of here, here,
here in the city, and- They're super cool.
This is the stuff that you don't get.
This is the stuff you don't get
when you're doing searches, right?
But, but they… So this, this is a
roll up to how, how they got, they got
to Hawaii, but, but yeah, it's kind
of mind-blowing and, and, um, when…
Bill Kreutzmann had dinner at my house
one time and, and talking about, my mom
was talking about S- they got talking
about San Francisco and, and, and- Yeah
and she was talking about, "Well,
yeah, I was on Haight Street in
1966." And Bill, he's like- … "Well,
we must have run into each other."
Not unless you were the Church.
But it's like, yeah, you guys, you guys
were in different worlds, uh, d- you
were on different planes back then.
Wow.
You know, but, but, uh, That is… All
right, so I, I didn't wanna let that
go- I knew you weren't gonna let that go
because it was your pa- That's so
interesting … your mom was a nun-
It's a little cattle worms, yeah, yeah.
No, I love it.
Your mom was a nun and your
dad was a priest when they met.
Yes.
Is that right?
And, and, and they, uh, and, and a lot
of friends that they've kept throughout
their whole lives were also, but,
but they found themselves, you know,
through the activism and their, they
get together, their, their- Yeah.
Yeah Their, maybe their religious views
got a little more panoramic and they
kind of- … you know, broke, broke
away from the- Right … the strict
order and, uh, and did their thing.
But they found themselves both in Hawaii.
My dad got a teaching job.
They were both teachers also.
Um, and we grew up there.
Mm-hmm.
But they found themselves with this…
At the time that we were all born, they
called, it was kind of the peak of the
Hawaiian Renaissance when the language was
coming back, the hula, the, um- Mm-hmm.
But the church we went to was a
non-denominational church, and it was
an, it was an outpatient hospital that
the state had cut off funding for by the
'70s for, um, uh, the leprosy patients.
When the cure for leprosy was found
in the '40s- Yeah … Kalaupapa was
the peninsula on Molokai where, you
know, Father Damien went and, and,
um, it's kind of a well-known story.
But, but anyhow- Right … when the
cure was found, these folks were free
to leave, but there was a live-in,
a residential hospital for folks who
still needed the care from the- Right
from the s- the symptoms, even though
they weren't contagious anymore.
But by the, by this point, this,
this hospital became, like, a
really, a gathering place for these,
you know, native rights activists,
peace activists like my parents.
But there's a lot of native
Hawaiians from, from Kalaupapa
Molokai, but musicians too.
Sure.
Like Mo Keale from the Sons of Hawaii,
who was a great friend of ours.
Yeah.
And then Dennis Kamakahi, who was a young
man, a part of that group, who I ended up-
Right … recording the album with later.
Yeah.
But this, so our childhood w- I w- we
were very fortunate to be, to soak up
the, the, the culture at a young age,
more so maybe than a, than a typical white
kid being born and raised in Honolulu.
So that's- Very much … my sister and
I, that, that's how we- Yeah … and she
started dancing the hula when she was
three years old, so she's, she's a really
good dancer, and she was competitive,
and she would, she would dance for,
like I just talked about, Mo Keale.
They would- Yeah … she danced
with him for years at the, at the
Sherat- you know, the Sheraton.
So you still play piano from when
you were- I started on piano when I
was five … okay, you started piano.
Okay.
All right … that was
my first instrument.
I'm not good anymore, but Okay.
We got a really good piano
player in our band, but- He
got somebody like where is he?
Here.
I can play on the key of
C, but he can- That's…
I, I'm glad I asked about your sister,
because I know she- But yeah, so she
lives- I mean, it's like- … she
goes, "Oh, uh, uh, she go- you gotta
come dance," and so I wasn't gonna
take no for an answer for less.
No, and it was just- Tell me-
I was just gonna say … you
told them the Israel story?
No, not yet.
That's- We haven't.
No, not yet.
Oh, okay.
That's another cool story.
So that's- Yeah, bring it.
We're here for stories.
Thank you, Barry.
A couple- We love, we love a story.
He's a couple-list.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll, I'll sit back
and let him tell the story.
There's a couple, couple Israel stories.
Yeah.
There, there's- No, we, we have more
there's one, uh- Don't you go ahead.
No.
We're talking about Iz.
Yeah.
Everybody knows him as Iz, the, uh, you
know, the Hawaiian- Over The Rainbow
is a famous recording that he did-
Yeah … that, that, that's heard around
the- Right … but he, you know, he was
gig- he, he, he passed away way too young,
but he was- Yeah … you know, huge.
He, but his voice was… But that,
the family that he's in, like, my
Uncle Mo is, is his, his uncle.
Wow.
And they're all, they're all
pure Hawaiian, that, that family.
They've got this, um, they've all got
this shared voice that's just incredible.
Israel was in a band with a couple brother
Iz, you know, after, after, after he
passed away, that album, the IZ, everybody
got to know him as, "Oh yeah, Brother Iz."
Yeah.
But his name is Israel Kamakawiwoole.
But his band, he was in a band called
The Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau, a well-known
Hawaiian band in the… Mm. But that song
kind of just took off across the world.
It was in a- Yeah … it was in
a movie, I think, but it, but it
became probably the most- Yeah
… recorded piece of music in Hawaii.
Yeah.
But his, uh, Uncle Mo, who's a good
friend of ours, who's- Yeah … also
a well-known musician, um, in the
s- going back to the '70s, Sons of
Hawaii, and- Right … and an actor.
You know, he was in Hawaii Five-0 in the
original one, and, and- And he recorded
with- He recorded sol- both with the Sons
of Hawaii and solo records after that.
Um- Right … but Israel, who's his
nephew, who… So he, he woke up in
the middle of the night with this, that
version of Over The Rainbow in his head.
He said he just had to go record it,
so he called Jon De Mello, who owned
Mountain Apple Records at, like, 2:00
in the morning, said- Yeah … "You
gotta go open the studio for me.
I gotta g- I gotta record
this thing." So he did.
And one take, I guess.
He just turned the mics on and they,
they did it, and, and, um- Wow.
But he, anyway, he had, he had a,
a rough demo from the studio and,
and he gave it to his uncle, to Mo,
and he said, "Uncle, I'm thinking
about releasing this as a single.
Let me know what you think before…
But don't, don't share the tape with
anybody, 'cause I don't know what I'm
gonna do." He said, "Sure." So he took
the tape home, and Mo was working on
some, like, kind of classical ukulele
stuff at the time and, and this is
when my sister was dancing for him
at the Sheraton, and, uh, and my mom,
who's a good friend of his, he said,
"Inglis, here, take, take these.
Take this tape.
This is me doing my class- I
think you're gonna like this, and
you know, play it for your kids.
It's me doing the classical
ukulele thing." She said, "Oh,
sure." So she took it home.
She put the pops in it, she's
like, "That's not you. That sounds
like Israel." In the love of ba-
It was the studio tape of,
of the Over the Rainbow.
So he calls her, it's the free cellphone.
"Angus, give me that tape
back. Don't share that. I gave
you the wrong tape." Oh, no.
So she, she got to hear the- Wow.
She was, like, the first one- She got
to hear … to ever hear that Wow.
So she, she gave it back to him.
Other than Mo.
Yeah.
Another great story that,
that I thought you'd remember.
First, it, it's a fresher story that in
my head, is Kit Candelario about a month
ago at, uh, Perry's here in Fairfax.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
On the break we were talking about…
'cause we, we had just met him earlier
this year, and he knows I'm from
Hawaii, so we're talking all the time.
Yeah.
He used to go scuba diving
with Garcia, and loves, loves
Hawaii, and owns property there.
Yeah.
Um, but he's, he was recalling one, one
time, this is before Over the Rainbow was
recorded too, but they were diving Kona
and they had this condo where they stayed.
And then Kit's going to the beach
park right there, and you, you just
hear this beautiful Hawaiian singing.
He goes and he sees, "I saw this huge
guy with a ukulele, just beautiful
voice singing," and other, these
other guys on a, on the park bench.
And he's like, "Man, I, I gotta go.
Garcia's gotta hear this." So he
goes back to the condo to get Jerry.
And, and, uh, and he goes, he's not there.
He's like, "Oh, aw,
shucks. Well, his loss."
So he's like, goes, goes back to the
beach, and as he's coming back he's,
he says, "I, I hear another guitar in
there." And he said Garcia's sitting
on the bench with them playing.
I'm like, holy cow, that's a chicken
skin, as we call in Hawaii again.
Yeah.
What?
And that's, that's amazing
story that I ever, so- Wow
I thank Kit for, for… And I don't
know if you ever said this- And that
was just, you just heard this story?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
'Cause this is a new story for you.
A new story for me, and I don't think,
uh… Oh, sorry Kit, I hope it's okay.
I'm sure he's okay.
But that's a- Yeah … great anecdote.
But, uh- Oh my God.
I'm kidding.
Yeah.
What an anecdote.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like so much for
all of our questions.
I mean- No, we don't need it … it's
great because it's like, "Oh." Well, like
we, we interviewed Jay a couple weeks
ago, and I think we asked him a question-
Yeah … and that was the end of it.
We- Yeah … we, we got
his whole life story.
And he's happy to sit here all night.
It's amazing.
We can, well, since it's Barry's
here, um, so I, I kinda, I, they,
they already got the whole run of how,
how Rachel, uh, linked us up for that
first gig and how- Yeah … and we left
off kind of on the, after the Falls.
The, 'cause he saw us at, uh, Al
Pamalponne's house, and that's
kinda the first time we had the
lineup with Jay, the five piece.
And we, you know, we did the
tribute thing- Oh, right.
Yeah, yeah … which was
awesome with Wally and them.
But then when we did the shows in, um,
here in October, we had about three or
four, maybe a c- few more besides Chris's.
But, um- Yeah.
Yeah … at that point, Barry and
Rob and I had, during our trio
thing we, we'd started to do- Mm-hmm
we'd worked up some of the r-
the originals that, um, you know,
Barack wrote with Robert Hunter-
Yeah … and some of my originals.
Yeah.
And so it started to already evolve
in the trio, but those shows were
the first time that the band started
to learn the original things.
So that's when the, the current
iteration of Skeleton Crew really
started to like, wow, we can- Yeah
this is something… You know-
Yeah … it started as a tribute thing.
It had already, we already kinda did
our own thing with the pedal steel and
the slack key, but, but that's the point
where the- Yeah … where it's been
almost not quite two years yet, but that,
that's how the, it started to really
evolve into the project that it is.
Yeah.
We never did it a total tribute way, where
we're trying to emulate what they did.
Right.
'Cause he brought, you know, any of the
songs that we covered, or most of them, he
would be playing slack key on and I would
be playing pedal steel, so- kind of added
a unique touch to it so we weren't, you
know, trying to be a tribute copy thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and then it evolved to where
we're about 90% original now.
We might, you know, we might play
two of their songs, uh, a night, and-
Yeah … a couple Bob Dylan songs.
Oh, polka devil, I just-
I was there last night.
It was amazing.
Just fantastic.
Thank you.
You know what I noticed last night?
On the… First of all,
we were there when?
We were there- Yeah.
Yeah.
We can say, we were there- Yeah,
we were there for Chris's after
show … since I was, October.
I was dancing like you, he found
some video of me dancing- Yeah.
like crazy in the middle of the- Yeah.
Well, everybody
was … middle of the room.
The whole place.
I, so I could tell at that point,
I, I, I was thinking, ima- "Oh, man-
Yeah … look at this. Look at this." I
remember dropping the bomb that night.
True, huh?
Yeah.
And, and I remember the picture outside,
you know, of, that's such a great view at
Chris's, and you took a picture and- Yeah
and I was looking at these guy-
you guys going, "Man, this is
gonna- This is something … this
is gonna…" So here we are.
So happy about it.
Yes.
You know what I noticed last night,
I wanna say, Barry, is your vocals.
I- Oh.
Yeah, Barry.
Amazing, yeah.
And I, I don't hear, you
know, I don't hear a lot.
It's like they get the
sign, "Let Barry sing."
Might river.
I always say be careful what you wish for.
Yeah.
But, uh, it's kind of a new thing.
Like, one day, uh, w- with the trio,
was, uh, we were o- on our way driving
up to a gig in Nevada City or- For
our first show, actually, I think.
Oh, okay.
First trio show in Thurston.
And these, these guys are
singing harmony in the front
seat, and I'm in the back seat.
And I just, uh, start
throwing in a third part.
And they're e- and they're like, "We're
giving you a mic." And I was like, "No,
no, no, I'm just playing around." It's
like, "Oh, no, no, no." "Oh, no, no, no.
We're giving you a mic." So they,
you know, they kind of encouraged
me and, and pushed me, and I'm a
little self-conscious about it.
Are you?
But I've gotten a little
more comfortable with it.
And, um, yeah, I mean,
I s- I enjoy doing it.
Good.
Do more.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Do more.
I- I'm gonna wish for it,
and I'm- And- And I'm okay.
And- All right, listen.
We're gonna- Oh … we're gonna
bring this guy in and muck it up.
And I also, I also, I really
like- There goes the neighborhood
when you guys do the harmonies.
Y- uh, come on in.
Take a picture- Now it's a
party … sit on the, the hot seat
over there, Rob, on the couch.
Actually, maybe we'll get
you one of these mics.
Um- Okay … we, we, we got
sidetracked, uh- We got it.
Ooh, my ears must have been burning.
Yeah, sidetracked for a while.
Yeah.
Um, well we did have a little here- Why?
Were you talking about me?
Oh, yeah.
Well, we- You were talking about me.
We were.
We were.
Where did we leave,
where did we leave off?
No, but you know what?
I have a question.
All right, go ahead.
Just, just as a, to help sort
of educate the audience because
I love what you guys are doing.
I love the improvisation, but talk
a little bit about slackkey, talk a
little bit about the Hawaiian influence
and, and what the audience can expect
these days- The Hawaiian, okay, yeah
in terms of… Because, I mean, this
is all, this came together in '24.
But, you know, just give a little bit
of background in terms of- Yeah, the,
the, of, of, oh, you're going back
to, like, slackkey in terms of itself?
Yes, yes.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Yes, yeah.
So it's a… I mean, all the
American music that we love,
you know, jazz, blues- Right
ragtime, rock, rock.
It's all a beautiful interweb fusion.
Right.
And it's not like there's… Nothing
was born exclusively of itself.
It's all because- Sure … there's all
these amazing things, and like jazz has
the harmonic European sophistication
with the sophistication of the African
rhythms and, and- Yeah … and the- Yeah
it… But, but Hawaii is, it,
it, it was the most, it is the
most isolated place in the world.
Mm-hmm.
But, but the earliest, uh, the earliest
white people were, you know, after Captain
Cook, there was English sailors and
there was- Yeah … Portuguese sailors.
And the, then the whole
plantation thing started.
Right.
But even before the plantation thing,
the, very early on, the Mexican
vaqueros, that, that, that's the
biggest influence for slackkey- Yeah
'cause they brought the
first guitars to Hawaii.
So Kamehameha III went to, uh,
Monterey, Mexico at the time in his
travels, and we're talking about 1818
be, um… And at that point there
was already a ton of feral cattle in
Hawaii, and they didn't really know
what they could, they could hunt them
and try to eat them, but there were
just, there was too many to deal with.
Mm-hmm.
And there were this vaqueros,
or Mexican cowboys, which is how
the American cowboys were born.
They, they were long before
they had the American West.
Right.
So they're the OG cowboys.
But Kamehameha III brought 20 families
back to Hawaii to teach the Hawaiians
how to rope cattle, and that,
that began the paniolo tradition.
Paniolo is the Hawaiianized
word for Espanol, or Spanish,
so they're cowboys, but that's
what they call Hawaiian cowboys.
And that's the first guitars.
So they left them as gifts.
It's like a lot of places in the
world, you know, the standard guitar
tuning, when you just strum it without
fretting, it's kind of a dissonant- Right
it's an E minor 11 chord, but it's
not There's a lot of places just tuned
to, ooh, a nice big warm open chord-
Mm-hmm … which is what they did.
But the way it evolved with the thumb
style, finger style, and playing the
bass on top, or bass- Yeah … on
bottom and picking the melody on top.
The way it sounds, the way it evolved
there, it became to s- sound a
lot like the land it was born in,
really languid and, and tropical.
And then of course- Right … it
evolved over the 200 some years.
Um, and then there's, a lot of Hawaiians
were traveling in the fur trade all the
way to the, the delta to the East Coast
by the middle 18- 19th century, so very
early blues and ragtime and all that
jazz has a lot of Hawaiian influence.
And vice versa, the stuff the Hawaiians
brought home, what we know as 20th
century Hawaiian music has a ton.
It's all… And the, the particularly
the Hawaiian steel guitar, there's a kid
in 1888 who turned a railroad spike into
a perfect cylinder in the Kamehameha
Schools metal shop, 'cause they were
trying to industrialize Hawaii, and
this is the Industrial Revolution time.
But the early blues guys saw
these Hawaiians playing with
this cylinder on their lap, and,
and that started the whole- Wow
that's how the pedal steel was born,
and the, the frying pan lap steel.
Love that.
And then the Hawaiians brought home,
so it's really all inbred stuff.
It, it's a- Yeah.
It's- It's kinda why this
works, too … so interesting.
It is so interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is, right?
I mean- Right, it makes sense, right?
And how about, I mean, what is, uh, so
w- we were talking before you came in,
Rob, about the, the Hunter songs, the,
the songs you wrote w- with Hunter.
I mean, it, they seem to fit
perfectly in- Like a fit,
yeah … in this, this style somehow.
I mean, is that maybe- Well,
we're making 'em… I, I
recorded the songs a certain way.
Uh, I had a producer who really
wanted me to make, make a record
that wasn't a Grateful Dead record.
Right.
'Cause a lot of, you
know, it's- I'm a Deadhead
yeah.
Yeah.
And it seeps into, and he, he was trying
to r- uh, root it all out, you know?
So when- When we decided to- Root it- When
we decided to start this thing- That's
very good … and, and, you know, y- I,
I think early on we decided, well, we
don't wanna be another Dead cover band.
There's a thousand Dead
cover bands in this country.
Let's play original music,
and we have a ton of it.
So it's great that, um, I'm able
to take these songs and play them
the way I actually envisioned
them when I wrote them- Wow.
Yeah … instead of the
way this other guy saw it.
Yeah.
And, um, and they were amenable to, to
doing it, so… And, and it's evolving,
uh, and everybody's personality's
getting into the, the songs, you know?
And Barry's coming up with different
parts that, you know, I never would've
envisioned, but that work perfectly, and
Steven as well, and it- They still have
the spirit of the Dead- Yeah … right?
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
So I'm sure Jerry would
be very happy right now.
And, I mean, I mean Hunter's
lyrics are Hunter's lyrics.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're always gonna have that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's- I think it's perfect
for, for Hunter's lyrics.
Yeah, I just think, uh, it just works
so… And before you came in also, we
were talking about, uh, the, uh, the new
vocalist in the band sitting next to you.
Barry.
Yeah.
Huh?
I, I was- You just swing it all the way
surprised as you are.
And it actually works now.
And then r- so you s- you sat in, uh,
when Dark Star Orchestra was in L.A.?
When I opened up for them, yeah.
Yeah, so he- And he already helped
with Barry … he opened one of the
shows and, uh, before the, before his
soundcheck, he, he asked me, he says,
"I'd really be honored if you'd sit in."
tunes, and I was like, "Sure." So I did,
and, and I thought it was really great.
And then, uh, then he asked me, he says,
"You know, I'm doing a duo with this
guy in California and, uh-" "… um,
it was, we, we were wondering, maybe
we can make it a trio." I was like,
"Who you playing with?" He goes,
"Barry Slesso." I was like, "I'm in.
I'm in," you know?
They're always trying to pull
you to the west, aren't they?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I always wanted
to be in a band with him.
And, uh, you know, we, we had our chance
with, with the band California Kind-
Yeah … and that was really cool.
And I did it kicking and screaming,
'cause it was hard for me.
You know, all these
guys are in California.
Right.
I, I was living in New York.
Yeah.
So, uh, but once, once I came out and
played, I knew right away, I was like,
"Oh, this is, this is great." Yeah.
I remember when we spoke to you a
couple years ago, you were, you gave
the, uh, retold the story of Pete
Sears talking you into California Kind.
Oh, well, well, he did.
He called me on the phone.
It was, it's one of the funniest- It
was one of the funniest conversations-
Speak of the devil … ever.
Is he coming in too?
Yeah, bring him in.
There he is.
Yes, his family's here.
Superman.
Uh, th- this will be weird … w-
was he doing it in front of him?
'Cause I think- No.
I'm not making fun of him in front of him.
He's not making fun of him.
No way.
It's- But he called me and, and,
and- Oh, wow … you know, it's like,
it's really hard to say no to him.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
That's right.
That was so awesome.
'Cause he's so sweet.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
Move down the line.
You guys gotta move down.
We, we have the entire- If
James comes in, we're gonna
have to lay him across our laps.
We, we, uh, Ja- James, if
we expand him into the end.
I guess he's… Over Saturday.
We had, um, we- We talked about the, yeah,
we talked about doing this all separately.
We had- We could lie down across
us all, it'd be more comfortable.
That's what I'm saying.
We had the entire, uh- Put a rose in his
mouth … was it, uh, a B- Steely Da-
Steely Dan band on the couch like this.
We did.
Yeah, exactly.
That was you guys.
We were talking, Pete, though-
Yeah … about how Rob, uh, I
don't know what, tricked y- or you,
not tricked, but convinced him to
come play with California Kind.
Oh, right, right, right.
And that was, that was kind
of the, uh, the beginning of
getting Rob back here again.
Now you've done it twice.
Come on.
Right?
I mean, so he broke the ice I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, that, that was a good band.
Oh, it was a great band.
Well, well- Katie … let's, uh,
give a, a shout-out to, uh, Katie.
Yeah.
She's- Uh, Katie, we interviewed her
at High Sierra, uh, just a couple,
few weeks ago, about a month ago.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's her.
Um, she had fond, fond memory,
but she's a Nashville gal now, so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
Uh- She's fantastic.
She sat with us last November, so had
to- It's a good place for her … it
was a real pleasure playing with Katie.
Yeah.
It is a good place for her.
So Steven, when you were, what were
you, like in your early 20s when you
s- first started playing with Bill?
Yes.
I was, uh- … I was 22 and he was- Right
52, so he's about how old I
am now, which is crazy, but-
Yes … everybody in the band was
at least 30 years older than I am.
Yeah.
And then our bass player was exactly
15 years, so we were all in increments.
We were a trio.
Um, and he, he'd had a band for a
little while that dissolved on Kauai,
um, and so a friend of mine who lived
there made friends with him, Billy,
and said- Um, my band had actually
opened up for that band Backbone at, in
Honolulu once, so we'd met him briefly.
He used my brother's drum kit.
But after that, uh, I got the call from
my friends, "Hey, man, Billy's looking
for some new guys to jam with." And I
was like, "Uh, yeah, okay." So we had
a, uh… we went to jam at his house
one night, myself, Calvin Shaffer,
who's an incredible bassist- Mm-hmm
… spent years as a Nashville player.
Um, and I was just very young
and green, and I, I can't believe
they'd actually play with me.
But we hit it off that first night.
We really, um… at the end of the
night, Bill's like, "Man, it's like this
house is possessed. Like, it's like a
house of spirits." House of spirits.
"Let's call it, let's call it House…
Let's, let's make a band, House
of…" Right, right that first
night we just kinda started doing
it and did gigs up Kauai, and
did, um, stuff on other islands.
So- You're 22 at the time?
22, yeah.
22. And you're, you had just been
introduced to the Dead, right?
Not- I, you, I, oh, I, I,
I made it out to 14 shows.
I'm, I'm- Oh, you did
I'm on the younger side,
so I was born in '76.
I, I only got into the later years,
but I saw 14 Grateful Dead shows.
All right.
That's enough.
All West Coast- Fair … you know, um,
California- Mm … Seattle, Eugene.
Yes.
Last one I saw was at Sam Boyd in Vegas.
Um, but no, I'm incredibly fortunate to
have that, that experience at a young age.
Yeah.
Well, you're bringing it.
And here you are.
And these guys are also my
musical heroes, so now it's in-
Yeah … incredible to play with them.
So honestly, it's- And, and, and it's,
I think it's, uh, reciprocal- I think
… 'cause they're finding you to be heroic-
I know … in these things, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
How'd you, how'd they grab
you into this, uh, operation?
Into this?
Yes.
Peter.
Well, it's, it just, uh, it kinda morphed.
Is that you?
I pull Pete into everything.
Yeah.
No.
Everything I can.
No, I- Everything I'll say yes to … I
mean, music just sings to me, you know?
Yeah.
And, uh, so, um, it's got just the right
amount of jamming and improvisation-
Yeah … which, uh, helps me draw
on some, some of my, uh, experiences
in 1967 in London, England, uh, the
psychedelic clubs, you know, playing
with an Indian tabla player or…
and we'd just jam for hours, you know.
And, uh, anyway, but, uh, so I, it's…
we, we really, like, get into a, a, a
sort of almost telepathic connection.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
And, uh, combined with, uh, you
know, Rob's, uh, songwriting
with Hunter, really, uh, uh, you
know, wrote some amazing songs.
So, uh, you know, we have originality,
you know, and, uh, familiarity,
and we have, uh, improvisation.
It just goes anywhere.
It's different every night.
It's just beginning Does it feel like,
like something's almost like transcended?
Like, it feels like all of you are
sort of like at your peak in terms
of feeling inspired on some level to,
to like, you know, do what you hadn't
been doing or wanted to do, and doing
it now with this, with this group.
I can certainly say I am.
Yeah.
It's for, for, for me it's,
it's- certainly the best thing
I've ever been involved in-
Right … musically as a group.
I, I always wanted to be in a band-
Right … which I never really have
for an extended period of time, so.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Well, I mean, I'd say we're all
musical kindred spirits, so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, it, you know, like Pete said,
it's different every night, and, uh,
you know, once we start improvising,
there's nothing that's scripted.
Mm-hmm.
It just goes where it wants to go.
It's cool.
And we allow it to go there.
And we, we- Yeah … let it.
And that's the thing, is to have
the courage to just let it go there.
Yeah.
Yeah, just let it go.
You know, and not worry that- Yeah … oh,
people are gonna be like, "Rah, this-
Right, which is what- … this is too
weird for us" … which is what Bob-
So we just go … preaches, right?
And if it's weird- Bob does … so be it.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And also the spirit is- I
mean- Right … you know.
And keeping it weird.
Yeah, keeping it weird.
We love the juxtaposition.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, we could be in deep space and atonal
crazy land and morph into a Hawaiian song.
I was, um- Yeah … or, or
maybe not, or, so it's- Yeah.
I was showing Tammy some clips last
night, you know, these beautiful Hawaiian
songs, and- I'm like, "Oh" … and
then all of a sudden, "And watch this."
And then Jam- Pete was moving last night.
Yeah.
Man, you were moving last night.
But the greatest part is my
19-year-old daughter- You were moving.
Yeah, you were flying, yeah … came
out and started singing Ship of Fools.
Like, I was like, "You know
this song?" And she was just
like, "I love this." Right?
She came out and was singing to it.
Yeah.
Ship of Fools, right?
That was right, we were
playing it from your record.
Oh.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It was, it was beautiful, yeah.
Am- so how do you keep it going?
Because you're all in
other projects, obviously.
Um, how do, what's the, the secret
to, you know, keeping the momentum?
Not just for this, but, uh- Well, we
just try to, uh, find enough holes in
the calendar where we're all available.
Uh, Rob's the busiest with his-
Yeah … schedule with DSO.
What's, uh, so what's next?
So you're, uh, are you in
the middle of a tour here or?
We're in the middle of a five sh-
Yeah … five-show California run.
This is night two.
Yeah.
So tonight's Mill Valley.
Yeah.
We're here at The Junction.
Tomorrow we're in Felton,
Felton Music Hall.
Yes.
Friday at, uh, Crystal Bay in, uh, Tahoe.
Saturday we're at the
Rosebud Ranch, Nevada City.
And then we got a break from
the band, um, but we got a
14-show run coming up in October.
Ooh.
So we're starting at the East Coast-
October, November … Southern
Cal, then the Pacific Northwest.
Yeah, let's talk about that because this
will come out maybe in a couple weeks.
Yeah.
Tell us about those upcoming shows.
Yeah, I'm just lo- this is the
test, are, we got memorized.
I know we're starting- … in,
uh, Brattleboro, Vermont
on the 21st of October.
Stone Church.
Yeah.
There you go.
I remember that much, and we're finishing
up the East Coast run in Baltimore.
Did you guys get rained out,
uh, on an East Coast tour?
We do, we do have one make-
Snowed out … one make-up show.
Right, snowed out.
Snowed out.
We're making that one up.
In California.
Yeah, right?
So that's the- That's the Ardmore on the
20- Oh, that's the Ardmore in Philly … I
believe that's the 25th of October.
Okay.
And we got a cool, we're opening
up for Melvin Seals and JGB at the
Capitol Theatre- That'll be great
in Westchester.
And we're doing a, a gig with, uh, Sam
Grisman, um, Project at, uh, the Cannabis
Fest in Palenville in the Catskills.
This- That's one of the dates on that
E-, on, uh, and then we're playing
in, uh- Virginia, I believe, right?
I am Richmond.
Also- Richmond Yeah,
Richmond Richmond, Baltimore.
Uh, then we go back and play, uh, San
Luis Obis- San Luis Obispo Uh, uh, San
Luis Obispo, Redondo Beach Do Beach San
Juan Capistrano San Juan Capistrano San
Juan Capistrano And then up to Oregon.
Then it's Bend- That's a
lot … Eugene, Seattle, and Portland.
That's some serious business.
Yeah.
And they gave you some
East Coast love at least.
Yes.
But you're good with wherever it
is, right, Ron, at this point?
Pretty much.
Wherever it is, yeah.
Pretty much.
Um, we are going to the Kaplan's that
we're gonna be, um- 100 year anniversary
work- working the, uh, doing
this at the, um, centennial.
Uh, 100 years for the Kaplan.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
Which is September 19th.
recordings from that?
Well, we, we hope to, um, we, we
wanna do a Skeleton Crew Band album
where, where we've been recording as
many shows as we can in multitrack.
So we're, we're thinking about
releasing a live- Nice … with Love
From The- I j- I just think p- putting
a live thing out is the way to go.
I do too.
You know?
S- I mean- For the magic … I love
being in the studio, but- Yeah … this
is, the magic happens live.
Yeah.
No doubt.
I totally agree.
Yeah.
And we all know that- Yeah … from
the Grateful Dead experience.
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
So- So we, we've got a bunch
of shows to choose from.
We gotta start to whittle down.
Um, but yeah, our stuff's on archive
too, but we're, we're gonna try
to refine versions and record, you
know, pick, pick, pick the- Yeah
to make an actual album rather than
just… Which is cool 'cause people,
I think people still dig that.
I just think, um, you know, we gotta find
a place to get the original music out.
Yeah.
Because, um- Get it heard,
yeah … you know, it just has to.
I mean, we love the Dead,
of course, and all of that.
Um, what do you guy- I mean, what
do you guys think about that?
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
I can't disagree.
And finding, finding,
finding different ways.
Yeah.
Not at all.
It's like- Yeah, I mean, it's, uh,
you know, uh, the Dead have just been
covered in so many different ways.
Yeah.
And, um, you know, we, we, we
love that, but like, we wanna
do something original, you know?
Yeah.
So, you know.
I mean, how do you get people t- do
you get people to listen to it because
it's great music or because they
hear The Dead- Well, well- … and
they cover and then- As that sort
of a lead-in … I think, yeah.
I, I think what we've been doing is, you
know, pe- when people first come to see
us with everybody involved, well, we…
Like I talk about very early in the
interview, like, you know, we started
out- Yeah … with a couple of the full
band doing two tribute things- Right
… where it was- Right … a tribute thing.
But shortly after, we really started
to bring in, you know, Rob's songs
with Hunter, some of my songs, and
then, then it started to really
evolve into original things.
So as people come to see us more and
more realizing what we do, and even by
when we did Sound on Capistrano last
year, it was, it was, uh, wonderful.
There's about, I know it's at least
three or four people in the front
singing along with our original s- songs.
And- Yeah.
Oh, wow … people started to know.
Yeah.
People started, again, it's just from
the, the fans that we're starting
to build who know what we do.
So our hope is that, you know,
as we keep rolling, more and
more start to, to know that.
Absolutely.
And then, and get to know the songs
and, and start to see how we do 'em.
Like- Exactly … and they're
gonna- Well, you're all,
you're all inspired by The Dead
they're picking up on the, on
the, um- You know how the whole
improv thing is like you're taking,
you're taking people on a journey.
We're taking ourselves on a journey.
Sure, yeah.
Yeah.
And I think they're tapping into this.
That's what kept them out
there- Yeah … seeing The Dead.
Yes.
Totally.
It's the, it's that journey.
You never know where you're gonna go.
Yeah.
You don't know where you're going,
so, and that's… We love that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think, I think
they're recognizing it.
Like- And- "Wow, these guys are
tapped into that same energy." Yeah.
It's a little different.
It's okay.
But, and then to, to add that, that,
wow, these are songs with really strong
melodies, and the, and the lyrics
and, and they're getting pulled in.
Yeah.
And with, yeah.
I had a guy come up to me last
night, um, couple of people actually,
saying, "We were listening to the
lyrics of all your songs, man. Wow.
We gotta pay more attention." Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's it.
Uh, lyrics.
At the end of the day- That's,
that's a big compliment … yeah.
That's taking a high five.
At the end of the day, the lyrics carry.
Yeah.
Wow.
I mean, they can really carry.
Wow.
That's a great thing.
And, and the, the general scope of it
is that, you know, it can be… It's,
it's the spirit of the Grateful Dead,
but, but moving it to where we're going.
Yes.
Like, going way back to when I played
with Koritzin, uh, one, one of the
things that stuck with me when I, when
I've had people come with d- with…
They're disappointed that
we're not a Dead tribute act.
Like, we've had occasionally people
like, "Play more, you know, what you
guy- I came to hear." Um, but- Yeah.
… but we were, we were jamming.
We, we were playing one of
my songs, original song.
We were, we were rehearsing at this house,
and we did like a 20-minute jam on it.
And after we're done, Bill says,
"Man, that's, that's Grateful Dead
music right there." What he meant was,
wasn't- In the spirit … we're not
sounding like… We're not trying to,
to emulate them- Right … sonically.
In the spirit of.
But, but how we- Style … set
sail off that song was-
Absolutely … was, was that spirit.
It was the spirit.
Yeah.
That's, that's what he meant.
Yeah.
And if you do a live album of original
music, you get to bring all that- Yeah.
Yeah … together.
Yeah.
Right?
Uh, we did, we did ask, uh, some
audience, uh, folks last night what
would they want to, what we wanna-
Ask … if you were, uh, interviewing
them, what, what would you ask?
We had one gentleman, uh, say, um,
he goes, "Yeah, I have a question.
How are you so good?"
That was the question.
It was, yeah.
And I think you've probably
answered that- Yeah.
For sure … with all
your questions today.
Uh, all right.
The other one's about the playlist.
W- do you have an answer, Nick?
Well, one of, one of the weird things, uh,
and I, I equate this to baseball teams.
Okay.
Good.
Like, you can, you can have a, a,
a, a billionaire owner- decide to
have this player, and this player,
and this player, and spend all this
money, and then you have a team,
and they can't win a championship.
Yeah.
Right.
Not a team, even.
You know.
Because they don't have the chemistry.
Yeah.
That's right.
We, we have a chemistry.
It's, it's palpable.
Yeah.
Uh, and all five of us have it.
Uh, and that's, that's what, that's
what keeps me, sucking me into doing it.
Yeah.
I wanna do it because I
know how rare that is.
Yeah.
And I play, you know, I played in a…
I've, I've been lucky in my life that
I played in a couple of bands that had
great chemistry, but I've also played in
plenty of bands that had no chemistry.
Great players, nothing happening.
Yeah.
We have something happening.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's the answer to this- Like
today, we, we were doing soundcheck,
and, uh, he just started this groove.
This, this bluesy groove.
Yeah.
And we just, we're all sucked in,
and we're all creating- Yeah … and
going places, and it's like- Wow.
And it, and it's the… You
know, what was the bass line?
What was that?
Where, where would that come from, Pete?
Yeah.
Where did it come from?
It's actually something
like a Cream bass line.
Yeah.
One of Jack's bass lines.
Right.
Right.
A, a, sort of.
Sort of.
So it's- Yeah … kinda like a
Ja- Jack Bruce/Cream bass line.
Born Under a Bad Sign.
And we just- Which is really…
I mean, the- Right … the lick
is actually- Right … yeah.
Born Under a Bad Sign.
Yeah.
But we just took it where it went and
it, and it, and I… It amazed me.
Yeah.
Like, I was, "Wow." How does that come
to your mind, Peter, to even know?
I mean, is that just- Well, I, I, I was-
consciously?
… that particular line, I mean, I was, I
was an active, uh, player in the '60s.
You know, I started playing, uh,
touring over the British Isles
six or seven nights a week in
1960, late '64, early s- into '65.
And, uh, you know, doing that whole thing.
And, uh, so I was kind of exposed
to, uh, you know, other people
touring that, in that period.
Other, other bands, uh, um, different
levels of success, you know.
But we were all just passing each other
on the freeway at the, at the, uh-
… restaurant, you know, and just, uh…
It, it was just a really, a, a lot of
camaraderie and- Uh, it, even some people,
as I say, some people were, were highly
successful, some weren't, some were about
to be, and some were about to fall off.
And, um, we just out there playing.
And so at that moment-
Yeah … it all kinda went in.
And it's one big soup.
It, it stays, it imprints.
Yeah.
It imprints, right?
I mean, so you're here jamming
in a soundcheck- Yeah … and
all that kinda s- And of course,
it comes in … comes in, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
A bad scene, it was, it was all good.
But, so he just started
playing and, and before I knew
it- … everybody was just in.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah, it could be any one of us-
Yeah … just doing that, right?
Right.
Yeah.
Just- So something just, it comes to
your mind, you start playing it, and
all of a sudden, you know, everybody
else is there- Yeah … and then
you're going somewhere else with it.
Yeah.
Yeah, back in Happy Valley.
It's crazy.
Thank you very much.
I, I- I mean, no, really, this is
just- I'm incredibly, incredibly
grateful and blessed to play with,
with each and every one of these guys.
And all that, Sammy asked about
the Hawaiian influence and then
your, your pa- I mean, that j- uh.
So you had the Hawaiian, um, you had the
whole Grateful Dead, and your brother
apparently influenced you with some music.
I mean- Oh, yeah, he, he's, he turned me.
He came back from my cousin's in
Connecticut, this is when I was 15 or
so, I mean, and, and brought back, um-
Uh, what the hell else did he turn me to?
Metallica?
I know Metallica.
Well, Metallica was before this.
Oh, yeah.
This goes, this goes back to a
couple years before that when I
first started playing guitar, yeah.
Yeah.
But then shortly after he turned me on to
Hendrix, Zeppelin, all the classic stuff.
And through that I went back to the blues.
But the Dead I'd heard a little bit
of, but I never got… Maybe heard
typical radio stuff and just periphery.
Then he brought back, um, One
from the Vault- Yeah … 1975.
Yeah.
And I put that on.
Um- Yeah.
And of course I was also being
introduced to other, you know,
ingestible sacraments at the time.
But, uh- That, that one- Real- … then
live Dead, and then, um- Yeah … Without
a Net had just come out, so hearing the
modern Dead with- Yeah … you know,
with, with, uh, that just coming out.
And then at 22 you're playing
with the Grateful Dead.
Yeah, and that, that's… Yeah.
That'd blow you away.
An unbelievable- Yeah … yeah,
journey as a Deadhead.
I'm just… All, and all these
guys are… I mean- We have,
we have a very similar thing.
I mean, we, you know, who knew we
were gonna get to play with Phil Lesh?
I mean, that was- Oh,
yeah … that's huge.
And then he gets to play with
we are too, you know, so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like- Well- Yeah.
And, uh, every- This feels very… Yeah.
Um, we were just talking
about her earlier.
Rachel Ann, everybody
shout out Rachel Ann.
Yeah.
So, but when I got to play with him,
that was sort of the realization of
a, a thought that I had years before.
I used to play, uh, Pete and I
played for years in Hawaii every
year with David Nelson Band.
Wow.
I think we started in 2006 or 2007.
We did, like, 11 years straight.
And so I developed a deep appreciation
for Hawaiian music and- Yes … always
wanted to play Hawaiian music, and I
remember telling Mookie, "I'd really
like to play Hawaiian music, but I
wanna take it somewhere else and I
wanna jam." "And I wanna, you know,
turn it into this different thing."
So then when I had the opportunity to
play with somebody who had the Hawaiian
thing and really, you know, authentically,
and also was into the jamming, it was
like, "Yeah, this is o- this is what
I've been looking for." I think that's
what they call manifesting, right?
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something like that, yeah.
And same here with, with, um, with the
S- with the Slakia, like, man, I know-
It's, it's always about evolution.
Yeah.
Like, you always get, you get
traditionalists who, who've always,
"Oh, that's not…" Like, whether
it be blues or classical, whatever
it is, that put things in boxes.
Yeah.
Um, and even going back to, like,
stuff that we consider, like, really
old school traditional now, like
Gabby Pahinui, like, who's like the,
the modern grandfather of slack key.
Yeah.
When he was recording in the early
'70s, some of the real old were like,
"Ugh, that's, that's not really Hawaiian
music. That's a…" Of course, now, so
every, every time something evolves.
Yeah.
So I was like, man, there, there's
gotta be a way to, to really
incorporate this into the, into the
big jam world with the right players.
You found it.
And then… So same, same, uh, - Yeah
That's a beautiful- Same thing … the,
um… Okay, so Jay's not here, so
let's talk about him for a second.
Yeah.
Uh, but, uh- He, he got, he got banned.
What are you talking about?
He got banned.
He was on our last two shows,
and we said, "That's it. You're
out." No, he was amazing.
Jay Saturation.
Yeah.
Yeah, Jay Saturation.
I knew I, I needed to play music.
I knew it was what I'm gonna do.
I just was like, not without Bob, man.
It was such a… I, I, I, I put so much
of my identity in, in being his guy.
Even when I'm, like, playing with other
people, he's at the back of my mind.
He's, like, there.
So now I just know that he still is.
He still is there.
In this episode, Jay Lane speaks
out about losing his friend and
30-year bandmate, Bobby Weir.
And I wanted to give him a break.
Yeah.
But, uh, tell, tell us, um, you know,
what, what he brings to the table.
We love playing with Jay.
I mean, I, you know, I got to play
with him a lot with, with Bobby.
Sure.
And just he's, uh, he, he's…
First of all, he keeps a really
solid groove, and he's loose.
And he, he, he can go anywhere,
and he doesn't, he doesn't try
and dominate or control the music.
He's, like, completely open,
and you can make a left turn and
he's right there with you, and a-
adding in cool different things.
And then we'll go with him, and,
um, and, uh, and he's a fun hang.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
Yeah.
I mean, so he, he did talk a lot about
Bobby's, you know, influence on him.
Okay.
Um, and then how about, uh,
Bill, uh, Kreutzmann on you?
I mean, what did you- Man, like I
said, uh, when I was that young,
um, being able to play with the…
I mean, aside from being a, a rabid
Deadhead and playing with one of your
musical heroes, it just- Crazy … just
the, the sheer musicianship I mean,
he's an- Yeah … we all know.
Yeah.
Incredible drummer.
And, and, uh, and yeah,
kind of the ride of my life.
It definitely taught me a
lot on, on the fly about- Mm
improvisation- Right … and playing.
I mean, when you're that young
and you're playing with somebody
that, that, uh, um, just- Yeah.
Yeah.
You can't deny it.
Uh, we're gonna let you go,
but I, I just thought of this.
Um, give you a chance to talk about Bobby.
I mean, um, Jay had not really talked
about it much, um, you know, since
he passed, and he shared a lot of,
you know, what he meant to him.
Um.
Um, boy, it was a, a great
experience getting to play with him.
And, um- Uh, he was wonderful
to, to work for, work with.
He never really told you what to play.
Um, you could sense from his body language
how he wanted the music to be approached.
Um, his, um, sense of dynamics was
really, like, one of my favorite things.
It just… You could tell the way he
stepped up to the mic or stepped back
from the mic and, um, when he wanted
the song to build or when he wanted
it to, to come down, and y- you know.
I mean, some people's dynamics
are like, you know, ramp up,
ramp up, ramp up, ramp up.
Okay, we've hit the peak.
All right, we're gonna come back down.
Bobby had this sense in songs where they
really breathed, uh, like waves, you know?
And, um, yeah, just in the way he
sings and the way he plays, you just,
you got a sense after a, a while
of, of how to follow him, and that
just, uh, it was a beautiful thing.
And I liked that he… He liked to
play at a low volume, which was great,
because that gives you a lot of room
to get big when you wanna get big.
Instead, if you're big all the time,
there's not a whole lot of places to go.
Yeah.
So, um, he liked the, you know, the
basic volume to be pretty low, and that
left a whole lot of room to be dynamic,
and I, I really appreciated that.
And he's just a, you
know, great humanitarian.
And, uh, yeah, I'm gonna miss him.
Steven and I were together
when, when we got the news in
Hawaii, and, uh- Yeah, yeah.
Barry picked me up from the
airport … it was a sad day
Yeah, and, and he was driving.
He picked me up from the airport.
We had a handful of duo gigs
to… And, uh, that was the
day he passed, January 10th.
Um, and I was just posting
something for our gigs, um, and
I saw the thing pop in the feed.
I'm like- Oh … and there's a lot
of, a lot of times you see stuff like,
"There's this thing about Santana,"
and it's fake, and it's, it's… So
for a second my, my… Then I, I went
to… Then I'm like, "Oh, this and
that." Then I look closer, I'm like-
I mean, Barry kind of saw the look
on my face and he's like, "What?
What?" Yeah.
And I said, "You might
wanna pull over for-" Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it took, uh, it took, it took
a while to sink in, but we've, uh,
we've thrown, um, quite a few of
his songs into our s- our, our set
lists- Yeah … that we sprinkle, you
know- Yeah … throughout the gigs.
We'll probably play a couple tonight.
I mean, he's gonna be with,
um, God love you guys for- Yeah
continuing it, you know?
Yeah.
And you and Phil, right?
Uh- Yeah … I mean, you had the… Yeah.
I mean, you went through that with Phil.
Yeah.
What, two years ago?
I can't even- Yeah.
Two years, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
Well- It's everywhere … again, yeah,
thank goodness for guys like you to keep
this going and change it a little bit
and, uh, do put your own stamp on it.
Um- And, and Pete played with
those g- guys- And Pete, of
course … long before any of us did.
And Pete, oh, yeah.
I was gonna disregard him because I
was- He was hiding in the background.
Yeah, yeah.
Um- And he played with Jerry.
Yeah.
Oh, oh, there was that.
Yeah.
Right, so.
Yeah, so how about that?
There you go.
You have somebody to play with.
Pete, yeah.
I wanna hear Pete.
That's, that's everybody in the band.
Nikki, anybody?
I played with Nikki.
Yeah.
Yeah, Nikki, right?
I was at, I played The Other Ones
and The Dead, so- The Dead, right?
Yeah … I played with Mickey and Billy.
Okay.
He put together a solo album.
So there you go.
It'd be called Watch Fly.
Ah.
And you got Babatunde, he c- his, uh, and
his drum that's came down to the studio.
Nice.
All right, so there's a little thread.
There's a lot of threads.
There's- There's a lot.
Yeah, there's a lot of threads.
There's a lot going on here.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, listen, man.
Um- It's a beautiful thing
Skeleton Crew, wow.
Yeah.
With an E. With an E. With
a C and an E. There you go.
And that's gonna stick.
Yeah.
Really appreciate the time.
Good job.
Thanks for coming in.
Really cool.
For sure.
Thank you.
Super cool.
Glad to have you guys.
Yeah.
You bet.
It was great.
All right.
Thanks for joining us backstage.
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