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I’m A Bass Player But What Are You? Dave Schools Interviews Phil Lesh (Relix Revisited)

As we continue our focus on Phil Lesh, anticipating next week’s return of Phil and Friends, we revisit his conversation with Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools from 2009.

The Grateful Dead were experts in the performance of classic song forms such as folk, bluegrass, blues and even jazz. But each night at some point in the performance they collectively sought a jumping-off point: a place where these templates and constraints could be shrugged off in favor of an ensemble improvisation they claimed as their own. Both inimitable and instantly recognizable, that leap of faith (often labeled on tapes as “Jam>” or “Space>”) was the ultimate expression of being in the moment: a place where musicians checked their individual egos at the door and “the music played the band;” a place of infinite possibility.

This was a formidable experiment and also one that transcended the boundaries of mere music making: This ongoing experiment defined the very core of what the Grateful Dead were and still are. It is this “searching for the sound,” along with their genre-defying and vast catalog of memorable lyrics and melodies that keeps them and Deadheads young at heart and coming back for more.

Now, as the four remaining members regroup for a tour in 2009, one wonders if The Dead can recapture the magic they so effortlessly wrangled night after night for over 30 years. What are their hopes and dreams in this era of “change” promised by a new president? I had a few moments to talk with “Un-Bassist” Phil Lesh and to get a read on what he thinks the future may hold as The Dead prepare to get on the bus once again. And if evolution is indeed the ultimate goal we may just find that things are “coming round… in a circle.”

How did this idea for another Dead Tour come about?

It’s one of those things where I like to live improvisationally in terms of all that and the cosmos sort of rotated around so everything was in sync so this could happen. Everybody’s doing their own thing and developing in their own way and it just seems like it’s the right time to reconnect and see what everybody’s been doing and what kind of musical development has been going on with everybody. So it’s kind of a cool, exciting thing that we’re all in the same space wanting to do that.

Do you feel like the Obama benefit at State College kick-started this?

Yeah, in a way, because that was a good excuse to get together and see how it would flow. It was very successful, I thought. Then we started talking about anything we wanted to do with this new feeling, with this new knowledge.

While it may require several weeks of rehearsal to get the songs together academically, do you find the x-factor is always waiting onstage for the house lights to go down?

Yes, in a word. That’s always been our attitude and our mental preparation is always for that. In other words, you walk out on the stage and everything is possible. Everything is brand new and everything is possible. Nothing that’s gone before has any relevance at all. It’s what can happen now. When we hit that first note, that narrows down the possibilities somewhat, but it’s still virtually infinite, and that’s what I love about the way we make music.

So there’s only so much that can be done to technically prepare for that moment.

Absolutely. Mickey said it very well at one point: you can’t train for this.

Right. It can’t be corralled and you can’t control it. It’s just the right circumstances.

What you can do is prepare yourself to be open; open for the pipeline to open and the magic to flow down through us.

It means leaving yourself behind. It’s not a question of, Oh God, don’t let me fuck up, or anything like that. It’s a question of, “Here I am. Work me, Lord.”