Bob Weir on Dead & Company’s Future, John Mayer’s ‘Classicist’ Style
It was as simple as this, according to Bob Weir: “We all liked the look in each other’s eyes. What eventually rattled out was this band.”
The Grateful Dead singer-guitarist was speaking on the eve of his second road trip – 24 dates in U.S. amphitheaters and stadiums, starting June 10th in Charlotte, North Carolina – with the latest iteration of his life’s work in and beyond that 20th-century touring institution: Dead & Company, founded last year with Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart; former Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge; keyboard player Jeff Chimenti; and, in the perilous spot left by the Dead’s late, lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, singer-guitarist and pop star John Mayer.
In this expanded version of an interview for the next issue of Rolling Stone, before going into rehearsals for the summer shows, Weir talked with forthright enthusiasm of the new group, its performing mission and Mayer’s invigorating presence as a student, loyalist and explorer. The Dead guitarist also bluntly addressed the contention that launching Dead & Company contradicted the reunion and closure, with surviving bassist Phil Lesh, of Fare Thee Well in Chicago last July. “I’m not entirely sure what would bring somebody to think that a guy like me can walk away from this body of music,” Weir said with a hard-edged laugh. “C’mon.”
Weir was less absolute when asked if Dead & Company really is a new band: Isn’t it still the Grateful Dead – in another form, separate and yet inseparable? “You just encapsulated it,” he conceded. “It’s a question – and a fair question. Maybe no answer can come.” The guitarist did say this, with certainty: “There is nothing rote happening there,” Weir said of Dead & Company. “We’re not playing out of habits. The songs are anew for us.”
Was there a point in a show or set, during a song, on the tour last fall when you realized Dead & Company had gone from being a good idea to something with a future?
Yeah, there was. I had a little flash while we were playing one night. It was toward the end of the tour. I don’t remember what city it was in. We were getting into the second set, setting up a tune. We were all playing, but the tune hadn’t begun yet. We were all feeling out the groove, just playing with it.
Suddenly I was 20 feet behind my own head, looking at this and kind of happy with the way the song was shaping up. I started looking around, and it was 20 years later. John’s hair had turned gray. Oteil’s had turned white. I looked back at the drummers, and it was a couple of new guys. I looked back at myself, the back of my head, and it was a new guy. It changed my entire perception of what it is we’re up to.