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Here and Now by John Lynskey |
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Although he forever will be associated with the Grateful Dead, guitarist Bob Weir has made a determined effort to carve out a musical identity separate from the Dead and find his own sound. His band Ratdog recently celebrated their 10th year together, and Bob is quite happy with the group, which has emerged as one of the leading draws on the jam band circuit. Shortly after playing at his fourth consecutive Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Bob took the time to chat with HTN about a myriad of subjects that are important to him. While the past is certainly prologue, Ratdog's frontman is focused on the present, so enjoy this first-person look at Bob Weir, here and now. On the Continuing Evolution of Ratdog As a Band: I have been pleased with things all along, and if I do get uncomfortable, I know we can talk about it, and I think that goes for the rest of the guys as well. We have good communication with each other, and that comes over time. Learning to play in a band is whole lot like learning to play an instrument - the more you practice, the better you get. In our case, that means practicing listening to each other, watching each other, and anticipating each other. All of these things are important, and you can only learn them by doing them. We have gotten to the point that we can intuitively sense where someone wants to take a song. Whoever states a theme or a counter-theme strongest - and I don't mean loudest - puts it out in such a way that everyone knows to go with it. Otherwise, if you state it tentatively, everybody takes it to mean that you don't intend it to be a focal point, or rallying point. If you state a theme like you do mean it to be a rallying point, then people will go for it. We all know each other well enough, so we can hear that intention clearly - it's a matter of conviction. Now, there are themes that I might state that I don't want people to go for - I just want it to be a little coloration. If I don't want something to be re-interpreted, there's just a way that you can play it so that everybody goes, "OK, that's the last time we need to have that said." Of course, this isn't stuff that we're thinking about at the time that we're doing it, it's happening naturally. That's the beauty of improvisation, and, given the fact that we've been together for as long as we have, we've got a pretty sizable repertoire of songs. What that means is songs go into rotation, and when a tune comes up in a setlist, it could be the last time you're going to visit that one for a while, so if you have anything to say, you better say it. Have at it now, because you'll be kicking yourself later for what you didn't say! [Laughs] The beauty of Ratdog is that while we're all different guys, none of us is particularly moody, and no one is in any way, shape or form a bully. If we have any issues or a cross-current going, it's up to us to work through it, and we invariably do. I don't know how much that helps or hurts the creative process, but I guess by doing so, you have to make yourself somewhat vulnerable, in order to appreciate another person's point of view. If you do that, you're growing as an individual, and probably growing as a musician as well. That kind of stuff comes up on stage - I might have a notion at the same time that another guy has a notion, or somebody wants to pull a song up in tempo when I want to pull it back - those kind of things come up, and they have to be dealt with - wordlessly - which is an interesting experience, because that requires a whole other level of communication. It took us a while to reach that level, and that is a blessing, because you don't want lack of communication to lead to personnel changes. What you work towards for years and years is understanding each other intuitively, and when you get a new person, maybe it's not starting all over again, but you take a number of meaningful steps backwards. For me, teaching a new guy our songbook - I don't know if I have it in me anymore! [Laughs] Today's Jam Band Scene: I don't listen to that much jam band music, even though it is the most vibrant part of the popular music scene today. The reason is, if I'm going to listen to music, I go elsewhere. I go to modern classical, maybe old jazz, or some sort of roots music. If I have some time to listen to music for my own edification and enjoyment, I want it to be a real vacation - I want to go away from what I do for a living. That being said, I have heard a number of jam bands, and I like the ones who identify with musical tradition - American roots music in particular, but any tradition in general. If I don't hear that, then I don't like it - mindless noodling for the sake of noodling doesn't light me up. Somebody like Robert Randolph - with his music, you can hear clear back to the '20s. I think it's horseshit when people say the Grateful Dead or the Allman Brothers are the fathers of jam band music - I mean, the fathers of this scene are Count Basie and Duke Ellington. They were the ones who invented it - we just adapted it to a rock and roll vein, and that served us quite well. I'm happy to have been able to do that, because that helped to bring about the whole jam band scene. Really, though, that M.O. of stating a theme and then taking it for a little walk in the woods - in an improvisational manner - that started a lifetime or two before I was born. His Impressions of Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, and Derek Trucks: All three of them are deeply, deeply steeped in the heritage of what they're doing - particularly the blues tradition. Jimmy goes a little outside of that, while Warren and Derek are basically blues guitarists, although they can play in other genres - like jazz - just as well. All of them have the fondest regard for the idiom that they're working in, and that's how you get good. You know, Warren may not have all the blazing technique in the world, but he has absolute conviction in what he's playing. He also has great inventiveness within the structure that he's playing in. I was talking about stating a theme earlier - when Warren states a theme, everybody knows it! [Laughs] I mean, Jerry wasn't all that blazing of a technician either, for that matter, but he sure had a way of letting you know what he was up to, and those guys have that same ability. His Approach to Songwriting: I don't have any standard, set approach to songwriting. Sometimes I have a scrap of melody, sometimes I have a scrap of lyrics, other times I may have a guitar figure that I start off with. What I prefer to do these days is just kick stuff around with the band that I'm going to be working with, and then try to coax a song out of that. If there is a way to write a song that I haven't tried, maybe I'll discover it, but I can't imagine that there is a way that I haven't attempted. The Positive Reaction of Fans to His Songs: It's a good feeling, of course, but my take on it is this: a song is a life-form, and it's born through us as musicians, but it doesn't really take life until it meets the listener. The song happens somewhere in that apex, or azimuth, maybe, between the performer and the audience. That's where a song lives, and we all serve the song - musicians do, and the audience does. We all give what we have to give to it, and, from that, a song receives what it needs to live. I won't say that a song is dormant after it's played, because people can carry it around in their heads and their hearts as well - you can sing a song at home, or in the shower, or while you're working, and that keeps the song alive. A song certainly has its boldest moments while it's being performed on the stage for an audience, at considerable volume. It's always a delight to see everyone get into a song - I'm delighted to see my band members lit up by a song, and to see the audience lit up by it as well, because, at that point, I know we're all doing our jobs. At the same time, I'm reluctant to take much credit for that, because it's the song, not me. The song exists apart from me - I consider my songs to be my children. They are born, and yes, I had something to do with that, but once they pop out, they have their own lives to live. They grow up in ways that I didn't intend, and, more often than not, the surprise is a good one. All of that, however, has to do with after a song comes out, and it gets batted around between the band and the audience. You find that a song grows up every time, and reveals a new aspect of its personality. I can't take credit for that - I really can't. I can take partial credit for it, but the audience has to take partial credit for it as well. The song has direction of its own, so it has to take credit, too. His Commitment to Helping Those Less Fortunate in Our Society, and the Loss of America's Caring Nature: We are all part of the culture that we live in today, and anything that I can do to make it better will help my children live in a better world. America is disappointing me greatly at this point. The notion that greed is good, that it's natural and good to be greedy - well, there are things that are natural that aren't good, and greed is one of them. Self-service is good, if it is enlightened self-service, but if it is the self-service that says "I'm going to get mine, no matter what, and the hell with everyone else" - that's not enlightened self-service - that's greed, pure and simple. Every major religion, up until now, has taught against that. Now, I'm afraid that what people are learning in the Bible Belt, in their bogus religion down there, is something completely different. It's not couched in ways so that it could be called greed, but they do greedy things. I ponder this daily, and I check myself daily. I do know that our leadership has lost the lion's share of its altruistic motivation, and, as go the leaders, so go the led. I suspect that mass entertainment has a lot to do with it, and that mass-marketing has a lot to do with it as well. I mean, how can you raise a kid to not be violent when all that's available to them on TV is violent? The only exception is what you might get on PBS (Public Broadcasting System), and our Republican leaders are trying to shut that down. Let me pose this question: why is it that the notion of an altruistic cartoon character bothers them so much? There is just not a lot of compassion in this country anymore. Religion is not teaching compassion - certainly not in the Bible Belt. Today, if you're compassionate, you're weak. If you're compassionate, you're a chump. The only thing an individual can do is try to shine a little light, you know? For what it's worth, I do have faith. I'm not sure in what - I'm certainly not going to put a whole hell of a lot of faith in human nature. I do think there's more to it than just the nature we were born with, and that's what any decent religion will teach you. Yes, you do have flaws, but they can be overcome. Today, however, the religion that is practiced by most of the people who state morality as the basis for their political decisions just makes their lives easier, because they use religion to justify their behavior. Religion should be about making you a fuller individual, an individual more capable of love. Oftentimes, that is a challenge, but the more challenge, the better. You know, religion has become so distorted today. Most people in this country don't understand the concepts of jihad. You turn on FOX TV, and you hear them use the word jihad like it never was intended to be used. Your average Muslim understands what jihad is all about - it's about making an effort to challenge yourself. Now, a whacko, someone who is unstable, will twist that concept all around, and declare war on other people. Jihad is really a war against your darker side - everybody has that, and everybody needs to challenge that. That is what jihad is all about - pure and simple - that is their teaching. Now, whether or not they practice it that way, or understand it that way, is different. Blaming the unstable people who ignore the fundamental principles of Islam - which means "peace" - is like blaming Jesus for the Ku Klux Klan. The Political Division in America: The political situation in this country is a morass - America is in deep, deep trouble right now. We have a democracy here, but for a democracy to function properly, you need educated people, particularly people who are educated in the humanities. Today we are lacking in people who possess the proper education, and politicians are taking advantage of this, and winning the votes of the uneducated, the uninformed, or misinformed. The uneducated in this country are becoming the majority, and what saddens me is the willful ignorance that is taking over our society. Our leaders have confused faith with willful ignorance. There is a difference between the two, but they don't draw that line, they don't demark that difference. It's gotten to the point where people in the Bible Belt don't read newspapers, George Bush doesn't read newspapers, people go to church to learn who to vote for - and they don't even bother to learn why. They have no idea what the issues are, or what they're doing, but if you try to tell them, they say, "I don't need to know. All I need to know is right here in this book, and if I don't understand it, then my preacher will explain it to me." Sadly, those people have grabbed the wheel of power, and I think the only thing we can do now is just let them run our country into a ditch. One major problem is that the greedy people have gotten their hooks into people who are younger and younger, to the point where so many young people have become apathetic and uninvolved in the political process. You hear them say, "Oh, man, I totally meant to vote, but I had stuff that I had to do." That attitude is really selfish, that's greedy, and you're not doing any service to your culture, to your country, because you had a date on election day, or there was a movie that you had to see. You know, the headline in the Onion the day after the (Presidential) election was, "Record number of voters from 18-24 totally meant to vote, man." The fact is those people, in ten years, will be Republican. They'll have their business degrees, but they'll have no education whatsoever outside of the business world. These people don't study history, they don't study the humanities, and they are happy in their ignorance. Despite all evidence to the contrary, and for reasons that I can't describe or explain, I do have some hope for the future. America is a resilient nation and, hopefully, the political pendulum will swing. Until then, as a citizen, I can educate myself and participate in the process by voting. Comparing His Love of Sports to His Passion for Music: There is absolutely a connection between sports and music, between being a teammate and a member of a band. Football is a game that I really love, and one of the things that draws me to it is that, every week, you have your game plan, all carefully drawn out on paper - but, the minute the ball is snapped, everything goes to hell. You have to improvise, so that is when a true team steps up, and makes the best of a few choices. Just like bands, teams have to stay together for a while to learn how to play with each other. Once again, practice makes perfect. My favorite team is the San Francisco 49ers of old, because the 49ers of late are pretty bad! [Laughs] The 49ers of old had that non-verbal communication going as a team, and the best example of that is "The Catch," when Joe Montana threw that amazing touchdown pass to Dwight Clark to beat the Cowboys in the '81 NFC championship game. Montana knew to throw it up there, and Clark knew to go up and get it. They beat a team which, at that point, had twice the salary and many more years of experience, but those years of experience had been diminished by the fact that the guys on the Cowboys had all turned into superstars. Dallas wasn't working as a true team anymore, while the 49ers were young, and they had no superstars yet. That same thing happens to rock bands - you start out young and hungry, all living together with no money, playing bad gigs, but those things help make you a band. Then you find success, and the money comes in, the egos take off, outsiders step in, and soon, you're not communicating any more - on or off the stage. You become a collection of individuals, not a band. What Keeps Him Going: I love what I do - I love to play. I love to serve the muse. For me, I don't think you can be too old to play rock and roll, because I'm a professional kid. I have professional arrested development, which goes well with my pathological anti-authoritarian lifestyle! [Laughs] The Accomplishment He Is Proudest of: It's probably just having lived through it all, because the odds aren't with you. I've also learned that you've got to be tough, you've got to be quick on your feet, be able to think fast, and learn to duck. What Image Comes to Mind When Bob Weir Thinks of Music: The sky opening, and the muse giving me my marching orders. 
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