Part Two – Joe Russo Talks Shpongle, EDM, and “Almost Dead”

Estimated read time 13 min read

Furthur 2013-09-20-31-0479Photo by Jim Mimna

In part two of our interview with Joe Russo [Editor’s Note: Read Part 1 here], Sir Joe opened up about his studio work and upcoming album, what he loves about genre hopping, and the inspiration he’s drawn from playing with legends like Phil LeshBob Weir, and Raja Ram.

Listen Up Denver!: About a year ago you spoke in an interview about getting your studio up and running.  How has that been going and can we expect anything new from you coming soon?

Joe Russo: My studio rules. [laughs]  I’m here now and have been working on a new album for most of the last year here. It sounds nothing like The Grateful Dead.[laughs] My notoriety or whatever, for a lot of people, comes from playing with Bob [Weir] and Phil [Lesh] and playing those songs and thats a pretty loud beacon.  A lot of the press I get, that’s the main thing that comes through and people are like “all you are doing is this Dead stuff” and I am like “well I’m not”, but nobody really knows about the rest of what I am doing which is kind of cool.  I’m into that.  I am really excited about getting this new record finished in the next few months and to put it out next year. I’ll certainly be screaming that from the roof tops.  But right now I’ve been having an amazing time doing the Dead stuff, then casually doing all these other great gigs and getting to make a lot of great records with a lot of great people that aren’t really in that Dead wheelhouse.  I’m cool with that.  It kind of takes the pressure off that other half of my life.  I’ve done a bunch of cool records this year, played with Shpongle in Hungary, Belgium, Japan, London, Red Rocks, did a really great tour and record with Cass McCombs who is one of my favorite musicians in the world.

LUD!: When I first became familiar with you it was through that electronic thing with Fat Mama and Electron back in the late 90s/early 00s and even today you play with The Shpongle Live Band.  Can you talk about what its like playing on projects like those vs. some of the more traditional, Rock based stuff like JRAD and Bustle In Your Hedgerow?

JR: Yeah, that’s kind of the cool thing.  I feel very lucky to have my foot in with a lot of different genres that aren’t necessarily going together.  The last time I was in Colorado was with Shpongle at Red Rocks [Editor’s Note: Read our review of that show here] and that was strange because the music couldn’t be more different than the Dead‘s , but the fan base is shockingly similar. Here is a band that is mostly comprised of all electronic performances.  You know the principle guys, Simon Posford and Raja Ram, make these songs then we go out and try to perform them with live drums, bass, guitars, keys, strings, all these dancers, and everything and its crazy. It’s super fun, the whole time I am playing with tracks and have a click track in my ear, but I can still improvise in that context too, but its a different thing.  I get a lot of joy out of that experience.

One of my favorite things was a couple years ago, I’d go straight from a Furthur tour and go to a run of festivals with Shpongle and it was kind of like, once I start lusting for one thing, I’d be back doing it.  Like “Alright cool, we just played another 4 hr Furthur show full of guitar solos, now I’m going to go put on some face paint and play weird, electronic music until 6am in a desert!”[laughs]  Then I’d be like “Oh man I am tired of playing to this click track, I just wanna play a ballad and then all the sudden I am playing ‘China Doll!’ [Laughs]  It’s AWESOME!!!  I couldn’t be happier for that mix of opportunities.

From the fan side, the music is so different, but with both groups, its very…you know The Dead has California hippies and Shpongle has Euro/Space hippies [Laughs]  Everyone is really, really cool and so moved by the music. I feel very lucky to be involved with projects that have fan bases that are so in tune.  Not everyone gets a chance to play in bands that have fans like these and its a really special thing.

To be able to play with Furthur and get a small taste of what its been like for those guys all these years then to be able to do the same with Shpongle on a totally different trip has been really fulfilling.  One of my favorite things about doing that gig at Red Rocks with Shpongle was that the last time I was there was with Furthur and its like “WOW!!! This is so different,  but its not really.” [Laughs]  You are there and to the people in the audience you are just up there playing music and its such a beautiful place so its really amazing to be able to be apart of that.  I get a little ADD sometimes with music so I love having a bunch of different projects and having that kind of polar opposite stylistic thing going on between Shpongle and The Dead.  Then I get to go play with someone like Cass [McCombs], who is just another another amazing talent and another great opportunity.  I just feel very fortunate to touch upon all of them.

LUD!: So you mention the different fan bases and how they come together even though those styles of music are so different.  When you were at the forefront of that electronic sound in the late 90s did you think that sound and style would become so prevalent today and lead to a lot of those fan bases coming together?

JR: You know, even at that time it was so weird.  That Drum and Bass stuff was coming over from London and it had been going on there for a long time and it just started becoming more widely available. People were going to raves and hearing that music.  I know, at least for the Fat Mama guys, our stuff was coming from a different place than maybe The [Disco] Biscuit guys were coming from.  Those guys were going for that Techno rave vibe and we were more like these fusion dudes.  Playing really fast Al Foster beats, you know?  So, at the time, I didn’t really see that mesh happening.  It’s hard to think back but everything is just in everything now.  Honestly I don’t think I would have seen the whole EDM craze coming. That seems like a brand new thing, something for this generation.  That wasn’t there yet.  It was more organic when we were starting to do what we were doing, which was kind of what DJs were doing.  Speeding up a James Brown drum groove.  It was like “hey, this is Drum and Bass” but we were like “no, its just a sped up Funk groove.” [laughs]

When we started playing it it was still music that we, as musicians, were still playing.  I think everything thats happening now is really cool and I have all these crazy tools I can use and I love it.  But you know…the more I think of it, I remember girls in backless dresses coming to Fat Mama shows so…I guess it always has been there. [Laughs]  Here is the thing, when you have a fan base like The Grateful Dead does, most of them are probably into a lot of cool shit.  A lot of Dead fans I have met are into everything, its a really exploratory scene. I’ve had some really cool conversations with Deadheads about Coltrane and things like that.  The whole experience is very open.

LUD!: Well I think you touch on something interesting there.  I think for a lot of people, myself included, The Dead and music like it opened things up to music like Coltrane and other stuff outside of that Classic Rock and Pop music frame. 

JR: Absolutely. I totally agree.

LUD!: Do you ever find yourself taking some of the things you’ve learned from Shpongle,  those other electronic projects, or even the Cass McCombs stuff and having it find its way into what you are doing with the JRAD or Bustle stuff thats more based in that traditional rock sound?

JR: Totally. Like I said, when we get out on the stage for whatever gig we are doing, no influence is left untouched.  It’s all in there with these five guys and I’ve suddenly gone into breakbeats with JRAD. [laughs]  Like I suddenly feel like playing really fast and want to play this rhythm that maybe would be a little more understandable at a Shpongle show but the beauty is that I am not the only one with that influence so when I go in that direction, Tom [Hamilton] is like “Oh cool” and he’ll go there and nothing is really left off the table.  It really is all moment by moment and truly active.  That’s what excites me.  It can just be what its going to be in that time and space…I feel like with this group of people [JRAD] we have a pretty vast dialect that everyone understands which allows us to really be us.

LUD!: So, last question and to bring it back around to JRAD and the guys from the Dead.   Phil, Bobby, Mickey, and Billy are all well into their 60s and 70s.  Do you draw inspiration from what they are out there doing, still grinding and pushing the music in new directions?

JR: Oh my God.  It’s incredible.  I am constantly inspired by all those guys.  To see them out there – and none of them have to do it.  In the end, they could be sailing around the world, but I think they are addicted to making music.  Just true artists in every sense.  For those guys to get on stage every night and play these long shows and be really going for it is such an inspiration.  That includes Raja Ram from Shpongle.  I mean he’s 74 and is running around like a fucking maniac on stage.  Me and my friends on stage will laugh and be like “What the hell is going on?!? This dude should not be able to do this!” [laughs]  But we’ll get done playing a 3 hour Shpongle set, he’s jumping all over the stage and say [in a pretty spot on Raja Ram British accent]  “Well alright guys, I’m off to do a dj set” and he’ll do a fucking DJ set at like 6am in the middle of the desert in Israel. [laughs]  I’m exhausted, all the other younger guys are just shot and there you have Raja Ram, Phil Lesh, and Bob [Weir] just keeping on.  There are no excuses, there is no being tired and if they are, they just play through.  Its really inspirational.

There have been a million times where I look to my left and there is Phil Lesh, smiling his ass off and digging in really hard on his instrument, and really going for it, with this intent of “we are about to make something right now.”  It’s not like he is just laying back and going through the motions.  Nothing could be more inspirational to me. Phil is turning 75 in March and he is still one of the most viscous players that I get to play with. It reminds you to not bitch when things are a little rough.  As many times as I’ve wanted to be like “oh my god I am so tired, I can’t believe they booked us 5 nights in a row” now I am just like “wait, I’m just going to shut the fuck up because I don’t have a leg to stand on.”  They put it in perspective.  They are the masters.  They are the ones that started it and they are still doing it.  There is no way to not be inspired especially when you get to share these amazing moments with these incredible musicians and people. Its really life changing stuff.  We spoke about all the changes that I’ve been through because of Furthur and thats a big part of it.  Just watching their work ethic and their intention of performance.  They want it to be good and deliver on these shows.  They still sweat.  It’s really cool and I certainly take that with me on every gig I do and really every day.

LUD!: Maybe these guys are on to something.  I mean even look at Clapton and The [Rolling] Stones.  Maybe getting up there and still pushing things musically is that fountain of youth so many people look for.   

JR: Yeah, and also the act of improvisation. I think there is big difference between a 74 year old up there just strumming chords and these guys going out and having to make music on grounds that they’ve been making it on for 50 years.  I mean shit, when me and Marco had The Duo we were doing it for like 6 years and were like “we are sooo sick of these songs.” [laughs]  “What the hell are we going to do?”  These guys, 48 years later, are still out there doing it.  Thats another thing I’ve taken away from all of this is that there is always something new to go for.

Will we see Joe Russo behind the kit at 70?

JR: [Laughs] We’ll see if my back holds up! [Laughs]

You can catch Joe Russo with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at The Boulder Theater on Friday, October 10th and then here in Denver at The Ogden Theatre on Saturday 10/11.  Tickets are still available so don’t miss this chance to see a fresh take on some truly legendary music.

JOE RUSSO’S ALMOST DEAD

Friday, October 10th
The Boulder Theater
PURCHASE TICKETS

Saturday, October 11th
The Ogden Theatre
PURCHASE TICKETS

Gary Mellini

Gary is a lifelong music fan raised in Chicago. He is the "G" of J2G Live, a Denver based music production company that brings you "Dance Party Time Machine," "Revenge of the 90's" among other great events.

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