Bill Kreutzmann Talks About His “Kids” & The Cannabis Cup

Photo by Bob Minkin

2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of The Grateful Dead and fans across the country are being treated to a variety of collaborations to commemorate the celebration.  One of these collaborations comes from the mind of Grateful Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzmann.  In his band, Billy and The Kids, Kreutzmann has teamed up with Aron Magner [The Disco Biscuits], Tom Hamilton [American Babies, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead],  and Reed Mathis [Tea Leaf Green].  The quartet will be playing a special 4/20 show at The Ogden Theatre taking on Dead classics from Spring 1990 where they will be joined by Dominic Lalli [Big Gigantic] and Jason Hann [String Cheese Incident, EOTO].  Listen Up Denver! had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Kreutzmann about his new band, a fresh take on the classic Dead catalog and how he is “practicing” for his role as a judge in the 2015 Cannabis Cup here in Denver.

Listen Up Denver!: On Monday April 20th, your band, Billy and The Kids, will make its Denver debut at The Ogden Theater.  Can you talk about that project and how it came to be?

Bill Kreutzmann: A friend of mine suggested these players to me quite some time ago.  She thought it would be to see me play with those three guys:  Aron Magner,  Tom Hamilton, and Reed Mathis.  Low and behold, a year or more later it came to be and we played a couple gigs like Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam, a gig for Pete Shapiro, and the Capitol Theatre just recently. It’s just a brand new band with some younger players.  I call them kids ’cause they are much younger than me [laughs], but they are on fire right now and it’s great.  The fun thing about them is they play Dead tunes correctly in the sense that they play the changes and sing the vocals great but most importantly they put their own style on top of it.  They add a lot of new and refreshing things that you haven’t heard with Grateful Dead music and that in itself makes it very interesting for me.  They add something fresh.  I mean these tunes, they are good forever and if you play them with new life in them it really makes it fun.  Also, for the gig coming up in Denver,  Dominc Lalli from Big Gigantic will be playing with us on saxophone along with Jason Hann from EOTO on percussion so we’ll definitely be having some fun at that gig.

What’s that theater like?

LUD!: It’s one of my favorite places to see shows in CO.  It’s big enough where you have room to dance but you still get that intimate feel.  

BK: Right on man.  I know I’ve played there but don’t think I remember it. [Laughs]

LUD!: Obviously the name implies you teaming up with a younger generation of musicians.  Was that something you set out to do or did it just happen that way?

BK: Definitely.  I wanted to play with some younger, more energetic musicians.  That’s been happening a lot in my life lately.  I’ve played with Reed before.  He was the bassist on the 7 Walkers’ album and I kept running into him and I saw the spark in him immediately.  He plays lead bass without losing the bottom end; the funkiness with the connection to the bass drum.  I’m really amazed by that because he’s doing two functions.  He’s enforcing a heavy interaction at the lead level with the guitar and keyboards and he’s also keeping the fundamental groove going.  That to me is the coolest thing.  Being a drummer I play two things at the same time anyway and seeing someone do that I’m like “Ooh yeah” [Laughs].  That the long answer to that question.

The other guys were suggested to me and not too long ago Mickey and I joined together with The Disco Biscuits for Gathering of The Vibes and I saw what Aron could do and invited him in to do it.  Pretty much the same with Tommy.  That’s how all that got started.  It was all very loose, word of mouth.  The other thing that’s great is the vibe we have.  I look around and everyone is smiling while playing this music and every night they are doing something different.

LUD!: You’ll be tackling Spring ’90 at The Ogden and recently did Europe ’72.  What led to choosing certain eras for shows?  Was that a conscious decision or did it come about organically?

BK: [Laughs]  Well that’s both. [Laughs] I’m never sure if I can separate those two [Laughs].  It was a conscious thing pretty much.  One, I always loved the music from Europe ’72.  So we thought it would be really fun to put that together.  We augmented it a little bit and put some other tunes in so not to play it all together.   We’ll do the same thing with Spring ‘90. It will co-exist with other really great tunes.  I just like to mix it up a little.  I’m not one of these guys that has to do it exactly step for step the way it was played.  I actually find that less interesting than coming up with a new set with those songs and tying them together in a way that was never done in the original set.  That to me is a lot farther out than copying something.  I’m not big on copying things.

LUD!: That seems like more a fresh approach and more exciting when you don’t know what’s coming next.

BK: Yeah!!! That’s also why I have the younger players.  They have the younger minds and great energy.

LUD!: What is it about the music of Spring ’90 that stands out to you?

BK: Well I’m really partial to the Drums and Space in particular myself [Laughs]. The tunes that stand out are “The Other One” and “Bird Song,” that kind of music is my favorite.  It’s really the songs within the songs that I love the most you know?  Playing with younger players it’s all about passing this great music on.  They are doing a wonderful job of creating this music with new energy and playing to the younger audience.  I mean they know the music better than i do [Laughs].  They learn these songs so fast its scary.  Now they are singing three part harmonies, and that’s one of the hardest things in music to do, sing 3 parts at once.

LUD!: So you’ll also be participating in this years Cannabis Cup here in Denver.   Can you talk about what you’ll be doing with that?

BK: Well….. I’ve been practicing a lot [Laughs].  You know getting ready for it [Laughs].  Well you have to practice like crazy because otherwise it will knock me over.  I’m not used to what you guys have out in Denver.  I just so excited about the whole thing.  You know I’m honored to come out and help celebrate things.  I know it has been over a year but its such an important thing with everyone looking at Colorado to see how its going to work.  You have all these moaners saying its not going to work and this and that but I think it has turned out great.

LUD!: Yeah, its worked out pretty well.  Definitely some exciting times out here.

BK: I’m definitely looking forward to getting out there.  This new band really has my heart and we can’t wait to get to Denver.

On top of his 4/20 show at The Ogden Theatre with Billy and The Kids,  Kreutzmann will be joining his former Grateful Dead bandmate, Mickey Hart at Red Rocks for a special performance with The Disco Biscuits on Friday 4/17.  With the Biscuits also playing three other nights (Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday) and a host of talented musicians involved in the festivities, this week in Denver is shaping up to be an epic one to say the least.

Billy and The Kids
The Ogden Theatre
Monday, April 20th
PURCHASE HERE

The Disco Biscuits
w/ Bill Kreutzmann & Mickey Hart
Red Rocks
Friday, April 17th
PURCHASE HERE