After cancelling their Red Rocks show that was scheduled for early June, Joe Russo didn’t think he would get to bring his Grateful Dead Project, JRAD to Colorado in 2021. Fortunately that changed recently and the band will take the stage at the 1stBank Center for the second time tonight. We caught up with Russo and had a great conversation.
Joe Russo: I’m driving to Newark Airport to fly to Denver to play our last rock show of the year.
Listen Here Denver!: It’s been an interesting year, to say the least.
Joe Russo: Yeah, man, it’s insane. How many times have we all gone back and forth with all sorts of different things and information and the ups and the downs? I’m happy we’re getting one more in. I’m happy it’s in Colorado. We’re really bummed to have canceled the Red Rock show and, for a long time, it looked like we weren’t able to get back this year. Then we found a window where it made sense and here we are.
Listen Here Denver!: I think a lot of people were bummed at that Red Rocks show didn’t happen because they were doing limited capacity shows there at the same time and I think Widespread Panic played just a month after or something. It was so close.
Joe Russo: Yeah. We were right in that very strange spot. What everybody has to realize is that when these shows get either announced or canceled, you have to make those decisions well in advance and everybody has to play Crystal Ball. I think we made that decision being that it was sold-out that we couldn’t do a scaled down thing. Then, looking back, I’m not sure if we ended up being in the window where we would have been able to play or not. I think in the end, it wouldn’t have been the full capacity. So, yeah, we’ve made a lot of kind of heartbreaking decisions this year. I think that’s just what the climate of this thing is right now. Just trying to work off the same information that everybody else has and doing our best to do what we think is possible. Then, of course, we had that brief moment of where everything felt like it was fully back on track early this year, and it’s just been this up and down for us as much as it has been for the fans and other concert goers just really hoping for a better, clearer path next year. I think that is all we can hope for.
Listen Here Denver!: So obviously, things were pretty much shut down last year. A lot of people thought it was a horrible thing, but a lot of people took it as an opportunity to rest and recharge. I’m curious, what were you able to spin that was positive out of this thing?
Joe Russo: I mean, the biggest takeaway was getting to spend time with my family with my daughters. My wife and I had just moved into a new home near Princeton, New Jersey. After a year with our two kids in New York, we kind of decided “all right, it’s time to get out of Brooklyn with the two kids.” So we bought a house in January of 20, and then everything went bonkers a month or so later.
I think, as with a lot of people, it’s was a shock to the system. We had, unfortunately, already done our recharge with JRAD the year prior and we were really ready to kick it off again. We had our shows in February, and we’re really ready to kill it gets back at it more than we had the previous couple of years. And then, of course, everything shut down. So musically, it was rough.
The lack of collaboration was really rough. I had moved out to New York and had to close up my studio that I had in Brooklyn about eight months earlier than I had intended to so I didn’t really have a footing to really create, which was an unfortunate part of it. But, after a few months of being bummed about that, I really just went head first in the family zone and that was amazing. And being able to be in a little bit more of a nature filled area while we were hunkering down was amazing. Yeah, the takeaway was definitely family and also coming back and thinking about how amazing it is when you get to play music. I think all of us took it for granted on both sides. You know nothing’s ever derailed music before.
We’ve had such incredible circumstances, at least while I’ve been a professional musician, between 9-11 and the housing crisis and all this stuff, music was always there as somewhere we could all just still go to. It was just a safe haven and it was something that was just never going away. This was the first time music was off the table. The thing that was there to keep us all okay was gone.
So while that’s the sad version of it, the takeaway now is that when we get to play, it is just so unreal and so amazing that we get to do this or to get to experience it. Sometimes you forget how amazing that simple action is. I know while we were always very appreciative of our lives and what we get to do, this really put a super fine point on it and how fleeting it can be and every single chance we get to make music, whether it’s with JRAD our own projects or whatever the hell it is, is just so important.
And I think we’re all kind of have that on the forefront of our minds now.
Listen Here Denver!: I think we feel the same way on the other side of the stage. I think so many fans are just out there saying “all right I got to be there. I have to enjoy this. I need to be in the moment.” A lot of people took it for granted for so long. It was like, I’ll catch the next one. Well, we don’t know right now when the next one’s going to be.
Joe Russo: I think that is something that we’re all very aware of when we are all together. I hope everyone there, including us, at least takes a moment to stop and recognize how special it is and how incredible it is that we’re all there together because, like I said, it went away before. Hopefully, it’s not going to go away in that way again, but we really have to be present in the moment and I know we are beyond in love with the fact that we get to do one more show this year.
Listen Here Denver!: So when you guys came back, your first show back was in New Haven, right?
Joe Russo: The Westfield Music Bowl is amazing. David and everyone over there did such an outstanding job in the midst of a pandemic. It really checked all the boxes. So as the spring and summer kind of went on and things started to feel normal for that little chunk, it was the best place to be. It just felt so good. Everyone there was so wonderful and the crowds were amazing. It’ll never, ever leave my mind. That opportunity to get back to playing was amazing. It was because of that place.
Listen Here Denver!: When you guys returned to the stage that first time you opened with “Not Fade Away” and I’m guessing that wasn’t an accident. What led you to that decision? (Listen Here!)
Joe Russo: It’s was the first show back and whatever we played would be a pseudo statement piece. Not that it’s of great importance, but we thought about it for a while. And it’s just like, what’s better than that simple idea, right? Something that’s so deeply rooted in Grateful Dead-lore and something that’s just easy, that just feels right. It’s just music that plays itself. It’s full of joy. That’s how we felt. It’s like the love was always there. We’re back. We’re going to try to get back to it and it just seemed like the right move.
Listen Here Denver!: The last time you played the 1stBank Center you were supposed to be playing Red Rocks and obviously it got moved due to the snow. Everybody was blown away when you all came out with that “Shelter from the Storm.” (Listen Here!)
Joe Russo: I actually just got chills. You know, that’s another thing that’s going to live with me forever. That night at 1stBank Center was so overwhelming in the best way. We were forced to pivot so quickly, and everybody did such a great job, the promoters, our people in the band, and our crew, and we’re just like this show has to continue. People are here and we’re going to play. The fact that we were able to transition into 1stBank that night – I think it will go down for me as one of my favorite JRAD experiences ever. Like one of my favorite musical experiences ever. I checked it out while back, maybe a year or two ago and the energy that we were playing with was certainly real and heartfelt. It was just this release, and it just felt amazing. That whole night felt incredible and it’s interesting to go back to that place under these other circumstances.
Listen Here Denver!: So do you have any tricks up your sleeve that you can reveal? I know you did that whole crazy intro to the second set with Medeski Martin and Wood last time.
Joe Russo: I think we’re just excited to play a great show is our plan. Obviously, right now, things are just in that place where it’s hard for us to bring in guests and everybody is still trying to be as safe as possible while kind of riding this line. So we’ve been pretty tight in our bubble when we do these things, and we encourage everyone who’s coming to be as safe as possible while doing this. Because again, we’re all figuring out we’re all figuring out how to live in this world.
So I will say we’re just going to try to put on as great of a show as we can and bid farewell to Colorado for 21.
Listen Here Denver!: So looks like you guys have debuted a couple of songs this year. “Operator,” “Ship of Fools.” Any others?
Joe Russo: I don’t know. I’m not sure if we officially debuted any other classic Dead cannon stuff. To be honest, I think we’re kind of running out of stuff that I would consider playing. It’s kind of been a fun transition this year into inviting some different stuff into the fold and really hammering on the “almost” part of the name.
When we did our little festival at Lock’n this past summer, we were kind of just trying to find something special to add to the event. That’s where we came up with doing “other shit,” which we had done with our instrumental Led Zeppelin project back in the day. So one night, in similar fashion, we were like “all right we kind of played this stuff up and down and sideways. Let’s do a Bustle plays ‘other shit’ night” where we ended up doing all of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid for one set and then set two was just a mix of just other random covers and so that idea kind of popped in. It’s like, all right, JRAD plays “other shit.” What can we do with that? Do we go all over the map? Do we do a certain band? In the end it made sense to do things that were at least adjacent to the Grateful Dead fan base, maybe more than some of the other stuff we would have considered from our own collective playlists and it just ended up being so fun. As much as playing the Dead stuff. So I’m sure “other shit” will continue to be a hashtag for us over the next couple of years.
Listen Here Denver!: So what does ’22 hold in store for you guys? I mean, do you have anything on the books?
Joe Russo: We are completely booked and ready to go. We’re going to have a potentially full schedule starting in February and going through the end of the year. We’re ready to go. If the world allows us, we’re going to be there. Like I said, we’re very eager to get back to it. Between this band and all of our other projects, I think chomping at the bit is how every musician or every artist or any is feeling right now. The build-up is palpable. Like I said, if the universe willing we’ll be back at it.
Listen Here Denver!: Excellent. Any chance there’s a Red Rocks announcement coming tomorrow night?
Joe Russo: We will have to see…
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