Phil Lesh

Phil Lesh
Philip Chapman Leshis a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBassist
Date of Birth15 March 1940
CityBerkeley, CA
CountryUnited States of America
time
Of course, in the band, we all interpreted in our own way simultaneously, so this time I'm just going to do it all by myself and see what comes out.
classical joining people studied trained
Many people out there know that I was trained in classical music, and I studied composition for many years before joining the band.
band dead desire form grateful tour
But the Grateful Dead was my band, and I don't have any desire to form a band of my own, or tour with another band, or do anything like that.
gut
And many times that did take place, but what I've said in the past, and my gut feeling, is that it was started to calcify in a sense.
band bob closure dead dealing finding giving grateful guys jerry thanks wonderful
In a way, it's my way of dealing with, finding closure with Grateful Dead music, and giving thanks in a way to Jerry and Bob and all the guys in the band for making up this wonderful music.
band groove
When the band would leave the stage, and then the audience would just take over, and keep the groove goin'.
became earlier shows wore
But we were really locked in to that kind of format, and as the '90s wore on, it became for me more solidified, in that sense that there weren't as many of those magical shows that were just magic all the way through as there had been in earlier years.
everybody figure trying ways
Of course, we didn't survive to play all the way through the '90s, so I can say that - as I said, everybody in the band was aware of this, and we trying to figure out ways to make it different.
certain format late points since songs starting surface using
And that format was - we'd been using that format, I guess, since the late '70s, and it was starting to get very predictable. In other words, certain songs would surface in the same points in the set every so often; it was like rotation.
input
And the input that we always got from Deadheads, at the moment of making the music, was always a factor.
michael plays whether
Michael is the kind of guy who has rhythm; he has rock'n'roll in his soul, whether he really plays it or not.
consistency fine great height music plenty
Not that there weren't great shows, and not that there wasn't plenty of fine music played. It's just that the consistency and the height of where we could take it, with the help of the audience, was less, I felt, in the '90s.
bringing creative opportunity ordinarily realm
Especially in the realm of bringing an opportunity to do something creative to people, as I said, who wouldn't ordinarily have that opportunity. I think that's very important.
aware becoming following interested outside people tour
Because, first of all, we were becoming aware during that tour that there was a group of people that was following the band around, and they weren't interested in coming in to the shows, they were just interested in hangin' out outside and tryin' to break in.