NEED TO KNOW
- Grahame Lesh says his household’s No. 1 precedence is protecting the Grateful Lifeless’s legacy going
- Life on the highway as a baby with the Grateful Lifeless was like a “circus,” he tells ipromiseyoumedia
- Grahame shares what Phil Lesh taught him about enjoying music “authentically”
The eldest son of the late Grateful Lifeless bassist Phil Lesh is thrilled to hold on the legacy of the legendary jam band.
“I am simply certainly one of so many individuals who’s doing it,” Grahame Lesh instructed ipromiseyoumedia from his San Francisco-area dwelling. “Lifeless & Firm’s doing such a tremendous job getting new of us into it and protecting the torch going, however truthfully, I see it right here within the Bay Space a lot with all of the musicians in our neighborhood. There’s a Grateful Lifeless night time virtually every single day of the week within the Bay Space.”
In early August, the Bay Space will come much more alive with the Lifeless, too. On Aug. 1-3, Lifeless & Firm, comprised of authentic Grateful Lifeless members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, in addition to John Mayer and different musicians, will have fun 60 years of the Lifeless’s music with three concert events in Golden Gate Park. Working alongside the three reveals would be the Coronary heart of City, a July 31-Aug. 2 pageant at Pier 48 in Mission Rock that includes bands impressed by the Grateful Lifeless. The pageant is hosted by Grahame Lesh and Mates, one of many musicians’ three bands.
“My mother and father would speak concerning the Grateful Lifeless as a giant outdated tree. The roots are the Americana music and the trunk is the unique members of the band, after which every of the branches and the leaves are all of the those who have been impressed by the band, and I am simply a type of,” he says. “Having a chance to have fun that music that I’ve grown up in, that my household has been part of since lengthy earlier than I used to be born, is admittedly particular.”
He added, “The No. 1 factor to find out about my household, particularly musically and artistically, is that it’s actually vital to all of us to maintain that legacy going.”
Whereas Grahame, 38, grew up with the Grateful Lifeless and traveled with them on tour alongside his father, he doesn’t have a whole lot of recollections of life on the highway with the Rock and Roll Corridor of Famers.
“I used to be 8 when [lead singer] Jerry Garcia handed away in ’95, so I did not actually get an opportunity to be tremendous impressed by watching the Grateful Lifeless in individual because the Grateful Lifeless,” he says. “A number of years later, my dad began Phil Lesh and Mates, and my household would go on tour with him, and I obtained to see simply numerous superb musicians that might come by way of that band.”
Nonetheless, the Midnight Norther singer does have one very particular potty-mouthed reminiscence of Garcia.
“He was form of like an uncle. He was round. I simply have a really vivid sense that he was a form man who was my dad’s actually good buddy, and I believe he was that for everybody,” Grahame says. “It’s loopy rising up on the earth of the Grateful Lifeless. He wasn’t the one one, however he did not cease from utilizing the phrase ‘f—‘ round youngsters, however in a jolly manner. So I form of keep in mind that, nevertheless it was simply form of a humorous factor to form of keep in mind.”
Phil, in the meantime, was a supporter of his son’s Lifeless-inspired music till his 2024 demise, and he even appeared on the music “Jupiter” on Midnight North’s most up-to-date album, Diamonds In The Zodiac. The lyrics for that music have been truly written a long time in the past for a Phil Lesh and Mates undertaking that by no means completed.
“He actually cherished that form of stuff, the place I may form of deliver the eras of music collectively. I imply, it is a music written over 25 years in the past, and I believe that was actually cool for him,” Grahame says.
Phil additionally taught him to let the music, not tips, lead him.
“He simply wished you to play the music in a manner that was genuine to the music itself, and that was a manner for the music to sound right. It did not matter if it was the identical notes that Jerry performed. It did not matter. You possibly can even change the chords and the melody,” Grahame says.
Whereas the Lifeless celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, Grahame is insistent that the music will stay on for generations.
“The Grateful Lifeless will outlast everybody. The music goes to survive all of us and possibly, our children’ youngsters,” he says. “Jerry used to say it was working away and becoming a member of the circus. There’s one thing so inherently American and trendy about that, and simply timeless.”
Over time, quite a few teams and music executives have tried to review the San Francisco-based band and replicate its success. That, nonetheless, is futile.
“They by no means had a plan. So I see a few of these, ‘What Companies Can Study from the Grateful Lifeless’ issues. They have been simply extremely gifted, they usually have been artists. They have been simply creating music and experiences, and they didn’t have a plan,” Grahame says. “There was each probability that they might’ve been unsuccessful when it comes to their profession, however they did not care about that. They simply wished to achieve success when it comes to creating what they wished to create, making one thing actual and human and placing on these huge experiences.”
The Coronary heart of City live performance sequence is offered by The San Francisco Giants and Relix, and produced by Terrapin Station Leisure and Dayglo Presents.