October 1971: Jerry Garcia Interview

This interview was broadcast on a Swedish radio program about Jerry Garcia on October 12, 1971. Most of the interviewer's questions were not included in the broadcast.

The DJ mentions the Keystone Korner.

[Q]

GARCIA: Well, it’s a whole different pace; see, the whole thing about a little club is it’s just a different space, you know what I mean, it’s like you can be more… (pause) You can make mistakes, and nobody’s gonna care too much, you know what I mean; whereas like in a concert situation or something like that, it’s 10,000 people or something like that, it’s like way more pressure; and in a club it’s like just a mellow groove, you know, is the only way I can describe it, just smooth and easy and no big hassle or nothing, you know...

[Q]

Right, right, well that’s what I do, I mean, you know, if I had the space to do it, I would be playing a club like this every night, all the time, you know; this is like the best way to keep – to play a lot, you know, to keep your chops together – and you know, it has its advantages, in some respects: like when you get out into playing big concerts, a lot of times you really don’t get to play that much, you know what I mean; and like with the Grateful Dead, it’s such a production, you know; like when the Grateful Dead play someplace, it’s a celebration, all kinds of people are there, it’s not the sort of thing you can do every night, you know what I mean; and you know, we couldn’t play like in a small club like this – now, assuming we were, we’d have to play anonymously or something like that... 

The DJ mentions Garcia recording with Crosby Stills Nash & Young. 

[Q]

…that I played on, and also Bill played on, and John Kahn, a bay area bass player, real nice too. Some of the same guys played on Brewer & Shipley’s record too.

Q: Yeah, you’ve played on a lot of records; someone said that recently you’ve played on every record except Songs of the Humpback Whales.

GARCIA: [laughs] Well, I mean you know it’s like – the way I feel about it, it doesn’t matter that it’s me, you know what I mean – I don’t care if they put my name on the records or anything like that, I just like to play, and I would be doing that no matter what the situation was, you know what I mean – playing’s what I do.

Q: Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be in a castle in England with a stable and racehorses and all that -  

GARCIA: [laughs] No, it’s not my scene. It’s not my scene, I can’t even ride horses. Steven’s got all that.

Q: Do you do anything except playing music?

GARCIA: Well, quite frankly no; I play music and get high, that’s about all I do – eat, sleep – but music is my life, I mean, it’s what I do, you know. I love it, that’s the thing, I mean I’m strung out on it.

Q: Do you feel you have to practice a lot too?

GARCIA: Yeah, I should practice more than I do; unfortunately, like in the last few months I’ve sort of let my practicing slip, and my chops are hurting behind it; and so sometime within the next few weeks I might have to start, you know, really practicing hard again. Yeah, but here’s the thing man, is if you don’t practice, you know, you lose the ability to play; you have to keep practicing, otherwise you’re not able to execute stuff, at least I’m not – I get stiff real fast. It’s mechanics, you know, it’s like muscular exercise, it’s like if you go in and do weight-lifting every day and stuff like that, you know, and then don’t do it for a week and go and try to lift something, you end up with all kind of strained muscles and shit like that, you know, it’s like a physiological thing; so it’s like having muscle tone and having all your muscles developed for the purpose of playing music, and having all the connections from your mind to your fingers, you know – there’s a sort of a neural connection between your ears and your fingers in music by playing guitar, or something like that – it’s something you have to maintain, it’s like a tool, it’s like keeping it sharp.

The DJ mentions "flower power." 

[Q]

GARCIA: Well, it’s just different now, it’s not that it’s worse, you know, because like in the – socially, like, the world that I live in has still got all the same people as back in ’66 and ’67, and everybody’s doing pretty much, you know, productive, pretty groovy things, and so the thing is that now that there isn’t any Haight-Ashbury, you know, and there isn’t anything that can be centrally focused on by the media or anybody else, but there still is, you know, that sort of community thing happening – that’s still happening and now it’s like much stronger and more together and more mature and more consistent than it used to be, and it also isn’t quite so, you know, so… (pause) It isn’t focusing so much attention on itself, you know what I mean?

Q: There’s more facilities around here, like studios and all that.

GARCIA: Right, right, and all that represents progress, you know what I mean?

Q: Do you have to leave the bay area to record?

GARCIA: Not anymore; we do all our recording around here.

Q: What about the new Grateful Dead album, is that a studio album?

GARCIA: No, it’s – well, no, it’s mostly a live album, there are some – we did a certain amount of overdubbing onto live tracks, but basically it’s a live album.

* * * 

This excerpt is from an earlier interview broadcast on another Swedish radio program about the "summer of love." The date is unknown. 

[Question about the acid tests.] 
GARCIA: They were sort of chaotic scenes, there was lots of light shows and lots of color, lots of sound, and we were like the featured band there. We played our music as well as we were able to, under the circumstances, but we learned to be able to play when things were chaotic, and in almost every kind of situation you could imagine: in terrible rooms, and huge auditoriums, and all sorts of places, we learned how to play together under extremely difficult circumstances; and we discovered that our music is dance music at these scenes as well; these were the first dances going on around the bay area.
Q: This was an underground movement, wasn’t it?
GARCIA: Completely, completely – at the time it was going on, there was no conventional publicity involved; there was no radio spots, there was no posters, there was only word of mouth. It was totally underground, completely.
Q: But nowadays you play at more conventional places like the Fillmore Auditorium.
GARCIA: Right – the Fillmore Auditorium is a conventional place now only by virtue of the fact that there were acid tests. The Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom both have their ideas, or liberalizations of the acid test ideas, and they have the same sort of atmosphere: they have light shows, they have music. They don’t have the confusion; they’re much more orderly. And they’re also very successful; people go knowing that it’s a more or less free, uninhibited atmosphere, and they feel that they can relax and move about and do whatever they want – sing and play tambourines and clap and roll around on the floor if they want – and that it’s perfectly okay with everybody there. We like playing in these situations because there is more of a chance to be able to get some communication from the people who are hearing the music, and the musicians. And also, the fact that we can look down from the stage and see people dancing – it’s a good thing to do, it makes it easier to play for some reason. You see an effect immediately; you know exactly what’s happening with your music – it’s going somewhere, it’s producing an effect, and you’re seeing the effect instantaneously; and in this way, you’re in present time – the people who are dancing and the musicians – there’s a sort of unity involved, because we’re all working together.

The interviewer in both cases is thought to be Lennart Wretland, a Swedish radio DJ who lived in the Bay Area at the time.

* * * 

For readers' benefit, here is a smoother edit of the 1971 broadcast interview that omits "like," "you know," "I mean," and sentence fragments.

[Q]
GARCIA: Well, it’s a whole different pace; see, the whole thing about a little club is it’s just a different space. You can make mistakes, and nobody’s gonna care too much; whereas in a concert situation, 10,000 people or something like that, it’s way more pressure; and in a club it’s just a mellow groove, the only way I can describe it, just smooth and easy and no big hassle or nothing...
[Q]
Right, well that’s what I do - if I had the space to do it, I would be playing a club like this every night, all the time. This is the best way – to play a lot, to keep your chops together – and it has its advantages, in some respects. When you get out into playing big concerts, a lot of times you really don’t get to play that much. And with the Grateful Dead, it’s such a production: when the Grateful Dead play someplace, it’s a celebration, all kinds of people are there, it’s not the sort of thing you can do every night. And we couldn’t play in a small club like this – assuming we were, we’d have to play anonymously or something like that... 

[Q]
…that I played on, and also Bill played on, and John Kahn, a bay area bass player, real nice too. Some of the same guys played on Brewer & Shipley’s record too.
Q: Yeah, you’ve played on a lot of records; someone said that recently you’ve played on every record except Songs of the Humpback Whales.
GARCIA: [laughs] Well – the way I feel about it, it doesn’t matter that it’s me – I don’t care if they put my name on the records or anything like that, I just like to play, and I would be doing that no matter what the situation was. Playing’s what I do.
Q: Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be in a castle in England with a stable and racehorses and all that -   
GARCIA: [laughs] No, it’s not my scene. I can’t even ride horses. Steven [Stills]’s got all that.
Q: Do you do anything except playing music?
GARCIA: Well, quite frankly no; I play music and get high, that’s about all I do. Eat, sleep... But music is my life, it’s what I do. I love it, that’s the thing; I’m strung out on it.
Q: Do you feel you have to practice a lot too?
GARCIA: Yeah, I should practice more than I do; unfortunately, in the last few months I’ve sort of let my practicing slip, and my chops are hurting behind it; and so sometime within the next few weeks I might have to start really practicing hard again. Here’s the thing, man: if you don’t practice, you lose the ability to play; you have to keep practicing, otherwise you’re not able to execute stuff; at least I’m not – I get stiff real fast. It’s mechanics, it’s like muscular exercise; it’s like if you go in and do weight-lifting every day and stuff like that, and then don’t do it for a week and go and try to lift something, you end up with all kinds of strained muscles and shit like that; it’s like a physiological thing; it’s like having muscle tone and having all your muscles developed for the purpose of playing music, and having all the connections from your mind to your fingers. There’s a sort of a neural connection between your ears and your fingers in music by playing guitar, or something like that. It’s something you have to maintain, it’s like a tool, it's keeping it sharp.

[Q]
GARCIA: Well, it’s just different now, it’s not that it’s worse. Socially, the world that I live in has still got all the same people as back in ’66 and ’67, and everybody’s doing pretty much productive, pretty groovy things, and so the thing is that now that there isn’t any Haight-Ashbury, and there isn’t anything that can be centrally focused on by the media or anybody else, but there still is that sort of community thing happening. That’s still happening and now it’s much stronger and more together and more mature and more consistent than it used to be; and it also isn’t focusing so much attention on itself.
Q: There’s more facilities around here, like studios and all that.
GARCIA: Right, and all that represents progress.
Q: Do you have to leave the bay area to record?
GARCIA: Not anymore; we do all our recording around here.
Q: What about the new Grateful Dead album, is that a studio album?
GARCIA: No, it’s mostly a live album; we did a certain amount of overdubbing onto live tracks, but basically it’s a live album.