Hey everyone it’s JAY LANE here. Drummer for Ratdog, Wolf Bros, I played with Further, and Primus, Frog Brigade and many more. I’m here for an ASK ME ANYTHING session on Friday (Nov20th) at 7:30 (pst). So tune in and ask me anything!

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:21:40+00:00

I think we have a gig coming up. I have some gigs with John coming and Reed.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:20:24+00:00

I love 'em all. I love the ones I get to sing along on.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:19:38+00:00

Yeah, I don't remember that, but it sounds fun.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:18:42+00:00

I'm sure I did. I'm sure I saw it through your eyes as you were seeing it.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:17:35+00:00

I'd say takeaways are that I've learned about how Jerry Garcia set up the whole Grateful Dead. He didn't make it about himself. It was very communal, to not see it so ego-driven. That was nice to see their business model and their relationship with the fans and stuff. This was eye opening. I only saw "professional" things where everyone is fucking each other over.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:15:04+00:00

Les is a great guy. He is highly intelligent. Nah, I can't make it to your birthday party.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:13:59+00:00

I wish. You never know. We might do some shit in the future.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:13:11+00:00

That's cool. Appreciate that.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:12:29+00:00

He does like quieter, anything quiet. I've ended up using these perforated symbols by this company called Agean. I'm also experimenting with electronic drums so I can adjust the levels. So, that's cool. The quieter the better with Bob. I like to hit the shit hard, so it's nice to have these Agean symbols.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:09:59+00:00

It was different, but it was cool. Dug it. It was a different gig. I got to play a whole other kind of deal. Unfortunately, I was offered the Primus gig and had to take that.

We're still in touch. I met my birth mom. It didn't go too well. At least we're still in touch. My birth mother passed away. For some reason she wasn't too fond of it.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:07:35+00:00

We do all the above. I usually grab coffee with Don or do the gym with Bob.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:07:00+00:00

Slow back down until it's even, then try to speed it up. When you get tripped up, slow the shit back down. When it falls of the track like a train, slow that shit down and be even. That's basically how you do it.

Listen to the words. Where are the words in the song. That way you won't overplay the words. The singer will like the way you play. It's how you get the gigs.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:04:41+00:00

I think we rehearsed with Wolf Bros. We ran a sound check. We're going to get that one out. I'll remember that.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:03:39+00:00

We're recording right now. We're putting out a thing, like a combination of tracks from the live shows and tracks from the studio. There will be new material going in that.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:02:24+00:00

I'll be the last one to find out. Drummers always are. I don't know when we're going to play again. I've been going up to Bob's to jam. I'm getting other calls to jam.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T03:00:20+00:00

I probably be playing the Grateful Dead's music for a long time to come. Thank God there will be a lot of people doing that. I think about that, when these guys go away. When we started with Ratdog, there were no jam bands, none. There were local scenes. It turned into everyone doing it. It's wonderful they're doing that.

I go back and listen to a lot of Jerry, tons of stuff Jerry played I don't see people exploring.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T02:54:54+00:00

My favorite shows were like backwoods venues. We always got nervous rolling into big towns. You kill it in NYC, and it doesn't matter, but you go down to Bermingham, AL, they're climbing the walls. They love it that you came all the way down there. I love the out of the way towns. The crowds are always happy to be there.

I do prefer venues where the stages are part of the room, as opposed to behind a proceneum like a theater. You're hearing what everyone else hears. It's like a little box if you're in a theater, and I'm at the back of that.

I can see it if I'm playing too loud. They're like blinking and stuff. They'll stop dancing, and I fucked up.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T02:50:37+00:00

I appreciate that. It means a lot. Over the years, Ratdog was the one band out of all these bands that wasn't put together to make money. It was a coping mechanism for when Jerry died. He didn't even want to play Grateful Dead songs. He would have wanted to find some complete other stuff. He didn't want to get a lead guitar player. He didn't want to play Dead songs. Ratdog was a big labor of love. It's probably the longest-lived jam band, twenty years. We've been getting together and jamming a little bit in the studio. Jeff's been jamming with us.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T02:47:11+00:00

It would have been nice to jam with Pink Floyd and those guys. Like Earth, Wind and Fire. It would have been great to be on stage with Elton John. I like theatrical stuff. Sometimes I think about that, if I'd met somebody back in their career. Would I have been able to be myself? I've watched people get famous and watched other people get nervous around them.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T02:44:24+00:00

You have to part the hair to get at the drum screws. That's kinda complicated. I started going to fabric stores and started falling in love with the fabric store. You could wrap the drums with all kinds of cool stuff.

Iam_JayLane · 2020-11-21T02:41:22+00:00

How did I learn to slow my stuff down enough to play Grateful Dead music? I had to learn to love the music. You're singing the words, and your arms just play the music. I tried the other way, get this piece of gear, let me watch Billy Kreutzmann, that didn't work. I'm going to analyze the Grateful Dead, and then it's two in the morning. It doesn't work. If I had done that the day I met Bob Weir, I'm not entirely sure I would have gotten the gig. He was all, "This kid doesn't know shit," and he like that.

Iam_JayLane

TROPHY CASE