Ratdog
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Getting Down to the Bone with Ratdog's Rob Wasserman and Jeff Chimenti
January 23, 2002 Phone Interview by Kelly Ladd
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| HardRock.com: I know that in 1988 you, Rob, invited the Grateful Dead to the Mill Valley Film Festival that you were hosting. And that is in fact how you met Bob Weir. But how familiar were you with the Dead before this? Did you ever go to their shows or even follow them on tour? |
| Rob: Not really that familiar. I mean when I was a teenager I listened to them and that was about it. I just knew that they lived around the same area that I lived in. I just finished a duets album, or an album I did called Duets. That is really pure duets with different artists and I thought it would be fun to try something with Bob Weir or Jerry or whoever. Since they were neighbors essentially. I didn't really know them. I met Bobby a year before briefly we were both going into the Sweetwater to hear Willy Dixon. And he was downstairs saying "hi" to him and I was downstairs and Willy was a big influence for both of us. We never jammed together until Bobby came to the Mill Valley Film Festival that I was hosting. |
| HardRock.com: And Jeff, Prior to joining Ratdog, how familiar were you with the Grateful Dead? |
Jeff: Obviously I knew the name. (laughs)
Rob: (laughs)
Jeff: But I didn't know the music too much. I mean I was in a whole other world doing lots of like progressive jazz and more of avant-garde side. I mean all kinds of different things. And that [Grateful Dead] had definitely not been one of the paths, I've gone down yet. |
| HardRock.com: Do you ever feel Ratdog is overshadowed by the Grateful Dead's past, or do you feel that it has helped you? |
Jeff: Whoa, what a question. Do you want to handle that, Rob?
Rob: I think originally when we were, right after they broke up when Jerry died, there were some ridiculous expectations for Ratdog. I was hearing stuff like 'They are going to be the next Grateful Dead.' The Dead weren't going to play anymore. The thing is, we didn't even know any Dead tunes at that point. We weren't doing any except "Throwing Stones," which he (Bob) and I had done as a duo. And he didn't want to do any. It took a couple of years after that around the time Jeff joined we started getting more into the Dead tunes. I don't think anyone thinks that way anymore about Ratdog. I think we've developed our own identity. |
| HardRock.com: How do you feel about playing the Dead's songs? How do you make the songs your own? |
| Jeff: Well obviously, I mean, we're not going to copy anything really verbatim, I mean we're going to try to get at least some of the stockheads down and pay them some homage and everything, I mean we've all got our own different styles and we've put our own input into it and play in the band together, you know. It's just like playing a standard in a sense, you know. It's really good music for me. Like I said, I haven't had much history with it. So a lot of the stuff is new for me. It's exciting and fun and obviously the fans dig it. And the whole thing is a reciprocal there, you know. And we do have our own stuff too, which definitely separates us from the other different camps that are happening. |
| HardRock.com: While you are jamming onstage, do you have an idea of where you are going to take the songs before you come out or do you just let the music carry itself? |
| Jeff: We have rough guidelines, basically we have a set list. As of late, we've been kind of veering a lot. But I think our whole point really is what happens in between the tunes. And sometimes we have a guide that may go there or it may not. You just got to be open for what's going to happen. You just got to let the music flow, I think. |
| HardRock.com: Is that the same with your solos? Like how do you know who is going to take a solo now? Do you have that planned as well or do you guys just go for it? |
Jeff: It's more of a go for it situation. There are obviously features like Rob we want to definitely feature. We know it may be coming, we just don't know when.
Rob: Right.
Jeff: Things break off and certain things. Especially now with DJ Logic, it's a whole other chapter to the book.
Rob: Right. |
| HardRock.com: Since your songs take a while to run their course, is playing on stage a meditation for you? Where does the music take you?
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| Rob: A meditation, did you say?
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| HardRock.com: Yeah, since a song will be like 10 minutes, 20 minutes, it could be 2 minutes. Are you onstage in another world? Or are you focusing on the fans? Or how is it when you are playing onstage? |
| Rob: I think that's an individual thing. One guy might be thinking about the girl in the front row. (laughs) The other guys are in the music. Some people are multi-faceted, or whatever you call it, multi-something. (laughs) Another guy might be worried about whether he can pay the rent. I'm usually absorbed in the music. But sometimes things happen that trigger different reactions. It's all just big variables. One guy is doing a solo and you're hopefully listening enough to be into it and support it. Sometimes you might get an idea from one guy's solo and then help turn the music into something else. There is a lot of improv that goes on in our stuff. |
| HardRock.com: Rob, you've been with Ratdog since it's beginning. Has it formed into the vision that you and Bob had imagined? |
| Rob: I don't know if we've had an exact vision. I just remember one day we both thought it would be fun to start a band. We kept joking by calling our duo a band, which we've had for six or seven years at that. And then I met Jay doing some recording for a Levi's ad that someone recommended Jay for. I was really impressed by him. His personality and his drumming. And then one day, Bobby was looking for a drummer for some other project he was doing and I recommended Jay and after he met Jay. I don't know. We thought, okay, let's start with a drummer. And then it just went from there. I don't think we exactly ever knew where it was going to go. But right now, it is definitely in a place where I am happy with. I think we've had a lot of different evolutions, but we've settled into some players that can really play together. |
| HardRock.com: Yeah, a whole united force. |
| Rob: Definitely. That's the main thing. You can have great players, who don't listen to each other. It doesn't work that way. |
| HardRock.com: How have you grown musically from being in Ratdog? What have Bob's 30+ years of experience taught you? |
| Rob: Who me? (laughs) |
| HardRock.com: Either one of you. |
Rob: Do you want to go with that one? (laughs)
Jeff: It's been a whole other world for me. Just trying to relate to an audience more. On a whole. Trying to create a whole vibe. It's more than a jazz background. It seems like if you are playing with the musician, and maybe you don't pay attention as much to audience reaction. I don't know. For me it's just to get a whole vibe and try to create a groove and a whole connection. You know, singing minimal background parts, stuff I never thought I would be doing, ever. I don't know, it's hard to say. Things have really changed for me. The whole outlook on different types of music. I'm very open to everything. I'm trying to be a sponge as much as possible. |
| HardRock.com: I read an interview with your guitarist Mark Karan and he said you get some of your material by taping your soundchecks and going back later and listening to them as a group. Other than that, where do you get most of your creative insights? And how do you write the music? |
Rob: How do we write the music? Well, we've done a lot by listening to our jams from our tours. People will tape the soundchecks and tape ideas into the studio. And that is where most of our songs start. And even on the gigs. We concentrate on more of what is happening between the set of the songs. And things may come out of that, that may trigger ideas and we'll expand upon it.
Jeff: Well, that is usually when we let go the most. It's like "okay, let's think of something new." |
| HardRock.com: Cool. When I think of the Grateful Dead's spirit, not only their lyrics and music, but the entire lifestyle that celebrated it, I think of how they brought awareness of different spiritual, social and political issues. Ratdog has followed the Dead's lead in so many ways. Do you feel that your band's spirit radiates this as well? |
Rob: I hope so.
Jeff: Hopefully. I think we are all somewhat free spirits. We're musicians. Any musician is definitely, unless they work in the Holiday Inn lounge, they are, we are trying to create something new. Socially conscious wise we're always volunteering and as much benefits stuff as we can. I think we are all on the same spiritual pace and we try to reach a common ground there rather than individual efforts we're concentrating on a group as a whole.
Rob: We've all sacrificed some of our solo virtuostic spotlight time to create a better band. |
| HardRock.com: Are there any particular issues that Ratdog or you personally feel strong about like the rainforest or any cause like that? |
| Rob: The betterment of humanity. |
| HardRock.com: But no particular cause? |
| Rob: I don't know, as a band we don't have a collective issue. Everyone has their own things that they believe in, but we do different things like next month we are doing a, or the month after, we are doing a benefit for a school that Jay's kids go to that's like a little alternative school. They need money badly. That is nothing we are directly involved with, but we are all giving our money to by playing and giving a night of our income to. And I've done a lot of duet benefits for the environment with Bobby. I guess that is my biggest issue. |
| HardRock.com: Yeah, me too. |
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