In each installment of Easy Answers (get the reference?) we will question a different musician or band, ranging from the obvious to the not so obvious, about the importance of Grateful Dead on their own life and musical path. We could easily keep this column within the jam band community – and we will most certainly turn our focus to some of those acts – but the goal of Easy Answers is to get insight from musicians who most wouldn’t expect to be influenced by or fans of the Dead.
There is almost nothing about the music of Michigan’s Fred Thomas that alludes to being a fan of the Grateful Dead. For the better part of two decades Thomas has taken a DIY approach to making music, whether playing as a member of indie bands like Saturday Looks Good To Me, Failed Flowers, and City Center, or on his own. Released in April, Thomas’ solo album All Are Saved is one of the more original pieces of music to come out so far this year. The album is awash in intricate instrumental textures and a vocal delivery that brings to mind a more personalized, confessional Craig Finn. Stereogum recently ranked All Are Saved #22 in their best albums of 2015 so far, saying, “This is a celebratory album, riddled with rhetorical questions and commandments, gentle reminders that things aren’t always as serious as they may seem.” It’s difficult to say if anything about Fred Thomas’ music brings to mind the Grateful Dead, but this talented musician is most definitely a fan and was happy to talk with us about how, reluctantly at first, the Dead have impacted him.
How did you first get into the Grateful Dead?
It’s a time-honored tale of hatred turning to true love; growing up in the 90s as a total punk and really hating the Dead and all my hippie friends who loved them. In 2003 I was playing in an indie band and a keyboard player from San Francisco, Scott Sellwood, was auditioning to join. He mentioned he’d spent years following Phish and the Grateful Dead and I considered it a red flag, but liked his energy overall and welcomed him into our group. Over the next several years in travel and conversation with Scott, I asked him more about his love of the Dead and jam bands. On one long drive from Portland to Los Angeles, we listened to a non-stop string of concert recordings from ’72-’73, and I had the epiphany that happens when you get converted fully to something. I found a strange, feral kind of peace in those sounds that I’d never experienced before. I was changed on that drive.
Are there any personal memories of the band or a concert experience you’d like to share?
I never got to see the band, though friends of mine did in high school.
What is your personal favorite Grateful Dead song and why?
I love “Eyes of the World” – it always felt like the most positive jam.
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What is your favorite era of the Grateful Dead and why?
The era that really served as the “gateway” for me was ’72. Getting lost in the jams on Europe ’72 bridged the gap for me from hearing the Americana records (American Beauty/Workingman’s Dead) that my parents had when I was growing up and the sometimes intimidating abundance of live material. I know it’s controversial, but I really loved Keith & Donna in the band, and their eras are among my favorites as well.
What Grateful Dead offshoot (The Other Ones, Furthur, The Dead, Phil and Friends, Ratdog, etc) did you feel did the strongest job of playing the material?
It’s hard for me to gauge because I haven’t paid close enough attention to all of the projects. I did see some amazing footage of Furthur playing in NYC in 2012 that seemed pretty to the letter of some of the strongest GD performances.
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Pipgen, Tom, Keith, Brent, Bruce or Vince on keys and why?
Pigpen is always going to encapsulate the true roots of the band, and things changed completely afterwards, but like I said before, I have a softspot for Keith.
What do you feel is the greatest misconception a lot of people outside the Dead’s circle have of the band?
Well, there’s that joke that goes, “What did the Grateful Dead fan say when he ran out of drugs??— THIS MUSIC SUCKS!” That sums up a popular misconception that the band and the culture surrounding them was/is a vehicle for lazy partying and aimless wandering drug enthusiasts. I feel like it wasn’t until I really got my head around the density and complex reflections of humanity in the Dead’s music that I really began to appreciate them outside of my prejudiced ideas about what they were all about.
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Do you remember where you were when you heard of Jerry’s passing?
I was 18, working at the grocery store. It was just about a year after Kurt Cobain died, and I remember writing some appropriately snarky and aloof teenage journal entry about how there wasn’t much difference between these two figureheads and their passings.
What are your favorite Robert Hunter lyrics?
Lyrically, I do feel like the folkier albums are the high water mark. I got into the more psychedelic and soul-searching stuff that came before and after, but something like “Attics of My Life” is so universally relatable and so simplistically beautiful it’s hard to top.
Name three songs you hope they play in Chicago….
I never tire of “Playin’ In The Band”, and I’d be curious to see where that would go at a big show like this. Could be really transcendent! Other than that, I’m hoping for “He’s Gone” and I doubt it would happen but a “Bird Song” would be amazing!
For more on Fred Thomas including tour dates check out fredthomasmusic.com!
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