Advertisement |
The way I want to have the basis of our relationship is for us not to get bogged down by bad business decisions that we made in the past
Feature: Grateful Dead lives Nov 14, 2002
His musical accomplishments are matched only by his endeavors to effect positive change on the human condition worldwide
Rock News Two: The week in pop Oct 12, 2002
You could borrow from the devil, you could borrow from your friend, the devil gives you 20, but your friend has only 10..
Rock News: Music's high and low notes Jul 17, 2002
I think what this band is doing right now is a road away from all that grief that Deadheads are still experiencing
Rock 'n' Roll -- UPI Arts & Entertainment Jun 26, 2002
When we first started rehearsing, in the first 30 minutes everybody knew that it was something special
Rock 'n' Roll -- UPI Arts & Entertainment Jun 26, 2002
Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.
After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Phil & Friends helped keep a legitimate entity for the band's music to continue but have been on hiatus since 2008. Recently, Lesh has been performing with Furthur alongside former Dead bandmate Bob Weir.
Although Lesh started out as a violin player, in high school he switched to trumpet. Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). While still a college student he met then-bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite antipodal musical interests, they formed a friendship and eventually Lesh was talked into becoming the bass guitarist for Garcia's new rock group, then known as the Warlocks. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. Lesh noticed that another group had made a record under the name Warlocks when he found their single on Columbia Records at a record store . It turns out that the band "The Warlocks" on that single also ended up changing their name to The Velvet Underground. He suggested to the other band members that they change their name.