When I interviewed The Steepwater Band's Jeff Massey soon after they came of the road with Gov't Mule, one the things I was most interested in was the process and logistics of the intra-band jamming that seems to occur whenever Warren Haynes is in the building. His answer was enlightening and thoughtful.
Recently, Warren spoke a little about the other side of the sit-in in an interview view with Hidden Track blog and wanted to include here as a interesting complement to Jeff's thoughts.
The last thing I want to do with someone sitting in is lower the excitement level and intensity level that was happening prior to the sit-in. We’ve all seen sit-ins where someone walks on stage and for that five, 10, 15 minutes or whatever, the band gets sidetracked and the energy level is diminished. No one wants that. What we try to come up with is how to take the show to another level based on whatever guests are there, and that goes into what song it’s going to be, picking the right song for the right person, and in some cases, maybe it’s a person we never played before or never even met before, and we think about their personality and what kinds of songs would allow them to shine and allow whole band plus this person to come together and rise to the occasion.
We’re not always right, but we do give it a try, and that’s a challenge I enjoy. I find myself getting better at it, too, and it’s always something I’ve sort of had a knack for, so I’m continuing to do it. As a fan, if I go to a show, I want to see something unique that’s never happened exactly that way before and won’t ever happen again. I don’t want to go to something that’s going to become Monday Night Jam Night, you know?
Read the entire Warren interview at Hidden Track. Tons of great info about his new soul album, taking Mule off the road and more.
Of course, The Barn's Jeff Massey interview is right here.
