By Chris M. Junior

IT’S EASY TO UNDERSTAND why drummer Bill Kreutzmann is excited about his band 7 Walkers. It gives Kreutzmann, best known for his work with the Grateful Dead, a chance to revisit his musical and personal New Orleans roots.

7 Walkers. Photo by Jay Blakesberg

He’s not the only Louisiana-connected musician in 7 Walkers (which formed in 2008). Fronting the band is lead singer/guitarist Malcolm Welbourne, known professionally as Papa Mali. Kreutzmann says he and Mali hit it off right away when they met, and, as one might expect from a concert jam involving a member of the Dead, their initial performance together lasted for hours.

The Hawaii-based Kreutzmann recently checked in to talk about his New Orleans connection, recording the self-titled “7 Walkers” album (available now on Response Records), a possible reunion of Grateful Dead alums on the high seas in 2011 and much more.

Your mother was born in New Orleans, and you’ve been quoted as saying, “If Mom’s from New Orleans, so are you.” Was she the one who introduced you to New Orleans music?
Bill Kreutzmann: Yeah, I guess you could say that’s true.

Both of my parents loved black musicians. My dad loved black female singers, and my mom listened to everything — she turned me on to Fats Domino and other folks from New Orleans. I didn’t really know about pop music until I got to middle school.

New Orleans has produced it share of influential musicians —you mentioned Domino, and, of course, there’s Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint, who are also piano players. In terms of New Orleans drummers, who were some of your favorites, and did any have a direct influence on the way you play?
BK: Every one of them had an influence on the way I play. They’re all brilliant; I just love their style.

My friend Willie Green — who I’ve known for quite some time because his band, The Neville Brothers, opened for The Grateful Dead years ago in Oakland (Calif.) — is a great, great drummer. And then Raymond (Weber) from Dumpstaphunk — I got to meet him about a year ago at the Las Tortugas festival (in California). I got to sit in with Dumpstaphunk there, and that was a treat and a half.

I’m the luckiest drummer in the world right now. I get to play with George Porter Jr., an original Meters guy. When that first record came out, the original Meters record, I wore out 10 copies of that mother — this was before CDs.

Talk about when you first heard Papa Mali’s music, the first time you guys crossed paths personally and the birth of 7 Walkers.
BK: It happened at my home in Hawaii. My girlfriend, Amy, asked me one day, “Have you ever heard of Papa Mali?” I said, “No, who’s that?” She said, “He’s this New Orleans musician.”

Actually, he’s from Shreveport, but the style of music is New Orleans, for sure. So I listened to him, and I thought he was really good. The music connected with me right away: totally soulful, bluesy, swampish, all the really cool stuff that I like. It had jazz in it, too, even with a backbeat.

Maybe a month or two later, Amy and I went to the Oregon Country Fair. Papa was headlining on the main stage, and I got to hear him in a trio. I sat right next to the stage and listened to him real close. I went and introduced myself, and we talked for maybe a half hour or more before he realized who I was. I don’t need to tell anybody who I am; I know who I am (laughs). And then when he figured it out, he was almost embarrassed.

We were inseparable from then on. That very night, we went to my trailer at the fair, and we talked and talked — you couldn’t pull us apart.

The next night was the last night of the festival, and he and I played from midnight until four in the morning. We just couldn’t stop, until the people who were taking care of the fair said, ‘You guys have to stop. We have to pack out tomorrow morning, and nobody can go to sleep while you’re playing.’ It was just one of those natural things, and for me, when stuff works out naturally like that, it really means that’s the way it’s supposed to go. And this band has been like that.

The 7 Walkers album was recorded on analog tape in Austin, Texas. With Papa Mali now living in the Austin area, was it a given the band would record there?
BK: Papa [liked] this studio there, so we took advantage of that. It’s in this guy’s house, and it’s called the Nest.

I got there, and I brought my snare drum [thinking I would use it], but the drum kit [in the studio] sounded so good, I didn’t want to change anything. The engineer had it miked right, and it worked out: The sounds were all there, so all I had to do is play. The easier you can make it to come up with good music, the better the environment is.

This was one of my favorite sessions I’ve ever done because we didn’t labor over things. We didn’t do 15 or 20 takes of any given song and then, the next day, try and pick out the best take. The way we did it was we’d finish a take … and Papa would say, “How do you guys feel about that? Was it OK?” Maybe somebody hit a couple notes they didn’t like, and we’d decide we could do it better. So instead of keeping that take, we would record over it. Every one was a fresh take. You didn’t have this big guessing game afterward. It’s really nice to know you got it in the one take, and you’re not picking from a hundred takes.

And what were the challenges and benefits with regard to using tape instead of recording digitally?
BK: Analog, to me, has a much warmer, more inviting sound. Analog has this really open sound, where digital kind of sounds confined to me.

When you’re the only drummer in the band, like you are with 7 Walkers, how is your mindset and approach different from when you’re playing drums along with Mickey Hart, either in the Dead or the Rhythm Devils?
BK: I’m going to be honest with you, and I don’t want to hurt Mickey’s feelings, but I’m actually able to play freer. I can play more open or quiet right away; I can change the dynamics up really quick. I can turn corners really fast and mix different rhythms in right away.
[On the 7 Walkers album], all the music on it, nobody’s really stepping on one another. There’s space for each part of the music, and it still sounds really full for four pieces. And that’s because of the art of transparency, to listen through the music and have all these different things in their own place and space. And Papa’s a miracle worker like that. He’s a wonderful producer.

Speaking of the Rhythm Devils, they’re booked for Jam Cruise 9, which sets sail from Florida in early January. Bob Weir’s band Scaring the Children also is part of the confirmed lineup. That said, is it automatic that you, Mickey and Bob will play together at some point on the cruise, or will it depend on certain things falling into place?
BK: I’m totally open for that. If Bobby wants to sit in with the Rhythm Devils, it would be great by me. I’ll be honest: I knew he was playing [on the cruise], but I haven’t been thinking that way. But since you brought it up, that’s a really good idea.

• Get the new John Lennon book: “John Lennon: Life is What Happens, Music, Memories & Memorabilia”
• Buy the brand new edition of “Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991, 7th Edition”
• Get a Goldmine collective on The Beatles, “Meet the Fab Four CD”

By Chris M. Junior

If vinyl records have an underappreciated sibling over in the toy industry, it would be board games.

Just like cassettes, 8-tracks and CDs have all challenged (and, in some cases surpassed) records as the preferred physical format for recorded music, sleeker, faster and flashier game options (i.e., electronic) have often overshadowed those cardboard boxes of strategic fun.

But board games should never be forgotten or left for dead, especially when big-time rock ’n’ roll bands — such as the Grateful Dead — are involved.

Just like you’re ‘Playing In The Band’
Fans of Jerry Garcia and company will get a kick out of Grateful Dead-Opoly, the object of which is for players to circle the board acquiring Dead album-themed properties.

The game is the brainchild of music-industry veteran and longtime Grateful Dead associate Debbie Gold. When she came up with the idea for Grateful Dead-Opoly, Gold says the first thing she did was get in touch with Dead singer/guitarist Bob Weir to run the concept past him.

“I thought he would just laugh at me and it would be over,” she recalls. “But on the contrary, he said, ‘I love it,’ and he started coming up with ideas.”

Gold and Weir worked on the game over several meetings at the recording studio in Weir’s California home. She also enlisted the help of Dead roadie Steve Parish, and Dead drummer Mickey Hart stopped by during the development stage to contribute his thoughts.

Appropriately enough, the first time Gold played Grateful Dead-Opoly was with Weir at his house. She says the other living members of the band are pleased with the game.

“What’s cool is that you don’t have to know anything about the Grateful Dead to play the game,” Gold adds. “Kids love it, and so do indie-rock snobs who wouldn’t listen to the Dead if they had a gun to their heads.”

Released in late 2009 via Seattle-based Discovery Bay Games, Grateful Dead-Opoly features great artwork by comic book illustrator Timothy Truman. The game is available at Barnes & Noble stores; visit http://gratefuldeadopoly.com for more information.

The British Are Coming
Call it the British Invasion of board games: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have their own versions of Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly, all of which are licensed by Hasbro and manufactured by USAopoly.

The Beatles: The Beatles Collector’s Edition Trivial Pursuit game contains 400-plus cards with more than 2,500 questions. The six “Fab” categories are Songs, Movies, History, On Their Own, Albums & Singles and The Beatles in America.

The Fab Four’s Collector’s Edition Monopoly game comes with six song-specific tokens (game pieces): “Here Comes the Sun,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “I Am the Walrus,” “Rocky Raccoon” and “Octopus’s Garden.” Fab Four and Beatlemania cards replace Chance and Community Chest cards, while custom Beatles money (renamed “Love”) takes the place of original Monopoly bills.

The Rolling Stones: Released in 2010, Trivial Pursuit: The Rolling Stones Collector’s Edition has six band-themed categories, which are Hot Rocks, Rewind, Rolled Gold, In Concert, Story of the Stones and No Stone Unturned. The game features more than 2,000 questions on 400 cards.

New in stores is Monopoly: The Rolling Stones Collector’s Edition. It has six collectible tokens/game pieces: a tour bus, a road case, a pair of tumbling dice, wild horses, a drum set and the band’s famous tongue-and-lips logo. Lyrics and Licks cards replace Chance and Community Chest, and custom Rolling Stones money takes the place of original Monopoly bills. For more information on these games, visit www.usaopoly.com.

Make room for The King and KISS
Elvis Presley fans can test their knowledge of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll by playing USAopoly’s Elvis Trivia Game: 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. Packaged in a collectible tin, the game features about 1,000 questions pertaining to Presley’s childhood, adult life and careers in music and film.

Blending classic board-game elements with a more modern touch is the Elvis Presley DVD Board Game from GDC-GameDevCo Ltd. in Toronto. The object of this game is to collect artifacts that match those on the Elvis cards and make it back to his Graceland mansion.

And then there’s KISS, a band that knows a thing or two about board games. (Anyone remember the KISS On Tour Game that was originally released in the late 1970s?) KISS also has its own GDC-produced DVD board game, and the objective is to become the leader of the KISS Army.

For more details on the Presley and KISS games from GDC-GameDevCo Ltd., visit http://gamedevco.net/.

• Buy the brand new edition of “Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991, 7th Edition“

• Order the latest Ozzy book,“The Wit & Wisdom of Ozzy Osbourne” (estimated ship date: 9/30/2010) Very witty. Very funny. Very Ozzy.

Grateful Dead (Photo by Herb Greene)

By Chris M. Junior

Throughout November, the Grateful Dead will post a free, high-quality song download on its official site as part of the 30 Days of Dead celebration.

Each day, the first person to correctly guess the correct venue and date of the recording will get an archival Road Trips release of his or her choice. All participants who submit correct answers will be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for one of two Dead-themed boxed sets.

7 Walkers, featuring Bill Kreutzmann, second from right. (Photo by Jay Blakesberg)

By Chris M. Junior

The self-titled debut album by 7 Walkers is coming out this week, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann is already thinking about the second.

Kreutzmann, best known as half of the Grateful Dead drumming tandem, says lyricist Robert Hunter has already provided 7 Walkers with about six new songs.

“We haven’t had time to do them yet,” says Kreutzmann, adding that singer/guitarist Papa Mali still needs to write music for them.

And while the first 7 Walkers album was recorded in Austin, Texas, Kreutzmann is pretty sure the band will be making the second at a new, all-analog studio in New Orleans.

Given the New Orleans feel and flavor of the 7 Walkers’ debut effort, recording the follow-up there would make perfect sense. Stay tuned.