Mickey Hart & George Porter Jr.

Jesse Lauter (0:08)

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of the Relix Audio Hour. I'm your host, Jesse Lauter. The bassist-drummer combo, otherwise known as the rhythm section, is the bedrock of all popular music. Without it, there is no groove. Without groove, there is no joy. And without joy, why even listen to music?

From Paul and Ringo to Sly and Robbie to Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson of the Funk Brothers, there are many great rhythm sections that have been examined over the years. In this episode, I wanted to delve into what the secret ingredients are to a successful marriage of bass and drums by pairing two legends of rhythm but from two completely different bands. Nevertheless, two of our nation's most celebrated bands, George Porter of the Meters and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Mickey and George have a long-standing friendship and history of playing together, and did so at this past year's Lock'n Festival where I conducted this interview. They also have a long history with Relix magazine. To tell you more about that, I'm going to pass the mic to Relix's editor-in-chief, Dean Budnick. Take it away, Dean.

Dean Budnick (1:23)

Thanks, Jesse. Two of our favorite artists were on hand at this year's Lock'n, Mickey Hart, who appeared with Dead in Company, and George Porter Jr, who appeared with Foundation of Funk. And of course, Mickey Hart also appeared with Foundation of Funk during one of the most entertaining sets of the weekend. Both of these musicians have graced the cover of Relix. Mickey most recently with Dead in Company in April 2017, and George with The Meters in September 2011 And don't tell anyone, but I suspect that both of these artists will be back on our cover in 2019

As for the current issue, it features The Relix 44, a special section devoted to the people, places and things that inspire us today. You can find that issue on newsstands, and you can subscribe at relix.com. While you're there, you can also sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, as well as The Relix Daily 7, which compiles the best of jambands.com and relix.com, and delivers it to your inbox.

Jesse Lauter (2:36)

As a side note, you are currently listening to Post Human from Robert Walter's 20th Congress, new album, Spacesuit. You'll be hearing more about the making of this record from Robert himself later in the episode.

Additionally, the Relix Audio Hour is a part of the Osiris family. Osiris connects you with podcasts, videos, and live experiences about the artists and topics you love. Visit osirispod.com for more information. Now to take it back. I met up with Mickey and George on Mickey's bus backstage at Lockett where Mickey kicked off the festivities by blasting one of his all-time favorite, George Porter Grooves.

Mickey Hart (3:33)

Yeah. That's it. That's it, George. That's it. That bass line is the funkiest bass line I ever watched.

I mean, I could listen to that every day of my life. That's such a great record. It's got Destetively Bonnaroo. I remember you say that it fell through the cracks. What do you mean?

George Porter Jr. (3:57)

Well, I think Mack and the record label wasn't getting the loan. I think the record label just kind of dropped the ball on it, you know, on purpose, I guess.

Jesse Lauter (4:07)

That's the age-old story.

George Porter Jr. (4:09)

Yeah.

Mickey Hart (4:10)

Yeah.

George Porter Jr. (4:10)

You know, you can't, you got to kind of, back in those days, you had to kind of dance when the record label said dance.

Jesse Lauter (4:17)

You had a few of those experiences yourself. Yeah.

Mickey Hart (4:20)

Yeah. But that particular record, was that really special when you made it or did you know that? It turned out that way for me.

George Porter Jr. (4:27)

Well, you know.

Mickey Hart (4:27)

How did you feel?

George Porter Jr. (4:28)

When we did the tracks, because actually we did those tracks and then we were shipped back out on the road, and we didn't hear the finished product. We didn't even, the tracks had scratched vocals when we were doing it. So we didn't hear this record until almost six, eight months later when we heard the song. They heard the whole record say, oh wow.

Mickey Hart (4:49)

Now, this was produced by Alan Sussan. Was this before you were working as The Meters?

George Porter Jr. (4:55)

No, no.

Mickey Hart (4:55)

We were The Meters. But you were back in the doctors.

George Porter Jr. (5:00)

We were Alan's rhythm section back then at that time. So we were doing all of Alan's sessions back then.