Interview with Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzmann - Part 4

Bill Kreutzmann holding down the bottom end

Photo: Dave Clark (daveclarklive.net)

In the first and second installments of our exclusive interview with the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann, we covered a number of recent activities the drummer has been involved with (you’ll have to read the installments to find out). In the third installment, we went back in time and got into some milestones in the Grateful Dead’s history.

For the fourth and final installment, we finish up our history lesson with some insight into Neal Cassady, jam bands, life in Hawaii and the drummer's involvement with various causes and movements to protect the world's oceans.

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During the course of your life, you’ve interacted with some pretty heavy literary and folk figures. I read that you once met Aldous Huxley when you were a kid.

I did. He came to my school. I went to prep school for one year in Arizona. It was called Orme.

Later on, of course, you got to know Ken Kesey, Allan Ginsberg, Neal Cassady.

I got to know Cassady really well. He befriended me, it was amazing. A lot of people were afraid of him, but something about the guy was like totally intriguing to me (laughs). He had so many facets and he could keep everything going. He defined the multi-tasker. He could do so many things — drive the bus, smoke a cigarette, talk to three different people and keep the conversation going.

I heard something about an Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test movie in development. I wonder who’s playing Cassady.

There’s one actor I always think about. He’s a good actor, but my mind is blank. Johnny Depp, I don’t think he looks the part, but if he read up on it, he’d pry give it a good shot. He plays characters really well.

Steve Parish is supposedly making a movie based on his book. Have you heard anything that?

(Laughs) No. I couldn’t think of a worse idea, but that’s OK. You read his book, Shawn…

I did. And I interviewed Steve a couple of years ago.

He’s a wonderful guy, but a lot of stuff in that book wasn’t true. The stuff about me wasn’t true (laughs). Rock Scully’s book has the same problem. There’s a lot of stories in there.

So much has been written about the Grateful Dead. I certainly don’t have to tell you about the band’s influence. You almost single-handedly launched what is now a thriving jam band scene.

I love that. That’s why I’m excited today to play with all these young musicians. Most of them are younger than me. Some are the same age. I’ve played with a couple of oldies but goodies like myself. The younger cats are just the most fun. They have all the energy. I love that.

You get to work out of Hawaii these days. I read that you and Garcia talked about moving there once the Dead packed it in.

That was our dream. But unfortunately I was the only one who got to keep the dream.

I know you and him did some diving over there.

We both got certified in 1985 at a place called Jack’s Dive Locker. My girlfriend just went over there last month and I dove with her.

When you’re diving — and you obviously have this great love of the ocean — as a drummer do you find inspiration in the rhythm of the sea?

I find inspiration and rhythm in everything. Really I do. And I find inspiration in the really quiet moments. I have a place here, it’s five acres. In the morning, sometimes it’s so quiet, you can’t believe it. You just hear the yellow birds sing.

Is that when you work on your art? I saw some of it on your web site.

That’s digital art. I haven’t done that for awhile. I’m actually painting — I like painting. I’m painting with acrylics right now. I turn it up loud, go into my studio and just go for it.

I also understand you’re an avid gardener.

I am. I have a bunch fruit right now. I got grapefruits like crazy and avocados and coconuts. It was a really big mango season, which has been over for awhile. The winter time here is when the fruit comes out.

Before we go, could you tell me about some of the environmental causes and charities you’re involved with?

You hit it on the head when you said I’m a lover of the ocean. That’s putting it mildly. I work with a couple of groups in particularly. One’s called the Sea Shepherd group. Paul Watson is the captain and head of that group and they fight the Japanese whaling boats in the Antarctica. It’s real serious stuff. You can get hurt doing what they do. They have guys from all over the world who are real into it, they get physical and all that stuff. They can handle it on the high seas. And they stop the Japanese from killing whales down in the Antarctica.

It’s illegal to kill them anyways. There’s a whaling moratorium, but the Japanese don’t pay attention to it nor do the Norwegians. So Paul goes down there and chases these boats. They can’t pursue whales when they’re being chased by at high speed by these boats. Their boats go 50 miles an hour. They’re big factory ships and that’s really fast for a boat on the ocean, believe me. They can outrun Paul a little bit, but they can’t hunt when they’re doing it. So they save a bunch of whales each year.

This year, because of people like myself and other folks, they’ve gotten enough money that they’ve got another boat now. They couldn’t ever keep up with the amount of fishing boats that would go down and attack whales. Now they’re going to have a better chance with a second boat.

The other one is headed up by Ric O’Barry to save the Japanese dolphins (SaveJapanDolphins.org). I help those guys too and they had pretty good success this year. They had a wonderful movie called The Cove. It was at about 17 or 18 independent film festivals. One of them was the Sundance — it won Best Documentary there.

And I’m in some surfing groups too.

Are you a long boarder?

Yeah, I have a seven-footer I use. I don’t really like using really long boards because they don’t turn fast enough. I use a combination of a long board with three fins so I can stay in the wave real deep (laughs).