The visual picture this sentence paints is what cracked me up. I am sure the author spent a little time crafting it. Except for the patchouli, it pretty much nails how our band stared.
True that, I started searching for like minded musicians around 1987 after 4 years of sitting around and playing by myself for the most part (1st show Wooster '83). When things started to take off, I had to learn it all over because I had to start singing while playing!! Like adding a ball when juggling. Yes, in the beginning it was loud ( really loud ), self-absorbed and lacked very much musicianship. We all just wanted to make what we we're hearing at the shows. It was like one long jam session and had A LOT of energy. You know, 20min Darkstar, 25min Bird Song etc. By '95 and three rhythm guitar players later, We had all grown up, sound was good and more dynamic, no more train wrecks, everybody listening to each other. Our bass player knows my style better than I do!! Our brand of Dead is definitely a rockin' style which plays better in the small bar we frequent. We're an 80's dead tribute band. We play the whole song thru with all the signature licks, outros and intros just as the Dead would have at a show. But the jam and occasional space is all ours. People dig it because we sound so polished and look so casual doing it. Some songs are like Anthems that pretty much must be played as the prototypical model. Like Terrapin or Help-Slip. We save the more esoteric stuff for 2nd and/or 3rd set. We get some of the best feedback from the bar crew because their Dead Heads and have heard everything we've played there so when they get excited, we know we're approaching a personal best performance wise. It's all great fun.