"This band wants to run. I'm holding on for dear life," says Mickey Hart about his latest ensemble, the Mickey Hart Band. The former Grateful Dead percussionist is putting his all-star Planet Drum troupe on the backburner this summer and touring the U.S. with a more rock & roll-oriented band. "That was always the problem with Planet Drum," he says. "Everybody was on a different continent and it was really hard to bring it together." For Dead fans the new unit means fresh takes on standbys like "Friend of the Devil," "Iko, Iko," "Fire on the Mountain" and "Scarlet Begonias." It also means a reunion for Hart, as former Dead keyboardist/vocalist (and former Tube) Vince Welnick is on-board.

"Oh yeah, from the very beginning it was like riding a bicycle," Hart says of clicking with Welnick after a five-year layoff. "From the first song, everybody started smiling and you knew that the magic was in the room. It just had sort of a spiritual power and quality to it. You didn't have to say anything."

For Hart, the reunion with Welnick and the Dead's material followed a complicated path. Since the death of Jerry Garcia in August of 1995, Hart primarily avoided the band's legacy, throwing himself fully into Planet Drum, which existed before the Dead disbanded. But with a new year came reflection and an interest in tapping into some of the old magic. "I couldn't handle it emotionally," Hart says of his initial hesitance in dipping into the Dead's catalog. "That's why I haven't been doing any of that material, because it was too close to home. But it's been five years now and these songs are very powerful, and they're filled with potent memories, so I just had to feel it out. I had played [the Dead's songs] for thirty-some-odd years and that was enough. I couldn't really add to it, but now I think I can. I'll be approaching it in a different way. And I'll be loving every minute of it."

The new creature that is the Mickey Hart Band won't just be rehashing Dead material. With a portion of Planet Drum still in tact, some of the Afro-Cuban rhythms that partially defined that unit are certain to surface, giving the band a broader palate with which to work. "This band's a fun band. It's a rockin' band. It's plenty funky and it's got some deep grooves with a lot of jamming going on. It's certainly experimental in nature. We'll be all over the map musically. This band is far-reaching and far-ranging. There's real magic when it gets going."

Hart will take his new band out on the road through July and return in the fall for additional performances.

Tour dates for the Mickey Hart Band are as follows:

5/9: Washington, D.C., 9:30 Club
5/11: New York, N.Y., Irving Plaza
5/12: Hampton Beach, N.H., Hampton Beach Casino
5/13: Northhampton, Mass., Calvin Theater
5/14: Philadelphia, Pa., Electric Factory
5/16: Englewood, N.J., John Hams Center5/18: Ann Arbor, Mich., Michigan Theater
5/19: Bloomington, Ind., Mars
5/20: Chicago, Ill., House of Blues
5/21: Minneapolis, Minn., Cabooze on West Bank
5/23: Milwaukee, Wis., The Rave at Eagles Auditorium
5/25: Indianapolis, Ind., Vogue Theater
5/28: Cincinnati, Ohio, Electra
6/16: Marysville, Calif., Riverfront Park Amphitheater
6/18: Jacksonville, Oreg., Britt Festival Fairgrounds
6/29: San Diego, Calif., Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay
7/1: Anaheim, Calif., Sun Theater
7/8: Denver, Colo., Lo Do Festival
7/29: Seattle, Wash., Marymoore Park (WOMAD Festival)

ANDREW DANSBY
(April 6, 2000)