Dark Star Orchestra Interview
Dark Star Orchestra Interview
The Grateful Dead Experience is coming to Ellicottville
Dark Star Orchestra will be bringing the Grateful Dead experience to the first Rail Rider Jamboree and Music Festival in Ellicottville, NY Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Ellicottville is known for its many festivals throughout the year embracing every season. This year they are bringing something new that will hopefully become an annual tradition. A co-headliner for the Jamboree, Dark Star Orchestra is a Grateful Dead cover band with a passion to create the entire experience of being at a Grateful Dead concert.
I caught up with Rob Barraco, vocalist and keyboard player for the band recently and we talked in depth about the Grateful Dead experience the audience goes on when they attend their show.
Celebrating their 25th year as a band, they have played in all except two of the 50 states, as well as Japan, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Jamaica, which they play every year with their own festival “Jam In The Sand”, this year marking its sixth year. “The only states we haven’t played yet is South Dakota and Hawaii,” said Barraco. “I’ll let you guess which one we really want to go to.”
We also talked about the pandemic and the effect it had on the band and how they came through it. Reflecting on the past two and a half years Barraco stated, “It’s always felt really good to watch the people dancing and enjoying themselves and our music … but now, after the past couple years, it means even more.”
For more info on Dark Star Orchestra visit: darkstarorchestra.net. For more info on the Rail Rider Jamboree and to purchase tickets visit: railriderjamboree.com.
A CONVERSATION WITH ROB BARRACO
HULICK: Have you been to this area before?
BARRACO: Yes, I’ve played Buffalo and the surrounding area at least 100 times. That part of New York is just gorgeous.
HULICK: People are so ready to see live concerts again. This has been so tough on fans and I can’t imagine being an artist through this pandemic. Tours were set and then BOOM!
BARRACO: BOOM!!! Nothing!! It was very interesting for me because we play around 100 shows a year, and plus I play with other people and groups. We’ve been hitting it hard for years and years and for two years I was thinking … boy I wish there could be a break somewhere along the way. But I never thought it would come in the form of a pandemic! Like you said, it went from full-on to nothing.
HULICK: How did you guys handle it?
BARRACO: For us, we have amazing management and we had it set up that if anything drastic were to happen, like this, we’d be set to survive, and we did. The band went through the pandemic, even though we weren’t working, and we survived … we did OK. Then came the fall of 2020 and our booking agent got us these outdoor drive-in shows. Then we didn’t play through the winter, but when April of 2021 came we started those shows again. We just returned from our first full blown West coast indoor tour and things are getting back to normal.
HULICK: Do you do a straight set or do you take your cue from the audience?
BARRACO: What we do is one of our band members, Dino English, who’s one of our drummers, is like an architect … he puts together what we’re going to do on the tour. He has a pretty amazing database and he looks back to see what we played in each of the past three or four shows in that area and he will try and pick something different and then work backwards and forwards from that one show. For this particular show in Ellicottville we have I believe, a three-hour set so Dino will either find a Grateful Dead show that clocks in at the three and a half hour range or we’ll do what we call an “elective” where we actually pick our own set list. Those are really interesting because we can cross years and essentially make our own Grateful Dead show.
HULICK: Your show has been described as not just going to see a Grateful Dead cover band … it is described as actually living the whole experience of being at one of those concerts.
BARRACO: One of the things we pride ourselves in, besides knowing every era of the Grateful Dead really well, is we are also into the amazing gear, guitars, keyboards and stuff the Dead actually had ... the Dead were always cutting edge in their sound and instruments. Over the years we’ve managed to collect the instruments they were using and I even have some of the keyboards they actually used. One is from Brent Mydland’s widow, one was from the Grateful Dead themselves when they were selling all their stuff off. We also have friends who are collectors of guitars who have managed to purchase some of Jerry Garcia’s guitars and they are very generous in letting us use them. When you come to see us play, if we’re doing say a 1977 show, we have the stage set up exactly like a ‘77 Grateful Dead show and sometimes with their actual instruments.
HULICK: You guys really do make it a whole experience. You are actually helping the audience to have all those wonderful memories come flooding back and transporting them back in time.
BARRACO: The thing I’ve always loved about their music is the improvisational aspect of it … you could see them five nights in a row (and I have) and see them do a certain song each of the shows and it will never be the same. We know the parameters of the year and the style they played in in that particular tour, so we try to keep that in mind. That’s why I think the audience gets to really come on the trip, because we’re going on that trip and they come along with us.
HULICK: Do your fans have a name for themselves?
BARRACO: No … they’re Deadheads. When the Grateful Dead were around there used to be a bunch of people that would put themselves in what they called “The Phil Zone”, which meant you were right in front of bassist Phil Lesh … a great place to be if you were a bass geek because he would just rattle your bones all night. We have a group of people who call themselves “The Skip (Vangelas) Zone”. They all have t-shirts saying that, and it’s really funny.
HULICK: The past few decades I’ve seen audiences range anywhere from kids to 90+ years of age, and I would imagine you’re getting even more of a mixed audience with no concerts in two and a half years.
BARRACO: We just saw it in Denver. We played a very large venue and I could see right in the front row young teenagers all the way up to the oldsters. It was extraordinary.
HULICK: I read that last year you played your 3,000th show?
BARRACO: Yes! We have now surpassed that to ... I’m thinking 3,200. We’ve almost played 1,000 more shows than the Grateful Dead played.
HULICK: Wow! That’s crazy!
BARRACO: I think they played 2,300 and change. The thing with our band is I’ve now played thousands of shows with these guys and it’s such a privilege to be able to make music with people you know this intimately because we know each other so well and we know how to follow each other down the rabbit hole, so to speak, and that’s where extreme magic happens for us. The goal is to create magic every night, and it doesn’t always happen … but when it does it’s extra special.