Interviewer:  Jim Blackwood
Transcriber:  Annie Robinson

Jim: We’re back stage with Mark Karan, guitarist for the Other One’s and here he is. Mark,  how are you?

Mark: I’m doing great, having a blast.

Jim: How did you get involved?

Mark: A long way around actually. I grew up my whole life in the Bay Area and being around the Grateful Dead scene in Marin County and all that. I moved to L.A. about seven years ago and I do a lot of Blues and things around town and Los Angeles and I had occasion to play with John Molo a lot. And John was doing this and when he heard they were going to make a change from Stan Franks, he just gave them my name and number and said that he thought they should check me out. And I wound up getting checked out.

Jim: And so the process of getting auditioned, how did that go?

Mark: Actually, it was great. I don't generally respond well to the audition process. I feel like the pressure isn't really conducive to art. It's not conducive to being relaxed and doing what you can really do, being present. When I met the guys, ya know coming up to the Dead studio, it was pretty much everything I would have hoped it would be. They were very casual, very relaxed. There was no rock star trip, there was no sort of Machiavellian management music business scuffle, shuffle. You know it was just like; come on in - hi - here's the guys - pick up a guitar - let's play for two and a half hours. And it wasn't this 20 minutes with five other guys in the hallway type thing. We took our time and had a good time.

Jim: And you had a good sense of the music already I guess.

Mark: Yeah, I pretty much grew up on it. I'm in my early 40's and so I was hanging around in the Haight Ashbury kind of a pre-teen when the Dead were first playing out. I used to see them for free in the park and I used to go to the Sunday afternoon shows at the Fillmore and stuff like that. They've been a part of my life for over 30 years.

Jim: When was the last time you had seen them?

Mark: Oh god, the last time...I had pretty much lost track of the Dead for quite a while. I think I could qualify as a Deadhead up through the mid 70's. Actually my interests branched out, listening to some other types of music. I got really into blues and old r&b stuff and a variety of other things. I think probably the last time I saw them in concert was the early 70's.

Jim: Now that you're in...how have things been on the tour, for you?

Mark: It's pretty awesome. It's kind of like a 'what's not to like' situation, you know. The guys are wonderful, us new kids are not being made to feel like new kids at all. There's obviously a certain amount of ... these guys have been together for 30 years and you can feel that in the communication and what not. But we're being embraced by the guys in the band and the band is being embraced by the crowds. So it's great! I spend a lot of time hanging out in the parking lot and talking with the kids and talking with the vendors. It's wonderful.

Jim: So you're filling very large shoes. And so I guess a question I have is, is the reason why there's two of you, is that it, because the shoes are so large to fill?

Mark: I don't think so. In fact I actually go out of my way to not think in terms of not filling any shoes. Because you know, Garcia's much more than a guitar player. I mean, just in a musical sense he was a  brilliant guitar player and song writer and that wonderful, fragile vocal of his. Plus there's his whole personality and then the almost icon-like status that he achieved amongst the Deadheads. I don't think anybody could ever fill those shoes. 

As to the why of the of the two of us...Steve's and my styles are pretty different. Like I said before, I have a lot of interest in blues and my background is pretty much more blues and rock oriented with a little bit of country type thing and Beatles and stuff like that. I think Steve has all that in his playing but I think he's leaned more to jazz and more educated playing. So I think he leans more toward the outside, experimental aspects of Jerry's personality, if you will, and I lean more towards maybe the approaches of Garcia's musicallity more in the 60's and 70's. So the reason there's two of us is because we're complimenting different aspects of the music. And there's a pretty major difference between the two of us. It's not like it takes two guys that are essentially doing the same thing to fill the slot.

Jim: Had you known each other prior to this?

Mark: Yeah, but we hadn't seen each other in a long time. I used to see Steve like 20 years ago. He used to be with a band called the Goodman Brothers that used to play in Marin and particular in this little place called the "Sleeping Lady Cafe" where there was a whole lot of twirling going on. And I used to play with bands there also. So we knew each other then and then we hadn't seen each other for a long time. Then we knew each other again about 10 years ago, I think when Steve was first playing with Cippolina. I was in another band that was doing some stuff with Cippolina and ah....

Jim: Which band was that?

Mark: A band called the John Foray group. Basically just a Marin group that nobody really ever heard of. But Steve and I knew each other back then and then we hadn't seen each other again in about 10 years. I found out he was going to do this gig. Kind of didn't know what to expect, you know. But when he walked into the room and I saw his face and looked into those eyes, I go "I know you, this is gonna be fun!"

Jim: You guys still rehearsing alot?

Mark: Yeah, in fact tonight I think is the first night since we've been on tour that we haven't rehearsed back stage. I think it's because of the layout, it's just more convenient to not do it tonight. But basically we're rehearsing every night between sound check and the show. We came out with over 50 songs. Generally we're learning one or two a night backstage to throw into the set for that night.

Jim: How do you think the crowd is reacting to both you and Steve when it's your time to step out in a song?

Mark: It seems pretty equal. Steve and I aren't looking at it as any kind of competitive spirit thing. We're friends and we honor the fact that we speak to different parts of the music and I think the crowd is picking up on that. Rather than place it in some sort of almost 'combatant' atmosphere which it could go into - you know, the dueling lead guitarist
 thing - it's not that vibe. I think we're being equally embraced for different reasons.

Jim: Are you both taking separate opportunities to kind of step out and lead or together?

Mark: Absolutely, like I say, it's not a hard and fast rule. But Steve's strong suit is kind of the more 'outside' stuff,  I'm more of a 'songs' guy. So it might be more likely that Steve would play on Estimated Prophet, things like that where it's a little bit more of a spacey jam. I might lean more towards the Sugaree's or the Tennessee Jed's. But then we both do all of it.

Jim: Where do you think it's going to go after this tour? I imagine you probably have some idea of what you're doing?

Mark: I couldn't possibly have less of an idea. This whole tour, in fact this whole chapter of my life, not even inclusive of this tour, but everything that's going on in my world has been very up in the air for the last three months. What's going to happen at the end of this tour fits in quite nicely with that. We have no idea. The Furthur Tour is booked, that's all that's solid. I would love to see like a fall tour and to see this become an ongoing thing. I'm lovin' it. But I have no idea what to expect.

Jim: All of you, probably minus Bruce, all reside in the Bay Area, correct?

Mark: Well actually I'm living in L.A. right now. But having spent 90% of my life in the Bay Area, rehearsing there for the three weeks prior to the tour, has got me really really wondering what the hell I'm doing in Los Angeles. So I think I'm probably moving home.

Jim: So in terms of the end of this tour and the fall, is there any studio potentials?

Mark: Again, I have no idea. I'd love to see that happen. I'm pretty comfortable in the studio. I think it would be a great thing for this group of people to get together and try to write some new material. But as to what the future holds, I really have no idea. It's so contingent on what the old guard wants to do. Those guys have been doing this for 30+ years, I don't know if they want to keep doing it.

Jim: Is some of this tour getting recorded?

Mark: It's all getting recorded. It's not going to multi-track but there are board tapes being made on a nightly basis.

Jim: What else are you going to involve yourself in? Are you playing elsewise?

Mark: Well actually what I was about to get into when I got  the call for this was work on my own record. The unfortunate reality is that my girlfriend (who I was supposed to marry in September) and I recently broke up. But the fortunate aspect of that is all of the sudden I have a lot of personal time. I was going to finally work on a record of my own stuff that I've been threatening to make for about three years. I own my own recording studio, I've got the facility to do it. So I think it's time to get serious about that.

Jim: Well I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

Mark: Oh no sweat, I enjoy it.

Jim: And we'd love to see you down in Arizona. If it comes to that, it'd be great! I hope it will.