One on one with Rob Koritz from Dark Star Orchestra
Rob Koritz is a drummer in the band Dark Star Orchestra. Dark Star Orchestra is a phenomenal group that is helping keep the Grateful Dead music and vision alive. With full support from the original Grateful Dead members they rock whichever stage they step foot on. DSO is playing at the Electric Factory this coming Saturday, May 30th 2009. Be sure to come out and show your support for a night of great music and plenty of jamming. In the words of Rob Koritz “if you’re not sure about us give it a try come with an open mind I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
Marcus: First off I just want to thank you for giving me a call and for your time. It’s definitely much appreciated.
Rob: No thank you. Any sort of help with getting our name out there is greatly appreciated.
Marcus: So where did it all start for you?
Rob: I decided this was what I wanted to do when I was about 9 years old. I always wanted to be a musician. I didn’t always know I wanted to be in a Grateful Dead type band though. As I got older I always wanted to go on tour and now I’ve been doing so for 10 years. The band started about a year and a half before I came in. I had no expectations and had no clue what was going to go on/happen. It has been a great journey and I feel very lucky and have been very blessed.
Marcus: What was your favorite song that the dead performed?
Rob: I like the way you phrased that question because my favorite song the Dead performed isn’t my favorite song when we perform. Growing up going to grateful dead shows the song I always wanted to hear was Morning Dew and with going to over 100 shows I didn’t actually hear it until about my 50th show.
Marcus: So what is your favorite song when you guys jam out to it?
Rob: My favorite to play is the music never stops. It has great rhythmic changes and the lyrics are my absolute favorite. The lyrics describe exactly what we do. “And the band keeps playin’ on,” “the music never stopped.”
Marcus: What is it like being on stage and literally recreating a Grateful dead show?
Rob: It’s just great. There are so many different emotions happening while doing it. The biggest thing is that its challenging because you want to recreate what the Dead are doing but you still want be able to make it your own, being true to the form and true to the music in its original form while trying to keep our own individuality. Since the Grateful Dead music was so improvisational we have to do that too. We have to bring our own to the table.
Marcus: Where do you feel that your music comes from? (When I say that I mean I hear a lot of other artists talk about certain people that they feel have helped sculpt them as their own individual artist, who do you feel helps make you up as the artist you are?
Rob: Every drummer I have ever heard. Good and bad from Buddy Rich down to the lowest person playing in a hotel lounge.
Marcus: I saw that in your off time you give workshops teaching teamwork and communication through the use of drums, now how exactly does that work? If you don’t mind give me a run down on one of your workshops.
Rob: Basically what I do is let’s say I’ve got 30 people, in the course of two hours sometimes a little longer I’m gonna take those 30 people and turn them into a cohesive samba. I split them up into small groups each person gets an instrument then I get them all playing as one. Then once I have the groups playing as one I take all the sections together and get them all playing cohesively as a big unit. This teaches communication and team building. It is a great program and I do not get to do it as much as I used to.
Marcus: Now how did you come up with that idea?
Rob: There are people all over the country that do things like that. I was working with a guy who was doing it with corporate groups and decided to go out on my own. I changed the program a little bit to improve it more for myself. I was a struggling musician at night and needed something during the day to help make ends meet.
Marcus: I can imagine everyone in the group is pretty close right? What’s that like playing with such a tight knit group of people?
Rob: “We spend 100 days a year on a 400 ft bus together we sort of have to be.” We all get along real well. It’s just like any family; you have to learn to respect each other’s space and needs. We have been doing it fourteen years now and we pretty much have it down. After doing over 1600 shows we certainly know each other’s musical styles and know how to read each other’s music well which really helps with the improvisation. We are always.
Marcus :What’s it like knowing that you guys are such a major part in keeping not only such a great style of music alive but keeping the Grateful Dead vision going?
Rob: It’s great you know when we started this we didn’t know where it was going to go and seeing it happen and evolve has been great. One of the best parts is that most of the Dead have played with us and are very supportive of what we do. So it is a really good feeling
Marcus: If you could leave all the fans with one thought what would it be?
Rob: “If you’re not sure about us give it a try come with an open mind I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
