Audio By Carbonatix
The Grateful Dead effectively ended with Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, but a handful of projects carry on the celebrated jam band’s je ne sais quoi. One such act is the Rhythm Devils, run by drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Decades ago, the duo used portions of Dead concerts to play impromptu percussion sets loosely steered by a theme devised that day — like, say, the end of the world. Around 2006, Hart and Kreutzmann reinvigorated the name and fleshed it out as a full group. Using improvised concepts and originals written by Dead songwriter Robert Hunter, the Devils unravel tracks that are heavy on thick grooves and electronic effects. (Hart has characterized their style as dance and trance.) Although the group’s history is slim, it includes some nifty details. In one account of how the drummers got the moniker, Kreutzmann recalls that director Francis Ford Coppola called them the Rhythm Devils after they contributed to the Apocalypse Now soundtrack.
