Above: Bones Brigade (from left): Mike Kane, Justin Knott, Pat Kane, Cole Petrillo and Dustin Frohlich last month at Kelly’s Logan House.
By Pam George
Photos by Butch Comegys
Pat Kane was only about 5 when Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995, and Cole Petrillo never saw Garcia perform. Yet three decades later, the two musicians are keeping the Dead’s music alive.
The artists are members of Bones Brigade, the Wilmington-area band that performs Dead songs as well as music from the Jerry Garcia Band and other member-related projects. “Essentially, anything written or covered by any of the members of the Grateful Dead is fair game,” Petrillo says.
Calling Bones Brigade a tribute band is accurate, but capturing the essence of the Dead takes more than learning the lyrics. It’s all about the vibe.
“The whole band plays together so well, there is often a marvelous exchange of magical energy between the players and audience,” says Annie Johnson, a fan. “I can’t say enough about them. Anyone who has seen them knows they are something special.”
Petrillo and Kane view their performances as a mission. “People love and need to hear the Grateful Dead and JGB music live, and we’re just happy to provide that service,” Petrillo says.
Kane agrees. “We started this band as a public service,” he says. “We needed it here.”
The Dead Won’t Die
The Grateful Dead began in 1965 in California. Over the years, the group became synonymous with extended improvisation, genre-blending songs, and a loyal fan base known as Deadheads. Their approach helped establish a template for the jam-band movement that followed, which included groups such as Phish, Widespread Panic, and Dave Matthews Band.
The Dead’s music was never static. Set lists changed, jams wandered and audiences never knew what to expect, which made attending live shows a distinctive experience. Fans would follow the tour as it moved around the country, comparing performances from night to night.
Moreover, the repertoire crosses timeless genres, including country, blues, folk, bluegrass, R&B, and traditional American music. There are “near-innumerable versions” of many Dead songs, with the band’s style evolving over decades, Kane says. “Having no definitive version of a song makes it a non-issue,” he says of precisely replicating their style.
Tie-dye and psychedelics were undeniably part of the formative years. But the culture that survived Jerry Garcia’s death is rooted in improvisation, community around live music, music-sharing, dancing, and the conviction that no two performances should be exactly alike.
“You don’t just listen to it, you can get inside it and look around,” Kane says.
A Meeting of Musical Minds
The music of Garcia and the Dead had been part of Kane’s life since he was a teenager, and he had played it in various projects. Starting a dedicated Dead band wasn’t on his agenda until he heard Petrillo play.
Petrillo had never seen Garcia perform, but the guitar tone on Europe ’72, the landmark live album released in 1972, grabbed his attention. Later, he experienced the material live through the late Bob Weir’s projects, including RatDog and Furthur.
The Bones Brigade musicians met through Dead Fest, an annual Grateful Dead celebration held each September by Brandywine Red Clay Alliance at the Myrick Conservation Center near West Chester.
“We really meshed on a few songs and decided to try and put a band together,” Petrillo says. “We didn’t have any goals other than to play Dead tunes at local venues. It still feels that way.”
Bones Brigade formed in 2019. The name pays tribute to the skateboard team associated with Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, and Mike McGill. The crew helped define 1980s skate culture through their technical skills, individuality, and experimentation.
“Skating and jamming have a lot of similarities when it comes to flow and improvisation,” says Petrillo, who, like his bandmates, grew up skating.
During the pandemic, the relationship between the two guitarists deepened. “Our interweaving playing invokes the imagery of a double helix,” Kane says. The current lineup also features Dustin Frohlich on bass and vocals, and Justin Knott on drums.
Kane and Knott have played together sporadically since high school, and they have an “ESP-like musical connection,” Kane says. He’s known Frohlich just as long, although Bones Brigade allowed them to collaborate more deeply.
Kane’s brother, Mike, joined the band on keyboards and organ. “My brother being with us on organ and keyboards brings me immense joy,” Kane says. “I love being able to make music with him, and I’m ever amazed both by his playing and constant growth.”
Adding Mike moved the group closer to the Dead’s sound. But exact recreation was never the goal.
“When we first got together, we really didn’t put a ton of effort into recreating the Dead’s sound, but we always want to continue to respect and maintain its essence,” Petrillo says. “We still sound like the Bones Brigade at the end of the day, especially during the jams.”
Inside The Music
To be sure, improvisation is central to the Dead tradition. At a Dead performance, a tune that lasted six minutes one night might stretch much longer on another. Songs could flow into one another. Familiar sections could dissolve into improvisation before reappearing minutes later. If you expected a song to sound like the record, you’d likely be disappointed.
Bones Brigade puts together set lists and basic song structures before a show, but once the musicians start jamming, the direction isn’t predetermined.
Pat Kane says he selects his guitars and musical equipment with Jerry Garcia in mind.
“You can’t really dictate which songs will be jammed out and taken to another level sonically,” Petrillo says. “It just has to happen naturally.”
That doesn’t mean there’s no effort.
“Sometimes during a jam, it can be scary when you realize how far you’ve strayed from the proverbial shore and that it could all implode or blossom at any moment,” Kane says. “We stick together and know we all have each other’s backs no matter where the music takes us.”
Sometimes, the musicians travel to a “sonic landscape that is reminiscent of a jeweled tapestry,” he continues. “Other times it is a dark and heavy funk that could occupy a Berlin dance club.”
Regardless, everyone on and offstage feels the intensity of the moment, he says. “At the end of a great journey, the crowd usually gives us a loud roar to celebrate a ride well taken.”
Fellow musician Richard Hanrahan is one of them. “They all play so well together and capture a sound that only people who attended Dead shows would get,” he says. “They can transition in and out of jams back into melodic solos and beyond.”
The secret to playing the Dead’s music goes well beyond a successful jam. Capturing Jerry Garcia’s guitar tone takes the sound to the next level. Kane selects his guitars and equipment for Bones Brigade with Garcia in mind; he knows which effects and techniques Garcia used on certain songs.
“There are many parts, riffs or licks that I think need to be there the way he played them,” he says. But he also lets his own style come through. “I toe that line carefully and with respect. Too far to either side and you miss out on something.”
Kane generally occupies the Garcia role, which leaves Petrillo room to move between Garcia- and Bob Weir-inspired parts and his own musical instincts. “He can weave comfortably between both Jerry and Bobby’s playing style, but he is an incredible guitarist with a style all his own that transcends that,” Kane says.
The Same but Different
A recurring monthly show at Kennett Brewing Company in downtown Kennett Square helped turn the performance into an appointment for fans.
“At least once a month, you’d know where and when Bones and all your friends will be,” Kane says.
After Kennett Brewing closed, the band moved into Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington and continues to perform there the first Friday of each month. There’s more room for dancing, which with tie-dye distinguishes a Deadhead crowd.
Fans have become part of the band’s story. Many feel like family, Petrillo says. Two frequent audience members, Eric Visser and Brad Johnston, record and archive many of the shows, carrying on a tradition long associated with Dead culture — concert taping helped performances circulate far beyond the venue.
The audience spans generations. Russell Tuckerman, for instance, saw the Grateful Dead. “While there are many Dead cover bands, Pat Kane truly sounds like Garcia,” he says. Others discovered the Dead decades after the group’s heyday, and Bones Brigade now offers the experience to another generation.
Seven years after Bones Brigade began, Petrillo still does not have a grand plan for it. “There are hundreds of songs to pick from,” he says, adding that Bones Brigade has only scratched the surface.
And once those songs are in the repertoire, they’ll change. Consider the song “Cassidy,” with music by Weir and lyrics by John Perry Barlow. The song links the birth of Cassidy Law, daughter of longtime Grateful Dead associate Eileen Law, with the memory of Beat Generation figure Neal Cassady, a friend and associate of the band. It first appeared on Weir’s 1972 solo album, Ace, and became a recurring part of the Grateful Dead’s live repertoire.
Petrillo remembers working out the guitar harmony with Kane when Bones Brigade was new. Adding Mike Kane on keys changed it again. But the jam keeps the song interesting.
“The jam section always ends up going to a sonic space that doesn’t sound like any other band to my ears (including the Grateful Dead),” Petrillo says.
That may be the highest compliment Bones Brigade can pay itself. Not that it sounds exactly like the Dead, but that it doesn’t.
“I find new meaning every time I sing a song, and I know that everyone listening is having their own unique experience with the same song,” Kane says. “Therein lies the magic.”
— In addition to appearing monthly at Kelly’s Logan House, Bones Brigade will be performing at Dead Fest on Friday, Sept. 11. Visit BrandywineRedClay.org/Dead-Fest.
