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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = RatDog| image = Bobweirratdog.jpg| caption =| image_size = | background = group_or_band| alias = Bob Weir and RatDog| origin = San Francisco, California|San Francisco , California|CA , United States|USA | genre = Rock music|Rock | years_active = 19952010 (on hiatus)| label = Grateful Dead| associated_acts = Grateful Dead , The Other Ones , The Dead (band)|The Dead , Furthur (band)|Furthur Jemimah Puddleduck | website = URL| http://www.ratdog.org| current_members = Bob Weir Jay Lane Jeff Chimenti Mark Karan Kenny Brooks Robin Sylvester | past_members = Rob Wasserman Matthew Kelly (musician)|Matthew Kelly Vince Welnick Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson Dave Ellis Mookie Siegel Dave McNabb RatDog (sometimes known as Bob Weir & RatDog or Ratdog ), is an United States|American rock band. The group began as a side project for Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Rob Wasserman . After the Grateful Dead disbanded in December 1995 , following the death of Jerry Garcia on August 9, 1995, RatDog became Bob Weir's primary band. They perform Grateful Dead tunes primarily with a mixture of covers (including Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry ), along with some originals. RatDog's repertoire consists of over 150 songs. Since early 2010 RatDog has been on hiatus while Weir performs with his newest project Furthur (band)|Furthur .
Throughout 2009 and 2010, original RatDog members Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, and Jay Lane periodically performed under the moniker Scaring the Children.cite web|url= http://www.rat-dog.com/news/ |title=Bob Weir & RatDog :: news |publisher=Rat-dog.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-21
Formation and early days
During the late 1980s, Bob Weir teamed up with bassist Rob Wasserman and the duo toured for seven years under names such as Weir/Wasserman and Scaring the Children. In 1994, Weir and Wasserman participated in the Woodstock '94 festival. Jay Lane was added on drums and Matthew Kelly (musician)|Matthew Kelly on guitar and harmonica in 1995. They played their first show as a full band on April 22, 1995, billed as Friends of Montezuma and then as RatDog Revue. They played their first show as RatDog on August 8, 1995.
Membership
The original line-up consisted of Bob Weir on rhythm guitar, Rob Wasserman on string bass , Matthew Kelly on lead guitar and Jay Lane on drums. Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick joined the band in September 1995 and played in several shows but left a couple months later. Dave Ellis (saxophonist)|Dave Ellis became the band's first saxophonist in 1996 and remained until 1999 to be replaced by Kenny Brooks . Between 1996 and 1997 Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson and Mookie Siegel had stints as keyboardists. Jeff Chimenti became the keyboardist in May 1997 and is still in the band today. Matthew Kelly was replaced in 1998 briefly by Dave McNabb and then by current lead guitarist Mark Karan . Rob Wasserman left the band in 2003 and was replaced by Robin Sylvester .
The current lineup consists of Bob Weir, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Karan, Kenny Brooks and Robin Sylvester.
Mark Karan's Health problems and 2007 Summer Absence
In mid-June 2007, RatDog's lead guitarist announced he was taking some time off for a healing period. Karan was later diagnosed with throat cancer. Because he was undergoing treatment, Karan was absent from the remainder of RatDog's 2007 shows. Steve Kimock , the guitarist from the band Zero, who also has had a history of playing with Dead spin-off bands The Other Ones (1998 and 2000), Phil Lesh and Friends (1999), and the Rhythm Devils (2006), stood in for Karan.
Karan returned to the RatDog lineup at the start of the 2008 spring tour.
Notable guests
Since its formation, many guest musicians have performed with RatDog, including Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart , Bill Kreutzmann , Donna Jean Godchaux and Bruce Hornsby . Other well known guests include Joan Baez , Warren Haynes , Al Schnier , Ekoostik Hookah , Trey Anastasio , Les Claypool , DJ Logic , John Popper , Dickey Betts , Sammy Hagar , http://www.susanjamesmusic.com Susan James and Keller Williams .
Reflist|refs= http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobweir/biography Bob Weir Biography, Rolling Stone Ruhlmann, William. Allmusic|class=artist|id=p366932/biography|pure_url=yes RatDog Biography at Allmusic Selvin, Joel. http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-03-21/entertainment/17417792_1_ratdog-grateful-dead-bob-weir "Dead Man Talking", San Francisco Chronicle , March 21, 2004 cite web|url= http://ratdog.org/band/ |title=The Band |publisher=RatDog |date= |accessdate=2011-10-21 Condran, Ed. http://www.acweekly.com/view.php? id=11003 "Hot Rats", Atlantic City Weekly , July 9, 2009 Heselgrave, Douglas. http://www.musicbox-online.com/interviews/catchingup-markkaran-04082008.html "Catching Up with Mark Karan", The Music Box , April 2008 .cite web|url= http://ratdog.org/stuff/guests |title=Guest Musicians |publisher=RatDog |date= |accessdate=2011-10-21
External links
http://www.rat-dog.com rat-dog.com, official web site of RatDog
http://www.ratdog.org ratdog.org, RatDog fan site
http://www.archive.org/details/Ratdog Ratdog collection at the Internet Archive 's live music archive
GratefulDead DEFAULTSORT:Ratdog Category:Grateful Dead Category:American rock music groups Category:Jam bands Category:Live Music Archive artists
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