Me and Jerry left because we felt we weren't getting anywhere playing our old songs in tiny clubs. The group was getting stale and staying behind the times.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There were many times during our career when he could've quit and done something else. But he knew that his power was with the Grateful Dead. He didn't want to go solo. Jerry was a groupist. He loved to group.
When we moved to Seattle, everybody kind of disappeared into different corners of the city and it was a very difficult time for the band.
I slowly started to drift back into music again. I finally got the call from John... about getting the band back together again. It was so out of the blue. I almost thought that the moment had passed.
In the late summer of 1986, the band I had been in for five years stopped playing. Suddenly, I was on my own. This new state of bandlessness was, at first, traumatic. When your group breaks up, a lot of broken parts hit the ground.
I followed most of the 80's bands into the 90's as most of those folks who hadn't moved away were all still active. However, there was a point when I lost track of the new bands coming up.
After a while, though, the group just wasn't a good vehicle for the songs I'd written.
Ozzy wanted to get us back together. It's been 20 years. We did a couple of songs during his farewell in 1992 and that got the ball rolling.
People think I left The Band and spoiled this whole thing, and that's not what happened. Nobody broke up The Band. Nobody ever said, 'That's it, we're done.'
When I moved to New York, I had to let my band know that I couldn't play anymore, and that was difficult to leave that behind.
My love for the band is still there. It hasn't changed, maybe that's why it's so painful these days.
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