Mickey Hart Brings New Band to Napa

There’s something intriguing about entering a theater and not really knowing what you’ll see or hear before the night is over – especially when the catalyst is Mickey Hart, former drummer of the Grateful Dead. 

And this Friday's performance by Hart at the promises to be particularly exciting, as Hart is bringing a brand-new band to Napa for its premier performance.

In a phone interview this week, Hart called the Aug. 5 concert his “maiden voyage, the first time this band has performed in public.

“It’s rare,” Hart continued, “It only happens once per band.

"Our energy is fresh and we’re not over-rehearsed which is a good thing. It will be raw, energetic and the latest incarnation of my enthusiasm.”

While Hart said you won’t find flutes, sax, tubas or violins in this band, there will be guitars, drums, lots of percussion and two vocalists -- Bay Area-based Tim Hockenberry and Crystal Monee Hall from Virginia -- both of whom Hart describes as “over the moon.”

In 2010, Hart composed Rhythms of the Universe based on a variety of astrophysical data gathered in collaboration with Nobel Laureate/physicist George Smoot and computer scientist/musician Keith Jackson.   

Friday night’s concert will take Hart’s passion of fusing musical creativity with cutting edge astrophysics one layer deeper.

“I always like to have a great archive where others can hear their history,” Hart said. 

“I’m a big believer in recorded sounds that come from the cosmos – from light waves emitted from the planets, stars and epic events.  Most of my work is above the clouds, not earth-based and not about global percussions but universal ones, all based on real science.” 

Don’t think for a minute that you’ll not also hear Grateful Dead songs at a Mickey Hart concert! 

“There’s a scattering of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, of course, because people can’t let it go," he said.

"That music lives in the hearts and souls of people, and I want to hear those songs, too.

“But, I’ve put the Dead to sleep for awhile while I am doing special projects around the world. I had a lot of fun then, but now, not being on the road playing that music allows me to pursue an incredible diversity of projects that I’m now working on. I always had itches for many years, always had side projects and am now able to devote more time and care to them. 

"I did the Grateful Dead, it’s been done well, as best as I can possibly do it.”

Hart continued, “Playing with these sound sources has been a delight and joy. Deep space objects are not named, they are numbers, millions of numbers, and space is very noisy, very dense, very violent.  My job is to make it music, and when I get it into the auditory range, I add that special sauce.”

The Aug 5 at the Napa Valley Opera House.