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The Juggling
Suns Fan Site
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Interview with Mark Diomede
By John Mason
1.)
How did the Suns come about?
Back in the fall of 95, solar Circus was
offered a steady gig at Cass' café (owned by Tom Cruise's sister) in
Freehold, NJ on Monday nights. Because the venue was so small, the band declined
the offer. Well since I am a playing addict, a couple extra bucks couldn’t
hurt, and the fact that Solar circus had a philosophy at the time that playing
more than one Dead cover a night might stereotype the band, I decided it would
be a good opportunity for me to do a side project and have it be a rootsy
kind of thing. Lots of Grateful dead and some other covers.....
At this point, Kevin Kopac (Solar bassist
at the time) was up for the project. I gave Gus Vigo a call- I knew Gus for
years. One of the earlier incarnations of Solar played with his band 'World
Within' at couple of NJ venues. He was always a big solar fan, and we had
jammed together a few times.... and it was two people playing with the same
brain. Real flowing and a constant musical conversation. To complete
the project, we got in touch with Solar Circus' original drummer Brad Hall.
We started doing this Monday night thing at Cass', and packing the house and
it was a whole lot of fun- but still at this point it was strictly a side
cover project to play on off nights. At this time, solar was reaching
it's breaking point- there were lots of difference between musical and business
philosophies-so when Solar broke up, we kind of had the Suns rolling along
already. Well as it goes, fate is always ironic. 2 weeks after Solar
breaks up, Jonny Z calls me up (he managed Metallica, Anthrax, Ministry,
and many other successful bands-he also owned a mid-sized independent label
Megaforce records and knew a lot of people in the industry) Jon's daughter
had taken him to his first phish show and Jonny and his wife Marsha -being
old heads from the 60s- recognized the fact that there is a huge jamband market
out there. So Jon calls me up and wants to sign Solar Circus because of its
7-year history with relix and its reputation. He thought he could take it
to the next level. So we tried for a couple of weeks to put a band-aid on
Solar, but the stake had already been driven through its heart. So I told
Jon about Juggling and he said he would give it a listen-but he didn’t want
to hear it until we were ready- so we got to work on it -we made a few changes,
added Casey LaPerle on drums, and Tank Eveleigh on rhythm guitar, learned
a lot of original material, and blew Jon and Marsha away. So we signed
with Megaforce, they developed a jam band subsidiary called "hydrophonics"
for us, and we were off and flying.....
2.)
How would you compare the music you make now with what you did in Solar?
You know were always learning and growing,
so I think that my songwriting has matured a little since the Solar days....but
basically I used to write half the music we performed. So the Suns tunes that
we play that I wrote are kind of an evolution from the Solar days....I would
say the biggest difference in the two bands is the personalities - everyone
has their own personality and each musician brings that to the table. The
songs take on new directions with different personnel. The dynamic also changes-
people will interact differently from one person to the next. What an individual
brings to the table is basically the same, but the give and take with others
changes, depending on who and what the other brings to the table. I really
like the give and take that happens between Gus, Bruce and I- there is enough
tension to keep us from becoming lazy and stagnant-yet the like-mindedness
of this band keeps the music very inspirational , exciting and inventive....
3.)
When did you first pick up a guitar and what was the first song you learned
to play?
I first picked up a guitar when I was
10 years old (1968)... I loved the Beatles and the Monkees and I was fascinated
with the San Francisco hippie scene....visions of polka-dotted elephants-wow!
When I was a baby- I used to sing myself to sleep, so when I asked my parents
for guitar lessons-they were happy to give them to me...I think the first
song my guitar teacher taught me was "The Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel....
4.)
Take us back to your first Jerry experience and tell us what is was like?
Let me see----the moon was in the seventh
house-and Jupiter aligned with Mars.... No- only kidding...;) The first
'Jerry experience' changed my life. I was 15 years old and had only been to
a couple of rock concerts... but I was anxiously awaiting my first Dead concert.
There was such a buzz about this band! Everybody would say "There is nothing
like a Grateful Dead concert"... The show was on Jerry's 31st birthday- 8-1-73...
Robbie Robertson's The Band opened, and OraNgE *Sun*sHinE* was the recreation
for the day... It was a sold out - General admission concert at Roosevelt
stadium in Jersey City, NJ...so we got there real early and set up camp about
20 feet from the stage, right in front of Jerry. What proceeded was a total
rearrangement of my entire molecular structure- a moment totally frozen in
time. The Dead were ripping a dark star- and the band was climbing a mighty
crescendo...they were revving the notes they were playing into a chromatic
peak. And at the moment the tension was released, after this long gradual
build-up- Jerry (using a wah wah at the time) grabbed the note, held it, looked
straight up into the stars, and the rest of the band cascaded their notes
down around Jerry's sustained note....It was THEN-that I knew...I was not
the same person-an unstoppable passion had been ignited within my soul. I
needed to experience and express that kind of a moment. I was going
to dedicate my life to the Muse- I was so cosmically moved and inspired by
Jerry and the band- I am forever grateful.....
5.)
Besides Jerry, what other musicians shaped you?
Besides Jerry, the Beatles and the Monkees,
I would say Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Stephen Stills, Neil
Young, Dickie Betts, Duane Allman, and Jimi Hendrix- and more recently Trey
Anastasio and Steve Kimock.
6.)
Favorite Suns original to play? Cover song?
I don't really have favorite songs to
play- with me its more like I’ll look back on a performance and think "wow-
we really got under that one tonight"- or- "The line in a song will really
reflect the moment". That’s what’s so great about jamband stuff- on any given
night- any song could bring people into a really cool place.
7.)
What is the next step for the Suns now?
I think its really important for us to
really find a steady drummer, record a CD that has no previously released
tunes on it , continue to promote the band, expand the fan base, and extend
our Family. If we can do these things- I know that the next couple of levels
will become available to us.
8.)
How has the music scene changed since you started playing for a living?
When I first started playing music for
a living, there were only a few jam bands out there- now you look around and
there are jam bands everywhere. Every town has their local Dead band,
and a handful of original jam bands-and so there is a much bigger market place
now....With the internet, CD burners, printers, recording programs, and Napster-
its kind of taking the music biz out of the corporations hands. There is real
opportunity for motivated bands to get their music networked to their targeted
fan base. I also feel like with these new developments in the industry- it
makes it a little easier with band with some history (like the Solar/Suns
lineage) to make people aware of what they've done as well as getting midlevel
bands up to the next level.
9.)
If you could share the stage with any living musician who would it be?
Any of the remaining members of the Dead
would be my first choice. Also-any of the bigger jam bands would be an honor
(phish, moe. SCI, Widespread,etc...)
10.)
Favorite moment on stage with the Suns?
My favorite recent moment would have to
be the Blue star on new Years Eve-hitting the stage at midnight with the drum
circle going-all the noisemakers and people hooting and hollering was such
an adrenaline rush.....the 2001 into tomorrow jam literally catapulted us
into the new millennium- it was definitely a feeling of arrival- like our
dreams were at our fingertips......
11.)
What do you listen to when you're not playing?
I really need to wind down after a gig-
so my favorite thing to listen to would be some kind of ambient space music
-- at other times I like to listen to new age, world beat, bluegrass, jazz,
techno, and of course the Grateful Dead or anything eclectic and on the edge
12.)
What album (by another artist) do you consider a must have for music fans?
Music fans are a very wide topic and hard
to pin down- but a must have for jam bands in my opinion would be 'Live Dead'
(dark star>st stephen) and Phish's 'A Live One'... I think both albums set
the tone for directions in which jam bands could explore their music. Both
albums seem to encapsulate whole eras of music and were very trend-setting
for improvisational approach....
13.)
What do you think of the following bands: Phish, String Cheese, Steve Kimock
Band
All 3 are great bands with great players....
I think that all 3 have raised the technical standards that jam bands aspire
to.... I also feel that Phish are probably the most experimental of the 3-
and Steve Kimock is the most emotional and heartfelt of the 3- with SCI somewhere
in the middle
14.)
If Phil wanted you to jam at a Phil & Friends show...and he asked you
to pick a tune to play...what would it be?
"Hey Hey were the Monkees"- hah hah-no
really, though- Dark Star- of course...I know he's done it a bunch of time
with many different people- but for me-that song is the Alpha and Omega of
music....
15.)
What can we expect in 2001 for the Suns?
Smiles, tunes, and good times- the Juggling
Train is rolling and the door is open wide- so jump on board and climb inside-
Thanks John.....
Peace
mark :)