The core of Midhaven is guitarists Karan Kaul (front) and Aditya Mohanan, plus drummer Aviraj Kumar (rear). The band started in 2011.
The Hindu god Shiva is known as the Auspicious One and the Destroyer—both of which actually seem … kind of auspicious. But in the realm of metal, the history of named-checked deities typically runs more along the lines of Odin, Thor, Mephistopheles, or even Cthulhu. Shiva, despite the impressive appellations, is rarely the subject of songs—with one notable exception.
That's the music of the Mumbai-based metal trio Midhaven, who, with the release of their latest album, Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt, now have two song cycles to their credit in which Shiva figures prominently. The band spent 2019 writing and recording the project, which was produced by Apurv Agrawal, and mixed and mastered by engineer Forrester Savell (Animals as Leaders, Karnivool). Then it sat in the can for a year waiting for the pandemic to subside. When it didn't, Midhaven finally decided to release Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt anyway. It's a concept album, based on the cyclical nature of time, mapping out the course of a soul's journey to enlightenment, with Shiva—in Destroyer mode, naturally—as an overarching presence.
'Primal Song' Music Video
Such heady notions are part of the decade-old band's DNA. They took their name from the astronomical term "midheaven," for the highest point in a celestial object's daily traverse, and started weaving songs into complex yarns with their debut EP, 2012's Tales From The Tide. Those three songs ended up being a teaser of sorts for their first full-length album, 2014's Spellbound, which explores the hallucination of a man who, in the imagined form of Shiva, kills the Greek god Apollo.
Seven years later, Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt has arrived like a … thunderbolt. Throughout, Midhaven combine operatic vocals and guttural growls with monster guitar riffs that sound like Godzilla tearing down high-tension wires over some unfortunate city. The first single, "Primal Song," assays their gargantuan sound, and the tonal fusion between guitars and bass (the latter courtesy of Jason D'Souza) is electrifyingly monstrous. Tracks like "Codeman" and "Para Brahman" may be more melancholic and anguished, but the riffs are titanic, while "Zhitro" and "Mahakaal" introduce elements of Indian folk music, using guitar orchestrations that combine the contemporary with the traditional.
"At some point, Mastodon really picked me up by the neck—just grabbed me. Brent Hinds is definitely a huge inspiration."—Karan Kaul
Navigating such lofty lyric and sonic terrain are guitarists and close friends Karan Kaul and Aditya Mohanan, who, along with drummer Aviraj Kumar, are the core of Midhaven. Kaul is also the lead vocalist, while Mohanan handles the majority of lead guitar duties. "There are very set roles that just came to be through our synergy," explains Kaul. "Aditya is the scorching guitar player, and I'm more of the backbone, heavy, 'chuggy' [rhythm] guy." And while their roles may be set in terms of guitar duties, songwriting is another matter. "We have this very interesting synergy going on," explains Mohanan. "It's not like one of us is composing a riff. It's like, one of us comes up with an idea and the other one feeds into that idea—adds or subtracts from it, and keeps altering it, and by the end, we can't really tell who it came from. It's the approach we've taken to every song."
They cite Black Sabbath and Metallica as influences, as well as a slew of other two-guitar bands. "At some point, Mastodon really picked me up by the neck—just grabbed me," says Kaul. "Brent Hinds is definitely a huge inspiration." For Mohanan, metal started at Megadeth. "Everyone talks about, 'Are you a Metallica fan or a Megadeth fan?' Marty Friedman is like a god to me," he professes. "I just worship him … and Dave Mustaine—that's where it started off. I love Brent Hinds as well. I like the way he approaches his reverb and his tone and his delays." Mohanan also infuses Midhaven's music with older sources of inspiration. "I really enjoy Bach, Beethoven, Mozart," he admits. "I went through a phase that was neo-classical. And then, around the time this album was being written, I was super into Indian classical and folk forms as well, like [Indian Carnatic vocalist] T.M. Krishna."
Karan Kaul’s Gear
Karan Kaul, who fronts the band, rocking his Gibson Flying V in the studio.
Photo by Mehran Sheikh
Guitars
- ESP Eclipse with Fishman Fluence Signature Series Devin Townsend pickups
- Gibson Flying V (2012)
Effects
- Animal Factory Godeater
- Boss RE-20 Space Echo
- EarthQuaker Devices Erupter Fuzz
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
Amps
- Laney Mini Ironheart (15-watt, studio only)
- Laney GS212VR cab
- Egnater, Vox, Marshall JCM800, or Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier (live, depending on availability)
Strings & Picks
- Elixir 12152 (.012 –.052; studio)
- D'Addario NYXL 1260 Extra Heavy (.012 –.060; live)
- D'Addario Planet Waves Duralin Black Ice
Nowhere is the Indian influence more apparent than on the closing number, "Bhairav." With its trippy, atmospheric, sitar-like outro, Mohanan says it is the most tonally explorative song on the album. "With 'Bhairav,' we wanted to get this weird transience that any Indian classical instrument inherently has. The only way to sustain a note for that long was through the 'twang' element in the sound. The transience that I'm talking about is that slight buzz that accompanies the sound of the instrument. We wanted to make it a lot more psychedelic sounding; otherwise you can just use the Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar pedal." In an effort to make it sound "spacey," they experimented with a metal slide, an MXR Phase 90, an EHX Holy Grail, and a Strymon blueSky. "That was all an improvisation," he says. "We picked out parts that sounded really great with each other and put it together."
"We would use really abstract terms to describe the tones that we wanted to create, like, 'I want wet fire.'"—Aditya Mohanan
Musically, the laconic vibe of "Bhairav" plays into the overarching theme of time and evolution that lyrically fuels Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt, but Midhaven cunningly manipulates the musical timing in "Zhitro," a song that intentionally speeds up over nine minutes and 36 seconds. "A lot of people don't notice it, but we actually increase tempo," reveals Kaul. Mohanan was in the studio with drummer Kumar while tracking, and says that, while it's natural to speed up without a click, "To keep the click rising slowly, slowly, slowly, is always a gamble."
TIDBIT: This is the expanded format artwork for Midhaven's new album. Karan Kaul and Aditya Mohanan used small amps in the studio, for easier tracking, and took pains to keep out of each other's sonic terrain—which was especially important, since all the songs are in drop-B tuning.
According to Kaul, there is "not a drop of digital" in their guitar tones on Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt. He and Mohanan are self-professed "straight-through-the-amp kinds of guys," and they attribute much of the record's massive sound to their producer, Apurv Agrawal, also known as Cowboy and Sailor Man via his chillwave/synthwave project of the same name. "He's just a fantastic person to work with," professes Kaul. "He really helped us sculpt our tones on this record." Mohanan says he has never seen anyone take tone as seriously as Agrawal. "He took our feedback and took it a step further. He added his own creativity. We would use really abstract terms to describe the tones that we wanted to create, like, 'I want wet fire,' and Apurv would just be like, 'You know what? I know exactly what you're talking about. And you know what? I can get you something even better than that.' That's that guy." Kaul jokingly says he's going to ask Agrawal for "dry water" on the next album.
"It's the kind of song where you need both guitars to be really cut-throat, really hot."—Karan Kaul
All the guitar tracks for Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt were recorded old school: miked amps and real pedals. For guitars, Kaul primarily used his ESP Eclipse, with Fishman Fluence Signature Series Devin Townsend pickups, which gave him three voices to play with. "I can control everything from just one guitar—how much weight I want to add and how much tone I want to cut." Mohanan relied on his Schecter Diamond Series SLS Avenger with Seymour Duncan pickups. "It's got a coil tap," he says. "I can get any sort of tone I want, at least for Midhaven, with that guitar, but my situation was a little more complicated. I think when you play lead on the stage, you want to be able to switch to clean channels."
Aditya Mohanan’s Gear
Lead guitarist Aditya Mohanan mostly relies upon his Schecter Diamond Series SLS Avenger but is seen here holding an ESP Eclipse.
Photo by Mehran Sheikh
Guitars
- Schecter Diamond Series SLS Avenger with Seymour Duncan SH-3 pickups
Effects
- Animal Factory Godeater
- Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
- Boss RV-6 Digital Reverb
- Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano
- KHDK Dark Blood
- MXR M101 Phase 90
- Strymon blueSky Reverberator
- TC Electronic Spark Booster
Amps
- Orange Dark Terror (15/7 watts, studio only)
- Orange PPC112 cab
- Egnater, Vox, Marshall JCM800, or Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier (live, depending on availability)
Strings and Picks
- Elixir 12152 (.012 –.052; studio)
- D'Addario NYXL 1260 Extra Heavy (.012 –.060; live)
- Dunlop 427PJP John Petrucci Jazz III
Because of the sonic bandwidth two-guitar bands compete for in the studio, Mohanan says "Bhairav" was also the trickiest tune to get, tone-wise. "It's the kind of song where you need both guitars to be really cutthroat, really hot. And it was so tricky finding a frequency bandwidth where both of us would not clash with each other, but at the same time complement each other, while being really high-octane." Kaul remembers: "Because you [Mohanan] recorded it first, Apurv and I were just looking at each other, 'How do we get this to cut?'" [laughs]
"It was so tricky finding a frequency bandwidth where both of us would not clash with each other, but at the same time complement each other, while being really high-octane."—Aditya Mohana
Another reason the guitars are likely vying for frequency range is that all of the songs on the new album are in drop-B tuning. Kaul says playing in that tuning came quite naturally, referring to it as "home," because it's a comfortable range for him vocally. But Mohanan says he likes drop B becausethe tuning adds a unique flavor to chord voicings. "When you play a major sixth on a low-end, drop B, it just sounds altered."
Midhaven's high-energy blend of full-blooded metal influences and Indian traditional music mesh to create a distinctive and trippy signature sound.
Photo by Mehran Sheikh
As for amps, they use little boxes, strategically, to get big studio tones. Kaul plugged into a Laney Mini Ironheart—a 15-watter—and a Laney GS212VR cab. Mohanan deployed an Orange Dark Terror, switchable between 15 and 7 watts, and an Orange PPC112 cab.
Other essential components of their rich guitar tones include an Ibanez Tube Screamer that Kaul employs to add a slight bit of gain to his tone. Mohanan says Kaul's tone is generally "a super wet, really warm, sloppy kind of a tone," and that the Tube Screamer "cleans that up just a little bit." Mohanan says his Dunlop John Petrucci Jazz III picks give him an edge, performance-wise. "It just glides across the string," he says. "And it's just really great for pinching [harmonics]. If you want attack, you can get that out of them—and they work really well with the coil-tap." Mohanan says the coil-tap was a game changer in terms of manipulating his tone. "Even in 'Zhitro,' when I'm switching from clean to distortion, I'm not just turning on my distortion pedal in that moment. I'm also switching from a single-coil to a humbucker—it gives that extra boost. I've experimented with that a lot in Midhaven."
In a way, the massive guitar tracks heard on Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt echo the conceptual theme of a journey to higher levels. Like the album's main character—the human one, not Shiva—the members of Midhaven have musically grown in the past two years, and, "in hindsight," observes Mohanan, "I think the album definitely would be different if it were recorded today."
YouTube It
East meets West in this 2017 live performance by the Midhaven lineup that made Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt. The rock is there (check out Aditya Mohanan's solo on his Schecter Diamond Series SLS Avenger at 3:08), but the droning, microtonal influence of traditional Indian music echoes between both guitars in the intro's subtle ramp-up.
Last year, Taylor Guitars capped its 50th Anniversary by introducing a new guitar collection celebrating the contributions of co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug to the guitar world. The Legacy Collection revives five of Bob Taylor’s classic acoustic models, curated by the legendary luthier and innovator himself. “To imagine that we’re doing guitars that harken to our past, our present and our future all at the same time,” Bob says, “I really like that.”
In developing the collection, Bob preserved the essence of his originals while integrating performance and playability upgrades introduced during his tenure as designer-in-chief. “It’s an up-to-date version of what those guitars would be,” Bob explains, “but with the same sound.”
Visually, these guitars feel classic—clean, understated and unmistakably Taylor. While Bob’s original aesthetic preferences are showcased in his Legacy models, the nod to the past runs deeper than trade dress.
From his earliest builds, Bob favored slim-profile necks because he found them easier to play. That preference set a design precedent that established Taylor’s reputation for smooth-playing, comfortable necks. Legacy models feature slim mahogany necks built with Taylor's patented New Technology (NT) design. “My first neck was a bolted-on neck but not an NT neck,” Bob says. “These are NT necks because it’s a better neck.” Introduced in 1999, the NT neck allowed for unprecedented micro-adjustability while offering a consistent, hand-friendly Taylor playing experience.
What makes this collection unique within the Taylor line is Bob’s use of his X-bracing architecture, favoring his time-tested internal voicing framework over more recent Taylor bracing innovations to evoke a distinctive tone profile. Since Andy Powers—Taylor’s current Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO—debuted his patented V-Class bracing in 2018, V-Class has become a staple in Taylor’s premium-performance guitars. Still, Bob’s X-bracing pattern produces a richly textured sound with pleasing volume, balance and clarity that long defined the Taylor voice. All Legacy models feature LR Baggs VTC Element electronics, which Bob says “harkens back to those days.”
The team at Taylor thought the best way to demonstrate the sound of the Legacy guitars was to ask Andy Powers, Bob’s successor, to play them. A world-class luthier and musician, Andy has spent the past 14 years leading Taylor’s guitar innovation. In addition to V-Class bracing, his contributions include the Grand Pacific body style, the ultra-refined Builder’s Edition Collection, and most recently, the stunning Gold Label Collection.
Below you’ll find a series of videos that feature Powers playing each Legacy model along with information about the guitars.
Legacy 800 Series Models
First launched in 1975, the 800 Series was Taylor’s first official guitar series. Today, it remains home to some of the brand’s most acclaimed instruments, including the flagship 814ce, Builder’s Edition 814ce and new Gold Label 814e.
The Legacy 800 Series features the 810e Dreadnought and two Jumbos: the 6-string 815e and 12-string 855e. Each model serves up a refined version of the Dreadnought and Jumbo body shapes Bob inherited from Sam Radding—the original owner of the American Dream music shop where Bob and Kurt first met. “I was making my guitars in the molds that Sam had made at American Dream,” Bob recalls. “There was a Jumbo and a Dreadnought. That’s all we had.”
All three Legacy 800 Series guitars feature one of Bob’s favorite tonewood combos. Solid Indian rosewood back and sides are paired with a Sitka spruce top, yielding warm lows, clear trebles and a scooped midrange.
Aesthetic appointments include a three-ring abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond inlays, white binding around the body and fretboard, and Bob’s “straight-ear” peghead design. Both Jumbo models also showcase a mustache-style ebony bridge—a nod to Bob’s early Jumbo builds.
Legacy 810e
The 810 Dreadnought holds a special place in Bob Taylor’s heart. “My first 810, the one I made for myself, was a thrilling guitar for me to make,” he says. “It’s the one and only guitar I played. It didn’t matter how many guitars we made at Taylor, that’s the one I took out and played.” The Legacy 810e brings back that bold, room-filling Dreadnought voice along with the easy playability expected from a Taylor.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 810e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 855e
Taylor’s first 12-strings found an audience in 1970s Los Angeles. “I was making guitars that would find their way to McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Westwood Music,” Bob says, “and these guitars were easy to play. Twelve-strings were a popular sound in that music. It was a modern country/folk/rock music genre that was accepting our guitars because they were easy to play. They also liked the sound of them because our guitars were easier to record.” The Legacy 855e, with its resonant Jumbo body, slim neck and gorgeous octave sparkle, carries that tradition forward.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 855e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 815e
The Legacy 815e revives Taylor’s original Jumbo 6-string, delivering a big, lush sound with beautifully blooming overtones.
Legacy Grand Auditoriums
In the early 1990s, Bob Taylor heard a consistent refrain from dealers: “Not everybody wants a dreadnought guitar anymore.” Players were asking for something with comparable volume but different proportions—something more comfortable, yet still powerful. This feedback inspired Bob to design a new body style with more elegant curves, more accommodating proportions and a balanced tonal response. The result was the Grand Auditorium, which Taylor introduced in 1994 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Thanks to its musical versatility and easy playability, Bob’s Grand Auditorium attracted a wide variety of players. “We came into our own with our Grand Auditorium,” he says. “People were describing it as ‘all around.’ It’s a good strummer and good for fingerstyle, but it’s not totally geared toward strumming or totally geared toward fingerstyle.” Also referred to as the “Swiss-Army Knife” of guitars or the “Goldilocks” guitar, the GA quickly became a favorite among guitarists across playing styles, musical genres and different playing applications including recording and live performance. “That guitar made studio work successful,” Bob says. It gained a wider fanbase with the debut of the “ce” version, which introduced a Venetian cutaway and onboard electronics. “That became one of our hallmarks,” says Bob. “If you want to plug in your guitar, buy a Taylor.”
Today, the Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
The Legacy Collection features two cedar-top Grand Auditoriums inspired by past favorites: the mahogany/cedar 514ce and rosewood/cedar 714ce. Both models incorporate Bob’s original X-bracing pattern for a tonal character reminiscent of their 1990s and 2000s counterparts. Shared aesthetic details include a green abalone three-ring rosette, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard and Taylor gold tuning machines.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 815e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 514ce
The Legacy 514ce features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a Western Red cedar top, yielding a punchy midrange and dry, woody sonic personality that pairs beautifully with cedar’s soft-touch sensitivity and warmth. It’s a standout choice for fingerstyle players and light strummers who crave nuance and depth. Distinct visual details include faux-tortoise body and fretboard binding, black-and-white top trim, and mother-of-pearl small diamond fretboard inlays.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 514ce | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 714ce
The Legacy 714ce also features a cedar top, this time matched with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The result is a richly textured sound with deep lows, clear trebles and a warm, mellow response. Inspiring as it is, this specific wood pairing isn’t currently offered in any other standard Taylor model. Additional aesthetic details include green abalone dot fretboard inlays, black body and fretboard binding, and black-and-white “pinstripe” body purfling.
While the Legacy Collection spotlights Taylor’s past, newer models from the Gold Label, Builder’s Edition and Somos Collections show the company’s legacy is always evolving. Explore the Legacy Collection at taylorguitars.com or visit your local authorized Taylor dealer.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 714ce | Playthrough Demo
A rig meant to inspire! That’s Jerry Garcia with his Doug Irwin-built Tiger guitar, in front of his Twin Reverb + McIntosh + JBL amp rig.
“At the bar, I didn’t even tellGarcia I was a guitar player,” Mattson explains. “I had just heard him play the new song ‘Days Between’ and I told him how excited I was by it, and he told me he was excited too. It wasn’t that long of a conversation, but I got to shake his hand and tell him how much his music meant to me. It’s a very sweet memory.”
The Grateful Dead’s final studio album was 1989’sBuilt to Last, and that title was prophetic. From 1965 to 1995, the band combined psychedelic rock with folk, blues, country, jazz, and even touches of prog rock and funk, placing a premium on improvisation and pushing into their own unique musical spaces. Along the way, they earned a reputation that placed them among the greatest American bands in rock ’n’ roll history—to many, the ultimate. Although no one member was more important than another, the heart and soul of the ensemble was Garcia. After his death in 1995, the surviving members retired the name the Grateful Dead.
“I think Jerry Garcia was the most creative guitarist of the 20th century because he had the widest ears and the sharpest instincts,” opines historian, author, and official Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally, over the phone. “What we see after his death are the Deadheads coming to terms with his passing but indicating that it’s the music that was most important to them. And who plays the music now becomes simply a matter of taste.”
Dark Star Orchestra guitarist Jeff Mattson, seen here with Garcia’s Alligator Stratocaster (yes, the real one).
Photo by Susana Millman
This year marks 30 years since Garcia’s passing and 60 years since the band formed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the guitarist’s musical vocabulary and unique, personal tone manifests in new generations of players. Perhaps the most visible of these musicians is John Mayer, anointed as Garcia’s “replacement” in Dead and Co. But dozens of others, like Mattson, Tom Hamilton Jr., and a young new artist named Bella Rayne, strive to keep the Dead alive.
The first few Grateful Dead tribute bands began emerging in local dive bars by the late ’70s. More than mere cover bands, these groups devoted themselves entirely to playing the Dead. A few of these early groups eventually toured the country, playing in college towns, ski resorts, and small theatres across the United States. Mattson started one on Long Island, New York. He tells me, “The first band I was in that played exclusively Grateful Dead was Wild Oats. It was 1977, and we played local bars. Then, in 1979, I joined a band called the Volunteers. We also played almost exclusively the Grateful Dead, and that was a much more professional outfit—we had a good PA and lights and a truck, the whole nine yards.” The Volunteers eventually morphed into the Zen Tricksters.
Garcia’s death turbocharged the Dead tribute band landscape. Fanbases grew, and some bands reached the point where big-time agents booked them into blue-chip venues like Red Rocks and the Beacon Theatre. Summer festivals devoted to these bands evolved.
“The first band I was in that played exclusively Grateful Dead was Wild Oats. It was 1977, and we played local bars.” —Jeff Mattson
Dark Star Orchestra launched in 1997, and they do something particular, taking an individual show from somewhere out of Grateful Dead history and recreating that evening’s setlist. It’s musically and sonically challenging. They try to use era-specific gear, so on any given night, they may be playing through recreations of the Grateful Dead’s backline from 1971 or 1981, for example. It all depends on the show they choose to present. Mattson joined DSO as its lead guitar player in 2009.
Something else significant happened after Jerry died: The remaining living members of the Grateful Dead and other musicians from Garcia’s inner circle embraced the tribute scene, inviting musicians steeped in their music to step up and sit in with them. For Mattson, it’s meant playing over the years with all the core members of the band, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, plus former members Donna Jean Godchaux, who sang in the band from 1971 to 1979, and Tom Constanten, who played keyboards with the Dead from 1968 to 1970.
Tom Hamilton’s Lotto custom built had a Doug Irwin-inspired upper horn.
In the newest post-Garcia tribute bands, many guitar players aren’t old enough to have seen Garcia perform live—or if they did, it was towards the end of his life and career. One of those guys sitting today at the top of the Garcia pyramid, along with Mattson, is Tom Hamilton Jr. Growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, Hamilton saw Garcia play live only three times. Early on, he was influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, but Hamilton’s older brother, who was also a guitar player, loved the Dead and Garcia. “My brother wanted to play like Jerry,” he recalls, “so he roped me in because he needed me to play ‘Bob Weir’ and be his rhythm guitar sidekick.” Eventually, Hamilton leaned more into the Jerry role himself. “Then I spent my entire twenties trying to develop my own voice as a songwriter and as a guitar player. And I did,” Hamilton says. “And during that time, I met Joe Russo. He was not so much into the Dead then, but he knew I was.”
A drummer from Brooklyn, by about 2006, Russo found himself collaborating on projects with members of Phish and Ween. That put him on the radar of Lesh and Weir, who invited Russo to be a part of their post-Dead project Furthur in 2009. (And on guitar, they chose DSO founding member John Kadlecik, opening that role up for Mattson.)
“When Joe played in Furthur, he got under the hood of the Grateful Dead’s music and started to understand how special it was,” Hamilton points out. “After Furthur wound down, we decided to form JRAD. We weren’t trying to do something academic, not some note-for-note recreation. We were coming at it through the pure joy of the songs, and the fact that the five of us in JRAD were improvisers ourselves.”
“We were coming at it through the pure joy of the songs, and the fact that the five of us in JRAD were improvisers ourselves.” —Tom Hamilton Jr.
Today, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) is considered to be one of the premier Grateful Dead tribute bands. They formed in 2013, with Hamilton and Scott Metzger as the band’s guitar frontline, with Hamilton handling Garcia’s vocal roles. Eventually, Hamilton, too, found himself jamming onstage with the ever-evolving Phil Lesh and Friends. That, of course, further enmeshed him in the scene, and in 2015, he started a band with Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann calledBilly and the Kids.
Now, there’s a new kid on the block, literally. Bella Rayne recently turned 18 and grew up in Mendocino, California. Her parents were into the Dead, but even they were too young to have really followed the original band around the country. At her age, they were big into Phish. By the pandemic, Bella started embracing the guitar out of boredom, woodshedding while social distancing in quarantine. She explains, “Like any other teen, I was bored out of my mind looking for anything to do.” Rummaging through her garage, she came across her mom’s old Strat. “At the time, I was really into ’90s Seattle grunge. I put new strings on the Strat, and then I tried to teach myself Pearl Jam songs, and I learned how to play them by watching YouTube videos. Then, I started posting videos of my journey online as I became more serious about it. I hit a point where I knew it would be my thing. The next thing I knew, one of the Bay Area Dead bands [China Dolls] reached out to me and asked me to sit in. I thought, ‘no way.’“My parents are huge Deadheads,” she continues. “That’s theirthing. I grew up with the Dead being pushed on me my whole life. But I ended up going, and it’s just been this awesome spiral ever since.” Bella calls her current Dead-related project Bella Rayne and Friends, and she, too, has been recognized not only by the new generation of Garcia players in the Dead tribute bands, but also by Melvin Seals, the Hammond organist who played for years in theJerry Garcia Band. “I was hired to just sit-in for a couple of numbers withMelvin and his JGB band,” she recalls, “and we were having so much fun he said to me, ‘Why don’t you just sit in for the whole second set.’ It was an amazing night.”
Bella Rayne with her Alligator-inspired Strat, with a JGB Cats Under the Starssticker on the body.
Photo by Sean Reiter
Jerry Garcia played many different guitars. But for those guitarists wanting to emulate Garcia’s tone, the focus is on four instruments in particular. One is a1955 Fender Stratocaster known as “Alligator,” which Garcia had heavily modified and began playing in 1971. The other three guitars were hand built in Northern California by luthier Doug Irwin: Wolf, Tiger, and Rosebud. Garcia introduced them in 1973, 1979, and 1989, respectively. Sometimes, in a jam-band version of being knighted by the Excalibur sword, a chosen member of this next generation of Dead players is handed one of Garcia’s personal guitars to play onstage for a few songs or even an entire set.
Although they started their journeys at different times and in separate ways, Mattson, Hamilton, and Rayne all have “knighthood” in common. Rayne remembers, “In March of 2024, I was sitting in one night with anall-girl Dead tribute band called the China Dolls, and no one had told me that Jerry’s actual 1955 Strat, Alligator, was there that evening. My friend [roots musician] Alex Jordan handed me the guitar unannounced. It’s something I’ll never forget.”What’s it like to strap on one of Jerry Garcia’s iconic instruments? Tom Hamilton recalls, “It wasRed Rocks in 2017, and I played with Bob Weir, Melvin Seals, and JGB at a tribute show for Jerry’s 75th birthday. I got to play both Wolf and Tiger that night. I was in my head with it for about one song, but then you sort of have a job to do. But I do recall that we were playing the song ‘Deal.’ I have a [DigiTech] Whammy pedal that has a two-octave pitch raise on it, real high gain that gives me a lot of sustain, and it’s a trick I use that really peaks a jam. That night, while I am doing it, I had the thought of, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I am doing this trick of mine on Garcia’s guitar.’ Jerry would have thought what I was doing was the greatest thing in the world or the absolute worst, but either way, I’m cool with it!”
“I was sitting in one night with an all-girl Dead tribute band called the China Dolls, and no one had told me that Jerry’s actual 1955 Strat, Alligator, was there that evening. My friend [roots musician] Alex Jordan handed me the guitar unannounced. It’s something I’ll never forget.” —Bella Rayne
Jeff Mattson has played Alligator, Wolf, Garcia’s Travis Bean 500, and his Martin D-28. He sums it up this way: “I used to have posters up in my childhood bedroom of Garcia playing his Alligator guitar. I would stare at those images all the time. And sowhen I got a chance to play it and plug it in, suddenly there were those distinctive tones. Those guitars of his all have a certain mojo. It’s so great to play those guitars that you have to stop in the moment and remind yourself to take a mental picture, so it doesn’t just fly by. It’s just a tremendous pleasure and an honor. I never imagined I would get to play four of Jerry Garcia’s guitars.”
With young people like Bella Rayne dedicating herself at the tender age of 18 to keeping the Dead’s music going, it feels like what the band called their “long strange trip” will keep rolling down the tracks and far over the horizon. “People will be listening to the Grateful Dead in one hundred years the same way they will be listening to John Coltrane, too,” predicts McNally. “Improvisational music is like jumping off a cliff. Sometimes you fly, and sometimes you land on the rocks. When you take that risk, there’s an opportunity for magic to happen. And that will always appeal to a certain segment of people who don’t want predictability in the music they listen to. The Grateful Dead is for people who want complete craziness in their music—sometimes leading to disaster and oftentimes leading to something wonderful. It’s music for people who want to be surprised.”
“The distinctive pickup configurations of these five guitars deliver a versatile tonal platform, whether you’re exploring subtle textures or pushing the envelope. The deep dive into our Narrowfield technology is obvious with this launch. With both the S2 models made in our Maryland factory and the SE models made in Indonesia, our goal has been to create guitars that will inspire you and spark creativity, all at an exceptional value,” said PRS Guitars COO, Jack Higginbotham.
S2 Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS S2 Special Semi-Hollow features a pair of 58/15 LT humbuckers in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield in the middle. A 5-way blade switch and two mini-toggles allow players to tap the humbuckers, creating twelve distinct pickup combinations for sonic exploration. The carved maple top and mahogany back encompass a semi-hollow body that adds a natural airiness and depth to the guitar’s tone while enhancing sustain.
S2 Studio
The PRS S2 Studio delivers a wide range of sonic possibilities through its distinctive single-single-hum configuration. Featuring two proprietary PRS Narrowfield pickups in the bass and middle positions and a 58/15 LT humbucker in the treble position, the S2 Studio offers a palette of sounds from single-coil clarity to vocal humbucker tones. This model also has a 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control.
SE Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow is designed with the versatility of a hum/“single”/hum setup, bringing PRS’s Narrowfield DD pickup design to the SE Series in a classic maple-top guitar. The semi-hollow construction also enhances sustain and resonance, while the f-hole adds a classic aesthetic. The coil-tap switching system unlocks a wide range of tones through a pair of 58/15 LT “S” pickups in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield DD “S” in the middle.
SE Studio
The PRS SE Studio’s “single”/”single”/hum pickup configuration provides a wide range of tonal options. This combination of PRS Narrowfield DD “S” bass and middle pickups with a PRS 58/15 LT “S” treble humbucker offers humbucking warmth, single-coil sparkle, and everything in between. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control further enhance its versatility.
SE Studio Standard
The only bolt-on neck in this release group, the PRS SE Studio Standard brings the tone, playability, and versatility of the Studio model to the SE Series and into an all-mahogany design with a vintage-style pickguard aesthetic. At the heart of the SE Studio Standard is its versatile trio of pickups: an 58/15 LT “S” humbucker in the treble position with two Narrowfield DD “S” pickups in the middle and bass positions. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control allow for an array of pickup configurations.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year.
