Warren Haynes is in “Passport Hell”. Before our Zoom chat, the Gov’t Mule frontman has spent 90 minutes on a call trying to renew his passport so that he can travel outside the US, specifically to Canada for his band’s upcoming live shows later this week. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fine. I’ll know in a few hours. And we’re excited to be back too. It’s been too long.”
Gov’t Mule will play MTelus in Montreal this Sunday (September 17th). We hope!
What can people who haven’t seen Gov’t Mule live before expect from a live show?
Well, every set that we do is different. We play a different song list every night, and since we haven’t been to Canada in quite some time, we’ll probably just cover a little bit of everything, you know, go through each part of our career. But a lot of stuff from the new record as well. We don’t really know what we’re going to play till usually the day before or so. And sometimes that even changes at soundcheck, and then could even change again for the show. But we really love doing a different set list every night. It’s kind of what keeps us inspired and fresh.
With so much material from over the years, how do you even begin to think about what goes in the set list now?
Normally we would base it on what we played the previous time in a certain city and just make sure that everything is different. But with COVID and lockdown and the fact that we haven’t been to a lot of these places in a long time, it’s kind of like a clean slate at this point. So really just what seems fun and what we think the particular audience might connect with the most. It really starts with feeling good about it ourselves.
And do the songs change much when you play them live? I’m kind of guessing they do.
Yeah, a lot of them do. Some of the shorter songs stay relatively the same, but there’s quite a few that are open territory and can go different places from night to night. And that’s one of the things that we enjoy too is reinterpreting the songs on a continual sort of basis.
What makes a perfect concert for you?
Well, you can usually tell in the first few minutes if it’s going to be a great night, something just clicks right off the bat. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the energy from the audience, which kind of propels us to heights that we’re not really capable of in an empty room. But some nights just click from the very beginning. You know, it can be inspired by the sound of the room and the sound of the stage.
More often than not, I think just intangible, you know, that unexplainable thing that happens. If I feel like I’m breaking some new ground and experimenting and it’s all working, then that usually helps. You know, if my voice feels particularly good, that usually helps. But it’s probably most important that the band chemistry connect. And that usually happens, as I mentioned, right from the start.
If you go out and you don’t feel that, if it’s not quite right, do you have anything that you do to get it back?
I panic! (laughs)
Usually, if that’s happening, maybe I’ll call an audible in the setlist and play something that’s not intended to be played. That is an old faithful, you know, something that I know we can connect on instantly and that the audience will love. But, we try to live by the hope that our worst nights are still good and our best nights hopefully are great. We’re harder on ourselves, I think, than the audience is.
You’ve had a pretty long and fruitful career. What are the moments that you would tell your grandkids about?
You know, joining the Allman Brothers was such a huge moment for me, and it opened so many doors. So getting the call to be part of the Allman Brothers band was an enormous thing. Playing Woodstock in 94 with the Allman Brothers was great. The induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Allman Brothers.
The few Grammys that we’ve won, you know, I used to not really care much about those sort of things, but I realized when the time came that even though I don’t put much stock in awards and those kind of preferences, it’s nice to be acknowledged for all the hard work and dedication.
You know, playing on stage with Bob Dylan was quite a thrill for me. There’s been a lot. I can say that I’ve been so fortunate to have had a lot of those moments.
Watch the full interview below:
