Five Firsts: Marc Muller of Dead On Live

NAME: Marc Muller
BAND AFFILIATION: Dead On Live
INSTRUMENT: Guitar, pedal and lap steel, mandolin, banjo, bass, drums

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Beatles’ Revolver. My older brother Steve won Beatles 65 on “Wonderama” way back when.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … Grateful Dead, Nassau Coliseum, 1973. Again, the older brother Steve and his then girlfriend (now wife) piled me into their ’68 VW bug. Def a major musical event for a 13-year-old.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … Favilla classical guitar. Dad got as payment for a job he did for a guitar teacher. I think I basically crawled over to it as soon as I got old enough to crawl.

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS …I put a band together when I was 12 years old and played at our middle school talent show. We made up our own songs – songs like “Blowin’ My Mind on That Rock n Roll,” “Purple Slurp” and “Morning Jazz.” I still have the cassette.

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … The first working band was a Union County band called Timber when I was 15 years old. Parents had to drive me 40 minutes each way to rehearsals and gigs. As soon as I got out of high school and could drive myself, I joined a popular southern rock band of the late ’70s called Molly Cribb.

Marc Muller – who has toured with Shania Twain and Tommy Shaw; recorded with Bruce Springsteen and Branford Marsalis; produced Steve Forbert; and released two solo albums of his own – leads his Grateful Dead tribute band, Dead On Live into the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock at 9pm on Saturday (April 13). Tickets are $25.