Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-05-19
Photo: Courtesy of Dino English
Heads All Happy Hour sat down with Dark Star Orchestra drummer Richard ‘Dino’ English recently in New Orleans to discuss nearly three decades on the road. Since joining the ensemble in 1999, Dino has performed thousands of shows, expertly channeling the Dead’s signature improvisational style and collaborating with original members of the Grateful Dead as well as legends from the jamband and music world. He is a key architect of the DSO experience, helping the band fulfill its mission to bring the legendary energy and celebration of a Grateful Dead show to life for new and veteran Deadheads in every city they visit.
Heads All Happy Hour: The Grateful Dead played 2,318 shows over 30 years (1965-1995). Next year, 11/11/2027, will be Dark Star Orchestra's 30th anniversary. How many shows has DSO played so far?
Dino English: Over 3,400 now. By our 30th anniversary we’ll probably be close to 3,600.
Heads All Happy Hour: I’m definitely blocking out our calendar for November 11th, 2027! At what point did you realize the DSO adventure was not only built to last, but would have such success?
Dino English: I don’t know if I ever did. I looked at it like a bucking bronco. I visualized it as getting on and riding it as long as you can until it bucks you off. I was always prepared to be bucked off, or to jump off myself if I couldn't take it anymore. But here we are, 28 going on 29 years, and I’m still riding.
Heads All Happy Hour: Well, that’s incredible, how are things different now versus the early years?
Dino English: Every year, lately, we are more successful than the previous year. That’s not always been the case. We’ve managed not to fall apart, we just hung in there, though we’ve lost some people along the way. All of us believe in the music so much that we just keep on doing it. In the early 2000s, we were doing close to 170 shows a year, it wasn’t possible to do much else, that was a lot of time on the road. Now we’re at about 85 shows a year and we're still growing. I think that’s one of the things that’s sustained us. We have a better balance now—lives, families, and things outside the band.
Heads All Happy Hour: Speaking of losing people, condolences on the passing of both Donna Godchaux and Bob Weir in recent months. You’ve played with both of them—I had the pleasure of seeing them sit-in with DSO at different shows, Red Rocks for Donna and Warfield for Bobby, what was that like?
Dino English: Donna was a friend. I actually just found a photo of her—from a venue in Birmingham, I was doing my laundry, and she came to the show. She saw me folding clothes and said, "That’s not right," and she sat down and taught me how to fold shirts the right way. That was just one of the fun, cute moments I got to have with her. She was a gem—a real person and we were real people together, it was cool. I still remember what she taught me about folding shirts and everything.
Heads All Happy Hour: Did you talk to her about her life in the Grateful Dead?
Dino English: Yeah, she had all sorts of different stories. Like, one time, just tripping too hard and she ends up hiding underneath the piano on the Europe ’72 tour. There’s more, but I don’t want to get the stories wrong.
Heads All Happy Hour: Who was the first of the ‘Core Four’ to embrace DSO?
Dino English: Bob Weir, he wasn't afraid to come out and play with us. We were a fresh band in the early 2000s.
Heads All Happy Hour: Do you remember the first time Bobby played with you?
Dino English: A friend of mine just asked me that date, so I looked it up. It was at the Warfield Theater for a Rex Foundation benefit on April 13th, 2002.
Heads All Happy Hour: Less than five years into Dark Star's existence, you played with Bob Weir!
Dino English: It was three years for me. I joined in ‘99 and, all of a sudden, I’m on stage with Weir.
Heads All Happy Hour: What was that like, it must have been surreal!
Dino English: It was completely amazing. First of all, I was kind of expecting it not to really come true. But we get to the Warfield and his amp shows up in the afternoon, then his guitar. At that point I thought, "maybe this actually is going to happen."
Not long before the set, he popped in through the backstage entrance. The show we were doing was a Warfield '80 show, so it was a three-set show. It started with acoustic; he watched us do the acoustic set first, and then he joined us in the first electric set.
Heads All Happy Hour: He reproduced his own show with Dark Star Orchestra!
Dino English: Yeah, but he was trying to describe the different arrangements he was doing nowadays, like, "I don’t play Little Red Rooster like that anymore, I add these extra bars."
Heads All Happy Hour: Did you do it the modern way or the 1980 way?
Dino English: He tried to explain it to us and we were like, "Okay..." but when it came down to it, we just played it our old way. He pretty much followed us because we didn't know how to do it the way he wanted. We played a few songs to kick off the set, and then Rob Eaton introduced him and jumped off stage. Bobby did his regular tuning thing, like everybody’s seen him do with his back to the audience. So, I’m a drummer sitting there right in front of him watching him fiddle around with his knobs and he looks right up at me and says “you ready to go?”, I give him the nod and then we were playing with Bob Weir. I was completely elated. Here I am, only being in the band for three years so far, being such a lover of the music, and, all of a sudden, here he is, willing to play with us. But the best part of the whole thing was he had a great time with us. You could see it in his face, he had a blast.
One of the funniest things that night was that he misread the setlist—he thought we were playing "Estimated " and it was actually "Music Never Stopped." He started counting off "Estimated" and we were like, "No, that’s not the right song." We waved him off, and then he kicked off "Music." Then, after we did the whole tune, after the big climax conclusion, he breaks back into it again! So, we do a second outro and he adds the vocal “never stop, never stop” part like he did later on. It wasn’t like a 1980 show. (Editors note: you can listen to the full recording of the entire show on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/dso2002-04-13.shnf)
Heads All Happy Hour: Ha, the music never stopped! That sounds like quite a time machine ride for Bobby, far out! How about other members of the Grateful Dead, have you played with them?
Dino English: The first member was Vince (Welnick), we did a festival with him in 2000 or 2001, that was a good time. Then Bob, then I think Donna after that. We played with Lesh. Mickey invited Koritz & I to sit in with his band, so I have played with him. Bill Kreutzmann played with us (DSO) at the Oregon Country Fair. I didn’t actually get to play with Billy because, you know, I jumped off my kit for him to use.
Heads All Happy Hour: Because you’re the Billy guy! What was that like, meeting Kreutzman? Is it safe to say that, when it’s a two-drummer show, you’re always Billy?
Dino English: Well, I mean, I do what Billy does but I’m not trying to be Billy, I just play music to fulfill the role that he did, which is holding down the backbeat. Billy is a jazz/R&B drummer at heart; my natural style just fit the glove. His heroes are my heroes- like Elvin Jones. He’s also a jazz fan, R&B fan, and all that early rock and roll, so it’s a combination of knowing all of that stuff. So, I approach it the same way. I’m not trying to copy him exactly, by any means. I certainly have listened to a lot, and I’ve picked up a lot along the way, but did not have to try to alter my style.
Heads All Happy Hour: Is that how you got hired by Dark Star?
Dino English: Pretty much. It just fit my natural style anyway. I mean, Billy’s Billy and nobody sounds exactly like him but I know how to do what Billy did, as far as the musical necessities required. Mickey’s like a world beat drummer on a drum set with the Grateful Dead and then kind of went forward and world beat later. That’s the way I visualize it.
Heads All Happy Hour: Does your drum kit change based upon the era you are performing?
Dino English: I add or subtract. I don’t move things around so much, whereas (Rob) Koritz (DSO’s other drummer) moves different drums around and he’s got more of a moving base. I might add a second ride or Octobans depending on the era, whatever’s right for Billy’s kit at the time. Billy kind of just expanded his kit as time went by. At first, it was a regular five piece then it turned into a six piece. At first, there were just two Toms up front and one floor, then there were times with three toms and two floors, or times with one ride or a ride on each side, one above his high-hat. It’s just a way of playing a little bit differently and adds a little flavor.
Heads All Happy Hour: That kind of attention to detail, I think, is one of the most amazing things about Dark Star Orchestra. You’ve been reproducing Grateful Dead setlists since the beginning. For a long time, you were the only ones doing that. Now you mix in ‘elective shows’ where you write your own setlists. How often does that happen?
Dino English: Roughly about two in every five shows is an elective.
Heads All Happy Hour: You have the task of selecting the Grateful Dead shows to perform. That sounds like a deadhead dream. You must know more shows than almost anyone. Are there any '70s or '80s shows you don't know?
Dino English: I know the styles of the different eras, though I can’t remember every venue. We’re close to having done all of the mid-seventies. There are a few with guest sit-ins that we don't do, or maybe an Egypt show left over, not many. We’ve played some shows five or six different times at this point.
Heads All Happy Hour: How do you decide, city-to-city, tour-to-tour, which show to play?
Dino English: Those mid-seventies shows are our meat and potatoes as far as the whole band goes with both drummers and Lisa. We’ve played virtually all of those shows. The idea is to get as much variety as possible and do something different than the last time we were in that specific city.
Heads All Happy Hour: Because you know some discerning Deadhead is going to remember what you did last time! “Oh, when they were here last year they did a ‘78”.
Dino English: Yeah, so we’re not going to do a ’78 again and we’ll try to play completely different songs, for the most part.
Heads All Happy Hour: That is very thoughtful for the local Heads!
Dino English: And we try for no repeats from night-to-night. There’s all sorts of different factors, it’s a Rubik’s Cube to put together. It used to be a lot tougher, nowadays we have a database. It used to be turning pages of Deadbase and scanning our past setlists. It would take, literally, a whole week to put together a tour. Eaton did it for a lot of years before I did, and then it was my turn, so I’ve been doing it since 2019 or so. But I don’t pick the songs that get played in the electives.
Heads All Happy Hour: Oh, so if you are doing, say, Ventura ’85, the night before or after then they’ll select the elective songs accordingly?
Dino English: Yeah, and if there’s any special requests from the band we’ll try to work them in when possible. Skip is always wanting to play Jersey shows in his home state of New Jersey and I think we’ve played them all at this point.
Heads All Happy Hour: Well, let me ask you this- you’re coming to Ventura to play at the ‘Maybe It Was The Roses’ at the end of May, what do you know about the history of the Grateful Dead in Ventura?
Dino English: It’s a special place for sure. It’s really cool to have played at the actual spot where they did shows when we did the Skull & Roses Festival a couple of times several years ago, it was a blast. Though we weren’t able to do an actual Ventura show- there wasn’t enough time to set up our full 80’s rig and tear it down, it takes us all day to set up for a show like that.
Heads All Happy Hour: Do you and the band listen to the shows before you play them?
Dino English: Yeah, not necessarily the whole show, we all just kind of listen to it on our own for the most part. Sometimes we dial it in in the front lounge of the bus. A group will listen to it to get the vibe, the arrangement. We’re not close to being note for note, but it’s arrangement for arrangement.
Heads All Happy Hour: As a drummer, who sets the tempo?
Dino English: The drummers don’t set the tempo unless drums start the song, like ‘Samson & Delilah’. We go by the tape tempo. If it’s a fast ‘Samson’, we play it fast. The singer usually counts off the song.
Heads All Happy Hour: What are the ‘drummer’s choice’ songs you like the most?
Dino English: I really don’t have a favorite or anything like that. I love each song like it was a child of mine, it’s not like I like one better than another, I love them for what they bring to the table. Some of them are what I call the ‘big guns’, like Scarlet Fire or China Rider. Those are always showstoppers; the audience loves that stuff. Help Slip Frank. But then, the ballads are just as sweet and, in another way, they’re poignant. I love playing the ballads too. They’re slow but I love them for the song that they are, not necessarily rhythmic complexities but, actually, they kind’ve are a lot of times. It’s harder to play a slow song than a fast song. You’ve got to keep it all perfectly in line.
Heads All Happy Hour: Well, thank you for coming to Ventura at the end of May for ‘Maybe It Was The Roses’ and sitting in with my band, No Simple Highway! When you joined us at the last Skull & Roses, in 2023, that was a blast, really a dream come true for us. Since then, we’ve had (Rob) Barraco sit in at the first ‘Maybe It Was The Roses’, that was a big thrill. We’re happily building our resume and having you back is very, very special to us! Who else are you playing with at ‘Maybe It Was The Roses’?
Dino English: Playing with Lebo (Dan ‘Lebo’ Lebowitz from ALO) along with Don Was. Really looking forward to playing with both of those gentlemen.
Heads All Happy Hour: Don Was is a Wolf Brother! Have you not played with him before?
Dino English: We did a gig for him in Boston for an organization he’s part of, but we’ve never played with him. I first saw Don Was play with ‘Was Not Was’ at Six Flags in St. Louis when I was in high school. Also on the bill was Milli Vanilli and Tone Loc.
Heads All Happy Hour: And you’re also on with Stu Allen & Mars Hotel (at ‘Maybe It Was The Roses’) in Ventura with Don Was on bass!
Dino English: Yes! I just played with Stu here (in New Orleans) on Friday & Saturday, that was tons of fun. We’ve crossed paths a lot. I guess the very first time I played with Stu was in the 1990’s when he sat in with the band I was in before Dark Star. He was living in Minnesota and came down for an ‘Other Ones’ show, I believe, in St. Louis. He caught wind that we were putting on a show after that, and was talking to Jimmy, our bass player, and told him he was a guitar player and then sat in with us.
Heads All Happy Hour: Dino, I know you have some occasional side projects, including one with a well-known Hollywood titan. Do you want to talk about that?
Dino English: Yeah, one of my first bands was with James Gunn, who is now the co-CEO of DC Studios. He’s currently shooting the next Superman movie in Atlanta. He did the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. He actually broke out first by writing the script for Scooby-Doo.
Heads All Happy Hour: When did you start playing with him?
Dino English: 1988, when we were in college. It was me, Mike Meitner on bass, and Jim Lang on guitar. We needed a lead singer, and Jim Lang knew Jim Gunn.
Heads All Happy Hour: What was the name of the band?
Dino English: The Icons. Our first gig was on The Landing, which was a big deal. That’s where all the big bands played down in St. Louis. Then we got a gig at Kennedy’s. They wanted original music, so we had to come up with a whole night’s worth of material in a month.
Heads All Happy Hour: How do you describe the style of The Icons?
Dino English: Alternative rock. We were into a variety of different stuff - Talking Heads, The Cure, and definitely a Chili Peppers element. Early Chili Peppers sound is quite different than what they sound like now. So, we were a cross between alternative funk and a Goth kind of thing like The Cure and The Smiths. James was big into the Clash and Johnny Rotten.
Heads All Happy Hour: Can he still sing?
Dino English: He was a super performer. He wasn't a "great" singer, but he was a great lyricist and had stage presence galore.
Heads All Happy Hour: Have you talked about an Icons reunion?
Dino English: I’d love to do it anytime, but he’s so focused on his billion-dollar studio projects. We recorded an album in '94 which was like a reunion recording session of all our old stuff. You can hear it on Spotify. Some of it made it into his movies. It was a very creative band, some of the stuff is really good. Howard Stern actually played one of the songs, "Sunday," when he interviewed James Gunn recently. Pretty cool for a little alternative band from St. Louis in the late 80’s.
Heads All Happy Hour: Well, there’s enough Dark Star & Deadheads out in the world that some of them will be curious and want to hear The Icons, so let’s make that happen!
Meanwhile, we’re sitting here in New Orleans in between JazzFest weekends. I just saw you play a show w/ Melvin Seals along with some of your DSO bandmates and original guitarist John Kadlecik.
Dino English: Have played with Melvin a bunch of times, it’s always so much fun. I love Melvin, it’s such a special thing to play with him.
Heads All Happy Hour: Feel like dropping any other names you’ve played with? I hear there’s a certain former Zappa drummer….
Dino English: Well, I’ve taken lessons from (Frank Zappa drummer) Chad Wackerman, he’s a buddy of mine now and he’s come to see us in LA and sit in for the drum segment. We also did that with Miles Teller one time, the movie star. He was in that drum movie (Whiplash).
I got to play White Rabbit with original members of Jefferson Airplane, Jorma & Jack, it’s always a treat to play with those guys. Warren Haynes. There’s a lot of different names- Trey, Mike and Fishman from Phish, Sam Bush, Los Lobos, Vassar Clements, Richie Hayward, Airto, Jeff Chimenti, Steve Kimock, Keller Williams….
Heads All Happy Hour: That’s awesome. Music really bridges so many worlds. We’re in New Orleans right now—did you get to see any JazzFest music?
Dino English: Yeah, went out to see David Byrne, love him. Awesome concert. Also saw The Mardi Gras Indians do their thing- old school with all the outfits, was a real New Orleans experience. And they played Pocky Way and all these other tunes. The Big Chief, the oldest surviving Indian chief, was there and he still has the voice of gold!
Heads All Happy Hour: What does the rest of 2026 have in store for Dark Star Orchestra?
Dino English: We have some special events. By the time this comes out we will have announced that we’re doing two nights at the Greek (in Berkeley)—July 31st and August 1st. It’s a Rex Foundation Benefit. The first night we’ll have Melvin Seals & JGB on the bill, and the second night will feature Peter Rowan and Sam Grisman opening with Old & In The Way. We’ll be performing Jerry’s birthday show from 8/1/73, Roosevelt Stadium.
Heads All Happy Hour: That’s going to be awesome! I could go on and on because this is fascinating. I love this stuff! Let’s plan on another interview in the future! Thank you Dino!
Dino English & Dark Star Orchestra are currently on the second leg of their 2026 Spring Tour, leading up to the ‘Dark Star Jubilee’ May 22-24 in Ohio, and Dino will be joining an all-star lineup at the ‘Maybe It Was The Roses Festival’ in Ventura, CA May 29-31. DSO Summer Tour dates are also announced on the east coast, including a stop at the ‘All Good Now’ Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD June 13-14. Summer tour continues out west including a very special two-night Rex Foundation benefit and tribute to Bob Weir at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA July 31-August 1. More info and all tour dates can be found at www.darkstarorchestra.net
