Red Matter are Redefining Themselves, and Their Scene

Whoever came up with the phrase “too many cooks spoil the broth” clearly never heard the music of multi-genre jam band Red Matter.

Once a six man Grateful Dead cover band known as Terrapin, the addition of a seventh member – frontwoman Milo Barer – and a name change to Red Matter, has led to a branching out musically that none of them expected.

“It kind of changed everything,” says drummer JP Geoghegan.

Whereas before, their musical world centered around the Grateful Dead, Barer explains that now, “It’s so collaborative. You see all of our influences, and experiences come together in our music.”

Those influences, which can be heard on their 2023 album Northbound Train, come from the aforementioned Barer, and Geoghegan, as well as Paul Dunay, Geoff Schneider, Doug Knight, Ric Lubell, and Aaron Hagele (photo above: Doug, Aaron, Milo, JP, Paul, Geoff, Ric).

Becoming known as a must-see live band, Red Matter has developed a devoted following thanks to numerous dates at festivals, and at venues such as NYC’s The Bitter End, and Bridgeport, CT’s Park City Music Hall.

Barer notes that when it comes to the community they’re building, the three words that describe it best are, “Familial, personal, and authentic.”

Red Matter’s 2024 plans include more festival dates, three new singles, and, of course, numerous live shows in, and around the tri-state area.

With so much going on for the band, I caught up with four of the members of Red Matter, and they talked about the changes they’ve experienced since becoming Red Matter, the musical influences they’re hearing come to the forefront for the first time, and why they say they’re having some the most fun they’ve ever had making music.

I think everybody in the Black Rock area, at some point in time, had a Terrapin sticker. Red Matter is Terrapin with the major addition of Milo Barer on vocals. How did Milo end up in the band? 

Milo: Where you and I had met years ago, at The Acoustic, I was sitting in at a gig. It was just like an all-star lineup gig, this was before I was in any band. (I was) just kind of popping out here and there in Black Rock, getting a little more comfortable with performing, and really figuring out, and knowing, that it’s something that I want to do, that it’s something I want to take on in my life, to truly go all in, and be a professional musician.

There was a particular night at The Acoustic where I was performing, and after the show I was in the green room, and Aaron, Aaron Hagele, our percussion player, came up to me and said, “Hey, I’m in this band called Terrapin. We’re a Grateful Dead cover band, and we’re looking for a female vocalist. Would you be interested?” I said, “Absolutely.”

They sent me some material to learn, and then we had my audition / rehearsal, and the rest is history. I joined the band, and here we are today.

For the guys who were in the band, how has this injection of youth affected you? Have you found yourselves reinvigorated? 

Paul: It’s brought our average age down by a lot.

Everyone: {laughs}

Paul: Speaking for myself, of course.

JP: The youthfulness of the group has always kind of been ever-present. I would say the image has certainly dropped a decade, or two.

A band is a family, and when you manage it, it’s brothers and sisters in a lot of ways. Usually it’s a band of brothers, so when you add the female component you never know where it’s gonna go, and I think Milo fits in that little sister / now you’ve got like five dads …

Milo: Yeah, I have six other dads.

JP: But it’s been great, honestly. It’s been fun. She’s the little sister I never wanted.

Milo: And you’re the big brother that I didn’t need.

JP: Exactly, so we’re all kinda equal there. It’s been a lot of fun. Writing the music has been cool.

What kind of changes have you seen in your audience since the addition of Milo, and becoming Red Matter? 

JP: I’d say our audience has gotten younger, which is cool. It’s always good to see that.

Traditionally, as a Dead cover band you see your Deadhead friends, and people who are into the Dead. When you do the jam band thing, or you want to get into original music, you probably lose some of that traditional Deadhead fan. We’ve been lucky, we haven’t necessarily lost any of them, because I think when we did that transition we did it in a way where we were still Terrapin, we were just putting our originals into the setlist and seeing what happened with it.

Paul: I think that change is still happening. We’re still seeing people rediscovering the band that had been longtime fans, and had stuck with us through the changes, but now that we’ve put out the album they’re rediscovering us, and finding it to be super powerful, so it’s still going on.

Milo: I agree. I would say we’re still in a bit of an evolution. I think people hearing our new voice while we’re also finding our new voice has been really interesting. It’s been really cool to see people who were with us with Terrapin coming along this journey with us, and then to have all these new people coming along this journey with us, (as well).

JP: When I look at the pros out there who are doing it on a much bigger scale than we are, there’s a lot of bro culture in the jam scene, if you will. When I look at that culture I think we fall into the Tedeschi Trucks, kind of more of a family feel to what we’re doing, which for me is timeless, so every age is welcome … according to state liquor laws anyways.

You touched on the concept of bro culture in the jam band scene. How does that happen in a scene where it seems to be mostly about togetherness? 

JP: I don’t think there’s enough women doing it, to be honest with you. I don’t think it’s a question of is there a reason for it, there’s just not enough women taking on the scene. There’s like Milo, and Jen Durkin in the jam band scene. That’s kinda it. Outside of Susan Tedeschi maybe, where do you go with it?

Milo, knowing you’re in one of the handful of jam bands that feature a woman, are you prepared to answer, “What’s it like being a woman in the jam band scene?” five million times? 

Milo: Yes I am. I am ready, because growing up I was the only girl in the boys baseball league for five seasons. No societal norms, or regulations ever stopped me from doing what I wanted to do, so I am prepared to answer that question five million times, because I’m very proud of what I do, and what we do, and I want to leave a big footprint.

Speaking of your footprint, you don’t wear shoes on stage. 

Milo: I do not.

So it’s a legitimate footprint. 

Milo: Legitimate footprint.

Paul: Toes, and everything.

I do get concerned sometimes when I see you run off stage, and through a venue. I’m like oh my God, I don’t know what’s on this floor. 

Milo: I leave a pair of shoes, at Park City (Music Hall), at the bottom of the stairs.

I don’t wear shoes on stage because I get anxious for shows. Even though I know I step up onto that stage, and it’s my flow state, it’s my happiest time, it’s where I feel the most connected to my guys. Looking out into the audience, even though I know I’m OK, I still get really anxious.

When I used to wear shoes on stage I would feel less grounded, less connected to the stage. Being barefoot I can feel the bass in my feet, I can feel the ground beneath me, and it really just helps me get more centered when I’m out there dancing around like a maniac.

When it comes to dancing, you really span a gamut of genres. One of my favorite songs of yours is the Latin infused “Hole In My Heart.” How much experimentation are you doing now, and does each member contribute a different influence? 

JP: I think when you start to write your own stuff the things that you learn as you’re going, that you learn as you’re a kid, kinda come out.

I hear, for example, Paul’s playing more slide. On the drums I’m probably doing more laid back stuff than I’d ever played before. I’m definitely more a groove player than when I was a busy Grateful Dead drummer.

I think collectively everybody’s influences, if you want to say it comes from the Dead jam band scene, of course it does, but I leave the studio, and I’m listening to Ozzy’s Boneyard (SiriusXM channel). I listen to more metal now than I used to.

Paul: I’ll add on to that. Everyone has their own go-to stuff that they listened to when they were 16 years old, and just to see what comes up out of all of that now, late in years, is super interesting.

I think you’re really keying into something, Adam. Who knows the influences that we’ve had, but whatever it is it’s coming out.

In “Hole In My Heart” it’s like a spark of Santana, so for a Dead band it’s very interesting to see these spin outs, if you will.

Milo: As we’re finding our voice as Red Matter, for me, personally, I’m coming from a place where I wasn’t nearly as familiar with the Grateful Dead as the guys were. Then I learned so much about myself through learning about the Grateful Dead. Pile on top my different influences for myself as a musician, collectively put them with all the guys, it’s just paving the way for us to really just find our voice with just so many different layers to it based off of who we’re influenced by.

JP: It’s funny, I was listening to some of the scratch tracks from the studio, and I called Geoff, I’m like, “I don’t know what it is, but this is missing something.” We went on a tangent for like 20 minutes of, “What is it (missing)?”

From the collaborative perspective, it’s fun. That’s fun that I didn’t think we’d be having at this time in my life. It’s a bonus.

Milo: You have fun with me JP?

JP: No, I said Geoff.

Everyone: {laughs}

Finally speaking of inspirations, I know your band name has sci-fi inspirations. Break it down for everyone. 

Milo: That was actually me.

JP: Technically it came out of Milo’s mouth, however the process to get there … Paul, what’s the number on that list?

Paul: Oh my God. If anyone’s ever looking for a band name we have a list that is close to 400, and there are some really good ones in there, too.

JP: We went through this process, and Paul kept this list, and nobody liked any of the names. Finally, we went to Geoff’s house, we popped a bottle of wine, and we started eating some food, and talking about one of the Star Trek movies, or something.

Milo: I was raised on Star Trek – Next Generation, original, all of it. It’s one of the reasons Geoff loves me as much as he does – and in one of the new Star Trek movies there’s a substance called Red Matter. Basically it creates a black hole, and you are sucked out into the cosmos.

When I was thinking about the name I said – that’s what it feels like for me to be performing on stage, or to be in an audience watching a show. You are sucked out of your reality. You are pushed out into this different energy field. You are outside of yourself. You’re in this huge shared experience.

When I’m on stage at a Red Matter show I’m not thinking about the bills I have to pay, or the annoying thing that happened at work, or any stressors, I am just away from it all in this different world. So when I thought of Red Matter, it’s like well, that’s what we do – when people come to our show they are taking a break from their reality, they’re being taken out of themselves to just join this different realm, basically. That’s why I threw Red Matter out there.

Paul: A little bit of a backdrop to that, we were going through these lists of names, and it just was not working, so it was like get in a room, lock the doors, and nobody leaves until we come out with a name.

Geoff: It was the papal smoke chamber type of thing. Nobody was leaving the house until this was done. I was, frankly, sick and tired of it, so we just basically said I’m feeding you, you’re gonna be drunk, and we’re gonna get this done tonight. It seems to work on a lot of things.

The problem was it got done in 15 minutes, so now it was like now what do we do?

It was a great evening. I didn’t expect it to happen so fast.

For more Red Matter, check out redmattertunes.com.