Grateful Dead drummer very much alive with Devils

After dabbling in other instruments, Bill Kreutzmann latched onto the drums.

"First I wanted to be a piano player, and then I wanted to play trumpet," Kreutzmann said during a phone interview from his home in Hawaii.

"And then I saw a guy playing drums in my hometown of Palo Alto (Calif.) and thought, 'That's really cool. You get to play music AND move around a lot.'

"I picked up the physicality of it, and I enjoy that aspect even today."

In fact, the Grateful Dead drummer said playing drums is like exercising every day.

"It's probably been really good for me to play drums all these years," he said. "It's a great fun workout. And I just like it. It's a passion.

"After my first drum lesson when I was 13, I took out my mom's pots and pans and played all over them."

Back in 1965, Kreutzmann hooked up with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan to form the band that would become the Grateful Dead.

"I was really fortunate to meet (them) in the Palo Alto days," Kreutzmann said. "That's all history and a lot further than my memory would allow me to tell you."

These days, Kreutzmann is involved in four bands — the Dead (featuring his former bandmates from the Grateful Dead), BK3, 7 Walkers and the Rhythm Devils.

The Rhythm Devils, formed by Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, the other longtime Grateful Dead drummer, will make a stop at Red Butte Garden on Sunday.

The band includes guitarists Keller Williams, Tim Bluhm from the Mother Hips and Davy Knowles from Back Door Slam. The Rhythm Devils also features Gov't Mule bassist Andy Hess and Nigerian talking-drum master Sikiru Adepoju.

The idea for the Rhythm Devils started with an inkling to play music, said Kreutzmann.

"We started with an itch, and then we scratched it by getting all the music together," he said. "That's what Mickey and I have been doing the last few months."

Kreutzmann, whose Facebook page features exclusive Rhythm Devils songs, said he and Hart have compiled a bunch of Grateful Dead songs and some songs from the last Rhythm Devils tour for this outing.

"We'll put a new spin on them," he said. "I really like that. You have to keep the changes the same and words the same, because of the song, but then you put your own textures on it and put it in your own solos. And the fun part is we have new players on board."