The China Cats

Moe's Alley presents a Grateful Dead dance party with THE CHINA CATS.

This Bay Area tribute band performs the songs of the Grateful Dead with spirited jams that carry their own genuine personality while paying homage to their musical forefathers. While the China Cats capture the spirit of the Dead with uncanny aplomb, they retain their own individuality. All of the bandmembers are active players in the Bay Area jam band scene. Lead guitarist Matt Hartle -- who covers the Jerry Garcia parts -- is well known through his other band Shady Groove as well as longtime Jerry Garcia organist Melvin Seals. Rhythm guitarist Scott Cooper -- who covers the Bob Weir parts -- also works with Gary Gates Band, Stackabones, Secret Chimp, Stu Allen, and has performed at the Grateful Dead Archives. Bassist Roger Sideman keeps busy with David Gans but has also worked with bluegrass pioneer Frank Wakefield and local favorites Audiofauna, as well as Stu Allen. Similarly keyboardist Steve Sofranko works with Gates, Allen and others. Lastly, a la the Dead circa '73, the China Cats use one drummer: Michael Owens.

Armed with a large repertoire of tunes from the Dead's 150-song repertoire, the China Cats, like the Dead, do not repeat songs from one night to the next. Their repertoire spans the Dead's entire career including vintage gems such as "St. Stephen"; epic masterpieces like "Terrapin Station," "Help on the Way -> Slipknot"; Bob Weir jam numbers like "Let it Grow" and "Feel Like a Stranger"; obscurities like "Mission in the Rain" and "Brother Esau", and latter-day nuggets such as "Lazy River Road," "Liberty" and "So Many Roads." Despite their various allegiances, China Cats is a full-fledged band, listening closely to one another as they share the happy tangle that defines Dead-style jams. They relish the use of familiar Dead motifs: bluegrassy phrasing on lines far outside the bluegrass idiom, group pauses with glimmering sustained notes, and overlapping scales that unfurled like maypole ribbons.