The Grateful Dead — you either love them or hate them. There is probably no band that sparks more division among music fans than the famous San Fransico-based group who rose to prominence in the hippie scene of the 1960s with their wildly eclectic music, jam-heavy live shows, and a massive, devoted following known as ‘Deadheads.’ Haters often view the band as a bunch of self-indulgent jammers playing long, meandering shows for a bunch of patchouli-soaked, tye-dyed stoners. Fans, however, would argue that they are a group of adventurous, accomplished musicians (especially Jerry Garcia) whose improvisational skills took their live shows to a level bordering on the cosmic.

This pro and anti-Dead bias is well known to Mind Left Body, an Easthampton-based Grateful Dead cover band that includes Gordon Clark on lead guitar and vocals, Dan Cornely on rhythm guitar and vocals, Seth Deysher on bass, Brian Marchese on drums and James “Mac” Doherty on keyboards.

“There is this real prejudice (against the Dead), and I think it’s the fact that they dabbled in so many styles, and some were misguided,” said drummer Marchese, in a recent interview that also included Clark and Cornely.

But with a band that played as long (30 years) and performed as many live shows as the Dead did, there are bound to be some bumps along the road.

“They were risk takers, and that means you are going to strike out some time,” said Cornely. “But it’s also how you are going to get the gold.”

Here in the valley, there are plenty of listeners who are very much in the ‘love the Dead’ camp, and these fans have embraced Mind Left Body. The group formed a little over a year ago and made their debut at the Hawks and Reed monthly Dead Night last May. They will appear at the venue’s Dead Night again on Thursday, April 20, at 8 p.m.

In their short time together, Mind Left Body has played to packed houses at venues like Luthiers Coop in Easthampton, CitySpace in Easthampton and Tree House Brewing Co. in South Deerfield. You’ll find crowds of people twirling away and singing along as Mind Left Body plays the Dead’s repertoire that covers all eras of their lengthy career. They will even bring in Clark’s sister Emma on occasion to sing Donna Jean Godchaux’s parts.

While many attending a Mind Left Body show weren’t even born when Garcia died in 1995, others are Deadheads from way back. They all respond to the good vibes and excellent musicianship that a Mind Left Body show provides. The group, while remaining faithful to the music of the Grateful Dead, exudes an excitement and vibe that is a testament to their charisma and excellent playing. It is not unusual to see their fans over and over again at various venues (not unlike the Grateful Dead’s own traveling fans).

While Mind Left Body is a relatively new outfit, the band’s roots stretch back to 2020 when guitarist Clark, a classically trained trombone player, joined forces with bassist Deysher to play Dead tunes every Tuesday night at the 413 Club in Easthampton.

“It seemed like a way to get people through the door, and it was a lot of fun,” said Clark of the experience, noting that both he and Deysher are big Dead fans.

The project morphed over time to include Cornely, who grew up with Deysher in Westborough. Since college, the two have played in various bands together, including playing the music of the Dead.

Once this core lineup was together, they called themselves the Terrapin Tuesday Band. By early 2022, the live music scene was starting to pick up. The only problem was that the band needed a new drummer.

Enter Marchsese. A well-known drummer on the local scene, Marchese has played with such bands as indie rock and pop group Aloha Steamtrain, The Figments, the Fawns, GentleHen, and Christa Joy and the Honeybees. There’s nothing in his musical resume that would suggest he’d ever be in a Dead cover band.

Come to find out, he has been a Grateful Dead fan since his older sister turned him onto the band when he was a kid. He would drum along to albums like the Dead’s “Europe ’72” when he was in eighth grade teaching himself to play. In addition, he played briefly with Bruce Mandaro of Slipknot and credits him for teaching him how to jam.

Still, when a friend informed that there was a Dead tribute band looking for a drummer, he emphatically responded “no!”

“But the pandemic factored in — some of my bandmates were still hesitant to get out there gigging, and I was ready to play,” Marchese said. “I saw a video of these guys (Mind Left Body) playing ‘Jack Straw’. The vocals were magic and the playing was good, so I went to a practice.”

After playing “Eyes of the World” with them and being amazed at how good they sounded, he knew he was in.

“When we first played with Brian, we looked at each other and knew it was good,” said Cornely.

They were impressed and continue to be with his extensive knowledge of the material.

“He’s actually played these songs more than any of us, and he has been a keystone to all of this,” said Clark.

Once he was in the band, Marchese had one request — that they change the name. After exhaustively kicking around ideas, a friend of the band suggested Mind Left Body, a name given to a four-chord sequence that the Dead played as a jam. With the new lineup and name, they were ready to go. But they did worry a bit about jumping into a market that had more than its share of Dead cover bands.

“We did think about that and we decided that we wanted to offer something different than those other bands,” said Clark.

A big part of that something different is the vocals between Clark, who sings and plays Jerry Garcia’s parts, and Cornely who covers Bob Weir.

“I think our vocal harmonies and vocal parts are strong enough to stand out,” said Cornely. “It’s hard to blow your own horn, but I’m basing it on the comments we get after we play from people that really know the music.”

“One thing besides the vocals that struck me is that people will see how tight we are, which isn’t something the people associate with the Dead or Dead cover bands,” said Marchese. “But the era we like most is that ’72 to ’74 time, and that is when there was a lot of tightness in their playing.”

He added that as musicians, this is something that they really value in their playing.

“We want to try the most challenging things and do interesting transitions and not just aimlessly jam,” Marchese said. “We try to make things go somewhere, to take us and the audience somewhere.”

To further expand the music this past fall they recruited keyboardist Mac Doherty to join the band.

Anyone who knows their Dead history knows that keyboardist Brett Mydland, who replaced Keith Godchaux, didn’t know the Dead’s music when he joined the band in 1979. The same goes for Doherty, a jazz musician who moved here from Minnesota last summer. He had never listened to the Dead, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a valuable addition. On the contrary, it’s worked to his advantage.

“It’s great because he’s not going to emulate anyone like ‘I’m a Brent guy’ or ‘I’m a Keith guy’. When he is listening to this stuff, it’s new and fresh with him,” explained Marchese.

”It’s fun to watch him getting more comfortable with the music and taking more chances,” added Cornely.

Looking back, this past year has been a good one for the band who couldn’t be more pleased with the following they have gained and the fact that it continues to grow.

“We have met some really great people this year,” said Cornely.

“We have an intelligent audience who appreciate when the music is happening,” said Clark, who added that turning new listeners onto the music is especially rewarding. “I knew as soon as I started playing with these guys that we were onto something special.”

Tickets for the Hawks and Reed show are $10 in advance and $15 day of show. They can be purchased at hawksandreed.comor by calling 413-774-0150. MindLeftBody will also be at Tree House Brewing Co. on June 2 at 5 p.m. For more tour dates visit mindleftbodyband.com.

Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at soundslocal@yahoo.com.

An earlier version of this column included an incorrect location for CitySpace. It is located in Easthampton.

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