The frontman of The Federales, Benjamin Miller, is about to release a solo EP which celebrates his love for the Grateful Dead, and we have here the title track. These are Grateful Dead covers, and nor are they really music in the style of the Grateful Dead; rather, it’s music about being in that tribe that gets called Dead Heads. As Miller explains: “I just happened to be bingeing a season of Rich Mahan, and Jesse Jarnow’s amazing Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, Dead culture began to osmosis-ize itself into my lyrics. I ended up with three songs about a few things that make the Grateful Dead (and being a Dead fan) great.”
So What lopes along at a steady pace, definitely taking its time and reflecting on dropping out of the mainstream and moving in your own direction. Benjamin Miller adds that it is “A call to get out of your ruts, named after the So What Papers,” which were written by then-manager Ron Rakow to convince the band to leave the traditional music distribution game and form their own record label.”
