Lettuce – An Xperience Interview

Interview: Adam Deitch (Drummer for Lettuce) by Rob Smittix.

Photo Credit: Milo Lee

This interview was set up through a conference line, as many interviews are, to protect the privacy of the artist. I call the number, enter the code, and it tells me I am the only one on the line. Then I am placed on hold while I wait for Adam Deitch to join, and this is the music that starts playing: “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.” After a minute of this, I’m starting to think that I just got Rickrolled by Lettuce! Thankfully, I hear Deitch chime in with …

AD: Hey, what’s up? Who’s this?

RRX: It’s Rob Smittix.

AD: Rob, how you doing?

RRX: Good. Hey, nice to meet you. I was a little confused by the conference call hold music. I thought I just got Rickrolled. Rick Astley was the hold music.

AD: Oh, wow! (Sings) Never gonna give you up …

RRX: I thought you got me there for a second.

AD: (Laughs) Ain’t nothing wrong with a little bit of Rick Astley here and there, you know?

RRX: That’s right. So how are you doing, man?

AD: Good, good.

RRX: We’re very excited to have you and the band coming to Albany on January 28th to Empire Live for the Lettuce Cook World Tour.

AD: Yes, sir.

RRX: You’ve got the brand new album out, “Cook,” and I see the album actually comes along with a cookbook or recipes?

AD: Yeah, the vinyl does, and it’s online. It’s all our family recipes, and we’re just encouraging our music community and our fans to cook and create recipes. We hope that bands and musicians partner with restaurants and create a whole thing around this because music and food go well together.

RRX: They do. And also … I’ve always thought that the things that really bring people together are music and food, and you’re doing both.

AD: Yeah, that’s the vibe.

RRX: Speaking about food and music, I often wonder what bands like to eat while they’re on the road. I’ve personally witnessed Slayer … the whole band eating Roy Rogers at 3 a.m. on the New York State Thruway, and I was like, man … I wouldn’t eat that s*** because I know it’s not fresh.

AD: Oh, we’ve done that, we’ve been there. It’s food, though. So many musicians just neglect their body because they’re starving, you know? You try to go to bed after the gig, you can’t sleep because now you’re hungry, it’s 2 a.m. So you just wanna order some comfort to get you out, and that starts a lot of bad habits. It’s like … hopefully restaurants will say … oh, my favorite band is in Cleveland today or in Albany, let me bring them a plate to sound check. Let me bring them a couple things to eat, you know? That’ll make the show better. That’s what I’m hoping happens from all this. If you’re a chef and your favorite band is playing in your city, maybe reach out and say, hey, get us 5 tickets and we’ll bring you a meal. That kind of stuff, there needs to be more of that.

RRX: There certainly does. My dad was security at Woodstock ’94, guarding Graham Nash’s bus, and he invites my dad onto the bus and makes him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then he tells him this is the way of the road, man. This stuff is what we live on.

AD: (Laughs) Yeah, that has zero nutrients, but you know? It is what people live on.

RRX: Yeah, there just needs to be a better setup for touring bands so they don’t have to rely on PB&J and rest stop food. I’m hoping that your game plan works out and that a chef from every city you visit cooks for you. Especially in Albany, man. We’ve got a lot of really good places right in the area where you’re playing.

AD: Great, yeah, food recs are recommended, you know?

RRX:  Absolutely. So how’s things with the band right now? I know you got the new album out, but what else is going on?

AD: We just did this thing called House of Lett in Denver, and it was incredible. We set up our instruments in a recording studio that’s sort of like a small room that holds about 80 people. 80 people per set, we did six sets. It was a really small, intimate thing with cameras, and we recorded everything. It went really well, and now we’re just on a break ’til January.

RRX: That’s rad.

AD: I’m glad we did this because we’re in the age of content. A lot of times, people discover music by seeing a cool video, and we just didn’t have a lot of those. We had some concert stuff, but nothing like this, so we’re pretty excited about that, and it took a lot of work. It was a lot of stress, but we pulled it off, and thanks to all our fans that made it possible. Now we’re gonna have a bunch of really cool videos and get ready for 2026!

RRX: That’s right. I saw that you did production stuff too. I saw some hip hop stuff that you were involved with, and that’s right up my alley.

AD: Yeah, we do a lot with hip hop, and I’m very thankful to be involved in that community. One of the few jam bands that tour with GZA from Wu-Tang Clan and stuff like that.

RRX: That’s dope!

AD: It’s all under soul music, hip hop, funk, all of it!

RRX: Exactly.

AD: Black American music with African roots, and that’s what we’re focused on.

RRX: Well, Lettuce is definitely a band that has the funk. I was at the taco place next door earlier getting tacos, and I was telling the owner that I’d be talking to you, and he was like … I love Lettuce, they’re funk. So that’s one of the things that really stand out about your band.

AD: Right on. Yeah, a lot of people think because we’re on a certain scene that we play a different kind of music, but once people hear us, they realize that it’s raw funk with a hip hop edge.

RRX: Yeah, every song is danceable, and it keeps the people moving. So again, really excited to have you come to town. Is there anything that you would say to people to encourage them to come on out?

AD: We love coming to Albany;  come hear these new tunes from the new album. We’re fired up, we got all this new stuff to work out. So come feel this new album. We’ll, of course, play some of the classics also. It’s gonna be a sweaty dance party! Wear comfortable shoes and bring some friends to come dance and eat well before the gig.

RRX: That’s right.

AD: And drink water.

RRX: And buy merch.

AD: Yeah, people wanna buy the vinyl that really does help us. We’re a completely independent band with no record label or any of that stuff. We put out our own albums, and every time someone buys a record, that goes straight to us. That really keeps us going. I just wanna thank everybody in Albany for supporting Lettuce.