Taking over what may have seemed a particularly doomed spot, former Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick dodged the proverbial bullet that seemed aimed at the Grateful Dead's most fatal position when singer/songwriter and guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Until then, Welnick had spent five years covering keyboard and harmony vocal parts after Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland died of a drug overdose in 1990.

Born February 21, 1951, in Phoenix, AZ, Welnick was still a teenager when he parlayed his keyboard-playing skills into an actual band (the Beans) with Bill Spooner (guitar, vocals) and Rick Anderson (bass). The addition of Fee Waybill (vocals), Roger Steen (guitar, vocals), and Prairie Prince (drums) thus led to the Tubes. Their rowdy ock led them to a deal with A&M, which released the band's self-titled album in 1975, followed up a year later with Young & Rich. Their stage antics and shock rock were non-transferable to vinyl, and so their studio efforts fell flat. However, the single "White Punks on Dope" did get some minor attention and radio play. After some more marginal efforts (1977's The Tubes Now, 1979's Remote Control produced by Todd Rundgren), A&M dropped the band in 1979. They continued on Capitol until 1986, when they disbanded. The 1981 effort Completion Backwards Principle reached the Top 40 and included the songs "Talk to You Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore." Welnick shows up on Rundgren's 1989 effort, Nearly Human, and again in 1991 on 2nd Wind.