Finding patience: Blues Traveler continues to change the game after 36 years

Early mornings in a new town never gets old for Tad Kinchla.

As the bassists of Blues Traveler, he’s spent many mornings away from his family on tour — and he wouldn’t give it up.

“We’re in Walla Walla, Washington,” he says. “We started this tour with Big Head Todd and our first show was at Red Rocks. We’ve done a Fourth of July show at Red Rocks for the last 28 years. It’s something that we’re very fortunate to do.”

Blues Traveler is currently on a co-headlining tour with Big Head Todd and the Monsters. The tour makes a stop at Revel ABQ on Wednesday, Aug. 2.

Blues Traveler was formed in 1987 and has consistently released music since its inception. The band found mainstream success in the mid-1990s with its album, “Four.” It won a Grammy Award for the single, “Run-Around.”

Currently, the group comprises singer and harmonica player John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, drummer Brendan Hill, bassist Kinchla, and keyboardist Ben Wilson. Kinchla and Wilson joined the band following the death of original bassist Bobby Sheehan in 1999.

The band released its most recent album, “Traveler’s Blues” in 2021.

It’s been a few years since new music was released, and Kinchla says the band will work on it as time is available while they are on tour.

“We have it more compartmentalized in terms of when we write,” he says. “We tour every single year, and more often, reserve the winter to write about every other year.”

The writing process includes all the members of the band.

“We all come up with songs and throw them in a pool and take turns,” he says. “There are five of us. We each do three or four songs and try to get them down. Then we whittle down that list to the best 10 or 12. We try to have lyrics in place. John will come in and tweak them so it makes sense for his voice.”

With more than 30 years worth of music, Kinchla says the set is different each night.

He says the hits are obviously in the mix, as well.

“We do a good amount of covers,” he says. “The latest cover that we’re doing is ‘Hot for Teacher.’ We’ve done ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ and that was a big hit with audiences. We have a lead singer who plays harmonica and the results are endless.”

Kinchla has been a member of the band for nearly 25 years.

While Kinchla doesn’t have personal favorite songs, he says “You Reach Me” was the first song he gave to the band when he joined.

“It’s percussive and physically fun to play with a lot of slapping,” he says. “Then there’s ‘Sweet Talking Hippie’ which is fun for the group because we build it as a group.”

Over the course of his journey, he’s enjoyed the ride and looks forward to stepping on stage every opportunity he gets.

“We genuinely enjoy playing,” he says. “It’s not as glamorous as people think it is to have this as a career. We get two hours a night to perform and take people out of their everyday struggles. As we’ve grown older, we’ve connected more with each other as a band. We’ve become more patient and now realize that it’s the space that makes the music. Each audience brings its own energy, which gives us energy each night. It’s amazing.”