Fresh off his show at San Francisco’s Fillmore on Monday, Oteil Burbridge sat down for an interview with Live for Live Music in which the bassist talks about his continuing life in Dead & Company, including how he feels about this upcoming summer’s tour and what he sees for the future, plus why he still has room in his schedule if the Allman Brothers Band ever came calling again.

While Burbridge spoke several times about the large amount of Grateful Dead tunes that he and John Mayer have had to learn throughout the Dead & Co process, he made it clear that he feels confident about where the collective is at this moment, heading into their summer tour. He says he’s “excited like you can’t imagine.”

“Last year was so much fun but I can tell the band is in a new place this year,” says Burbridge. “In rehearsals we’re hitting some grooves and jams that are going in some beautiful directions. It’s so nice when everyone has agreed to take side roads and get lost together. There’s some of that on tape from the Fillmore show we just did. Directions we’ve never gone before. You can’t beat that.”

Burbridge also spoke about playing legendary venues like the aforementioned Fillmore and New York’s Madison Square Garden, where Dead & Co played last year. On playing The Fillmore, the iconic, hometown, Bill Graham-run venue for the Dead, he says, “To be a part of that history is simply overwhelming. I don’t know how else to put it. I really freaked out that night. In a good way.”

The bassist spoke on the legacy of the Dead, along with the Allman Brothers, with whom he played for a stint before they officially ended things in 2014. Burbridge says he’d always have time for another Allmans tour, but right now he’s focusing on getting more of the Dead catalog under his fingers.

“You know my lot in life seems to have been primarily to help classic rockers keep their flames fed, stoked and oxygenated,” says Burbridge. “But I guarantee you I will be playing this music for the rest of my life. Plus I still have so many tunes to learn. It’s possible that it’s gonna take me the rest of my life! The one thing that I will say about life after the original members have passed on is thank God for the Chimentis, Kimocks, and Kadleciks out there to help the future generations get it just right. Their insights concerning this music have been a huge help to me. They are true apostles of this music.”

Dead & Company kick off their summer tour on June 10 at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, NC, before heading to Bonnaroo on June 12.