Photo courtesy of Shockya.com
Number three on the countdown needs no intro, but just in case you hadn’t heard- one of the most unique bands in history is finally making an appearance at ACL this year
Six platinum albums- and that’s only considering their major label releases. Sixteen top 50 singles. Nine live albums. So many tours they’ve probably earned enough frequent flyer miles to circulate the globe. If you don’t know who the Dave Matthews Band is, you’ve never owned a radio- or a CD player. Or a television.
You know what? There’s virtually no chance you’ve never heard of the Dave Matthews Band.
There really isn’t enough room to do a proper biography in one article. The basics are that they got their start in Charlottesville, Virginia, when in 1990 a then 23 year-old singer songwriter named Dave Matthews compiled a band out of local talent to assist him with recording for a project he was working on. If you were to ask Dave, there’s really no rhyme or reason as to how they came together. First on board were drummer Carter Beauford and the late LeRoi Moore, their original saxophone player. When their first demos didn’t go as expected, they added bassist Stefan Lessard (only sixteen at the time) and, for a time, a keyboard player (Peter Griesar, who left the band in 1993). They recorded a few tracks for their initial demo, three songs that would eventually make their way onto their first LP- ‘The Song that Jane Likes,’ ‘Recently,’ and arguably the most pivotal song of the band’s career- ‘Tripping Billies.’ The reason for that is that Dave wrote in a fiddle part for the song, but they didn’t have a fiddle player in the group. They needed a violinist to play on the track, someone that would help them put it all together. They got Boyd Tinsley, and thus added the final member to their legendary group.
It wasn’t long after the release of 1993’s Remember Two Things that Dave Matthews and his band began to ascend into the stratosphere. They could have stopped after their next two albums and still have sold more records than some whole labels could ever dream of. Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash, their second and third albums respectively, sold a combined 13 million copies. They were one of the ten biggest acts of the 1990’s, and continue to thrive in the new millennium in spite of the industry downturn, thanks to an extensive back catalog of hits and their nonstop touring around the world.
In short, they’re really, ridiculously popular. More important than that is why; it’s obvious they’re a commercial success, but sales alone don’t explain why Dave Matthews Band has attained the level of renown and respect that they have. The short answer is, as a friend and devout fan once put it, they are “the Great Equalizers” of the music industry- the band everyone can appreciate. Dave Matthews Band incorporates so many different influences into their music that’s its really impossible say they sound like anybody in particular. Casual fans are quick to label them “pop-folk,” mostly because of the combination of acoustic guitar and Boyd’s violin contributions, but that’s only one ingredient in their recipe. There are hints of South African influence, stemming from Dave’s time in Johannesburg, such as the soft rhythm percussion on ‘Let You Down.’ They’ve got a touch of cool jazz in them (‘Crush’), yet they can flip that vibe on it’s ear and display enough bravado to win over the roadhouse crowd as well (‘Too Much’). And then you have a gem like ‘Satellite’, which really doesn’t sound like anything else. You kind of just have to hear it to understand.
Like all great bands, they also split their fan base between newcomers more familiar with their newer albums and older, diehard fans- the quintessential “first albums were better” argument. In their case, the debate usually starts with Before These Crowded Streets, their fourth album, which went a little more experimental and perhaps a little too haphazard for a lot of their original fans to feel comfortable with. It’s also true that their latter projects have delved into more pop-friendly territory, skewing the looser structure of most of their earlier work (partially a result of working with a new producer, Glen Ballard, on Everyday). Newer fans, on the other hand, argue that these changes are only natural progression for a band that has been playing together for such an extended period of time- more structure doesn’t dictate whether or not an album is worth the same merit. Of course, the diehards have a rebuttal for that, and around and around it goes. There really isn’t an answer- just that fact that there’s a debate at all in itself is indicative of how passionate Dave Matthews fans can be.
This brings us back to their nonstop touring, the other key to their success. Dave Matthews Band annually tours throughout the U.S. and Europe every summer; it’s the reason they haven’t waned in popularity since they first blew up. They’re this generation’s Grateful Dead; they live to perform, and they have more live albums than they do commercial EP’s. Throw in the downloadable-only Live Trax recordings and forget about it- even the most ardent Dave Matthews Band fans would have a hard time getting a hold of all of their material.
The great thing is you don’t have to- with these guys, it’s all about attending a show. With a brand new album in tow, even the diehards will have something new to listen to when they hit up ACL this year. It’s sort of unusually titled-Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King- but there’s a lot of meaning behind it. It’s partially a tribute to LeRoi; he passed away in 2008 from complications stemming from an ATV accident. GrooGrux was a nickname the band gave him (subsequently, they’ve passed it on to other members); according to Boyd, it describes the vibe they would get in the recording studio. Maybe someday it’ll end up becoming a word on its own- seeing as how there’s no word to describe their style anyway.
It’s been long overdue, but they’re finally playing the biggest festival in the Live Music Capital of the World. Dave Matthews Band clocks in at the number three spot on the countdown.
Dave Matthews Band
Date: Saturday, October 3
Time: 8:00 pm
Stage: Barton Springs (east)
Back to overview of ACL's top ten most anticipated
Comments
Great article, big DMB fan, can't wait to check em out!
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