Would you know Dave Matthews if he walked by you on the street?
In jeans and an untucked shirt, the 38-year-old South Africa native looks like he could be a video-game programmer (or at least video-game junkie) rather than the leader of one of today's most popular jam bands.
And even though he co-stars with Julia Roberts in the video for Dreamgirl , the band's current single, Matthews is still able to put on a baseball cap and pretty much fit into any crowd.
"I haven't really experienced as much of a loss of privacy as maybe it would seem from the outside," Matthews says.
That's hard to imagine considering the way the band is scrutinized by fans on Web sites like the Warehouse (warehouse.davematthewsband.com) or Nancies.org (named after the band's Dancing Nancies ). They discuss everything from recent concert set lists to loyalists who have turned their license plates into clever DMB references (GRANY34, SATULYT).
Like the Grateful Dead and Pearl Jam before it , the DMB — Matthews, violinist Boyd Tinsley, horn player Leroi Moore, drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard — is noted for overhauling its set list from town to town.
It's sometimes hard to get an audience that wants to hear Ants Marching, Tripping Billies , or even the group's first radio hit, 1996's Crash Into Me to accept new material. But even Matthews is occasionally surprised to learn what fans are obsessing about.
"It's strange because sometimes there is almost an outrage over what we'll play. Then the defenders step up and say, 'What are you talking about?' " Matthews says, laughing. "We go through all the set lists, but with a grain of salt. Sometimes they are magical and sometimes they just blow."
No doubt news, notes and musings about the group's performance at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Monday will be documented in DMB chat rooms within hours of the show's encore.
"Part of me wishes some of the more obsessive fans would spend a fraction of the time (they spend studying the band) on politics," Matthews says.
Stand Up, the band's new record, is the most political in its 12-year-history, reflecting Matthews' outspoken criticism of the Bush administration in such tracks as American Baby, a satirical riff about our country's role as world cop.
"Statistics have shown us that the new record has an approval rating above 50 percent," Matthew says with a slight nasal pinch in his voice. "Only 60 percent are outraged by it."
He does guarantee that the DMB has never been better or tighter than it's been on this tour. He also recognizes each city he goes to as a distinct personality.
"San Francisco has a flowers-in-your-hair kind of vibe, while Chicago's got this very funny, big-city/small-town coolness to it," Matthews says. "In Houston, I'm always amazed by the temperature. It's got a bit of an old city feel to it, with old corners.
"I like old corners."
Once again, good find/post Nitro.
Its cool to know that dave thinks it strange that fans spend a lot of their time outraging about the setlists, "sometimes there magical and sometimes they blow".
I'm just stoked their still together and playin' music
"They called it Aspen because "buttpencil" was already taken."
--my little brother(stoned 1st time )
"A commom mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools." --Ford Prefect
great fine. i love the line about how people need to spend more time learning about politics and less about dmb.
hosting the oscars is like winning the heisman trophy. no matter how you do in the ballgame, or whatever, they can't take it away from you. and even if you kill your wife and an ex-waiter, they still have a hard time taking it away from you
I'm not sure I understand or like what I think Dave is saying here.
DMB consistently gets $300+ of mine per year on concerts alone, not including any albums purchased. I think when I'm giving up that much of my money as a poor college student, I have the right to care about those concerts that "just blow". It seems to me like Dave is saying, "Sit there and take it, we don't give a shit." I, frankly, think this exemplifies all that has happened to the band in the last few years and how it's changed their perception of the world and their own music. It's why I had pretty much decided that Friday was my last DMB concert and DMB is no longer anywhere near the top of my favorite bands. *sigh*
bbatsell wrote:I'm not sure I understand or like what I think Dave is saying here.
DMB consistently gets $300+ of mine per year on concerts alone, not including any albums purchased. I think when I'm giving up that much of my money as a poor college student, I have the right to care about those concerts that "just blow". It seems to me like Dave is saying, "Sit there and take it, we don't give a shit." I, frankly, think this exemplifies all that has happened to the band in the last few years and how it's changed their perception of the world and their own music. It's why I had pretty much decided that Friday was my last DMB concert and DMB is no longer anywhere near the top of my favorite bands. *sigh*
i agree to a point. the long time fans made the band who they are in a sense. and now they dont really play to us/them anymore. kind of bullshit.
waits for the trippinbilly314 to say he is sick of the shit talking and i should fuckin respect it. yeehaw
bbatsell wrote:I'm not sure I understand or like what I think Dave is saying here.
DMB consistently gets $300+ of mine per year on concerts alone, not including any albums purchased. I think when I'm giving up that much of my money as a poor college student, I have the right to care about those concerts that "just blow". It seems to me like Dave is saying, "Sit there and take it, we don't give a shit." I, frankly, think this exemplifies all that has happened to the band in the last few years and how it's changed their perception of the world and their own music. It's why I had pretty much decided that Friday was my last DMB concert and DMB is no longer anywhere near the top of my favorite bands. *sigh*
i agree to a point. the long time fans made the band who they are in a sense. and now they dont really play to us/them anymore. kind of bullshit.
waits for the trippinbilly314 to say he is sick of the shit talking and i should fuckin respect it. yeehaw
yep. i decided in june that it would be my last dmb concert. i'm sooo glad it was good. so glad, i really got to quit on a high note.
bbatsell wrote:I'm not sure I understand or like what I think Dave is saying here.
DMB consistently gets $300+ of mine per year on concerts alone, not including any albums purchased. I think when I'm giving up that much of my money as a poor college student, I have the right to care about those concerts that "just blow". It seems to me like Dave is saying, "Sit there and take it, we don't give a shit." I, frankly, think this exemplifies all that has happened to the band in the last few years and how it's changed their perception of the world and their own music. It's why I had pretty much decided that Friday was my last DMB concert and DMB is no longer anywhere near the top of my favorite bands. *sigh*
i agree to a point. the long time fans made the band who they are in a sense. and now they dont really play to us/them anymore. kind of bullshit.
waits for the trippinbilly314 to say he is sick of the shit talking and i should fuckin respect it. yeehaw
yep. i decided in june that it would be my last dmb concert. i'm sooo glad it was good. so glad, i really got to quit on a high note.
the energy isnt the same, the crowd has changed and so has the music, its a shame
Dave wants to avoid the pitfall Phish found themselves in, playing the same kinds of songs over and over again, playing to the same types of fans, and on the fast track to becoming a nastalgia act. Dave is doing his damndest to play to as many as possible even if it means cutting off a few old fans. Audiences will never be the same from year to year, and I thing the band does a fine job sticking with their perrenial evolution.
Forget about the reasons and the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that our emotions can be swept away, kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, we are innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away
Every year or a few times a year I say I'm done and then something makes me come back.
In 2003, it was the Dave and Tim tour, then the Dave solo album. Then in 2004, it was the new songs and the hope that the new album coming brought, now it's going to Red Rocks in 5 days.
The author referes to Dave as ... the leader of one of today's most popular jam bands. Obviously the author has not heard DMB's music nor has any idea what a jam band is, or at least what a jam band isn't.
Honestly, the proof is in the pudding. Dave and co. don't care about anything but selling records and making $$$ and SU is proof of that.
~ And rain washed away all her tears and I smiled done away was the sum of all my fears ~
i like tictacs wrote:the elitism in this thread confounds me.
hosting the oscars is like winning the heisman trophy. no matter how you do in the ballgame, or whatever, they can't take it away from you. and even if you kill your wife and an ex-waiter, they still have a hard time taking it away from you
bbatsell wrote:I'm not sure I understand or like what I think Dave is saying here.
DMB consistently gets $300+ of mine per year on concerts alone, not including any albums purchased. I think when I'm giving up that much of my money as a poor college student, I have the right to care about those concerts that "just blow". It seems to me like Dave is saying, "Sit there and take it, we don't give a shit." I, frankly, think this exemplifies all that has happened to the band in the last few years and how it's changed their perception of the world and their own music. It's why I had pretty much decided that Friday was my last DMB concert and DMB is no longer anywhere near the top of my favorite bands. *sigh*
i agree to a point. the long time fans made the band who they are in a sense. and now they dont really play to us/them anymore. kind of bullshit.
waits for the trippinbilly314 to say he is sick of the shit talking and i should fuckin respect it. yeehaw
yep. i decided in june that it would be my last dmb concert. i'm sooo glad it was good. so glad, i really got to quit on a high note.
the energy isnt the same
you really think so? This years tour has been pretty exciting(for me at least) Playing with Robert Randolph was one of the most energetic things I've ever seen. But then again I've only been into the band for 4-5 years or so. I think it's just this new album- It's probably my least favorite album by far- but I wouldn't say it has influenced my perception of the band at all. I still enjoy listening to everything else and they are still in my top 5.
I don't know. I can't wait to see what Redrocks is going to be like. I think we'll get a pretty good picture of the band and what they still have left in them. It seems every year "the energy isnt the same"
)
