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Dave Matthews Band redefines instrumental
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Hugh Kellenberger
CRSA/Housing Beat
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Music is one of the
most powerful tools available to the common man. It has the ability
to persuade, inform, entertain and make someone cry while making
another laugh. No one does it better than the Dave Matthews Band
(DMB).
The five guys from Charlottesville, Va., all come
from different musical directions. Vocalist and guitarist Dave Matthews
grew up in South Africa, listening to the sounds of anti-apartheid-related
music. Violinist Boyd Tinsley has classical music training. Saxophonist
Leroi Moore is coming from a jazzy, blues style place, while drummer
Carter Beauford plays the jazz and hip-hop. Completing the group
is musical prodigy Stefan Lessard, who brings in the rock sound.
The combining of all these styles into a completely different, startling
work of art is what makes DMB go round.
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What amazes
me are the stereotypes that exist about this band. Some have labeled
them as white music, but Tinsley, Moore and Beauford are black.
When the band first broke out nationwide in 1994, they were instantly
put under the scope of jam bands, like the Grateful Dead or Widespread
Panic. Jam bands also seems to bring up that the music is for hippies
only.
Since the 2001 release of “Everyday,” the band’s
most popular album to date, the stereotype of the typical DMB fan
has shifted to that of a 16-year-old, who goes to the shows to sing
along to “I did it” and get drunk out on the lawn.
While all of those stereotypes do have some truths, a typical DMB
show is a blending of all those groups. The hippies are there, on
the lawn next to the high school kids who slow-danced to “The
Space Between” the week before at their prom. The cult followers,
who bought the first album “Remember Two Things” from
Matthews himself, are sitting up in the pavilion, next to the frat
boys and the 40-something year olds who heard DMB on adult contemporary
radio and fell in love. All of these people co-exist and come for
one thing: the love of the music.
What I wish to do is expose this music to some of you who may not
have ever given the boys a fair chance. To do this, I have compiled
some songs that span across the length of DMB’s rise while
also showing all the different directions the music takes.
“Halloween,” from 1998’s “Before These Crowded
Streets,” focuses on the love lost in Matthews’ life,
and it shows a man who is angry and confused. The opening lyrics,
“Lonely two chicken eyes open and staring up at me/ Only two
lonely eyes, so rare and raging...” create the mood. When I
was going through a very difficult breakup, this is the song I listened
to most.
The jam-band atmosphere is most seen in the works of three songs.
“Seek Up,” which appeared on “Remember Two Things,”
often jams out to 15-20 minutes during a concert. If you are a fan
of Dispatch, String Cheese Incident, or Phil Lesh and Friends you
will enjoy this tune.
“Grace is Gone” appears on the band’s most recent
album, “Busted Stuff.” While it’s not extremely lengthy
in concert, it has a country twang to it that is indescribable.
It is currently getting some radio play on new country stations
across the country. The song talks about lost love, especially when
Matthews sings “It’s 2 a.m.—I am drunk again and
it’s heavy on my mind/ I could never love again so much as
I love you/ Where you end where I begins is like a river going through/
Take my eyes take my heart I need them no more/ If never again they
fall upon the one I so adore.”
“#41” is widely considered the greatest song DMB has ever
made. Off of 1996’s “Crash” album, the song takes
on one aspect in the studio, talking of taking over your own life
and accepting responsibility but living it becomes this sweeping
jam that excites and stuns the audience.
What DMB does best is write lyrics that everyone can relate too
They’re all based on Matthews’ experiences in life, but
it seems that everyone can find a connection with at least one of
the songs. “Bartender”, from “Busted Stuff,”
talks of moving away from what the narrator once did in his life
that was wrong and moving towards a better life, with the help of
the “bartender,” who is often said to be a symbol for
God.
“You Never Know,” from “Busted Stuff,” contains
my favorite line ever from a song “Don’t lose the dreams
inside your head/ they’ll only be there ‘til you’re
dead.”
“Crush,” from “Before these Crowded Streets,”
is my favorite song. It features a terrific bass line from Lessard,
which wraps around a story of a man infatuated with a lost love.
While the studio albums are excellent, to experience the true magic
of DMB, one needs to purchase a live album or trade for a bootleg
copy of each show, which DMB has allowed since the first show. “Live
at Red Rocks” is the best of the best, a truly essential CD
for any serious music lover.
Bootleg shows can be found on
www.furthernet.com or on the definitive DMB fan site, www.nancies.org. |
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