Dave Explains his Percussive Style.........

[myonlybliss]

With his new album, Crash, acoustic iconoclast Dave Matthews once again marches off the beaten path - and hits pay dirt.

By Alan Paul

There is nothing typical about the Dave Matthews Band.

It is a pop band that has sold over three million records without the benefit of an electric guitarist, relying instead on a frontline consisting of acoustic guitar, saxophone and violin. It features jazz musicians playing in their first rock band. The group is interracial, with three black members and two white, and cross-generational, its members ranging in age from twenty-something to late-thirty-something. And then there's Matthews himself, a boyish-looking 29-year-old South African singer-songwriter who dispenses wacky, contrapuntal, percussive acoustic guitar licks.

"Yeah, we're obviously a little different," shrugs Matthews. "We certainly didn't set off to be a huge pop band, and it's nothing any of us could have anticipated. We all just knew that this band was unlike anything any of us had ever played in. We all really believed in it and just decided to take it as far as we could. The sound of the band is just an organic result of what all of us bring to the table. We have a lot of different experiences and influences and it all goes into the mix."

The Matthews Band generates a sound that manages to sound both familiar and fresh at the same time. Clearly, it has struck a chord with rock fans. Two years after its release, their debut studio album, Under the Table and Dreaming (RCA), still has momentum. Its recent follow-up, Crash (RCA), is meeting with similar success, debuting at Number Two on the Billboard charts. Musically, the album can be described as more of the same, only more so. In the manner of hits like "Ants Marching" and "What Would You Say," Matthews's new songs-like "So Much To Say," "Two Step" and "Tripping Billies"-once again pull off the nifty feat of sounding like jam sessions, while actually being tightly structured. Ultimately, Crash is a "looser" album than its predecessor, more representative of the live shows that earned the Dave Matthews Band a rabid national following before they were even a buzz in a major label bigwig's ear.

"We were more relaxed recording this one," says Matthews, 29, reclining on an overstuffed couch in a New York photographer's studio. "No question about it. We were anxious making Under the Table because it was our first time in a real studio. We used click tracks on everything and we recorded all the bass and drums tracks, then the guitars, then the violin, sax and vocals. This time, we cut our basic tracks live, standing in a circle, so we could see each other, which gave us the atmosphere of a live performance. We were able to play off each other and maintain a continuity from song to song."

As a result, Crash has an earthier, more organic sound than the band's debut effort, even though there is considerably more audible electric guitar on it, courtesy of Tim Reynolds. An old friend of Matthews, Reynolds also played on most of Under the Table, but his playing was largely obscured because he exclusively doubled Matthews's parts. "This time," Matthews notes, "we just said, 'Do what you feel,' and Tim added a lot. He became another voice in the band."


In fact, everyone's voice can be heard more clearly on Crash, and each member seems to have done something to broaden the group's sound. LeRoi Moore added flute and baritone sax to his alto, tenor and soprano horns, bassist Stefan Lessard brought a six-string and upright bass into the mix, and violinist Boyd Tinsley, a dominant presence in concert who was largely absent on Under the Table, shines, soloing more while also playing percussive pizzicato parts and adding textural rhythmic fills. Holding it all together is Matthews's guitar playing. Not surprisingly, he is no average strummer. In fact, he rarely plays open-position chords at all, instead favoring partial chords, fractured lines and percussive fills, often playing counterpoint to Lessard's funk-infused basslines.

"For both better and worse, I never learned to play in the standard fashion," he says. "At a certain point, I decided I really wanted to get better and try to master the guitar, but I didn't want to follow the normal routine of learning barre chords, then scales. I wanted to treat the guitar like a completely different instrument-like a drum with notes.

"That's an idea that I've had for a long time, and I think it started from hearing players like Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew. Watching Fripp also led me to lots of weird chords and voicings because I saw him do these wild finger stretches and tried to copy them-without realizing that he was tuning his guitar differently. These are all things I was playing with for years, but it didn't really solidify into a style-my style-until I formed this band. Actually, I think the way all of us play has really been affected by the other people in the group. We've grown a lot together."

The growth began five years ago in Charlottesville, Va., where the Dave Matthews Band played its first gig at an Earth Day celebration in April, 1991. The unorthodox lineup had been assembled as an all-star ensemble of "people I'd like to jam with, but never thought would actually join my band," says Matthews. While working as a bartender in Charlottesville, had become friendly with Moore and drummer Carter Beauford, both jazz players of local renown who had no rock experience, and began to discuss music with them. "I never said, 'I want to have a band with a violin and sax playing all the solos,' " explains Matthews. "I just fell in love with the players. I had written a bunch of songs, but I had no real opinion of what sound I was searching for. I served both LeRoi and Carter a lot of drinks, and somewhere along the way I told them about this tape I was making and asked if they'd be interested in doing some recording, maybe playing out a little. I didn't ask for any commitment-I wouldn't have dared. They were both older than me, and much better musicians. And when I met Stefan, he was some kind of bass prodigy. He was still in high school and was playing upright bass with both Carter and LeRoi, cats twice his age.

"We all got together just to jam and I was blown away. I had never experienced anything like it before. What immediately appealed to me was the spontaneity of their playing. Everything just flows for them. They didn't think like most other musicians I had played with: 'I've got to remember the next fill.' They just played. The format was totally new for all of us, so we had no idea how to arrange my songs. We all said, 'Let's just play and see what happens.' Luckily, we gelled in a really profound way, and it was obvious to all of us that we should stick with it, keep exploring and see what we could come up with."

Tinsley, a classically trained violinist, joined the band after playing on a demo of "Tripping Billies," a song that appears on Crash.

"We had no plans of adding a violinist," says Matthews. "We just wanted some fiddle tracked on this one song, and Boyd was a friend of LeRoi. He came in and it just clicked. That completely solidified the band, gave it a lot more power. My goal was to have a heavy acoustic band. I knew from watching LeRoi and Stefan play jazz how heavy and loud you could be without turning a distortion pedal on, and I wanted to get that across in a rock context. I think that really started happening when Boyd joined and the keyboard player we had left."


Before long, the Matthews Band was gigging regularly at area bars and University of Virginia fraternities, then touring the Southeast college circuit, slowly expanding north and west. Soon they had stumbled into a nationwide circuit of bands that became the H.O.R.D.E. nation, sharing stages with Blues Traveler, Phish and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. All of these bands shared a similar fan base and each had strong followings in different parts of the country, making joint tours mutually beneficial. For instance, Blues Traveler often opened for the Matthews Band in Virginia and North Carolina, while the order would be reversed in greater New York.

Through several years of touring, the Matthews Band established an extremely loyal grassroots following, selling a remarkable 150,000-plus copies of their first album, 1993's live Remember Two Things, on their own Bama Rags label, as well as 25,000 copies of Recently, a five-song EP available through mail-order only. The Dave Matthews Band probably is the first act to have an eight-page merchandising insert, hawking everything from T-shirts and indie albums to mousepads and screensavers, included in their major-label debut. "We worked really hard and built things up ourselves instead of waiting for some label to come along and do things for us," Matthews says. "I'm really proud of that. By the time the industry started peering down from its ivory tower, coming around to buy us dinner and give us presents, we were supporting ourselves from the sales of our two indie albums. So we were able to retain control over everything, which is crucial in an industry that doesn't differentiate music from money."

Matthews, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to America after graduating from high school, eventually settling in Charlottesville with his mother, who had family there. "I got an inscription letter from the South African army and said, 'I'm out of here,' " Matthews recalls. "This, of course, was when apartheid still ruled, and I wasn't going to serve in that army. I really love it there, and have a real pull to go back now because there are some really exciting things going on. Of course, I love America, too, but if the band wasn't doing so well right now, I would definitely be on my way back to South Africa."

Matthews's love of his native land extends to its music. Strains of South African pop reverberate through both his singing and guitar playing, although Matthews insists that he's never intentionally tried to incorporate the music into his own.

"I love African pop and jazz, but I've never thought of what I do in those terms," he says. "I've only written one song that sounds African at all to me, and that's 'Proudest Monkey' [Crash], which has a circular structure that I associate with African music. But there's a lot of great, very inventive, very energetic music from there, and if anyone hears it in what I do, great." "Besides," he adds with a quick smile, "my mom always says that my music reminds her of home, that it sounds African. So it must be true."

[myonlybliss]

I meant to highlight this part...........


Not surprisingly, he is no average strummer. In fact, he rarely plays open-position chords at all, instead favoring partial chords, fractured lines and percussive fills, often playing counterpoint to Lessard's funk-infused basslines.

"For both better and worse, I never learned to play in the standard fashion," he says. "At a certain point, I decided I really wanted to get better and try to master the guitar, but I didn't want to follow the normal routine of learning barre chords, then scales. I wanted to treat the guitar like a completely different instrument-like a drum with notes.

"That's an idea that I've had for a long time, and I think it started from hearing players like Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew. Watching Fripp also led me to lots of weird chords and voicings because I saw him do these wild finger stretches and tried to copy them-without realizing that he was tuning his guitar differently. These are all things I was playing with for years, but it didn't really solidify into a style-my style-until I formed this band.

[DMBFan63]

According to step into the light(ze book) dave originally wanted to be a drummer.. but took his percussive ideas to the guitar

[Speenis]

thats some cool info there

btw, you can edit your posts with the button on the right, next to the quote button

[Snyder]

...It is a pop band that...

Ugh...that part makes me cringe...

[mikee]

I hate that pop band shit too.....but we all know it's not pop... It's weird everyone that knows me, knows that I am a DMB fanatic, yet I have almost no friends in my local area that love dave. I am surround by a ton of musically talented friends, not one really appreciates or likes DMB or Dave. All of my Dave buddies are in other states, and I have met them by touring the last 9 years..

Good article btw! And I'd really like to see Dave on drums....saaaaweet!

[Davy28]

Dave has such a fantastic sense of time I'm sure he could play drums. Course, he probably has one of those monitor metronomes to help him out.

[fatjack]

...It is a pop band that...

Ugh...that part makes me cringe...

why? they've made plenty of pop music

[Davy28]

Yeah, what do so many people have against pop music?

[mikee]

Well technically 50 cent and limp bizkit are pop musicians then right?

[violenticecream88]

dave+drumsticks=awesome


i still think carters the bomb diggy tho, cuz, after all, he made me start drummin 6 years ago, and here i am now, jackin his style, lol.

[myonlybliss]

once you pop,
you can't stop

ew ew ew

[unccharlotte07]

Yeah, I hate DMB being called a "pop band". I hate pop music. Therefore, they cannot be pop. I like to call them a jam band.

[MWR]

Pop is short for popular and it encompasses a lot more than Britney and Christina. The Beatles are pop.

[MWR]

Yeah, I hate DMB being called a "pop band". I hate pop music. Therefore, they cannot be pop. I like to call them a jam band.

I find jam band at least as offensive if not more.