"Shake Me Like a Monkey" became available early this morning via the Itunes Pass which has been releasing new content every week. A video preview of "Shake Me Like a Monkey" was first revealed in the beginning of April where a group of 15 DMB fans lingered outside the New Orleans studio hoping for a chance to meet DMB.
Next Tuesday: Download of "Lying in the Hands of God"
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King has been highly anticipated by fans and now with only 2 more weeks until the album release the Itunes pass continues to tease with bits and pieces of Big Whiskey.
Did you buy the Itunes pass? You still can, and while it might seem like an unnecessary extra $20 to spend there is more content on the way.
What's Available
dave & tim at Radio CityA young woman walks down the street looking for her lost dog and meets her future husband. A man walks into a bar to get a drink and leaves with a new job. A teenager joins a soccer team and finally finds a friend that shares her love for science fiction novels. All of these are examples of serendipity, which can be defined as uncovering something unexpected while searching for something else entirely. When serendipity bursts into your life, changes that you never saw coming are afoot. It is a process that cannot be controlled or predicted, only looked upon with wonder. Once you become aware of the power of serendipity, you may start noticing her magic emanating from every corner of your life. And nowhere is serendipity more evident than inside the creative process of the Dave Matthews Band.When asked during a 60 Minutes interview whether Dave knew exactly what kind of sound he was orchestrating by bringing saxophone and violin elements into a rock band, he admitted that he had no idea what to expect.
While in New York just over a week ago where Dave Matthews Band kicked off the 2009 Spring Tour, the band took some time to do interviews around the city. Just this past week MTV News posted 5 short video clips from an interview with Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford.
During the interview Dave explained the story of "Big Whiskey" and how the name came about during a photo shoot in New Orleans. He tells the story of a man stumbling by during the photo shoot shouting “I need a big whiskey.” Dave graciously gave the man a 20 dollar bill and was on his way, to which Rashawn said..."Big Whiskey that’s a good name for a record".
Grux which is now known to be a nickname for LeRoi Moore, is also the first song/intro to the new album and was further explained in more detail by Carter Beauford. Carter say's that "Grux" or "Groo Grux" was a term used many years ago when he would jam with LeRoi in parks and would come up with "wild sounding rhythms and wild sounding grooves and tunes". Not knowing what to call the style of music they were playing, they simply called it "GrooGrux".
Dave Matthews Band is featured on the cover of the newest Billboard Magazine. The article includes an interview with Dave as he discusses the new album "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King".
In the interview portion of the article Dave discusses his time in the studio with the band as they worked through the tough loss of LeRoi Moore, but worked hard to include him as much as possible on the album. LeRoi Moore is the first melody heard as the album begins. This "LeRoi intro" has been previously revealed with a promo video that DMB released a few weeks ago. Dave goes on about the excitement that LeRoi had going into recording, working to make the best record they could do. Dave recalls LeRoi saying, "We should be better in the studio than we are live."
Billboard also includes and 1 minute 54 second video previewing Big Whiskey. On the video you will hear the beginning of "Shake Me Like a Monkey" and a portion of the upcoming single from the album, "Funny The Way It Is". Dave, Carter, Boyd and Stefan talk about the new album and LeRoi Moore.
Watch the Video
In the written interview, Dave Matthews describes the new album as "optimistic" and having the overall theme of life, death and searching in the lyrics. He talks about the song "Dive In" as very dark and about the end of the world and "Space Man" being a love song.