Article Archives

July 1st, 2007

^{By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard)} 

From the humble beginnings of drummer Carter Beauford's mother's basement and a crucial Tuesday-night residency at Trax in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Dave Matthews Band has become the biggest touring success story to emerge from the 1990s.

Riding and then surpassing a wave of success from a rejuvenated post-Grateful Dead jam band scene, DMB has become, quite simply, the top-drawing American band in the world. In fact, only one act -- the Rolling Stones -- sold more tickets than DMB did in the preceding decade.

Band founder Dave Matthews was a reluctant frontman as he made the switch from Charlottesville bartender. The band has not been dependent on radio airplay (though it has enjoyed some) or platinum record sales (which it has enjoyed as well). DMB is a touring band, one of the most successful that has ever hit the highway, and its connection with its fans is via the live-performance conduit from stage to audience.

May 3rd, 2007

Scott Casey

The Dave Matthews Band (DMB) returns to Brisbane tomorrow – only the second time the world’s most successful jam band has played its unique brand of grassroots rock for Australian audiences.

It has been 15 years since DMB began playing at frat parties, schools, debutants and pubs – but they still pack a punch, as a packed crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment and Convention Centre will find out tomorrow night.

However, their style has gone through a considerable transformation over the past 15 years, with its funky, raw garage sound gradually from the ’90s now almost verging on pop.

brisbanetimes.com.au entertainment reporter Scott Casey speaks with bassist Stefan Lessard about the band’s Australian tour.

December 22nd, 2006

Jaime Binde

Fighting a cold and a sore throat, which was attributed to something his kindergarten-age daughters brought home from school, Dave Matthews took a few minutes out of his busy Saturday night at the Christmas Jam to talk to the Citizen-Times.

September 22nd, 2006

Dave Matthews Band bassist, bandmates eager for home gigs

By JANE DUNLAP NORRIS / Daily Progress staff writer

Just because they've been on tour buses for months on a wildly successful summer tour doesn't mean that Dave Matthews Band members are on cruise control.

Coming home to play tonight and Saturday in the John Paul Jones Arena, the band will be heading into the University of Virginia's new basketball venue with its game on.

"You really have to give it your all," bassist Stefan Lessard said.

Starting the final two shows on the current tour will turn up the excitement level for the musicians, and playing for the home folks means "there's a certain amount of nervousness," he said.

"You always want to impress,'' Lessard said. But when the band plays in Charlottesville, and even in such nearby towns as Manassas, when the five men know that local friends and family members are likely to make the trip, "there's always going to be this extra push to impress," Lessard said.

September 21st, 2006

in issue 0538 of the HooK. - By VIJITH ASSAR (An Interview with Boyd Tinsley)

The Dave Matthews Band's last album sold more than 20 times as many copies during its first week of release as the number of people who will read this issue of the Hook. Tickets for this week's two-night stand at UVA's John Paul Jones Arena sold out almost immediately after it was announced.

But through it all, the boys have kept their feet on the ground when there's really no earthly reason for them to do so. Boyd Tinsley granted an interview to the hometown press, the band kept trucking with hurricane relief benefits well into 2006, and they only grudgingly agreed to release the greatest hits compilation due out November 7 once they realized they were obligated to do so under the terms of their record contract.

Even beyond their charitable aims in support of Live Arts, the John Paul Jones Arena concerts testify to the band's humility: even when the hysteria around town seems completely deranged, they still manage to love us back.

September 21st, 2006

in issue 0538 of the HooK. - By COURTENEY

In 1991, Fenton Williams was a typical student taking classes at PVCC and hoping to transfer to UVA to earn an engineering degree. But then he had a better idea: drop out of college and hang out in bars!

Fun, sure, but a smart career move? For most people, not so much. But for Williams? Sheer brilliance.

"Things panned out from there," says Williams, stating the obvious during a recent phone interview from a hotel room in Los Angeles.

Now 35, Williams has worked for the Dave Matthews Band for 15 years, starting as its road manager and serving for the last decade as its lighting designer and video director.

"Everyone involved had a good feeling like something special was going on," he says of the band's beginning.

Special indeed, as the Dave Matthews Band-- getting ready to wrap up its 2006 tour in Charlottesville on September 22 and 23-- has consistently been one of the top earning concert acts in the world for the past decade, selling out stadiums and spawning legions of devoted fans.

September 19th, 2006

Issue #18.38 :: 09/18/2006 - 09/25/2006

Taking time from Dave Matthews Band's 16th summer tour, which will end with two shows in Charlottesville this weekend, Dave Matthews talks about politics, the Downtown Mall and Shangri-La.

When Dave Matthews finally telephones from the West Coast, he’s 30 minutes late. And full of apologies. “On the rare occasion that I can say it had nothing to do with me I will claim complete innocence,” he says, placing guilt elsewhere. “I hate being late. It makes me sick.”

Generally speaking, timing has not been a big problem for Matthews and his four bandmates in the Dave Matthews Band. For the past 15 years, like clockwork, they’ve gotten their act together and taken it on the road. As their fame grows, and record sales climb (over 30 million sold to date), their summer festival gigs and charity concerts have become a summer mainstay. It’s a long way from the dinky surroundings of Trax, the erstwhile Charlottesville nightclub where they played every Tuesday night at the start of the ’90s.

In fact, so high has the demand been across the country for some DM time that it’s been more than five years since the band played live in Charlottesville (their influence is felt in other ways, notably the local philanthropy of Bama Works, their charity fund). That changes on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23, when they close out this summer’s tour with performances at UVA’s John Paul Jones Arena. This conversation with Dave Matthews took place a couple of weeks prior to the show.

August 18th, 2006

From the Randall's Island Satellite

It’s been a few years since trumpeter Rashawn Ross made his first guest appearance with the Dave Matthews Band. But ever since DMB’s September 2005 Red Rocks run, the group’s sound has been bolstered by the steady presence of Ross’s trumpet on a continuing basis. As Ross prepares for his Randall’s Island debut with the group, the Satellite caught up with the musician, a veteran of many groups including Soulive and Yerba Buena, to talk about his prior endeavors and just how he arrived at this stage.

August 18th, 2006

From the Randall's Island Satellite

Fenton Williams began his DMB road odyssey in 1991. He began as road manager but soon won the role of lighting director for the band. He’s also had a hand in directing two of the group’s DVDs (Live at Folsom Field and Live at the Gorge), although, as Williams explains in the conversation that follows, he prefers his perspective on DMB from the lighting board.

Boyd Tinsley is effusive in his praise for the LD: “Fenton is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life. He’s a really good friend of mine, a really good friend to everyone in the band and he’s one of the best light men in the business. Sometimes we’ll finish what I’ll think is a great show and someone will come up to me afterwards and they’ll like the show but the first thing they’ll say is, “Oh my god, the lights were amazing.’”

The Satellite tracked down Fenton just prior to his arrival at Randall’s to talk about this weekend and the years that preceded it.

August 1st, 2006

By Mr. Bonzai -

WORKING ALONGSIDE DAVE MATTHEWS, JOHN MAYER, LIZ PHAIR AND MORE

At The Village in Los Angeles, John Alagia and engineer Brian Scheuble sit at the console tracking the new Liz Phair album. Not one to just camp out between two speakers, Alagia also sits at the B3 overdubbing some tasty organ licks and occasionally hoisting a bass or guitar. Checking out Alagia's credits, you'll find him listed as a producer/engineer/mixer/musician, and the artists he has influenced include Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Simon & Garfunkel, Lifehouse, Ben Folds Five, O.A.R. and Rachael Yamagata, among many others.

A resident of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay region, Alagia is tall, affable, modest, polite and — judging from the steady string of successful work he has produced during the past decade-and-a-half — one of the more musically gifted people working today. Some may call him a Renaissance man, but Alagia would most likely blush profusely if introduced as such, so we decided to have a fireside chat and see what makes the man tick.

July 3rd, 2006

By Dan Gilgoff

In the early '90s, the Dave Matthews Band broke onto the national scene by touring constantly. It recently hit the road again (through September). Guitar-strumming Dave Matthews called from Detroit, where he was preparing for a concert.

July 1st, 2006 

A portion of a bigger article in the July 2006

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND

June 28th, 2006

By Alan K. Stout MUSIC ON THE MENU

On Wednesday, July 5, the Dave Matthews Band will perform at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain. In a recent interview with The Weekender, DMB’s charismatic violinist Boyd Tinsley talked about the group’s summer tour and its incredible success over the past dozen years, during which it has sold more than 30 million albums. He also offered his thoughts on why the band consistently remains one of rock’s top concert attractions.

June 2nd, 2006

David Lindquist -

The Dave Matthews Band isn't touring to promote a new album this summer, but concerts tonight and Saturday at Verizon Wireless Music Center may affect the studio recording that will follow 2005's "Stand Up."

Matthews says he and bandmates Carter Beauford, LeRoi Moore, Boyd Tinsley and Stefan Lessard will spend their summer working on songs that are in the running to be included on the group's eighth album (not including live releases). Producer Mark Batson is overseeing studio work that began before the tour launched Tuesday in Missouri. Matthews says it's too early in the process to give a title to the project.

The singer-guitarist added that he's comfortable showcasing works in progress alongside Beauford, Moore, Tinsley and Lessard -- musicians he's worked with for 15 years.

"While we're playing, I spend a lot of time just facing the band," Matthews says during a recent phone call from the band's home base in Virginia. "It's because I'm still just blown away by the level of musicianship that's all around me. It makes me feel pretty safe."

Saturday's show is sold out, but tickets were available at press time for tonight. In 2005, only U2 sold more concert tickets in the United States than the Dave Matthews Band.

The 39-year-old also talked to The Star about playing two-night stands, his songwriting philosophy and private conversations that happen during shows:

June, 2nd 2006

by Matt Hendrickson

Jam master Matthews shares his secrets for staying sane during another hectic summer tour

*Baseball, Fourth of July, a Dave Matthews Band tour... it's become a rite of summer.

Dave: It is sort of a habit now. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't harbor fantasies of lazing about at home. But for now, I pack my family onto a bus and try to make it as much of a holiday for them as I can.

May 10th, 2006

First of all, thank you very much, it’s good of you to find the time, your schedule is probably far more busy than mine.

I just came in today, this morning, I’m very happy to be here but I am a little wacky. The sleeping pills worked on the flight over but I’m a little delirious today. I went and had a fantastic massage, in a hotel, from Marin, and it even made things worse for me. I mean I feel great but I could very easily be sleeping rather than talking to you.

May 2nd, 2006

Online Interview on ESPN.com with Boyd Tisley of the Dave Matthews Band 

Buzzmaster: (3:48 PM ET ) Boyd is here and ready for your questions.