Article Archives

June 9th, 2006

By Alan Sculley

The Dave Matthews Band would seem to have a career that nearly every other music artist would envy.

The group, performing Friday and Saturday at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Burgettstown, is perennially one of the top draws on the concert circuit. The band's CDs invariably sell in the millions. The members of the Dave Matthews Band seems to enjoy the freedom to pursue most any direction their musical inspiration takes them. The group members are admired by other musicians, fans and even music critics for their skills as songwriters and musicians.

It's all so seemingly picture-perfect that one has to wonder if perception meets reality. Boyd Tinsley, violinist in the group, says this is one time that appearances are not deceiving.

May 31st, 2006

"What has driven our career is touring" says Matthews

 
Dave Matthews has long been touted as one of the hardest-working guys in the music business. With yet another extensive summer tour and the follow-up to 2005’s “Stand Up” in the works, it looks like he’s living up to that description.

It’s hard to believe that the Dave Matthews Band, which grossed $57 million in 2005 from touring North America and has consistently placed in the top 5 grossing tours annually over the last decade, still has the stamina to push on.

But when you’ve built your success on playing live, you tend to stick to a pattern that works.

“We do change the sets and let the music evolve and look for spontaneous moments in what we’re doing,” Matthews said by phone while sipping a beer at Heathrow airport, waiting for his flight back home from a week in London. “Maybe I get tired of not being in one place or not having the same pillows every night, but as long as we like playing, it sort of makes all the other [stuff] more bearable.”

May 26th, 2006

ARI BENDERSKY

Dave Matthews has long been touted as one of the hardest-working guys in the music business. With yet another extensive summer tour and the follow-up to 2005's "Stand Up" in the works, it looks like he's living up to that description.

It's hard to believe that the Dave Matthews Band, which grossed $57 million in 2005 from touring North America and has consistently placed in the top 5 grossing tours annually over the last decade, still has the stamina to push on.

But when you've built your success on playing live, you tend to stick to a pattern that works.

"We do change the sets and let the music evolve and look for spontaneous moments in what we're doing," Matthews said by phone while sipping a beer at Heathrow airport, waiting for his flight back home from a week in London. "Maybe I get tired of not being in one place or not having the same pillows every night, but as long as we like playing, it sort of makes all the other (stuff) more bearable."

May 24, 2006

By Roy Kasten, Julie Seabaugh, Andy Vihstadt

B-Sides and Judah Friedlander fondly remember the hug heard 'round the world, catches up with Bobby Bare Jr. and tells you how to download even more Robert Pollard stuff

It's been nearly five years since stand-up comic and actor Judah Friedlander (American Splendor, The Darwin Awards, Feast) incited a national hugging craze in the video for the Dave Matthews Band's hit single, "Everyday." Since that time, Friedlander has compiled a series of behind-the-scenes photos at www.judahfriedlander .com and continues to marvel at the video's long-lasting impact: "People I don't know still come up to me on the street every day and hug me."

B-Sides: How did DMB rate as huggers, both individually and as a group?

Judah Friedlander: Boyd was the only one who didn't get a boner. So I'd say his hug was the best and least awkward. Just kidding; they were all cool. Some guys were harder to hug than others because I was hugging them while they were playing their instruments and singing, and I didn't want to mess them up.

April 11th, 2006

By John Yellig

Local celebs will turn out next week to help dedicate the First Amendment Monument at the east end of the Downtown Mall.

Dave Matthews Band member Boyd Tinsley, novelist John Grisham and former Virginia Poet Laureate George Garrett will make opening remarks before Dahlia Lithwick, legal affairs reporter and commentator for Slate magazine and National Public Radio’s “Day to Day” program, delivers the keynote address.

Following the dedication, members of the public will get their first crack at writing on the Community Chalkboard, a large slab of Buckingham slate placed in front of City Hall.

The 42-foot by 7-foot chalkboard is one part of the monument, which also features a speaker’s podium and a smaller slab with an inscription of the First Amendment on one side and a quotation from Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall stressing the importance of the freedom of speech on the other.

April 7th, 2006

_{Daily Record UK - By John Dingwall}

With sales of more than 30 million in the US, Dave Matthews is the kind of superstar who can walk the street in the UK without being recognised.

The underrated South African songsmith recently played a London gig where tickets were changing hands for more than £200 a pop on eBay yet he remains somewhat anonymous as far as British tastes are concerned.

But with the release this week of his latest single, American Baby from the Dave Matthews Band's sixth solo album Stand Up, he is hoping for recognition for his folk rock sound on a scale recently enjoyed by Jack Johnson.

He said: "There is no comparison between our status in the US compared to the UK Over there we exploited the American market on our terms.

"People see us as a really mainstream band in America. But we have never been much loved by radio or MTV."

Catch Dave live in an acoustic setting as I did in London recently, and you can't help but warm to his blend of satirical songs and hilarious anecdotes.

April 04, 2006

_{- By Jim Dalrymple}

The entire catalog of the Dave Matthews Band is now available on the iTunes Music Store. With the announcement today, Apple becomes the first digital music store to offer individual songs for purchase from the group.

Matthews explained that he decided to make the entire catalog available to Apple after receiving feedback from fans on the release of the band’s first album on iTunes, “Stand Up.”