When he finally settled in the US, he didn't even have a high school diploma. Obviously, there wasn't much he could do as a job, so he bartended at Miller's, a jazz club in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is where Dave's dream of becoming a musician grew. In 1991, he taped some songs he had written over the years and approached two of his favorite jazz musicians, Leroi Moore and Carter Beauford. They liked what they heard and they decided to make a tape with him.
He accredits his family with immerging him with all types of music. About music, Dave says, "It's a good focus; to try to bring people together rather than separate them."
Dave is a self-taught musician. He plays on a Gibson Chet Atkins solid body electric-acoustic guitar.
Carter continued to play drums in college, but then began teaching history. However, he soon went back to music (it's a good thing he did). He was in a band called Secrets from 1984 to 1990. After the band broke up, Carter left for California and tried out for the Arsenio Hall Show. He didn't get the spot. Carter ended up in Charlottesville, and decided to approach Dave about making a tape.
His equipment includes a Guild Acoustic Bass, a Warwick Dolphin Pro 1 Bass, and a Warwick Dolphin 6-String Thumb Bass.
Leroi was the first one (along with Carter) to join Dave in 1991. He was trained in the Classics but says that "jazz is probably my main influence." He plays a Haynes closed hole C foot flute, a Yamaha soprano sax (personally, I think Yamaha makes crappy instruments), a Selmer alto sax, a Selmer Mark 6 Series tenor sax, a bass clarinet (I do not know which brand), and a baritone sax (again, I don't know which brand).
Boyd has also said, "We're very American, as Dave says. Jazz, fiddle-style, rock, it's almost a melting pot of American music. People are drawn into it. There's passion here." That's exactly what music is: Passion. That's what I heard, that passion, the first time I heard The Dave Matthews Band.
Boyd was in a band called the Boyd Tinsley band. That band continued until 1993. Boyd also belonged to an acoustic duo, Down Boy Down, that played gigs at frat parties and college bars in the Charlottesville area. Eventually, he went up to Dave and Carter and said, "I like what you are doing. I like your sound, so I am going to quit my other band and join you guys." And that he did.
Boyd plays Zeta electric-acoustic violins and uses Schnicher bows.
Stefan Lessard was approached about playing bass because Dave "just had a feeling about him, his spirit, his sense of the music. It was so much beyond his years." A man named Peter Griesar, a friend of Dave's and a fellow employee at Miller's, joined as the band's keyboardist, and the great Boyd Tinsley played his violin. This was the birth of The Dave Matthews Band.
The band did various gigs in Charlottesville. As word spread, so did the places that The Dave Matthews Band played their gigs. They expanded to Philadelphia, New York, and even Boulder, Colorado.
Peter Griesar left the band and decided to released a live album. It was recorded in August of 1993, at The Muse Music Club on Nantucket. The album was titled Remember Two Things and was released on November 9, 1993.
During the summer of 1993, The Dave Matthews Band toured with HORDE. In 1994, they recorded their major label debut, Under the Table and Dreaming. It was released on September 27, 1994.
The band toured on. In late 1995, the band went back to the studio to record their next album, Crash. The album was released on April 30, 1996, the day they began promoting their newly-released album. They did support acts for many bands including Soul Coughing (who much remind me of The Dave Matthews Band).
After a short break (they needed it after all constant touring and recording), they went back to the studio to record their latest album, Before These Crowded Streets, which was released in 1998.
The Dave Matthews Band has worked almost non-stop with touring and recording since 1991. Their success is well-deserved. I think we'll be seeing more of them and their awesome music!
Dave on music: "It's a good focus; to try to bring people together rather than separate them."
Dave on "Lie in Our Graves": "This is a song about being dead and a song about having no regrets."
Dave on "#41": "We wrote 40 songs and then we wrote this song."
Dave on "The Song That Jane Likes": "I got a little sister...and her name is Jane, so this is the song that Jane likes."
Dave on "One Sweet World": "If you watch TV, and you watch the news, all they're talking about is divine right or screwing each other...so I say fuck all that because this is one sweet world."
Dave on "Too Much": "I don't condone moderation...a lot of times it seems like I am always around the excess...but sometimes when there is a lot of celebration in the air it seems like TOO MUCH!!!"
Jimi Thing Dave on "Jimi Thing": "This is a song about getting high"
More on "Jimi Thing": "The song MIGHT be about marijuana cigarettes, but I'm not quite sure..."
Another one on "Jimi Thing": "I'm sorry for seeming a little crazy. I kinda hurt my hand; the doctor gave me a bunch of steroids that got me all fucking crazy, and then I smoked a bunch of fucking pot, and that got me REALLY fucking crazy! Here's a song about getting HIIIIIIIGH."
The last one on "Jimi Thing": "In England it's a condom."
Dave on "Satellite": "We're awed by the wonders of technology. The accomplishments we've made to bring us closer together by plane, road or satellite are fantastic. What I fear most is that while we play with our toys and technologies, we forgot from where our playfulness comes."
Dave on "Ants Marching": "I love ants. We share a lot with them... but they are less talk."
"Except for Stefan's bass guitar, we're an acoustic band. That comes from the early days of jazz, and from the classical influence too."--Carter Beauford
"There are so many different elements in our music. You really can't put a label on it, and that's why I love it so much."--Carter Beauford
"When I'm really into the music, my whole body, my whole soul is into it."--Boyd Tinsley
"We're very American, as Dave says. Jazz, fiddle-style, rock, it's almost a melting pot of American music. People are drawn into it. There's passion here."--Boyd Tinsley
