"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."

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Reynolds recently spent a week in Seattle recording tracks for a studio record with Matthews that won't be released under the Dave Matthews Band moniker.

"It's going to be really, really good," Reynolds says of the secretive project. "I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but I can tell you, it's gonna kick (butt). People will be surprised to hear Dave in a fresh new way."

TR: I was playing at this place in Charlottesville, Virginia, called Miller’s. It was kind of an eclectic folk club, you know. They had jazz and bluegrass nights, rock ’n’ roll and whatever. My band [TR3] kind of started there, and I settled into playing there on Monday nights for about 10 years. When Dave first started working at Miller’s as a bartender, he was such a charismatic person that you couldn’t help but, you know, kind of hang out. He was a musical person and we shared a lot of reference points, like rock ’n’ roll and working in bars. We immediately hit it off as if we were old high school friends.

TR: He was already established on the local scene as a serious actor, and though I didn’t really get out to see Dave’s acting that much, I remember seeing a film of one of his plays and it was amazing. He was acting, but not acting, you know. He was very natural. If he’d get back into acting, he’d be pretty far out. But you know the music business: When you’re doing that big scene thing it takes a lot of time. It’s like a 24/7, 365-days-a-year job. That’s kind of why I opt to stay down under the big screen radar. I’m too neurotic to deal with all that.

TR: We used to go to Dave’s house, and mess around on four-track recording stuff in his basement, and just kind of go crazy. It was never meant to be anybody’s CD; it was just for fun. We even did a rap-metal version of “Amazing Grace,” not exactly the same lyrics [laughs]. And then, we did a few things that were pretty cool, like basic rock ’n’ roll that you wouldn’t remotely associate with Dave Matthews as you know him today. But we never really put it together as a band, because I kind of had a band going for several years, and we weren’t really looking to add a vocalist. But obviously Dave had the talent that called for a band of his own. So, initially, Dave would just sort of come and hang out, and do some gigs, and sing along on a few songs.

Then a friend of ours, John D’Earth, a local jazz luminary, and a very great spirit in the musical scene in Charlottesville, put together a big Broadway-style show that featured a woman singer. At the end of the show, he thought it would be great to have Dave sing a song. When Dave came out and sang his simple song, it just overshadowed anything else that was supposed to be happening. Everybody got up and started clapping, and Dave was just smiling really big. That was a really charismatic moment. The next thing I knew, the guys (who eventually became Dave’s managers) were calling people around town saying “Let’s get together and put a band behind this guy.” And as you can see, they did it pretty brilliantly. You couldn’t even get into the club where they were playing on Tuesdays. It was just all girls, packed! At the time, I was raising a family and so I said to myself, “I’m not going to get involved in a scene like that. I’m going to stay home, and do my Monday night gig.”

TR: Well, mostly I just played on the records. I didn’t really do gigs consistently with the band. I just jammed with them a few times up until maybe 1995, and the Red Rocks title. I’m on that record because I was touring with my band, and we had a couple of days off. I went to jam with Dave on a couple of songs and wound up playing on the whole CD. That’s when I started doing these acoustic gigs with Dave—once every couple of months. We did a few in Charlottesville, then one up in D.C. Then we got one to do a concert in New York. This was all while Dave’s band was touring all over the world and kind of building up DMB. Most of the time, I was just sitting at home doing my music, raising my family, and occasionally I would go and do one of these high-profile gigs with Dave. Those acoustic gigs got more popular, so we did our first acoustic tour. That’s when Live at Luther’s was recorded.

Before These Crowded Streets, the latest studio effort from Dave Matthews Band, will be hitting stores worldwide on April 28th. The first single from the album is "Don't Drink the Water," the finished product of "Leave Me Praying," a song played during the majority of the encores of the 1997 Summer tour -- "Don't Drink the Water" is now playing on radio stations everywhere. Between each song on the album is a short "segue" -- each lasts about thirty seconds and connects all the songs together (the result is similar to the "#41" tie-in with "Say Goodbye" on Crash).

"Pantala Naga Pampa," a new entry into the album's track listing, is a short 37 second introduction track. The title translates to "Welcome into our home" in an African language.

"Rapunzel" is another new tune that little is known about. Some have speculated the song to be the classic tune "Granny," but this is extremely doubtful.

"The Last Stop" has been described by Billboard magazine as a "Middle-Eastern influenced" song. This is one of three songs on which banjoist Bela Fleck lends his efforts.

"Don't Drink the Water," the first single from Before These Crowded Streets, displays Dave's hatred towards the way Indians were treated in North America during the colonization period. This song is now playing on radio stations everywhere. Guests Bela Fleck and singer Alanis Morissette both appear in this song.

"Stay" has been described as the only happy-sounding song on the album, although "it's still a desperate sounding song."

Another DMB classic, "Halloween," appears on the album with a slightly new sound. The Kronos Quartet, a well-known group of string-players, guests on this album during the full-band sections of this song.

"The Stone" is the finalized title of the song once known as "Chim Chiminey." Violinist Boyd Tinsley takes the spotlight in this song. The Kronos Quartet guests once again on "The Stone."

"Crush" is a "dark" love song, and is rumored to be a remake of "Little Thing," although this is doubtful.

The title "Before These Crowded Streets" is a line from the song "The Dreaming Tree." Dave reportedly tells a story within the lyrics of this song. Chapman stickist Greg Howard donates his talents here.

"Pig" is the new title of the DMB classic "Don't Burn the Pig." "Pig" has a new sound (one that is barely similar to the original "DBTP"), in addition to the several lines of lyrics added to the standard four found in the original song.

Alanis Morissette and Bela Fleck both guest on "Spoon," the final track on Before These Crowded Streets.

"DMB fans everywhere, this is Steve Lillywhite reporting from a secret location somewhere near Charlottesville, Virginia. Let me start at the beginning and hope I don't bore you.

Last fall the band thought it would be a good idea to make their new CD in their hometown so they could be closer to their families. As there are no top-of-the-line recording studios in Charlottesville, they decided to look for a space where they could install the masses of equipment they were buying. This proved to be tricky, as most people with big houses to rent didn't want a band, however clean and tidy they are, to move in for 5 months or so.

We looked far and wide, and were just about to give up and use the band's rehearsal room, when we found our secret location!! A local builder had decided to build himself a house with a large dance hall attached so he could throw parties for all his friends and family. The only problem was that he was so far out of the way that no one came out to play with him.

The house was then put on the market and, due to its peculiar features (who needs a dance hall?), prospective buyers were hard to find. Along come me and the band and immediately we realize this is the place to record.

Anyway, fast forward to mid-January. The equipment is purchased and the band is ready to start. So to start with, the band did what they love best, which is jamming around the tunes Dave had started playing last tour, like "Bartender" and "Digging a Ditch", as well as new songs like "Sweet Up, Sweet Down", and whatever grooves came about.

I suppose the biggest difference on this CD, so far, is the big fat 12-string guitar Dave plays. Also, after enjoying themselves so much on the last tour with just the 5 of them, they decided to do the same in the studio. The resulting sound is sparse, but very much in your face.

I've heard some fans mutter things that "Bartender" and "Digging a Ditch" are not new songs, but to be honest, when you hear the full band play them, you will be surprised at how far they have evolved.

Some people may have heard Boyd mention a country song... well "Grace is Gone" has become more reminiscent of a Daniel Lanois style tune than a Garth Brooks one!

"John the Revelator" has been overhauled and is now known as "JTR" because the "John the Revelator" section has been replaced. The song also includes one of the most intense outros we have ever recorded!!

We have about 12 songs we are working on at the moment, some with working titles as diverse as "Kit Kat Jam", "Golden Monkey" and "She My Bitch".

There is much more I could say about this recording, but I will leave it for now as the band members are beginning to arrive for work. Watch out for the next installment!"

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Dan Rodrigue (jimithing13)
sitethatjanelikes@hotmail.com

Crash ::

Lie In Our Graves:

2:40-4:57 - Over two minutes of talking can be heard in the background. This has been said to be a ping pong game caught on tape by Steve Lillywhite. Because there is so much I'll just list in order the clearer portions of the talking. First thing a laugh can be heard. "Why don't you come to bat?" "No thanks" "It's in!" "No it's not." "Come on shoot Boyd" "hahah" "I'll get it (said in a deep voice)." "Shit!" "Don't worry about it." "Hit the target." "Jesus, this is just far out." "Oh my God a microphone, oh no(Girl laughing at the same time)!" More of the girl laughing. At 3:10 the music gets louder and it's hard to make out what is being said. At 3:50 there is victorious screaming and some more of that girl. At 4:20 you can hear a little again. "Says he misses you a lot." "...make it today." "Nuh uh!" More of that girl laughing. "He hasn't even told you so?" "Yes(girl)!" "Aaaa(girl sighing)" "YEEEE" More laughing. "What?" 4:57 back into the song.

5:34-5:42 - More talking. "...it's that long. All of a sudden he's like himself..." laughing. Girl says at the same time "Where? I looked and I don't know."

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Stefan was stoked for the tour this summer, he said it was really hard and labor intensive trying to cover areas that got shunned the last year or two. but everyone is getting together in May to rehearse and stuff and Fonz might come to a couple d&t shows. He said its been cumbersome with everyone's families and coordinating schedules to meet up. He feels like he really hasnt "talked" to dave since October even though they did the quick run for the holidays in December. He said they were going to catch up soon.

Stefan was asked about writing The Last Stop with Dave and what they were thinking... He said they were out so late one night and said he and Dave were both on guitar and they were trying out different rhythms using just barre chords and they wound up with the progression of what would be the verse section to The Last Stop. They liked it so much they kept on working with it and when they jammed it with carter, he kept changing the feel of the drums and thats why they did the outro on the end of BTCS... pretty cool. They werent even going to go anywhere with it and just thought it was a sweet progression and didnt think it would even make it onto the album originally.

Stefan was asked about SUAD and why it wasnt on Busted Stuff. He said it was too choppy, Dave couldnt land lyrics, they were just saving it till later (I think kinda like halloween on BTCS), something to the effect they wanted to change the ending of it.

JTR, they had played so much and they wanted to include Where Are You Going and You Never Know. Why not just include a 12th track?? They just weren't feeling that.

Monkey Man, same thing. it might never be recovered, Dave wrote it when he was depressed and they left it like that.

When asked about the LWS Stefan shut up like a clam. He said he was totally pissed and the cd that got out wasn't the "one master cd" of ALL the work they had done in VA. It was just a copy of one of the various mixes of cds from the Charlottesville sessions.

He was really pissed off about it, hence the recording of Busted Stuff... because they wanted to have the songs out the way THEY wanted them to be... not just some "pansy ass copy" of one of many mixed cds they had. He was especially bent about Grey Street because the version that got out had practically no lyrics, as was the case with Raven. The copy that got out of Monkey Man didn't even have Boyd in the mix whereas others did.

Stefan takes a different approach than Dave. Dave writes licks, then develops choruses and bridges off of them. Roi usually helps out with parts allocated for solos. then dave writes a melody, then assigns lyrics.

Stefan plays around in grooves and kinda takes the all at once approach, lyrics that come to him he said usually stay, what he develops usually doesn't change that much, he has a pocket digital recorder he carries around when he gets ideas. I thought that was cool... I've always wondered about that.

Dave (Stefan said) often stays up at night and drinks wine until he has some kinda of framework done. Gravedigger was Dave's fascination after reading an article about a man being alive when buried and he thought the sensation of feeling the rain was a great line if you truly remained stagnant and didnt advance to a higher state of heaven or whatever.

Supposedly, its a really horrible situation. Dave is tortured by the idea that a God could have created him, but he himself told Fonz how could he not believe in a higher power and how it lets innocent people be tortured and killed here on earth as if it were a game. He is really bitter towards God, Stefan said. He's seen a lot of death in his life.

I think this is a fantastic interpretation of the song. I've never come close to thinking of the song in this way. While I think that a few lines of this interpretation are a bit of a stretch.. most of it seems dead on.... Enjoy.

First of all, the song is about Jesus right before, during, and after his death. I think that this song is about Jesus debating whether or not he's God, whether or not he is who everyone thinks he is. I think I can prove this all to you.

Spoon in spoon - Right from the start, this line had me confused for a good ten minutes. Why two spoons? I see it as how when you go to put the spoon in the coffee, you see another spoon as the reflection in the coffee. So you put the spoon in the other spoon. Just had to get that out of the way.

Now, just the act of stirring coffee represent randomness, and a thought of someone pops into your head. You turn to leave and all the answers, all of life's mysteries come to you. However, you scratch your head, get sidetracked, and all the answers leave you.

Now, Jesus was in the Garden of Gesthemene right before his death. The song poses the possibility that Jesus was debating with himself over who he really was. All of a sudden the answers came to him, but left him just as quickly.

Hand to Hand refers to him being nailed to the cross.

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Ryan Nichols, who monitors the recording through headphones during the show, explained the comprehensive archiving process. “The computer database designed by Ian Kuhn covers set lists, all our production information — from load-in times to what the facility provides for us — crew calls, any sort of merchandise, accounting or guest list information. The archive section is enormous. There are copious notes that go down for every show — all kinds of data about any overs on tracks, any guest musicians, the multitrack input list, etc. And then it generates serial numbers for each tape, in every type of media that we use. Each one gets an Avery label that is printed out here by the database.

“Every show that gets done on hard disk gets mailed home to Charlottesville [Va.] in one of these Pelican cases,” Nichols continues. “Each case holds two shows. We have an archivist there who empties all the files off the hard drives onto compact disc. Compact disc, megabyte per dollar, seems to be the cheapest medium out there. You can do 8x burning, and each show generates about 10 hours of data transfer.

“Each multitrack show turns into about 110 compact discs. We hold onto the magnetic tape side of the redundant multitrack recording out here on tour, until the archivist gives us the okay — that his data transfer went okay. After the archivist dumps the hard drives, he sends them back to us on tour. We have 20 hard drives, and we use about four a show, so we have about a five-show leeway. And we don't usually do five shows in a week. But we can't have too many spares lying around at $500 a hard drive.”

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