Dave Matthews Band: Encyclopedia II - Dave Matthews Band - History

Dave Matthews Band - History

David J. Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967. Two years later, his family moved to Westchester County, NY. His father was a physicist and worked for IBM at the time. He has two sisters (Anne and Jane) and a brother (Peter). After living in New York, his family moved to Cambridge, England in the early '70s. The family returned to New York where his father died in 1977. In 1980, the family moved to South Africa where the young Matthews went to several schools and "got more wise about the evils of government, there and in general." In 1993, his sister Anne died in a domestic tragedy at her home in South Africa. The Grammy nominated album "Under The Table and Dreaming" is dedicated to her.

Dave Matthews Band - Early 1990s

In the early 1990s, the band established a cult following through relentless touring with weekly stops at Virginia clubs known as Trax and Floodzone, an active taping community, and an independent LP, Remember Two Things. (Keyboardist Griesar left the band in 1993, shortly before the release of "Remember Two Things".) After signing to RCA Records, Dave Matthews Band, under the direction of producer Steve Lillywhite, released Under the Table and Dreaming in 1994, a critical and popular smash that firmly established the band's style of pop-rock with improvisational leanings. Under the Table and Dreaming would be the first of three albums released under Lillywhite's direction. This was followed by Crash (1996). For most of America, Crash was the record that put the Dave Matthews Band on the map. Featuring the hit single "Crash Into Me", as well as fan-favorites such as "Two Step", "Tripping Billies", and the Grammy-winning "So Much to Say", Crash would go on to be the band's best selling album.

Dave Matthews Band - 1997-1999

Dave Matthews Band - 2000-2003

During the year 2000, the band set up its own recording studio in a large house in the country outside Charlottesville, Virginia. With longtime producer Steve Lillywhite at the helm, the band began work on a fourth studio album. Heavily influenced by personal conflicts, notably the death of his uncle and his resulting alcoholism, the songs recorded with Lillywhite rank as some of the darkest Matthews has ever written. The band's attentions wandered during the seemingly never-ending recording sessions; they spent more time riding four-wheelers through the countryside and playing video games than writing or recording music. In the end, the studio sessions were a failure. In August of 2000 the sessions were scrapped and the band's seven-year relationship with Lillywhite was over. Some believe the band was unhappy with the atmosphere of the songs and frustrated with Lillywhite's often perfectionist style of production, while others believe Lillywhite was made into a scapegoat for the band's lack of professionalism during the recording sessions.

In October 2000, an energized Matthews began writing with Glen Ballard, most famous for his work with Alanis Morissette. The band soon joined Matthews in a Los Angeles studio, quickly recording what was to become Everyday. While the album gave the band a much-needed fresh start, Ballard's slick pop-music approach to production was very different from the creative process used to produce previous studio albums. In the end, the album was completed but the band seemed unsatisfied. Drummer Carter Beauford's sarcastic jibe that the band had "charts and everything" ready for them shines light on a session where the band, which had in the past collectively composed its music, was turned into a backing band for Matthews with no creative input. The February 2001 release of Everyday was a huge commercial success—the singles "I Did It", "The Space Between" and "Everyday" gained the band an even larger level of popularity. But like the band itself, the fanbase was disappointed with the release. Its poppy, slick sound (including Dave Matthews' first ever recording sessions on electric guitar) was a great departure from the band's previous work and the complete antithesis of the songs recorded with Lillywhite.

The conflict came full circle when, in March of 2001, the 2000 studio sessions with producer Steve Lillywhite were leaked on the internet. Over established internet channels such as the Dave Matthews Band Mailing List, the tracks spread like wildfire. Better known as The Lillywhite Sessions, this rough album was universally lauded by both the fanbase and the popular press. After critical comparison of the two simultaneous albums, many fans were frustrated with the band's decision to scrap the work in exchange for "Everyday". Tracks such as "Bartender", "Grey Street", "Captain", and "Grace is Gone" caused many to wonder aloud whether the band had thrown away its best (albeit unfinished) work.

The Lillywhite Sessions would, however, finally have their chance to shine. In response to overwhelming fan support, coupled with a popular and widely publicized online campaign known as the Release Lillywhite Recordings Campaign, the band returned to the studio in 2002 to record Busted Stuff. Produced by Stephen Harris, the recording engineer under Lillywhite on previous albums, the resulting CD provided new treatments of much of the Lillywhite Sessions material, along with newly written songs "You Never Know" and the hit singles "Where Are You Going?" and "Grey Street". Busted Stuff received moderate critical and commercial success and was generally well-received by the band's fanbase. Later that year the band released its fourth live album, Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado, recorded July 11, 2001. The live release highlighted songs from both Everyday and Busted Stuff. On September 24, 2003 Dave Matthews Band reached another milestone in the history of the band when they played a free concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City to benefit New York City schools. A live recording of that show was released later that year as The Central Park Concert on CD and DVD.

Dave Matthews Band - 2004 and beyond

2004 saw the band release more music than any previous year. In June, "Dave Matthews Band: The Gorge", a combination 2-CD/1-DVD set with highlights from their 3-night tour closer at The Gorge in George, WA from 2002, was sold in stores. The Band also exclusively released a 6-disc CD set from the same run featuring all three nights, with each night spanning across two CDs. Later in the year it was announced that highlights from the Band's extensive live archives would be available for purchase via the official website. The first such release, DMB Live Volume 1: 12.8.98 Worcester, MA, featured guests Tim Reynolds, Béla Fleck, and Jeff Coffin and had been nearly universally accepted as one of the greatest shows in the Band's history; however, such talk has subsided after its release. The second release, DMB Live Volume 2: 9.12.04 Golden Gate Park, included the guitarist Carlos Santana and gave fans previews of newly-penned songs "Joyride", "Hello Again", and "Sugar Will", all at the time presumed to be destined for release on a 2005 new studio album, though only "Hello Again" was actually released, to the disappointment of some fans.

In the fall of 2004, the Dave Matthews Band returned to their studio in Charlottesville, Virginia with a new producer, Mark Batson. The band considered itself to be at a crucial crossroads in its evolution. The negative reaction of many of its fans to Everyday and the middling success of Busted Stuff, coupled with Dave Matthews' belief that the band has not made a great album since Before These Crowded Streets, all worked to create a sense of eagerness, if not urgency, on the part of the band to create a stellar album. Stand Up was released on May 10, 2005, debuting at #1 on the Billboard charts with sales of 465,000. Fan reaction towards the hip-hop influenced album was generally poor and the album spawned the hit singles "American Baby" and "Dreamgirl." The band supported the album with a summer-long tour culminating in a four-night stand at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where they recorded their first live album ten years earlier. The proceeds from the fourth Red Rocks show, which totalled over $1 million, went entirely to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Dave Matthews Band embarked on a brief tour in the fall of 2005, with dates throughout November and December. The 2005 Red Rocks concerts were released on November 29 as a "best of" CD/DVD combo entitled "Weekend on the Rocks". "The Complete Weekend On The Rocks," a box set of all four Red Rocks concerts, is also exclusively available from DMB's official store.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki