Dave Mathews Band

Dave Mathews Band was formed in 1991 by singer/guitarist Dave Matthews, who at the time was a local bartender, when he began laying down tracks with local musicians saxophonist Leroi Moore, bassist Stefan Lessard, violin player Boyd Tinsley, drummer Carter Beauford, and keyboardist Peter Griesar. The band originated in Charlottsville, VA, and played their first gig at a rooftop party on May 11, 1991. The band soon released their self-produced debut album, the live set Remember Two Things, in late 1993, and it became popular on college radio and, surprisingly, went gold. As the band expanded their tour range and allowed fans to tape their live performances, their fan base continued to grow, setting the stage for their explosive 1994 album Under the Table and Dreaming, which produced some of the band's highest-charting hits to date, including "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching." The band's follow-up, Crash, became even more successful, earning them a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "So Much To Say." Departing from their standard, poppy reputation, DMB released its most complex album to date, Before These Crowded Streets, in 1998 and then the slick sounding Everyday in 2001, which included Matthews' first recorded tracks on electric guitar, and brought the band even more international notoriety. On the wave of more successful releases, the band s publicity in 2004, when Boyd Tinsley's tour bus driver dumped 800 pounds of human waste through the grate in the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto passengers aboard a sightseeing boat below. As a result, the band donated $50,000 to the Friends of the Chicago River $50,000 to the Chicago Park District, and paid $200,000 to settle the civil lawsuit that followed. Recently, Matthews announced that a greatest hits album will soon be issued.
Instead of succumbing to the standard rock and roll combination of guitar, bass and drums, Dave Matthews band draws musical sounds from instruments such as the fiddle and the saxophone, giving the band a cross-genre sound of blues, jazz, country and rock that's propelled them to super stardom. Matthews' versatile voice dances through his often vicious and ethereal melodies that have grown more complex as the band has matured. From the needed pop-flavor or Under the Table and Dreaming to Stand Up's raw, angst-ridden sound, DMB sound has become more organic in the 15 years since they first hit the stage. Matthews's decision to go electric, as Dylan did with blond on blond, marks a significant turning point for the band, giving them the chance to expand their range and delve into new styles of music, such as new influences from hip hop and R&B.