There was a time when every rock 'n' roll movement sprung from the grass roots. And while much
has changed over the years, a band working entirely on its own -- outside the parameters of
current trends -- can generate the kind of organic electricity that marketers spend a fortune trying
to create. Case in point: the Dave Matthews Band. Since Matthews -- a South African expatriate
who settled in Charlottesville, Va., after leaving his homeland as a teenager -- put together the
genre-blending combo, the quintet's charged live shows have made them one of the biggest pop-rock draws in North America. Their self-released debut, 1993's Remember Two Things, sold at a
rate of more than 10,000 copies per month -- a remarkable feat, considering the album was
distributed exclusively from the band's office. Their major-label debut, Under the Table and
Dreaming was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones) and captures
every nuance of the band's live shows. With singer/guitarist Matthews' vulnerable, expressive
voice -- which has frequently been compared to Sting -- at the fore, the band (reedman LeRoi
Moore, violinist Boyd Tinsley, bassist Stefan Lessard and drummer Carter Beauford) weaves a
mesh of sound, that the Raleigh Spectator described as "stunning...as cool, as evil and as furious
as rock has ever been." "The way I look at it, we have five lead voices in this band," Matthews
says. "I may be the first thing people notice, since I do the singing, but there are times when
LeRoi's sax is the voice, and times when Boyd is at the front. And in Carter and Stefan, we have
something that goes far beyond a simple rhythm section. There are very few times when the
audience has just one thing to listen to." The band's third album, 1996's Crash, contained the
radio mega-hit "Crash Into Me," which was nominated for two Grammy Awards. In October 1997,
the DMB released a double CD of the group's August 1995 live performance at Red Rocks in
Colorado. In April 1998 the band released their first studio album in two years, Before These
Crowded Streets, following it up with another tour.
There was a time when every rock 'n' roll movement sprung from the grass roots. And while much
has changed over the years, a band working entirely on its own -- outside the parameters of
current trends -- can generate the kind of organic electricity that marketers spend a fortune trying
to create. Case in point: the Dave Matthews Band. Since Matthews -- a South African expatriate
who settled in Charlottesville, Va., after leaving his homeland as a teenager -- put together the
genre-blending combo, the quintet's charged live shows have made them one of the biggest pop-rock draws in North America. Their self-released debut, 1993's Remember Two Things, sold at a
rate of more than 10,000 copies per month -- a remarkable feat, considering the album was
distributed exclusively from the band's office. Their major-label debut, Under the Table and
Dreaming was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones) and captures
every nuance of the band's live shows. With singer/guitarist Matthews' vulnerable, expressive
voice -- which has frequently been compared to Sting -- at the fore, the band (reedman LeRoi
Moore, violinist Boyd Tinsley, bassist Stefan Lessard and drummer Carter Beauford) weaves a
mesh of sound, that the Raleigh Spectator described as "stunning...as cool, as evil and as furious
as rock has ever been." "The way I look at it, we have five lead voices in this band," Matthews
says. "I may be the first thing people notice, since I do the singing, but there are times when
LeRoi's sax is the voice, and times when Boyd is at the front. And in Carter and Stefan, we have
something that goes far beyond a simple rhythm section. There are very few times when the
audience has just one thing to listen to." The band's third album, 1996's Crash, contained the
radio mega-hit "Crash Into Me," which was nominated for two Grammy Awards. In October 1997,
the DMB released a double CD of the group's August 1995 live performance at Red Rocks in
Colorado. In April 1998 the band released their first studio album in two years, Before These
Crowded Streets, following it up with another tour.
