Early
in 1991 Dave Matthews decided to put the songs he’d been writing on tape.
And rather than record only his voice and guitar, he decided to gather
some other musicians to give the project a fuller sound. As a bartender
at Charlottesville’s premier jazz venue, Miller’s, Dave had seen and heard
much of the local and regional talent, including Carter and LeRoi who were
well known throughout the area for their jazz chops. Dave told them about
his plans to record his songs, and they agreed to help him. Stefan, who
at the age of 16 had already gained the respect of local musicians as an
excellent upright and electric bass player, was chosen for the project
because, as Dave said, “I just had a feeling about him, his spirit, his
sense of the music. It was so much beyond his years.” Rounding out the
quintet back then was keyboard player Peter Griesar, a fellow Miller’s
employee and friend of Dave’s who joined in as the band rehearsed at the
club. When strings were needed for a tune the band was working on, band
members called on Boyd Tinsley and his high-energy violin. After sitting
in with the band on a few different occasions, Boyd was asked to join full-time,
and The Dave Matthews Band was born.
After
several rehearsals in basements (first Carter’s mom’s, then Dave’s mom’s),
they were ready to play in public. The first gig was May 11, 1991 at a
party on the roof of an apartment building in Charlottesville. About 40
people were in attendance that night. Their first open-to-the-public performance
was at the 1991 Earth Day Festival on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.
That exposure led to regular Tuesday night gigs at a small restaurant called
Eastern Standard. The owner of Trax nightclub (the largest music venue
in town) heard them play one night and suggested they move the Tuesday
night gigs to Trax. The band agreed and were soon filling Trax to capacity
with locals and University of Virginia students week after week.
As
word spread of the infectious new sound coming out of Charlottesville,
the Tuesday night gig evolved into three-, four-, and five-day tours around
the region. Having always allowed fans to tape shows for their own enjoyment
and for trading, the music often arrived in towns before the band did!
Frequently, audiences were well acquainted with the band’s music before
ever seeing a live performance. Consequently, the band began drawing considerable
crowds throughout the Southeast. As fans traded tapes and mailed them to
friends around the country, club owners got wind of DMB as a hot live act.
The tour schedule expanded north to Philadelphia and New York and west
to Boulder, Colorado.
As
the fan base grew, so did the demand for an album. Dave’s original demo
tape that brought them all together had long since been forgotten, and
Peter had left the band. Not wanting to interrupt their touring schedule
and hoping to capture the energy of a typical performance, DMB decided
to release a live album. They chose The Muse Music Club on Nantucket as
the site and recorded “Remember Two Things” in August of 1993.
DMB’s
first album was released November 9 of that year and was distributed independently
from the tiny Charlottesville office that served as the DMB home base.
Fans loved “Remember Two Things” immediately, and it debuted November
22 on the College Music Journal chart as the highest independent entry.
In
February of 1994 DMB released another independent record, a 5-song EP entitled
“Recently.” It contained previously unreleased material and one remixed
song from “R2T.” At that time the disc was only available at live shows
or through mail order.
While
all this was going on, the band kept touring. And the number of fans kept
growing. DMB appeared with the summer 1993 HORDE Tour in Richmond, Virginia
and Raleigh, North Carolina and as the opening act for Phish, Blues Traveler,
Colonel Bruce and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, and several other prominent
touring acts.
1994
proved to be a huge year for DMB. They played their first theater shows
as the headliner. They toured the country most of the summer, and spent
three weeks as part of the HORDE. They also recorded and released their
major label debut. “Under the Table and Dreaming” (recorded in Bearsville,
NY) was released on September 27th and DMB left the country in November
for their first European tour. They returned to the States to close out
the year as they had the previous two years with a sold out NewYear’s Eve
show in Richmond.
The
band spent the first half of 1995 on tour with Big Head Todd and the Monsters
and on DMB’s first “official” US tour promoting their major label debut.
Immediately following the tour with Big Head Todd, DMB opened two shows
for the Grateful Dead at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas in May. After another
European tour in June (this one comprising mainly opening slots at large
festivals and some club shows), DMB hit the road for the rest of the summer.
With the exception of HORDE shows in Milwaukee and Chicago, Dionne Farris
was their support act for this stint of touring.
Late
in 1995 DMB went back to the Bearsville studio to record their second major
label album. Recording “Crash” kept the band busy until almost the end
of the year. They managed a brief post-Christmas tour and ended 1995 with
two shows at the Hampton Colliseum in Hampton, Virginia December 30 and
31.
The
band toured promoting “Crash” starting in Richmond on April 30, the day
“Crash” was released. DMB also spent several weeks in Europe that year.
Support acts for the US part of the tour included Soul Coughing, Ben Harper,
Boxing Ghandis, Me’Shell N’Degeocello, G Love and Special Sauce, Corey
Harris, Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, and Bela Fleck & the
Flecktones. The year once again drew to a close with a New Year’s Eve show
in Hampton, Virginia.
Dave
Matthews Band took a needed and well-deserved break from touring in 1997.
Having toured and recorded for the better part of five years, the time
off in 1997 was the longest break in DMB’s history. The band went out for
a six week tour that summer with support acts Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
and Los Lobos.
Following
a short break, DMB went back into the studio (this time just outside San
Francisco) and recorded their latest release, “Before These Crowded Streets”
available in stores now. The band kicked off their 98/99 international
tour with a sold out stadium show in Roanoke, Virginia, and just finished
the first leg of that tour with another sold out show at Giants Stadium,
in New Jersey.
