By Waldo L. Jaquith
09/21/01

"Dave Matthews Band" has long been considered a suspicious name. A variety of stories have popped up to explain the name. The story that is most frequent, and most popular, involves an error on the part of a Trax employee while making a sign. The name, the story goes, "just stuck." This story is dubious, at best, but it will no doubt move from a good yarn into the realm of fact as time marches onward. Regardless of origin, it is inescapable that the name features a particular band member's name. Though it is not uncommon for bands to be named after their creator, this is usually done as a marketing maneuver, in order to highlight the involvement of a famous musician. Dave Matthews, at the time of the band's creation, was the single most inexperienced and least-known musician. So the name has always been a bit of a puzzle. (Though to be fair, "Dave Matthews Band" is, debatably, an improvement over "Dumela," their original, briefly-lived moniker.)

Dave Matthews Band, circa 1993.

The press has not ignored the Matthews-centric band name. When the band first entered the national spotlight, interviewers frequently asked if Matthews wore the pants in the band. The refrain was the same: "it's a band of equals," "there is no leader," "vocals are just another instrument," etc. In discussions on the Nancies mailing list, it was generally agreed-upon that this aspect of the band was an important aspect of the band's musical identity. As a group of equals, it was popularly believed that their music would represent each member's identity, and that this collaboration would make stagnation virtually impossible. Fans and reviewers alike agreed that this jam band approach combined with excellent song writing was what brought on the band's tremendous success.

But things have changed, and now there is no longer talk of Dave Matthews band being a collaborative effort.

This fundamental aspect of DMB changed after the summer 2000 recording sessions, when the band dropped Steve Lillywhite as their producer and began working with Glen Ballard. Matthews headed out to Los Angeles ten days before the rest of the band, ostensibly to get a head start writing with Ballard, and ended up creating nearly the entire album in collaboration with Ballard. The rest of Dave Matthews Band, now reduced to, simply, "the band," arrived at the studio to find that their parts had been assigned, their music charted, their contributions now that of mere studio musicians.

Whether or not the band resented this change in direction is subject to interpretation and remains largely a matter of speculation. But it was clear that something important had changed. Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard, Leroi Moore and Boyd Tinsley had become Dave Matthews' Band, a tool of Matthews' rather than a group of equals.

In the weeks prior to Everyday's release, Dave Matthews embarked on a solo radio promotional tour, something that had he had never done. He paid a series of visits to dozens of stations and popped in on several concerts, gaining much press in the process. And now, it cannot go unnoticed that, at the conclusion of the Everyday tour, dates are already being announced for the fall, and, more often than not, they feature Dave Matthews as a solo artist rather than the full band. For the most part, fans don't seem to mind: Matthews is imminently marketable as a solo act. Through his tours with guitar virtuoso Tim Reynolds and their 1999 double-disc release, Live at Luther College, Matthews has proven that a great many Dave Matthews Band fans are quite happy to hear him perform sans the band.

He wouldn't be the first band member to successfully forge a solo career. Perhaps the most well-known example of this is Sting, formerly of The Police. The Police released five albums (coincidentally, the same number of albums that Dave Matthews Band has released thus far), scored a half dozen number-one hits and sold millions of albums, breaking up at their very peak of popularity, after the release of their critically-acclaimed Synchronicity. The members of the band went their separate ways, though none achieved the popular success that Sting did. Though one can find many reasons for Sting's popularity, one of the most important is that Sting was both author and lead singer of The Police's songs, making him both the most well-known member, but also the member most able to represent the band's music on his own. The similarity is striking, and has surely not escaped the notice of Matthews.

Dave Matthews Band, circa 2001.

Every band breaks up eventually. Some groups break up out of boredom, many out of infighting and disagreements, and still more because they cease to be popular. Dave Matthews Band will one day break up for any number of reasons, likely citing one or more of these maladies. Given the Everyday debacle, it seems altogether possible that a crucial factor in this breakup will be Matthews' control of the band. Should the band decide to enjoy the money and the success, they could grin and bear it, and continue to tour playing the Matthews- and Ballard-penned songs. On the other hand, should the band tire of the creative restrictions imposed on them by this new style of leadership, Matthews will likely carry the DMB torch and reap the benefits that accompany the public association.

The band members, on the other hand, will have a somewhat more difficult task in forging their own solo careers. Leroi Moore and Stefan Lessard are virtual unknowns, even among many DMB fans. Carter Beauford and Boyd Tinsley, while more familiar to concert-goers, still pale in comparison to the image of "The Dave," as Charlottesville's C-Ville Weekly insists on calling him. No DMB member will have any difficulty finding work; all are revered among their fellow musicians. (Nor, one must assume, should they have any need for work. They're surely all millionaires many times over.) "The band" simply lacks the star power and momentum that Matthews has been building up for the past decade, no doubt largely a result of spending a decade as a member of a band that's named after somebody other than themselves.

Is it inevitable that Dave Matthews will take his solo career full-time, breaking up Dave Matthews Band in the process? Of course not. But at some point, probably sooner than later, they'll decide that they've had enough. And more likely than not, Matthews will simultaneously launch a successful solo career, rivaling even that of the venerable Sting. The only real mystery is if this will happen in a matter of months, or a matter of years. Only time will tell.

nancies.org | September 21, 2001