DAVE MATTHEWS
... do today?’ ‘Just live again, I suppose.’” After facing the death of his father John Matthews, Dave and his family moved back to Johannesburg, South Africa. The native artists and ethnic cultures around Matthews really inspired him and his music. However, in 1986 Dave was forced to move back to the United States in order to avoid the compulsory military service of South Africa. While in New York Dave worked as a clerk in the IBM research center where his father used to work. Later that year, Dave moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where his family had been living. He attended the Charlottesville Community College where his main interests were philosophy, abstract drawing, and guitar playing. Many of the drawings that Dave drew in college would later appear on Dave Matthews Band merchandise. Between the years 1986 and 1990 Dave Matthews spent a lot of time making trips to South Africa, which gave him a greater love for the beautiful countryside and the unique cultural music. As Dave has said “A large part of me is tied to South Africa. I go there as often as I can.” While in South Africa he attended many anti-apartheid marches and rallies to help protest the unjust political and social systems. All of these experiences throughout Dave’s childhood have given his music a unique influence and style. FORMING THE BAND Dave was brought into the music scene in 1987 when he met local guitarist Tim Reynolds while working as a bartender at a local bar called Miller’s. Dave quickly became friends with Tim and learned a lot about music from him. He soon started writing songs in 1990 after being encouraged by a local songwriter named Ross Hoffman, who would later become Dave’s manager. Dave quit his job at Miller’s in order to focus on writing music. He soon composed a four-song demo that consisted of the songs: The Song That Jane Likes, I’ll Back you up, Recently, and The Best of What’s Around. His first song was titled “I’ll back you up” which was written for Julia Grey, Dave’s ex girlfriend, who he met in South Africa. Dave would later propose to her on three different occasions only to be turned down all three times. In return he wrote the song “Halloween” which was sort of a unique form of payback for the disappointment that he felt. “The Song That Jane Likes” was given its’ name because Dave’s sister Jane liked the song the first time he played it for her. The first single “Recently” was written about a girl Dave fell in love with while on a trip to South Africa, possibly Julia Grey. The band first began to form when Dave met Leroi Moore and Carter Beauford who were two of Dave’s local music idols. Dave’s main goal was to surround himself with the best possible musicians and he did just that. Dave never thought that they would agree to play with him because of how high he viewed them but little did he know that they would soon be the saxophonist and drummer of his band. Stefan Lessard, bass guitar, joined the band while he was only sixteen years old. After a few weeks the band was complete with the addition of violinist Boyd Tinsley. The first official gig for the band was at a private rooftop party in 1991. The first public show was during an Earth Day Celebration in April of 1991. The band soon began weekly gigs and their popularity spread throughout the Virginia region. What really helped out Dave Matthews and his band was their relationship with the fans. Dave commented about this saying “[The audience is] a huge part. From the very beginning, right from that first Earth Day concert, it was amazing, we weren’t known at all, but it was a cold and windy day, it was dark out. Earth Day had become Windy Miserable day, and these people had been there for eight hours or so and they were looking pretty tired, but when we started playing, everyone got up and were like, ‘Wow’, and just started dancing, because it was a different sound, you know. And right from that point there was a sort of excitement between us and the audience. There was a real commercial sense about our relationship” The sound of the band was indeed different taking the form of a unique grass roots rock/jazz band. This individuality helped the band gain popularity very quickly. THE ALBUMS November 9th, 1993 the band released its first album t...