45 Fun Facts About Dave Matthews Band

Which Dave Matthews Band song plays twice in Greta Gerwig's 2017 film Lady Bird?

Crash into Me soundtracks two scenes in Lady Bird; on prom night the heroine takes a stand for it when her date says he hates the song. Gerwig called it incredibly romantic.

What job did Dave Matthews hold at Miller's, the Charlottesville jazz club where he met his first bandmates?

Bartender was Matthews's job at Miller's, where he poured drinks for the local jazz players he later asked to play on a demo of his songs.

Which Charlottesville jazz drummer did Dave Matthews recruit in 1991 to help turn his demo songs into a band?

Carter Beauford was a seasoned local jazz player; Matthews said he went to him not because he needed a drummer but because he was the best musician he had ever seen.

Boyd Tinsley was originally brought in just to add fiddle to which one song?

"Tripping Billies" was the one song Tinsley was asked to add fiddle to; the band had no plans for a violinist, but the fit was immediate and he became a full member, staying until 2018.

Which keyboardist left Dave Matthews Band in March 1993, months before its first album?

Peter Griesar played keyboards and harmonica from 1991 but left abruptly after a show in March 1993, so the band was a five-piece by the time it made its first records.

Dave Matthews joined the board of which benefit concert organization in 2001?

Farm Aid was launched by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp in 1985 to keep family farmers on their land; Matthews joined its board of directors in 2001.

Which Charlottesville club hosted Dave Matthews Band's regular Tuesday-night shows in the early 1990s?

Trax became the band's Tuesday-night home after its early gigs at the Eastern Standard, a small restaurant; the weekly show ran until December 1993, when the band left to tour the country.

The band's first official release, Remember Two Things (1993), came out on which of their own labels?

Bama Rags, the band's own imprint, issued Remember Two Things in November 1993; recorded mostly live in three clubs, the self-released album went on to be certified platinum.

The 1994 major-label debut Under the Table and Dreaming was dedicated to whom?

Matthews's sister Anne was killed by her husband in early 1994, months before the album came out; it is dedicated to her memory.

Which guest plays the harmonica solo on Dave Matthews Band's 'What Would You Say'?

John Popper of Blues Traveler blew the harmonica solo on 'What Would You Say'; heavy radio play for the single drew casual listeners to a band built on touring and pushed its major-label debut to multi-platinum sales.

Which song won the band's 1997 Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group?

'So Much to Say' won at the 1997 Grammys over Oasis's 'Wonderwall' and the Smashing Pumpkins' '1979', giving the band its first Grammy.

Dave Matthews Band's 1997 double live album captured an August 1995 concert at which venue?

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the open-air venue outside Denver, hosted the show; Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 gave fans an official alternative to the bootleg tapes that had been the only way to hear a full concert.

Which singer guests on Before These Crowded Streets alongside Béla Fleck and the Kronos Quartet?

Alanis Morissette sings on two tracks of Before These Crowded Streets, including the closer 'Spoon'; the album, released in April 1998, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

What was the lead single from Before These Crowded Streets?

'Don't Drink the Water' reached radio in spring 1998 ahead of the album; Béla Fleck plays banjo on the song, which is about the slaughter of Native Americans by European settlers.

The live album Listener Supported was recorded in September 1999 for a special on which broadcaster?

PBS aired the 11 September 1999 concert at East Rutherford, New Jersey as a pledge-drive special, hence the title Listener Supported; the album and a video of the show followed that November.

Which pop hitmaker co-wrote and produced Everyday (2001), giving Dave Matthews Band a slicker, electric sound?

Glen Ballard, producer of Jagged Little Pill, co-wrote every song on Everyday with Matthews after the band scrapped a darker set of recordings; some longtime fans were wary of its slicker, electric sound.

Which guitar legend guested on the Everyday sessions in Los Angeles?

Carlos Santana plays electric guitar on the Everyday track 'Mother Father', two years after Matthews sang on 'Love of My Life' for Santana's album Supernatural.

The abandoned 2000 recordings that leaked online in March 2001 are known to fans as what?

The Lillywhite Sessions, recorded in Virginia in 2000 and shelved as too dark, spread through file-sharing after the March 2001 leak; the band re-recorded most of the songs for Busted Stuff in 2002.

The Busted Stuff single 'Where Are You Going' was used in which 2002 Adam Sandler film?

Mr. Deeds, Adam Sandler's 2002 comedy, put 'Where Are You Going' on its soundtrack; it was one of only two songs on Busted Stuff not carried over from the band's abandoned 2000 recordings.

In August 2004, a Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped waste off a bridge onto a tour boat in which city?

Chicago's Kinzie Street Bridge was where the driver emptied the bus's septic tank onto an architecture tour boat on the Chicago River; the driver pleaded guilty and the band paid $200,000 to settle the state's lawsuit.

Which actress and long-time fan appears in the video for 'Dreamgirl' from Stand Up?

Julia Roberts appears in the 2005 'Dreamgirl' video; nineteen years later the long-time fan gave the speech inducting the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Gorge Amphitheatre, home of the band's Labor Day weekend runs, is in which US state?

Washington is home to the Gorge Amphitheatre, on the Columbia River at George; the band's Labor Day weekend stands there became a tradition, captured on the 2004 live set The Gorge.

In September 2007 Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer and Nas played a free concert for the students and staff of which university?

Virginia Tech hosted the show at Lane Stadium, five months after the shooting on its campus; every student, faculty and staff member was offered a free ticket.

Dave Matthews Band's saxophonist died in August 2008 from complications of what?

An ATV accident on his farm in Virginia on 30 June 2008 left him with serious injuries; he died of complications on 19 August 2008, the night the band played the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The 'GrooGrux King' of Dave Matthews Band's 2009 album title is which member, who died during its making?

LeRoi Moore, the band's saxophonist, shared the nickname GrooGrux with fellow players until it stuck to him, and he liked to announce 'My name is King', Matthews recalled.

Which saxophonist, from Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, took over after the founding sax player's death?

Jeff Coffin, the saxophonist of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, stepped in for the summer 2008 tour and stayed on as a permanent member, sharing horn duties with trumpeter Rashawn Ross.

Which guitarist, a longtime collaborator, became a permanent member of the band in 2008?

Tim Reynolds, who played on the band's studio albums from 1994 and toured with Matthews as an acoustic duo, became a full-time member in 2008 on electric guitar.

Why did Dave Matthews Band skip its usual summer tour in 2011, two decades after forming?

A planned year off, announced in 2010, broke a run of twenty straight touring years; the band still staged four multi-day Caravan festivals that summer.

Which song opens Dave Matthews Band's 1994 album Under the Table and Dreaming?

'The Best of What's Around' opens the 1994 album, and its title outlived the record: in 2006 the band borrowed it for a two-disc hits collection, The Best of What's Around Vol. 1.

Dave Matthews was born in which country?

South Africa is where Matthews was born, in Johannesburg in 1967; after high school he left for the United States rather than serve in the army of the apartheid state, which had sent him a conscription letter.

Dave Matthews Band's 2003 concert, later released as a live album, took place in which park?

Central Park's Great Lawn hosted the show, staged with AOL to raise money for New York City's public schools; the recording became the album The Central Park Concert.

Boyd Tinsley's long run in Dave Matthews Band ended in May 2018 after which event?

A harassment lawsuit was filed against Tinsley in May 2018 by a trumpeter from his side band, and the band said he was no longer a member; he had stepped back that February, citing exhaustion, and vowed to fight the claims.

Which album gave Dave Matthews Band a record seventh straight No. 1 studio debut in 2018?

Come Tomorrow opened at No. 1 in June 2018, extending a streak that began in 1998; the record counts studio albums only, since a hits collection and live sets released in between missed the top.

When COVID-19 sidelined Dave Matthews Band's drummer and bassist before its 2021 Gorge shows, which bandmate took over the drums?

Buddy Strong, the band's keyboardist, slid behind the drum kit for the full-band part of each show; Matthews opened every night alone before the reshuffled line-up joined him.

What is the title of Dave Matthews Band's tenth studio album, released in May 2023?

Walk Around the Moon arrived in May 2023; its lead single, 'Madman's Eyes', sets a plea about mass shootings, and society's response to them, to Middle Eastern-style melodies.

In 2020 Dave Matthews Band became the first winner of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's fan vote to do what?

Miss out on induction: the band topped the public poll but was left off the 2020 class, because the fan vote counts as only one ballot among more than a thousand; it got in four years later.

What is the name of Dave Matthews Band's official fan association, whose members get first chance at concert tickets?

Warehouse was set up, in the band's words, to foster greater interaction between fans; members can buy tickets ahead of the public sale and, at some venues, get in early.

What did the DMB Drive-In, Dave Matthews Band's 2020 pandemic series, bring fans each week?

A past concert stream went out each week on the band's YouTube channel while touring was on hold; each episode put the spotlight on a charity, among them No Kid Hungry and Save the Children.

Which song from Dave Matthews's 2003 solo album Some Devil won him a Grammy for best male rock vocal?

Gravedigger won at the 2004 Grammys; Matthews said he made a solo record only because he had a handful of songs that didn't really fit the band.

Which Dave Matthews Band album earned its highest US sales certification, seven times platinum?

Crash, released in 1996, was certified seven times platinum by March 2000; Matthews said the band made it 'by our book', gathered in a circle and playing to each other as in its early rehearsals.

Dave Matthews Band's Before These Crowded Streets ended which film soundtrack's 16-week run at No. 1 in May 1998?

Titanic's soundtrack had spent 16 straight weeks at No. 1 when Before These Crowded Streets displaced it, the band's first chart-topper and the start of a twenty-year run of No. 1 studio debuts.

Dave Matthews Band played the Saturday of which 1999 festival, hours before Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica?

Woodstock's 1999 edition put the band on the east stage that Saturday afternoon, where it drew a crowd so vast that one fan joked the other stage must be playing to almost nobody.

Which song, called 'our anthem' by Dave Matthews, has long been the band's favorite way to close a set?

Ants Marching first appeared on the self-released Remember Two Things in 1993; in 1995 Matthews began letting the crowd sing one of its lines.

Dave Matthews played Otis, a shy pet-shop worker with a guitar, in which 2005 film of a Kate DiCamillo novel?

Because of Winn-Dixie cast Matthews as Otis, an ex-convict minding Gertrude's Pets who befriends a lonely girl and her stray dog; he ends the film leading the townsfolk in song on his guitar.

Dave Matthews Band's 2017 'Concert for Charlottesville' raised money for victims of what?

The Unite the Right rally attack of August 2017 left one counter-protester dead and many injured; six weeks later the band played a free show at UVA's Scott Stadium and asked the crowd to give to a fund for the victims and first responders.