Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

Interview: Dave Matthews talks on taking 2011 off, band’s near-breakup

Published on May 31, 2010 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

“Burying my head in the sand, “hiding behind a tree” and becoming “just an amateur”: These are the various ways Dave Matthews describes his taking a year off in 2011. In a conference call promoting the forthcoming Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in June, the Dave Matthews Band namesake further explained his public announcement that he and his crew wouldn’t be touring for the first time in 20 years. The frontman, 43, says it’s about time he recharge his creative…

Keep Reading

ATL Journal-Constitution on ‘Big Whiskey’

Published on June 8, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

It’s a fitting start to a heartfelt tribute: the Dave Matthews Band’s new album opens with a minute of noodling saxophone from horn player LeRoi Moore, who died last August after an ATV accident. Moore’s death shocked his bandmates into a sudden sense of urgency: The group had spent nearly 18 months tinkering with ideas for a follow-up to its 2005 album, “Stand Up,” when Moore died. The surviving musicians quickly finished “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King,” and it’s…

Keep Reading

Plain Dealer gives DMB an A+

Published on June 8, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

The first thing you hear is the unfettered sax of LeRoi Moore, who died in August of complications from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. On “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” the Dave Matthews Band salutes its fallen co-founder, although the mood is anything but moribund. “Don’t be dead before you die,” Matthews sings on “Squirm,” amid similar life-affirming vibes to the tune of “Dive In” and “Shake Me like a Monkey.” The latter tune, a horn-embellished knockout, takes…

Keep Reading

DMB documentary on FUSE

Published on June 2, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

Go behind the scenes and backstage with DMB in a four-part documentary special that explores their entire 18-year career and the making of their new album: Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Dave Matthews Band: The Road to Big Whiskey starts tonight at 8pm on Fuse TV. With unprecedented access to DMB, Fuse will allow you to see the band like never before! Watch Volumes 1-4 of the documentary series starting tonight, June 2 through Friday, June 5 at 8pm…

Keep Reading

LA Times review of DMB’s new album

Published on June 2, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

If a hurricane cuts through the middle of your living room during a party, do you keep dancing? Dave Matthews says yes. “Alligator Pie (Cockadile)” is a Delta blues stomper based around the banjo, one of the instruments the African slave trade made All-American. It starts with a dog’s bark and extends that backyard jam feel even as it swells into a big rock song. Matthews free-associates a dream of his daughter sitting on the roof as the water of…

Keep Reading

Chicage Trib gives new DMB album 3 stars

Published on June 2, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

On the Dave Matthews Band’s latest album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” (RCA), the band’s late saxophonist LeRoi Moore gets the first word, and the last. Though Moore died last August at age 46 from injuries suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident, his shadow hovers over the band’s seventh — and best — studio album, most of which was recorded last winter in New Orleans with producer Rob Cavallo, who has previously worked with Green Day and My…

Keep Reading

Dave Matthews Band’s highly anticipated Summer tour kicks off

Published on May 28, 2009 in Apolitical by Peter Schorsch

From Ants Marching: The Dave Matthews Band’s 2009 Summer Tour kicked off in monsoon-like conditions in Darien Lake May 27, as the band warms up for a long summer tour. The only “new” song – to those familiar with the Spring Tour – was the newly-beloved Time Bomb which received positive reviews from fans after its first live appearance. The three new songs from Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King also made their appearance, along with Seven, which debuted late…

Keep Reading