Dave Matthews: the unlikely rockstar

Ahead of the Abu Dhabi debut of the Dave Matthews Band, we trace the roots of an unlikely stadium-filling rock star.

Front, Dave Matthews; middle row, from left, Jeff Coffin, Carter Beauford, Tim Reynolds, Boyd Tinsley, Stefan Lessard; back, Rashawn Ross. Danny Clinch

Dave Matthews doesn’t look much like a rock star. There’s no big hair, shiny suits or leather trousers. No flame-throwing guitars, troubling headgear or unnecessary toplessness. No bling in sight.

Matthews’s slight height, receding hairline and wardrobe of plain shirts scream geography teacher more than rock star. Yet he and his band play to arenas everywhere anyway — and have for many years. Between 2000 and 2010, the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) earned more on the road in North America than any other act, banking in excess of half a billion dollars [Dh1.8 billion].

The origins

Born in Johannesburg in 1967, Matthews’s family emigrated to New York when he was 2. Growing up in a well-to-do household, he picked up a guitar for the first time when he was 9.

A year later, Matthews’s father died, and the family moved back to South Africa. After finishing high school, Matthews headed back to the States in 1986, dodging military service in a politically charged country still enforcing Apartheid, and soon settled into Virginia’s noted music hub Charlottesville. Working behind the bar in a jazz club, it was here that Mathews began performing publicly for the first time, as a solo acoustic artist.

The band

After dabbling in acting, it wasn’t until the age of 24 that Matthews decided to put together his own band – close to a ­quarter-century later that band is still going strong, with four of the five founding members still gigging today. It might be his name on the banners, but DMB remains very much a team effort. Matthews’s early decision to recruit jazz-­rooted players gave the music a vibrant creative edge – it is the sound of thinking musicians reacting to a style out of their comfort zone. The addition of a saxophonist and violin player in the sextet also offered the music a distinct sonic palette that stands out in the contemporary rock/pop marketplace.

The tunes

Still, this band wouldn’t have got anywhere without Matthews’s dexterous songwriting. The Dave Matthews Band have clocked record sales of more than 30 million, across eight studio albums. They are the only band to score six consecutive number one-albums. It is an even more astonishing feat considering that they have never hit the North American Billboard top ten singles chart.

After early indie releases, it was 1994's Under the Tables and the 1996 ­follow-up Crash that broke DMB in the USA, helped by Grammy-winning single So Much to Say. By 1997, Matthews was in a position where he could ­collaborate with a variety of ­artists, ranging from Alanis ­Morissette to the classical Kronos Quartet.

The chops

A big part of DMB’s continuing live appeal so many years later is the band’s enviable musical technique. Tunes aside, there’s a whole other segment of the audience who turn up just to geek out on their playing, which rests on an ultra-tight rhythm section, yet a fluid, jammed approach to the arrangements. It’s not without demand that the band have made available dozens of live recordings, including 15 official live albums, while hardcore fans are known for enthusiastically sharing bootlegs — which the band have unusually always allowed to be openly taped at their gigs.

To keep on top of the game, the band members all still regularly practice their instruments in their own time. Bassist Stefan Lessard said: “I continually try to keep up my chops and practise, everyone in the band does. It’s like being an athlete: most have a career until 40 years old — well I’m 40 years old. I should be done by now.”

Not much chance of that anytime soon.

• Dave Matthews Band perform at du Arena, Yas Island on Thursday, October 8. Doors open at 6pm. Tickets cost from Dh295 and are available at www.ticketmaster.ae