Matthews shows a darker side; RCA's `Streets' set departs from core sound

By CARRIE BORZILLO
Billboard, March 18th, 1998

LOS ANGELES (BPI) - Dave Matthews may have seemed fairly mild-mannered on his band's previous albums, but with the April 28 release of ``Before These Crowded Streets'' on RCA, he gives fans a glimpse of his brooding, more intense side.

"Yeah, it's definitely a lot darker,'' says the South African born/Virginia-based singer/guitarist/songwriter about the project. "The only song that is happy is `Stay,' but it's still a desperate-sounding song."

While not exactly indicative of the entire album, three songs on the set display a surprising departure from the band's core sound. On them,Matthews works himself into a powerful, emotional, almost maddened frenzy unlike anything he's done before live or on disc. They are the first single, the hypnotic ``Don't Drink The Water''; the Middle Eastern-influenced ``The Last Stop''; and ``Halloween,'' on which Matthews does his best Vincent Price voice.

The former two's lyrics are also more political than the band has allowed itself to be in the past, while yet another song, ``The Dreaming Tree,'' shows Matthews' growth as a storyteller.

``Don't Drink The Water,'' which will be downloaded via satellite to all radio formats April 10, is about Matthews' disgust over how this country's land was taken from the Indians.

``It's the voice of this fellow who comes to a place where he thinks his dreams can come true,'' explains Matthews. ``He found this paradise; the only problem is he has some very good ideas about this paradise, but there's someone who is already here and they don't fit into his idea of paradise, so he asks them to go away. But at the end, the character is screaming about having to live with what he's done.''

This is the first Dave Matthews Band album in which the new material has not been road-tested. The exception is ``Don't Drink The Water,'' which was played in an entirely different incarnation during the encores of some shows.

``All of these songs are fresh. Playing them live, if you do that long enough, they take a turn for the happy,'' says Matthews, possibly explaining why some of the material has a darker tone. ``This album is less ambiguous, more connected. And there's a little more focused reflection on this album than there has been on others, whether that's good or bad. The lyrics and music seemed to happen much more together; it's more like a project from beginning to end rather than a collection of songs.''

The album, produced once again by Steve Lillywhite, expands upon the rich textures the band is known for with the addition of some special guests,such as Alanis Morissette on ``Spoon.'' The Kronos Quartet appears on ``Halloween'' and ``The Stone,'' while Bela Fleck plays on ``Don't Drink The Water,'' ``The Last Stop,'' and ``Spoon.''

According to SoundScan, ``Live At Red Rocks 8.15.95,'' released in October 1997, has sold more than 619,000 copies, while the band's last full-length studio album, 1996's ``Crash,'' sold more than 3.5 million. 1994's ``Under The Table And Dreaming'' has sold more than 3.3 million units.

``Almost four years ago, this band was playing in New York City at Wetlands, which holds 200 people,'' says Hugh Surratt, vice president of marketing and artist development at RCA. ``By the time we got through the `Crash' album, they were headlining Madison Square Garden. The [``Crash''] single `Crash Into Me' opened so many doors. There's a whole broader base that Dave Matthews Band exists in now that we didn't have going into the last album."

Matthews says he's not frightened of the fact that the group is a big pop band now, but he does try to keep from being overexposed. ``I never underestimate pop,'' he says. ``Some of my favorite people are pop, and people get upset when they ask what kind of music I like and I say pop music. But, that's more accurate than the [Grateful] Dead, which I never really listened to.

"[Pop] doesn't frighten me. If we can still keep ourselves off the covers of magazines, maybe not all of them, it'll be fine. We won't play Denny's or Kmart, and we try not to get on the first 20 pages of Rolling Stone. Every once in a while we pull the reins in a little bit, even if we're just under the impression that we're holding them."

Plans for promoting the album include the band's usual rigorous tour schedule, which will begin May 2 in Montreal, then hit the U.S. May 15 and remain stateside through early June. But first the band will perform at the Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Va., to benefit various local charities.

Surratt says the show will be taped to air on MTV's ``Live At The 10 Spot'' April 24. After that, the band will play the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival April 26. Once the initial U.S. dates are done, an extensive European tour will begin, and then the band will return to the U.S. once again for more dates.