Metro Pulse/Music/Guster

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What:
Guster w/ Graham Colton

When:
March 4, 9 p.m.

Where:
Blue Cats

Cost:
$15

Longtime trio wins crowd with harmonious personalities

by Paige M. Travis

You can learn a lot about a band from its fans. The people who earnestly devote their time, creativity and passion to a band are a certain breed of zealots, and their efforts reflect the band in question. The goofy, jubilant reverence developed over the past 11 years by Guster’s fans may seem strange to outsiders, those uninitiated. But the web sites, participation rituals and displays of sheer enthusiasm are matched by the quirky humor and creativity of Guster itself, contained in their hilarious online road journals and engaging live performances.

When Guster played its first show in Knoxville last fall at Sundown in the City, even guitarist Adam Gardner had no idea what to expect. “Amsterdam,” the first single from the band’s fourth release Keep It Together, had made a serious impression on local radio. Catchy, jangly, with guitar riffs and vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Old 97’s at their most pop, “Amsterdam” introduced Knoxville listeners to Guster’s feel-good sound. But plenty more screaming fans who turned up front-and-center to the Old City stage already knew they were in for a good time.

“Sundown in the City was the perfect way to introduce ourselves,” says Gardner. A couple of thousand people filled the courtyard and cheered the band’s test run. “We did not expect that at all. We had a great time.” The band was particularly excited by the post-show screening of one of their favorite movies, The Big Lebowski, on the (now defunct) ThInQ Tank’s back patio.

Founded in 1992 when Gardner, guitarist Ryan Miller and percussionist Brian Rosenworcel were students at Tufts University in Boston, Guster has had moderate success over the years, touring the country gathering the aforementioned devotees, getting some radio airplay and snagging appearances on Conan O’Brian and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. But Keep it Together has been a turning point for the band, both in terms of their approach to recording and the praise they’ve earned as a result.

“We wanted to experiment with as much as possible,” he says. “We changed our expectations, changed how we wrote, changed which instruments we played.” Guitarist Miller picked up the bass, and Gardner started playing keyboards and piano. Rosenworcel, who is known for his hands-only playing of a bongo-heavy drum kit, picked up sticks for the first time in their recording history. Keep It Together has a fleshed-out, orchestrated sound that has been carried out live by the addition of Joe Pisapia.

The trio-become-quartet made its Austin City Limits debut Jan. 10. Playing the public television program was different from their other stints on network TV.

“It was a lot more relaxed. We got a lot more freedom,” Gardner says. The band played a full, 75-minute set and were put in charge of editing it down to a 20-minute segment themselves. “’This is your show,’” Gardner says the ACL folks told them. “’We want this to be based around what you want.’ That’s different than playing David Letterman.”

A video clip from the show was posted on the band’s official site Guster.com. Gardner says that song, “Come Downstairs and Say Hello,” is the most different of the album’s cuts and the most representative of where their sound is heading. Clocking in at just over five minutes, the track is “one of our slowest songs and fastest songs,” says Gardner. It started out as a guitar part he wrote, beginning with an almost ambient slowness—quite a shift from their pop ditties. But around minute three, the snare drum and bongos go double-time and echoey feedback chords are replaced with a soaring keyboard. “It’s more like a classical song in that it has three movements,” Gardner says.

Now relocated to New York City, Guster has built its reputation on enjoyable pop music, and that hasn’t changed on Keep It Together, which has most recently spawned a second radio hit in “Careful.” But the band feels the 2003 record is a greater leap from the previous record.

“I think it’s one of the biggest departures we’ve made,” he says, allowing that what’s remained consistent is the emphasis on melodies and harmonies. Gardner has a very vocal background: he sang in church choirs and school choruses as a kid, a cappella groups and even a barbershop quartet. The cover band he joined in high school in New Jersey gave him the opportunity to try out multi-part harmonies like Crosby, Stills and Nash. So when he and Miller were introduced in college, his first question was, “Can you sing?” “His first answer was ‘no,’” Gardner says. “He didn’t know he could.” Now Miller sings lead on quite a few Guster songs, his and Gardner’s voices weaving in and out in a style that’s reminiscent of the Beatles or the Beach Boys. More modern comparisons are harder to come by.

“That was something we wanted to approach differently as a band,” he says. “We wanted to create harmonies that stood alone as melodies so that you could pick either one of our vocals, and it would stand alone.”

After nearly a year of touring behind Keep It Together, Gardner says the band is preparing to go back into the studio for a follow-up. Those rabid fans won’t have to wait another three-and-a-half years for another Guster record.

“Taking that long pisses everyone off. We won’t do that again.”