Dave Matthews Talks Producers, New Album
Feeling particularly revelatory at last week’s My VH1 Music Awards, Dave Matthews spilled some beans about his band’s forthcoming record. The singer revealed that the new album is to be called Everyday, and the first single is titled “I Did It.” The record will find its ways to stores on Feb. 27.
Matthews said to expect a video for “I Did It” and that the song’s visual nature should lend itself well to the small screen. “We don’t know exactly what we’ll do for the video yet,” he told RollingStone.com, “but the song is pretty clear. It’s got some good images.” Images of what? “Making a bomb of love and blowing up the world.”
Asked if fans should expect to hear any radical sonic departures or superstar duets on the forthcoming collection, Matthews said, “I played a baritone electric guitar on the new album which was fun and adds some interesting textures. We do have a couple of guests on the record but we’re gonna keep it on the lowdown, at least ’til someone blows the news.”
Among those rumored to appear on the album is singer Alanis Morissette. Everyday was produced by longtime Morissette collaborator Glen Ballard after the band scrapped sessions with boardman Steve Lillywhite back in August. Matthews is a professed fan of the “Ironic” chanteuse and invited her to open for him for a Denver show in 1999.
Lillywhite, known for his production work for U2, Peter Gabriel and Morrissey, had previously produced the last three Dave Matthews Band albums dating back to 1994’s Under The Table And Dreaming. The band had spent the better half of last summer tracking in a Charlottesville, Va., studio with Lillywhite and even let fans hear a sample of the results in August when they posted a sound clip from a tune called “Digging A Ditch” on their Web site. Shortly thereafter however, those sessions were abandoned and the five men of the DMB headed to Los Angeles work with Ballard.
Matthews underscored that the parting with Lillywhite was nothing personal. “We weren’t displeased [with Lillywhite],” he said. “It’s been a great relationship and still is a great relationship. We were just kind of a little lazy and the music had a sort of sleepiness to it. We still love it but we came up with a new album we love just as much.”
Asked if songs from the original sessions were destined for a dusty vault somewhere (besides, “Digging A Ditch,” two more new ones, “Bartender” and “Grey Street” were road-tested last summer), Matthews said, “Hell no. We’re gonna play all that stuff until it gets annoying as well.”
Expect gallons of Everyday material to be trotted out when the DMB head out for a brief mid-winter jaunt, beginning Dec. 3 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. For the tour, Matthews has selected an eclectic batch of openers from vocalist Angélique Kidjo to hard-core Americana hero Steve Earle.