Super Eco

Dave Matthews Band (DMB) is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based veteran rock-pop-jazz fusion tour band often compared to legendary jam bands like the Grateful Dead and Phish. The band includes frontman, singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, violinist Boyd Tinsley, drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard. Until his death in August 2008, founding member LeRoi Moore was the band's saxophonist.

Lead singer Dave Matthews was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of 18, he fled the country for the U.S. after being drafted by the pro-apartheid South African military. Matthews and his family eventually settled in Charlottesville, where he found work as a bartender at Miller's Bar. The still-popular meeting spot for local jazz musicians is where Matthews first jammed with reeds Moore and Beauford. The trio soon grew into a quintet with the additions of bassist Lessard and Tinsley. In the spring of 1991, they made their official debut as the Dave Matthews Band. The band has since sold more than 31 million records in the U.S.

Matthews and his bandmates are known for tweaking the lyrics and mood of their instrumental, hook-heavy upbeat songs from performance to performance. Improvisational, risk-taking jams are the hallmark of DMB's multi-layered melodies, often infused with world beat elements and catchy Latin rhythms. The band is known for its intricately staged, annual summer-long national tours. DMB has released seven studio albums on the RCA label. Of those, two garnered Grammy Award nominations in 1996. Additionally, the band has earned six nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards and three nods from the American Music Awards. 

DMB's Studio Album Discography:

    * Under the Table and Dreaming (1994)
    * Crash (1996)
    * Before These Crowded Streets (1998)
    * Everyday (2001)
    * Busted Stuff (2002)
    * Stand Up (2005)

They have also recorded several live performances.
 
(Photo Credit: Flickr)

Notable Eco Activity

The Dave Matthews Band is the first musical act in history to officially offset its carbon dioxide emissions. The band earned Climate Cool certification for its 2002 tour, joining the eco-elite ranks of leading Fortune 500 companies and the Winter Olympic Games, which also received the coveted certification that year. The non-profit Climate Neutral Network, a Natural Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute endorsed organization, certificatied for DMB's unprecedented Climate Cool tour.

“We felt that we should take responsibility for the greenhouse gases that we release into the atmosphere as a result of our tour,” says Dave Matthews. “More importantly, we hope our small step toward combating global warming will encourage others to join in protecting our planet and ourselves against climate change.”

DMB's Climate Cool certification involved a rigorous review of the 50-city, five-month tour's carbon footprint, as well as the creation of CO2 offset projects, including a tree-planting campaign and the construction of a NativeEnergy wind turbine farm on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. "I produce far more CO2 than the average person," Matthews says. "My karmic debt to the environment is enormous." More recently, DMB's 2007 eco-tour helped them land Rock the Earth’s Planet Defenders Award. The nonprofit recognized the band for trimming tour-related waste, using biodiesel and carbon credits—saving some 3.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide last year alone.

The band's passion for preserving the environment runs much deeper than the B20 BioDiesel that powers its tour bus fleet. The short list of green projects DMB has undertaken or contributed to in recent years includes:
    •    Joining forces with Ben & Jerry's and Save Our Environment to develop the One Sweet Whirled Global Warming   Campaign (DMB has its own Ben & Jerry ice cream flavor, Dave Matthews Band's Magic Brownies; some proceeds benefit LickGlobalWarming)
    •    Partnering with The Nature Conservancy's Climate Change Program to plant 900 trees in Albemarle County, Virginia, just miles from the band's hometown
    •    Creating their own $5 million DMB Bama Works Fund to support various Charlottesville, Virginia, charities, including environmental protection non-profits
    •    Greening their concerts with carbon offsets; backstage recycling; sustainable/biodegradable catering dinnerware and selling organic concert T-shirts
    •    Partnering with Reverb, a non-profit that aims to boost environmental awareness through its interactive concert venue, Eco-Village
    •    Helping fans organize carpools online in advance of their concerts

Famous Quotes

"It's been things accumulating over the years that sort of make you worry about what kind of world we are leaving for our grandchildren and how we face them. If you imagine in 50 years how you face your children, if you can't at least say, 'Well, we tried to turn the world around.' It's, I think, an effort we should make, and the evidence is growing."

"I recycle somewhat obsessively. On the road it becomes difficult, but we try. But at home it’s much more easily controlled. I live in Seattle, and social obligation is alive and well in Seattle."

"(My wife and I) use cloth diapers for our new baby because I think diapers might be the number three piece of garbage (in terms of environmental damage). So, if you have a little cloth diaper service nearby, that's good."

"I produce far more CO2 than the average person. My karmic debt to the environment is enormous."

 

• Dave Matthews Band Details

  • Birth Date

    Spring 1991

  • Born In

    Unavailable

  • Home Page

    http://www.davematthewsband.com

  • Lives In

    United States

  • Organizations

    Unavailable

  • Occupation

    Unavailable