On June 2, 2009 Warner will release Dave Matthews Band’s ‘Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King,’ the group’s seventh studio album and its first since 2005’s ‘Stand Up’. The 13-track record was written by Dave Matthews Band and produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day and My Chemical Romance).
With its celebratory spirit and lyrical ruminations on fragile mortality, 'Big Whiskey' pays tribute to the band’s saxophonist, LeRoi Moore, and features some of his last recordings. Moore passed away in the summer of 2008, halfway through the making of the album.
The remaining founding members - Carter Beauford (Drums), Stefan Lessard (Bass), Dave Matthews (Vocals, Guitar) and Boyd Tinsley (Violin) - regrouped at a New Orleans, LA studio in early 2009 to complete the album. They were able to integrate much of the material Moore had recorded during their 2008 sessions in Charlottesville, VA and Seattle, WA, providing an immensely powerful twist to the overall feel of the album. Guitarist Tim Reynolds, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and saxophonist Jeff Coffin also played on ‘Big Whiskey’ and will join the band on tour.
“When Roi died, it shook the whole band and left us saying, ‘What do we do now?’” recalls Dave Matthews. “We knew that first of all, we had to finish this record that he was already in love with. So all of us went back in with the attitude ‘We can’t mess around with this one, because this one is an ode.’”
New York Magazine praised lead single "Funny the Way It Is" as "pure muscle - it’s got a bulletproof groove and the type of bounce that has marked the band all along” while Rolling Stone hailed ‘Big Whiskey’ as the group’s “heaviest album yet, both musically and emotionally.”
P.T.O.
Going on to note: “Throughout, Carter Beauford beats out elaborate, propulsive groves; bassist Stefan Lessard lays down Flea-style funk bass lines; violinist Boyd Tinsley plays cresting, intense runs; and Matthews mirrors Moore’s saxophone lines with scatlike singing.”
Dave Matthews created all of the artwork for the album, including the richly detailed cover illustration that puts a GrooGrux spin on New Orleans’ traditional Mardi Gras parades while evoking the joy and the sorrow expressed in the album’s songs.
The group, named the top-drawing American band in the world by Billboard, kicked off an extensive tour with a show at Madison Square Garden (April 14th) and will be on the road until October 2nd, traveling throughout America and appearing at numerous European festivals.
Dave Matthews Band returns to the UK for the first time since 2007, where they join Bruce Springsteen at the top of London’s Hard Rock Calling bill. Directly before the Hyde Park show they play two dates at Brixton Academy (June 25th, 26th).
Dave Matthews Band UK tour dates:
(Dates and information subject to change.)
June 2009
Thu 25th LONDON, Brixton Academy - SOLD OUT
Fri 26th LONDON, Brixton Academy
Sun 28th LONDON, Hard Rock Calling with Bruce Springsteen
Mon 29th WOLVERHAMPTON, Civic Hall
Track listing for ‘Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King’:
1. Grux
2. Shake Me Like A Monkey
3. Funny the Way It Is
4. Lying In the Hands of God
5. Why I Am
6. Dive In
7. Spaceman
8. Squirm
9. Alligator Pie
10. Seven
11. Time Bomb
12. Baby Blue
13. You & Me
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