Guster

Aug. 21, 2011

Guster set to blow Interlochen away
By Kristi Kates
Massachusetts alt-rockers Guster are on their way back to Interlochen for another show, and they couldn’t be more thrilled about it. The band - Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel, met back in 1991, and have played music together ever since, releasing their first album in 1995, and their most recent last year (2010’s Easy Wonderful.)
If you think you’re not familiar with Guster’s music, chances are you’ve heard it in stealth mode on such TV shows as The OC (or on a recent ad for The Weather Channel), or on movies such as Martian Child and Disturbia. If you’re intrigued and want to get familiar with their music, then their upcoming Interlochen show will be a great start, as the band is still breaking in the contributions of new touring member Luke Reynolds, and will be performing a wealth of music new and old.

OLD CLASSICS, NEW EP
Rosenworcel, Guster’s drummer and the author of the band’s online journals, explains.
“Luke will be touring and recording with us for the foreseeable future,” Rosenworcel says, “Luke joined when (former member) Joe (Pisapia) needed to tour behind another musician’s album. Joe’s a tough act to follow, but Luke stepped right in; both of those guys have this spiritual component to their personality that made them the glue between the rest of us. Luke instantly became indispensable to us.”
Indispensable to Guster is releasing plenty of music to keep their fans happy. Following up their Easy Wonderful album in full-length form hasn’t happened as of yet - so, in the meantime, the band’s dropped a new EP titled On the Ocean, a series of tunes that didn’t make it onto the last album.
“The EP was just a way for us to put some proud recordings out into the world,” Rosenworcel explains, “it’s not going to flow like an album, the way it combines live acoustic songs and B-sides that didn’t fit stylistically on Easy Wonderful, but for people wondering what went into making our album, hearing some of these songs is probably very revealing.”

HUMOR AND HORNS
Currently on the road promoting both the album and EP songs, Guster are sharing their tour with Jack’s Mannequin - and, occasionally, a surprise guest or two.
“The tour is going great, and the Jack’s Mannequin guys couldn’t be cooler,” Rosenworcel says. “As far as road stories go, well, Will Forte (of Saturday Night Live fame) showed up last Friday night in Boston, and sang a Foreigner song with us while ripping four Guster t-shirts off of his body.”
Let it not be said that Guster does not have a sense of humor.
The band also has a sense of fun, as Rosenworcel explains is part of the appeal of the Interlochen venue to the band.
“I love that venue, and I love that setting and the people at Interlochen,” Rosenworcel enthuses, “I was bummed we didn’t get there last year. We’ve had some really fun shows there in past summers, with student musicians forming horn sections and such.”
This year’s tour, five weeks long, would be “nothing” in the past for the Guster of the mid-’90s, Rosenworcel says, but for 2011, it’s considered “a significant chunk of time away” from their lives as the band members have married and started ‘civilian’ lives in addition to their rock band ones.
“The plan is to get back home after this tour and have some family time,” Rosenworcel says, “then maybe we can get to writing some new material this fall.”

Guster will be performing at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Kresge Auditorium on Friday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets and more info are online at https://tickets.interlochen.org. Guster’s website is at www.guster.com.