Last semester, Hootie & the Blowfish came to play for our fall National Act Concert. It was a bit of a controversy, due to the fact that they are considered a one-hit-wonder band from the ‘90s. This weekend, the less notorious Guster will grace us with their talent in Chadwick court for the spring edition of the National Act Concert.
Guster is obviously a lesser-known band than Hootie & the Blowfish, not only because they really haven’t had any mainstream hits, but they are a more indie band. Most responses to the revealing of Guster were along the lines of: "Who?" Junior Rick Scheer had never heard the band previously but downloaded a few tracks and discovered tat he actually enjoys Guster. "I like the fact that Wabash brings new and unknown, oftentimes experimental, acts to campus and allows me to learn about and experience them."
Perhaps this is a good thing when compared to the disastrous response to the announcement of Hootie coming to play the National Act Concert because people are intrigued to hear this band play. Personally, I was not aware of their music, but recently a friend burned me a copy of their latest album, Ganging Up On The Sun, and I must admit that they aren’t too shabby.
Mostly known for their moderate hit, "Amsterdam," which peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, the band is a more obscure band and is praised for their vocal harmonizing and the use of drums and other an assortment of percussion instrument, along with their eclectic use of violins. The band’s only real mainstream inclusion has come from two episodes of The O.C. (which has an audience that suits the band particularly well), an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, and having their track "I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today" included on the soundtrack to the highly successful film Wedding Crashers.
The Boston-formed band is composed of four members who each play their own instruments and all of the band members, with the exception of the drummer, provide vocals on all of the tracks. Guster tours constantly, playing upwards of two hundred and fifty concerts a year, to help spread the word about their band and relies heavily on strong word-of-mouth approval in order to sell more records. What’s more fascinating is that the band is not just known as an alternative rock band, but as a jangle pop band. Jangle pop is known as a type of music that has more enigmatic-type lyrics and a more amateur feel, overall. Some famous jangle pop bands include R.E.M., The Byrds, and The Smiths.
An interesting fact about Guster is that they are activists. The band is tremendously environmentally friendly and tries to promote this as often as possible to help spread the word about the ways in which people can aid in the preservation of a healthy world. For instance, the guitarist in the band formed an organization called Reverb that assists artists on tour by helping their activities more environmentally-safe based. I don’t really know what that would entail, but if Guster is helping the environment, then more power to them.
In fact, the band is so gung-ho about saving mother nature and her kids, that the band named their 2006 tour the College Consciousness Tour to help stimulate the interest in college students being more environmentally aware. Interestingly enough, the band fueled their buses and trucks with biodiesel, which is derived from plant and vegetable oils, thus making their trek across America more environmentally friendly.
Guster’s opening act, The Format, isn’t too bad either. Their not by any means breaking ground in music, but they seem to be in the same category, musically. The Format sounds similar to hellogoodbye. They have a more electronic sound than that of Guster, but their sound is unique and their songs have some interesting lyrics and beats. So, if that is your cup of tea, then the opening act will get you boiling for Guster to come up on stage.
After reading more about Guster and listening to their music, I have actually become anticipated for this weekend’s concert. Hopefully, the band will sound great in concert as they do on the album that I have listened to. After the whole Hootie fiasco, one can only hope that this concert runs a lot more smoothly and with less whining from the Wabash community. So far, that seems to be the case and let’s just hope it stays that way.