Guster is an American
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
,
, United States. Founding members
Adam Gardner,
Ryan Miller, and
Brian Rosenworcel
Brian Rosenworcel is an American drummer and co-founder of the band Guster.
Early life and education
Rosenworcel is a native of West Hartford, Connecticut. He co-founded Guster while studying at Tufts University in the early-1990s. Rosenw ...
began practice sessions while attending
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...
in
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus al ...
, and formed the band in 1991. The members met during the freshman Wilderness Orientation program in August of that year, playing publicly together as a trio two months later at the Midnight Cafe coffee house set in the common area of the Lewis Hall dormitory. While attending Tufts, the band lived at 139 College Avenue in
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area ...
.
The band stayed "
underground" for its first two full-length albums, ''
Parachute'' (1994) and ''
Goldfly
''Goldfly'' is the second studio album by the rock band Guster, released in 1997. The album was recorded in December 1996 at the House of Blues Studios in Encino, California. It sold around 20,000 copies as an independent release, before being p ...
'' (1997), but broke into the musical mainstream in 1999 with its third studio album ''
Lost and Gone Forever
''Lost and Gone Forever'' is the third studio album by the band Guster, released in September 1999. It was recorded earlier that year in Sausalito, California, and Bearsville, New York. In 1999, Ryan Miller claimed that Guster took the album ...
'', featuring the single "
Fa Fa
"Fa Fa" is Guster's second single released off the ''Lost and Gone Forever'' album. It is also on the live CD and DVD ''Guster on Ice''. * Karl Denson from The Greyboy Allstars
The Greyboy Allstars are an American soul-jazz band from San D ...
", which made it onto the
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...
. The band enjoyed moderate success on the charts with ''
Keep It Together'', its fourth album, with two singles in the
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...
("
Careful" and "
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
").
Joe Pisapia joined the official lineup for ''Keep It Together'' and its follow-up, ''
Ganging Up on the Sun'', which peaked at 25 on the
''Billboard'' 200. A variety of television shows and movies have featured the band's music, including ''
Martian Child'', which featured their song "
Satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
"; ''
Disturbia''; ''
Wedding Crashers''; ''
Life as a House'', which makes several allusions to the band throughout the film; ''
The O.C.
''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initialis ...
''; and one of the band's songs was used in an ad for
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...
. The band earned its first gold record in 2018 for its single "
Satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
".
Guster's tours were originally local, but began to spread as the band gained popularity. In 1999, Guster gave its first performance in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
, followed by a 2004 tour in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
that had four shows in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and one in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. Guster maintains a liberal
taping policy and has a very dedicated and active taping community. In addition, the band has released several live shows via
iTunes.
History
The band members met during freshman orientation at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...
in 1991. A year later, after writing a few songs in their dorm rooms, the band named itself Gus and booked its first gig. The band recorded its first album independently in 1994, titled ''
Parachute''. This album established the band as a favorite of the same 1990s scene that became popular through bands such as the
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
,
The Disco Biscuits,
moe.
Moe (stylized as moe.) is an American jam rock band, formed at the University at Buffalo in 1989. The band members are Rob Derhak ( bass, vocals), Al Schnier (guitar, vocals, keyboard), Chuck Garvey (guitar, vocals), Vinnie Amico (drums), and J ...
,
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended Jam session#Rock, jams, blending of Music genre, genres, and a dedicated Fandom, fan base. The band consists of guitari ...
, and
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and g ...
. The band was still in college when it recorded the album. Shortly after the release of ''Parachute'', another artist calling himself Gus signed a deal with a major record company, forcing the band to rename itself Guster.
In 1996, Guster independently recorded their second album, ''
Goldfly
''Goldfly'' is the second studio album by the rock band Guster, released in 1997. The album was recorded in December 1996 at the House of Blues Studios in Encino, California. It sold around 20,000 copies as an independent release, before being p ...
'', releasing it early the next year. In 1998 the band signed with
Sire Records and re-released ''Goldfly''. A year later, the band released the album ''
Lost and Gone Forever
''Lost and Gone Forever'' is the third studio album by the band Guster, released in September 1999. It was recorded earlier that year in Sausalito, California, and Bearsville, New York. In 1999, Ryan Miller claimed that Guster took the album ...
'', produced by
Steve Lillywhite. With the backing of a major label, the band appeared on shows such as the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production c ...
'', and it released their first music video for their song "
Fa Fa
"Fa Fa" is Guster's second single released off the ''Lost and Gone Forever'' album. It is also on the live CD and DVD ''Guster on Ice''. * Karl Denson from The Greyboy Allstars
The Greyboy Allstars are an American soul-jazz band from San D ...
". The band also appeared at
Woodstock '99, and performed at the 1999 Stardust Picnic festival at Historic Fort York, Toronto.
Guster released its fourth album, ''
Keep It Together'', in 2003, with the first single, "
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
", getting significant airplay on the radio. Following the release of ''Keep it Together'', multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia, who had been touring with the band, became a full-time member. A live album/DVD, ''
Guster on Ice'', compiled from two shows in
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...
, in December 2003, was released in 2004. Guster released its fifth full-length studio album, ''
Ganging Up on the Sun'', on June 20, 2006. The single "
Manifest Destiny/Sorority Tears
"Manifest Destiny/Sorority Tears" is a combination of two clips from different songs by American alternative rock band Guster. After "Manifest Destiny" ends, it very softly slides right into "Sorority Tears", which begins with a soft banjo opening ...
" was released in November 2005 on the Internet. On September 27, 2006, Guster won Album of the Year (Major) at the
Boston Music Awards. Alongside ''Ganging Up on the Sun'', the band released on its website a documentary comedy series called ''Joe's Place''. The band also participated in the
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold i ...
' Ships and Dip cruise. In 2009, Guster took part in a similar event with musician
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
called Mayercraft Carrier 2 aboard the
Carnival Splendor.
Guster released their sixth studio album, ''
Easy Wonderful'', on October 5, 2010. Mixing for the album commenced on March 15, 2010, according to an update from the band's
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account. On April 30, Guster released "Jonah", an outtake from sessions for their then upcoming album, on the ''
Download to Donate for Haiti'' compilation album. On July 20, Guster released the song "Bad Bad World" as a free download on their website. Before starting their 2010 fall tour, Guster announced that Joe Pisapia would not be touring with the band. Instead, Pisapia would be touring with
k.d. lang, with whom he had been writing songs. It was also announced that
Luke Reynolds would be filling in for Pisapia starting September 12, 2010. On July 26, 2011, Ryan Miller went onto
turntable.fm to give live previews of tracks off of Guster's ''On The Ocean'' EP and listen to music with fans.
In early 2014, it was announced that Guster was recording its seventh studio album under the production of
The Shins
The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's c ...
keyboardist
Richard Swift. Guster announced that the album was finished on April 8, 2014, and would be independently published on their Ocho Mule label. Guster released ''
Evermotion'' on January 13, 2015, with Ocho Mule/ Nettwerk Records. The debut concert for ''Evermotion'' took place with the release of the Greenovate Boston 2014 Climate Action Plan Update with Mayor
Marty Walsh
Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
as a statement of the band's support for environmental causes.
In 2016, en route to play a show in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, the group was stopped in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
due to the
January 2016 United States blizzard. The group
tweeted that they planned to play a short set on the
North Side in front of a dumpster at the corner of Sampsonia Way and Veto Street at 2 p.m. Saturday. Several people showed up for the show, and a video of the show was posted to the band's
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
page. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, the band held a series of shows around Boston in January 2017.
On January 28, 2019, Guster released their eighth studio album, ''
Look Alive'', on Nettwerk/Ocho Mule. In 2020, the group embarked on an acoustic tour with Connor Ratliff from Upright Citizens Brigade that was ultimately cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, they worked on their next album with producer Josh Kaufman
Style
Guster is often recognized for its choice of instruments during their earlier years: two members playing
acoustic guitars
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
and one member playing various
percussion instruments
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
. Brian Rosenworcel, the band's percussionist (affectionately dubbed the Thunder God by fans), added to Guster's unique sound with a combination of
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
,
cymbals, and other drums, playing live shows using only his bare hands. While Miller played rhythm parts, Gardner would often play a bass line on his guitar. Guster's sound is recognized for its vocal harmonies, with both Miller and Gardner singing lead vocals on different songs; in songs such as "What You Wish For" and "Happier", the two members sing different lyrics simultaneously. While Guster's studio albums included more instrumental variety (e.g.
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
,
drum kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
), its live shows generally retained the same lineup until tours supporting its album ''Lost and Gone Forever,'' in which the band diversified by playing different instruments on some songs. At this time, Rosenworcel began introducing a more traditional drum kit into the stage and studio performances in an effort to move away from bare-hand percussion.
Guster's live shows have a style of their own. For encores, the band has sometimes featured drummer Brian Rosenworcel moving to the front microphone and singing humorous covers. These have ranged from
Temple of the Dog's "
Hunger Strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
" to
4 Non Blondes' "
What's Up?" to the theme song from the TV show ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' ("
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
"Where Everybody Knows Your Name", also credited as "Theme from ''Cheers'' (Where Everybody Knows Your Name)", is the theme song from the television sitcom ''Cheers'', as well as the debut single for Gary Portnoy. The song was written by Portn ...
"). Other examples include: "
Under the Bridge" by the
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, f ...
, "
Total Eclipse of the Heart" by
Bonnie Tyler
Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh people, Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album ''The World Start ...
, "
In the Air Tonight" by
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
, and "
Firework" by
Katy Perry
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her campy style, she has been referred to ...
. Other traditions at live shows have been developed over the years. For example, at the end of "Airport Song", people in the crowd throw
ping-pong
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
balls at the stage, in reference to the studio recording where the audio of a table tennis game can be heard in the background.
The band's humor is noted by many fans. For laughs, the three original members of Guster opened a number of their own shows as the Peace Soldiers, three
redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
-looking musicians. With the addition of Joe into the band, it has since opened for itself in costume as a jam band called Trippin' Balls. During a 2001 show (which was oddly enough opened by Joe Pisapia's band Joe, Marc's Brother) in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...
, the band started their show with an empty stage. The music to ''
The Price Is Right
''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also i ...
'' played over the sound system, and a voice called each of the band members down from where they had hid themselves in the audience. Upon hearing their name, each member played the part of an enthusiastic game show contestant all the way to the stage. During a show in 2002 when Guster played with
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
and
John Butler Trio
The John Butler Trio are an Australian roots/ rock band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler, an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musician. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler o ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
, the band danced around on stage with
KFC buckets covering their heads while J.B.T. was playing their set. In 2019, during their third annual On the Ocean festival in
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...
, the band advertised a free afterparty "headlined by the legendary EDM group, PIPPI". During the afterparty, PIPPI was revealed to be the band dressed in matching jumpers with
Pippi Longstocking
Pippi Longstocking ( sv, Pippi Långstrump) is the fictional protagonist, main character in an Pippi Longstocking (book), eponymous series of children's books by Sweden, Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Kari ...
style wigs.
Fan reception
Guster maintains a close relationship with its fans with regular studio updates and road journals on their web site, guster.com, and signs autographs after shows. Guster once maintained a rep (representative) program, through which fans received promotional materials for upcoming concerts and albums to sell. Reps were rewarded with a special, rep-only series of EP's called ''The Pasty Tapes'' as well as invitations to rep-only concerts. Following the release of ''Ganging Up on the Sun'', the band formed a new program called the Wrecking Machines, through which fans are able to receive posters for advertising nearby concerts. Guster is a constantly touring band, at times playing up to 250 shows a year. Kesha was an early fan communicated with the band via email.
Activism
In 2004, Guster guitarist and vocalist Adam Gardner and his wife co-founded
Reverb
Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...
, an organization dedicated to assisting touring artists by making activities more environmentally sound. It operates from within the music industry as well as the environmental world. Reverb greens artists’ tours and the music business at large while raising awareness and support for the environment through an interactive eco-village. Since its inception, Reverb has worked with (among others)
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with who ...
,
Jack Johnson,
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold i ...
,
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporate ...
,
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
,
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
, and Guster. In July 2006, Gardner was among those interviewed about Reverb by ''The Green Room'' magazine, which would later interview Gardner alone in coverage of a Guster show. ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' did a similar profile in its April 16, 2007, issue.
In 2006, Guster named its spring tour the Campus Consciousness Tour. The band toured with
The Format
The Format is an American indie rock band formed by Nate Ruess and Sam Means. Their style can be considered a mixture of indie, alternative, punk and folk music, with elements of 1960s and 1970s pop music. Though Means and Ruess are the foremos ...
, and it powered its buses and trucks with
biodiesel
Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...
and aimed to use the tour to teach audiences about the environment. Participation in the early 2007 IZStyle Winter Tour had similar goals. In fall 2007, Guster headlined the Crocs' Next Step Campus Tour with
Brett Dennen as a supporting act. The tour promoted eco-friendly green initiatives while educating attendees on ways to help the environment. The tour stopped at fifteen colleges.
Band members
*
Adam Gardner –
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
,
keyboard,
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
,
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
(1991–present)
*
Ryan Miller – lead vocals,
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
, guitar, bass guitar,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
, banjo,
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...
,
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
,
keytar
The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...
(1991–present)
*
Brian Rosenworcel
Brian Rosenworcel is an American drummer and co-founder of the band Guster.
Early life and education
Rosenworcel is a native of West Hartford, Connecticut. He co-founded Guster while studying at Tufts University in the early-1990s. Rosenw ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
,
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...
(1991–present)
*
Luke Reynolds – backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, electronic keyboard (2010–present)
;Past members
*
Joe Pisapia – backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, harmonica, electronic keyboard,
lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...
,
cow bell
A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...
,
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...
(2003–2010)
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Parachute'' (1994)
* ''
Goldfly
''Goldfly'' is the second studio album by the rock band Guster, released in 1997. The album was recorded in December 1996 at the House of Blues Studios in Encino, California. It sold around 20,000 copies as an independent release, before being p ...
'' (1997)
* ''
Lost and Gone Forever
''Lost and Gone Forever'' is the third studio album by the band Guster, released in September 1999. It was recorded earlier that year in Sausalito, California, and Bearsville, New York. In 1999, Ryan Miller claimed that Guster took the album ...
'' (1999)
* ''
Keep It Together'' (2003)
* ''
Ganging Up on the Sun'' (2006)
* ''
Easy Wonderful'' (2010)
* ''
Evermotion'' (2015)
* ''
Look Alive'' (2019)
References
External links
Official websiteGuster collectionat the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
's live music archive
{{Authority control
Alternative rock groups from Massachusetts
Indie rock musical groups from Massachusetts
Musical groups from Boston
Sire Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Musical quartets
Jangle pop groups
Musical groups established in 1991
American musical trios
1991 establishments in Massachusetts
Nettwerk Music Group artists