Dave Matthews: Goes Deep in New Interview

Dave Matthews goes pretty deep into his life and career in a new interview with New York magazine. Here are some highlights.

He’s not sure when or if Boyd Tinsley will come back to the band after the violinist took a break in February: “I can’t say, ‘I can’t wait till he comes back,’ because I don’t know what’s going to happen. But right now being away is better for him. Nobody is happy about this situation. Except that we’re happy he can figure some stuff out. I hope he does. But I’m going to miss having that whirling-dervish Adonis-Muppet over there on my right. I know the audience is, too. But we can’t serve that desire.”

He doesn’t think he has a problem with booze, but he sees how some people could say that: “By anyone else’s standards but my own I am a raging alcoholic… Maybe I’m lying to myself, but the reason I don’t really think I’m an alcoholic is because I don’t miss it when I don’t have it. There’s no question that my favorite thing about mowing the lawn is drinking the beer when I’m done, and getting to the bottom of a bottle of Jameson with a friend feels like some sort of poetic achievement — even if it’s really just two people getting drunk. I don’t know if any of that will convince anyone that I’m not an alcoholic, but I don’t have any friends who’ve said, ‘I think you have a drinking problem.'”

The use of “Crash Into Me” in the Oscar-nominated Lady Bird made him look at his own music in a new way: “It was so lovely to see the song used as a central tool in someone else’s story. And the moment in the movie when it plays is so beautiful: Lady Bird takes a stand, you know? It was also nice for me to see the song through someone else’s eyes because I have a strange relationship with a lot of music that I’ve written. I listen to it and I’m like, ‘What am I talking about? This is bull[crap].’ So seeing ‘Crash Into Me’ in Lady Bird allowed me to hear my music without having to impose myself on it.”