Guster Plays Catch Up

"I think the lyrics on this album have finally caught up to the music, where in the past, I always thought the music was a lot stronger than the lyrics," said Guster guitarist Adam Gardner on the group's most recent work, "Keep It Together." "I think we always focused on the music much more than the lyrics and that's still somewhat true, but I think we finally understood the importance of words. When I listen to music, some of my favorite songs, I have no idea what they are about. I hear the music and I like the melody, the rhythm and the mood. I rarely listen to the lyrics unless they pop out."

Guster's roots first sprouted up in the city of Boston when Gardner, singer Ryan Miller and drummer Brian Rosenworcel met at Tufts University during freshman orientation in 1991.

The trio began writing a few tunes in the dorms and initially named the group Gus. In the summer of 1993, the band began busking in Harvard Square and in 1994 as juniors, the band recorded its first album "Parachute," earning a collective five incompletes in classes for the semester.

Gardner described the songwriting process as something in which the music's rhythm, tone and mood often times dictates the lyrical content of a tune.

"The music will be very well-developed before the lyrics are even written. Even the melodies are written before the lyrics are written, so there's even certain syllables that will dictate the lyrical content. 'OK, we got to use a three-syllable word, how about Amsterdam? OK, good, let's write a song about Amsterdam.' Sometimes as a melody is written, some sort of word will come out like 'Diane.' We knew the song was called 'Diane' but we had no idea what it was about," said Gardner.

After graduating in 1995, Gus agreed to change its name to Guster after being informed an artist known as Gus signed a record contract with a sister label of Geffen Records. A year later, Guster recorded its second album, "Goldfly," in Los Angeles and released it independently. In 1998, the trio signed with Sire Records and in 1999, recorded "Lost & Gone Forever" in San Francisco with famed producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Peter Gabriel and the Dave Matthews Band).

Palm Pictures/Reprise Records released its latest album, "Keep it Together," in June. This album is more in tune with the arrangements of songs by using other instrumentation such as the trumpet, banjo and violin.

"For this record, we focused a lot on groove and feel," said Gardner. "So, a lot of things would start with a sound, a beat, bass line or a chord progression. This record was very different than our other records. In the past, our songs were gigged out for months and they developed in front of an audience, but this time we didn't have that opportunity. We holed ourselves up in a rehearsal space and wrote a bunch of songs. In fact, the first time we performed live was after the record was done."

This record also proved a challenge to the band members, who not only took on the role of arrangers for horn and string lines, but also learned how to play new instruments. Gardner learned the basics of the piano while Rosenworcel, who usually plays a stand-up hand percussion kit, learned to use the entire drum kit and Miller took up the bass as well.

"I think the biggest difference in this process was letting go of sticking to strictly hand percussion and two acoustic guitars; that just opened up our world entirely," said Gardner. "I don't have to strum all the way through this song. You can play high-hat (two cymbals on the drums that open and close against each other) instead of me strumming my guitar? Great! Now all of a sudden I can play keyboard or electric guitar and use more textures. I don't have to hold the fort rhythmically or harmonically with playing the root notes of every chord because basically I was playing bass and guitar at the same time on my guitar, so it really didn't allow me to express myself as a guitarist. That's just my world and I think there's an analog to Ryan's and Brian's world as well."

Guster has maintained a faithful fanbase through the years, and continues to slowly yet consistency gain wide attention and acclaim among mainstream audiences and media. The group secured gigs on the "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" thanks to the radio hit "Airport Song" on the work "Goldfly." The song also made its way into the film "Life As a House."

Since the arrangements on "Keep It Together" are more complex and layered, the band has enlisted the talent of Joe Pisapia for its tour. For its work, Guster recruited producers Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Sleater-Kinney) and Ron Aniello (Days Of The New, Lifehouse). The trio also collaborated with several friends including Josh Rouse and Ben Kweller, who co-wrote "I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today."

"Ben is a friend of ours and he lives here in Brooklyn, too," said Gardner. "We took a year to write this record and we had this great rehearsal space in Brooklyn. Every Thursday, just to sort of have fun, we'd invite all of our local musician friends. We'd all get together, write songs and drink beer to keep the creative juices flowing. Late at night after one of those occasions, it was the three of us and Ben stayed and we wrote that song in about 20 minutes."