Guster

The story of its beginning is typical of most college bands. Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller and Brian Rosenworcel met on a freshmen orientation outdoor adventure trip and connected because of their mutual longing for the high school bands they had to leave behind. Rosenworcel still remembers Miller's super-long bangs he sported back then and Gardner's highly matured look.\n"We decided we ought to jam in our dorm rooms," Rosenworcel says. \nSo for the first two years of college, the musicians, now named Guster, combined their skills on acoustic guitars and bongos until they had created their decidedly different sound.\n"By the time we were juniors we started making our first album," Rosenworcel says. He says they did most of their recording and practice from midnight until 6 a.m. "We took a lot of incompletes that semester."\nThey began spreading their music around by selling tapes out of their guitar cases and building up their mailing list. Unfortunately, they were issued a violation for their cassette sales three years after they started selling, according to their Web site. They also began to play other colleges on the East Coast, cramming into Rosenworcel's navy Chevy Nova for hours on end.\n"I had to drive with bongos in my lap," he says.\nToday Guster jams in amphitheaters and auditoriums instead of dorm rooms, the musicians can spread out in huge tour buses, Miller has cut his hair and Gardner is, well, still maturing. They have performed with the likes of Bob Dylan and the Dave Matthews Band and played at H.O.R.D.E and Woodstock '99. \nThey have fans all over the United States and abroad and are said to give a great live show.\n"They are one of the best bands I have ever seen," junior Patrick Riordan says. "They're only three guys, and they are able to put together good harmonies and creative guitar licks."\nRosenworcel says they don't really have a set ritual when they get revved up for a show, although they do like to request unusual items for their dressing rooms. He says they requested a live goldfish in a bowl for many shows, although they had to stop doing that after several of the fish started meeting unfortunate endings. They also like to request some sort of cultish film in the room.\n"One time we got a Phyllis Diller movie about a killer poodle," he says. "It gives student activities a chance to be creative."\nTheir recent move from an indie rock label to a major music corporation afforded them a lot of press. \n"We want an audience," says Miller in an interview from the Los Angeles Times in regards to the move. "There are some very worthwhile acts out there selling quite well, like Rage Against the Machine and Lauryn Hill. That's nothing to be ashamed of."\nLost and Gone Forever was the band's first album released by a major record label and was produced by Steve Lillywhite, who produced music by U2, Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel and many others. The band recently finished recording its fourth album which will be released soon.\nRosenworcel says they tried out totally different things for this new release. Instead of sticking to their traditional bongo and acoustic guitar sound, Rosenworcel added a drum kit to his setup, Gardner plays piano and Miller is trying his hand at the bass.\n"Right now I am paying the price for it," Rosenworcel says.\nHe says they are all working hard now to try and figure out how to work their new instruments in a live setting. After four months of being confined in a studio, it's a trick to get back into the groove of performing their old songs, he says.\n"It still sounds like us," he says. "We are not holding to the rules that seem to dominate our last record… every record is a reaction against the last one."\nHe says they are going to take a break from the album by doing a college tour. Tuesday night's Little 500 concert will be the fifth time they have been in Bloomington and the first time they have performed at the auditorium.\n"They are generally a huge college act," Adam Blake, Union Board concert director, says. "They (will) provide campus with a great rock concert we haven't had in a while."\nBecause they will be renting a truck for their equipment for this tour, Rosenworcel says they plan on bringing their bikes so they can take a ride around campus. Biking is one of the band members' favorite offstage activities. \nThey also really enjoy receiving baked goods from their fans. Rosenworcel says he wants to thank their fans for all of the loaves of banana bread they have received over the years. Guster has kept up with its fans through tour and studio diaries on the band's Web site and even had a public charity yard sale when the members moved out of their old house. \n"People don't have to do ridiculous things (to meet us)," he says. "We are kind of accessible."\nJust don't forget to bring a fresh loaf of banana bread with you.