Guster goes ‘green’ tonight

College student favorite Guster will play today at the IU Auditorium. While the band hopes to make a whole lot of noise from the stage, it is also trying to lower its environmental impact while on tour.\nPercussionist Brian Rosenworcel said band members have done several things to “green up” their touring, including converting their truck and tour bus to biodiesel. \n“We also choose renewable energy, which is maybe buying carbon offset credits with a company that does wind farms and replaces the credit with clean energy,” Rosenworcel said. \nGuster fans can learn how to lower their personal environmental impact too, although they won’t hear it from the band at the concert.\n“There’s some literature out there, and people can check it out if they want,” Rosenworcel said. “We try not to get preachy.” \nGuster usually devotes April through October to going on college tours, Rosenworcel said. This year’s tour is the “Crocs Next Step Campus Tour” with opening act Brett Dennen. The Next Step tour is promoting green initiatives to attendees by creating a festival atmosphere, according to the Web site www.nextstepcampustour.com. \nThe Eco-Village will feature information on local and national non-profits, green technologies, a fan carbon offset program and eco-friendly consumer sampling. Attendees may also register to vote in the Eco-Village, according to the Web site.\nRosenworcel said there were several things that Guster fans could do to green up their life, including using biodegradable plates and cups and investing in more green eco-conscious companies. \n“There are a lot of campuses that are a little bit out of step with a lot of things that they could be doing,” he said. “Campus vehicles could be converting their engines from diesel to biodiesel.” \nSenior Michael Pigman said though he’s a Guster fan, he wasn’t likely to change his ways because of something a band said. \n“I like their music, but I don’t really change my lifestyle because of that,” he said. \nGuster was originally made up of Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller and Rosenworcel, who met in college at Tufts University in Boston. Joe Pisapia joined the band in 2003. \nRosenworcel said their sound is always changing.\n“Ryan was my roommate in college. He and I both played acoustic guitar and I played hand drums, so we had this kind of organic, folky sound by nature of the instruments we knew how to play,” he said. “However, Ryan was listening to Brit rock. So we’d be listening to the Stone Roses and stuff, but then we’d go and play a show, and people would say we sounded like Simon and Garfunkel. It always changes because we’ve always been influenced by a lot of bands.” \nSophomore Doug Blum, a New Jersey native, said he has gone to see Guster live more than \n10 times.\n“It’s really good acoustic music that, instead of having a drum kit, it’s all bongos and it’s really relaxing,” he said. \nSince each member of the band knows how to play several instruments, Rosenworcel said there’s a shuffle between each song. \n“Our live show is at the point where it’s at its most eclectic because I’m going back and forth between two drum kits and the other guys are switching it up between bass and keyboards and banjo and guitar,” he said. “It’s like musical, musical chairs.”\nThe band released its latest album, “Ganging Up on the Sun,” in June 2006. \nRosenworcel said “Ganging up on the Sun” is kind of all over the place, but still feels “Guster-y.” \n“Once we start writing a song it just takes us wherever it wants to go, so ... the new album is a lot of pop songs. Some are really bright, and some are really dark,” he said. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s my favorite one. I hope people like it.”