Dave Matthews Gives Questlove His Opinion Of ‘Jam Band’ Label

Dave Matthews was the featured guest on the latest episode of The Roots drummer Questlove’s podcast Questlove Supreme. A variety of topics were discussed, including what the Dave Matthews Band frontman thinks of the “jam band” label.

The interview was recorded earlier in the year, as evidenced by Matthews’ response to Questlove’s question asking if he had ever performed with Dead & Company. Matthews responded he had not played with Dead & Co. (nor Phil Lesh) but he did sit-in with Dead & Company in Boulder, Colorado earlier this summer. Longtime The Roots engineer “Suga” Steve Mandel, who attended Grateful Dead concerts, was also part of the interview.

The Dead & Company question came during the part of the discussion that touched on the reaction to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. Matthews talked about how his peers like Phish and Col. Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit were at the forefront of what critics began to label “jam bands.” Matthews described the disparate backgrounds of the members of Dave Matthews Band that were not rooted in the Grateful Dead as partly what separated them from other bands lumped into the “jam band” category.

“When I first heard [DMB drummer] Carter [Beauford], he was playing in a band called Secrets, and it was like the most insane fusion band,” Mathews said. “And [DMB guitarist] Tim [Reynolds] had played with them, and I think Roi [late DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore] may have sat in with them a few times. They were a crazy, insane band, everybody was better than the other guy, and I used to watch them.

“And then Roi I mean, he played anything, but I’d see him, he’d be playing jazz … and one of the first times I ever saw Roi, I couldn’t even believe that this gem lived in this town I’d moved to, to be closer to my mom. I was like, oh my god, this guy’s insane. And [DMB bassist] Stefan [Lessard], he came suggested to us. So the backgrounds of where everyone came from, it wasn’t because everyone was listening to the Dead, so we didn’t have that connection to that idea.”

Along with revealing he never met Jerry Garcia the one time DMB opened for the Grateful Dead, Matthews discussed his personal relationship with the “jam band” moniker. When Questlove asked Matthews if “jam band” was a four-letter word, Matthews responded by saying:

“We didn’t decide. You don’t decide where you get put, you know in some ways. I never felt like we belonged to that. I always thought that was a somewhat, it was just a term, a convenient [term]. That we got an audience and we get to play for them … in a weird way, ‘jam band,’ I don’t know who came up with it, but obviously jamming, as people do that – it seemed to be somewhat dismissive. ”

Questlove responded by saying “jam band” is usually used in a disparaging way often by music critics. The drummer said The Roots attempted to avoid being labeled as a “jam band,” going so far as abandoning drum solos during concerts in an effort to dodge the unwanted moniker.

Watch the portion of Dave Matthews’ appearance on Questlove Supreme focusing on the influence of the Grateful Dead, the “jam band” label and what song Matthews covers that he wishes he had written himself: