Dave Matthews addressed a number of topics in a new interview with Vulture, including the recent departure of longtime Dave Matthews Band violinist Boyd Tinsley, who announced a hiatus from the group in February. The interview also touched on the use of DMB’s 1996 classic “Crash Into Me in the Academy Award-nominated 2017 film Lady Bird.
When asked about how Matthews and the band intended to move forward in Tinsley’s absence, the singer, songwriter and musician said explained:
I have a deep love for Boyd, and he has to deal with his stuff. In many ways I’m sure it would’ve been a lot easier for him to just say, “I’m good. Let’s go play.” But you can’t just throw yourself away, your wellness away, because you play violin in a band. It doesn’t make any sense to do that.
Matthews added:
I’m used to turning to my right and seeing him going bananas — some days doing it better than other days. You know there’s that idea of genius as something that, like, comes into a room through the window and into a person rather than lives in the person all the time? Sometimes I’d hear Boyd and I’d be like, Holy shit, you are good. Other times it’d be like, Clearly today you left the window closed. But that’s beside the point. We’re all like that. I have terrible nights. The answer is that I don’t know how it’s going to be without him there.
While Tinsley’s departure was originally characterized as a temporary arrangement (“I need to take a break from the band & touring 2 focus on my family & my health 4 a while”, the violinist tweeted earlier this year), Matthews acknowledged in the new Vulture interview that they may not be the case. “I can’t say, ‘I can’t wait till he comes back,’ because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “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.”
Tinsley wasn’t the only subject addressed during the interview. Matthews also talked about DMB’s forthcoming album Come Tomorrow as well as the band’s sometimes negative reputation amongst music fans. The latter came up during a discussion about the film Lady Bird, which incorporated “Crash Into Me” into one of its titular character’s pivotal moments of development.
“There was a great headline I saw online: something like ‘Lady Bird Somehow Resurrects the Dave Matthews Band.’ Without question — and some express it with more vinegar than others — there are people who truly don’t like my band. I think a lot of them just go, ‘I hate the Dave Matthews Band’ because they saw someone they didn’t like in one of our T-shirts,” Matthews explained. “But everything to do with Lady Bird was flattering. 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 bullshit.’ So seeing ‘Crash Into Me’ in Lady Bird allowed me to hear my music without having to impose myself on it.”
Additionally, Matthews spoke about DMB’s reputation for partying, why the ’90s were a heyday for jam bands, and the mysterious, non-musical reasons for DMB’s success. You can read the full interview here.