Guster

The band’s members, including Adam Gardner and Brian Rosenworcel, graduated with honors from Tufts University in Massachusetts more than three years ago. “Brian is certified to wax poetic on American studies, Adam is a bachelor of arts in psychology and I am very well versed in religious studies,” said the group’s singer/guitarist.

On the downside, “we’re no longer the smartest men in rock ‘n’ roll because that guy Dan from Semisonic went to Harvard and Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, he’s in Harvard, too,” Miller said. “We’re still the backup school band that we started off to be.”

Fortunately for Guster, the musical side has been going well. The band has received much critical success from its unique bare-bones style of folk/pop music, which incorporates acoustic guitars and percussion.

Heavy touring in the northeastern states landed Guster the title of best live act during the 1996 Boston Music Awards. Additionally, the band’s two self-financed CDs have sold some 40,000 copies.

Recently, the group signed with Metropolitan Entertainment’s Hybrid Recordings label, which has re-released the band’s second indie recording, Goldfly, through its deal with Sire Records. That CD was named top independent album at this year’s BMAs. Since pulling dates with Widespread Panic, the H.O.R.D.E. Festival and now Semisonic, Guster is slowly expanding upon its eastern fanbase, receiving national radio support for the first time.

But just a few years ago, things were quite different for the band.

“We were doing frat parties where we were getting beer spilt on us,” Miller said. “We were playing in the Campus Center of Tufts University and in Harvard Square, like next to Mary Lou Lord. I don’t think Tracy Chapman was busking at that point; I think she had already passed her busking days.”

Coincidentally, though Harvard may have deprived the band of its most-intelligent award, it did provide an exquisite outdoor venue to showcase the group’s acoustic tunes. “We were playing Harvard Square every summer to get money and that’s where we first started selling our tapes and CDs,” Miller said.

A popular spot for the band was in front of the Harvard Coop, considered America’s largest college bookstore. “The Coop was the best place because we had it totally strategized; it was all about foot traffic and beget the crowd,” he said. “Plus, there was an awning so if it started to rain, our equipment wouldn’t get fried.”

With the band’s appeal starting to grow, Guster entered the studio in 1994 with Boston producer Mike Denneen and recorded Parachute, which was named best local debut album by The Boston Globe. Local reaction to the album was tremendous and so was demand for the band. That’s when Guster’s DIY business ethics began to conflict with the band’s role as performer.

“What basically started is the three of us grew into a booking agent and then management and then a lawyer and then a record company and publicist,” Miller said. “It’s a lot to ask a band to do: to manage themselves, to book themselves and to then try and be creative and perform and have energy.”

Only lately has Miller been able to concentrate more on performing than business. “I mean, the first lesson you learn is don’t trust anybody, do everything yourself. I’m trying to find the balance between letting the business run itself and concentrating on being songwriters and performers,” he said. “It takes a lot to remind yourself that you are still making music and this isn’t something that I went to college for.”

With a business team that includes Scott Clayton of the Progressive Global Agency, the band should feel more at ease. “PGA has a history of working with bands that have a tour emphasis,” Miller said. “They seemed to understand that’s where we excel, that’s our bread and butter…. They knew that we weren’t a band that was going to put out a record, go on a three-month tour and then go back and sit on our asses for nine months.”

Guster’s touring experience increased dramatically after dates on the H.O.R.D.E. Festival and with Widespread Panic. “When we first started, people were like, ‘You’ll never be able to headline a room.’ And then, ‘You’ll never be able to headline this-size room,’ or, ‘You’ll never have an electric band open up for us,'” Miller said. “We do all those things and we play in big sheds and we hold our own…. We’re not lost in the big venue by any means, but it’s all a learning process.”

However, Miller admits that Guster is more at home in smaller-capacity rooms. “That’s where we are right now, we’re at those 1,500-size venues to where we can just get up there and do our thing,” he said. “The first time we played Irving Plaza (in New York) and Avalon (in Boston), the Fillmore-size rooms, we were a little lost. As we grow, we grow into these rooms.”

Guster is also slowly growing into its nationwide notoriety. “We’re on the cover of POLLSTAR magazine for Christ’s sake. It’s every boy’s dream. I mean, what little boy doesn’t have a stack of discarded POLLSTARs by the bedside table, dreaming of the day?”