Gale-force Guster winds into Michigan

PREVIEW
	Guster Tonight at 9 p.m. Michigan Theater

Guster, an aggressive acoustic rock band out of Boston, is ready to play the Michigan Theater. Guster first played in Ann Arbor at Rick's on a Monday night, and then the band moved on to an afternoon show at the Blind Pig. "After playing at the Blind Pig, now we think we're ready for the Theater," said Guster percussionist Brian Rosenworcel.

Guster is getting its wish tonight, co-headlining with Ekoostik Hookah at the Michigan.

Guster was built from the ground up and after recently signing with Sire Records and releasing its major label debut, "Goldfly," the band is emerging into the mainstream spotlight. "A lot of bands will put all their eggs in their label's basket and if they don't get radio play, then they're done. There is no way for themselves to sustain themselves. We didn't want to have to put all our eggs in that basket. So we just hit the road. And we just added the label to complement what we already had," Rosenworcel said

What Guster has is a unique ensemble that "sounds nothing like what you would expect from a band with our musical arrangement."

Courtesy of Sire Records Guster co-headlines a show with Ekoostik Hookah tonight at the Michigan Theater.

Guster consists of Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner on guitar and vocals, while Rosenworcel lays down the beat.

"We could have added more musicians to our band, but instead we really focused on beefing up the sounds of our instruments, making our acoustic sound a lot chunkier and making the drums sound in your face," Rosenworcel said in explaining the band's signature sound. While they still have not maximized what they can do with their instruments, they definitely arrived at a rare sound, which is hard to come by in the music business.

Delving into the roots of these musicians reveals a variety of musical influences. While Miller listens to British pop, Gardner listened to Kiss in high school. Still, Rosenworcel's playing most resembles that of John Bonham, former Led Zeppelin drummer. Yet their collective sound is nothing like Kiss or Zeppelin.

"The best thing you can do to explain our sound is to fuse a few different bands that people may have heard of, like Rusted Root meets Elvis Costello meets, I don't even know," Rosenworcel said in trying to explain the Guster sound, which is not an easy thing to do.

Fans and skeptics alike are interested in what exactly Guster stands for. Although the band members hear this question a lot, they where more than happy to answer. Rosenworcel said, "We just have no good answer. Lately we've been saying its named after the field goal kicking mule from the '60's Disney cartoon."

For all the Guster fans and soon-to-be-fans out there, wondering what Guster plans for the future, Rosenworcel offered a tentative prophecy. "Our songwriting keeps going in different directions. As much as 'Goldfly' is a different album from (the band's previous debut)'Parachute,' our next album will be different from 'Goldfly.' But we want to keep it interesting and we want to keep it fresh and we want to keep writing songs, meanwhile the label wants to give this record a shot and see what kind of life it has. So we're not gonna draw this out any longer than we have to ... But I'd give it a year before we'll probably have a new record," Rosenworcel said.

So don't expect this trio to be back in Ann Arbor for a while. Although they may be opening for a large venue outdoor show this summer, it will conveniently skip the Midwest. This may be the last Guster appearance for a while, so get out to the Theater and soak up the soothing Guster sound - because it's going to have to sustain the crowd for another year.

04-17-98