Updated: 02/22/00

Guster is a band from the East Coast whose independent release on Aware has just been put out by Sire Records. In town recently to play a show, we had a chance to speak with this up and coming band.

Highwire Daze: What exactly is a Guster?

Brian Rosenworcel (percussion): Guster is a rock and roll band and nothing else. It's actually a rare Asian doll that you can buy overseas. It's like a monster but it's suppose to be for kids. You can buy it from Japan, I think. You can order it through the e-mail. We ordered one, but I think it takes seven years to deliver.

Adam Gardner (guitar, vocals): The truth is we use to be called Gus and there are a few other bands called Gus. We had to change our name. We wanted to keep some thing familiar so we added a "ter." So Guster is almost completely insignificant to us, except that it's the name of our band.

HD: What is the influence for your song Rocketship. And if you could take two people with you, who would it be and why?

Brian: Rocketship's about sui cide, so who would I want to commit suicide with? I don't know, that's a tough question. The guy that wrote the lyrics isn't here.

HD: Just think of two people you'd like to take to another place.

Brian: Captain Lou, the wrestler and Fran Dresser, the Nanny. She's hot.

HD: What is the Airport Song about and why the wild distortion at the end?

Brian: The song is dark and twisted, sort of about this evil character that takes advantage of his followers. He's a leader of a cult. It's an evil song. To tell you the truth, the lyrics were written in the studio the day before we recorded it. The ending was the way because – it was a song we weren't even planning on putting on the record. We were messing around in the studio and trying to see if it would work. We told our producer we needed something crazy at the end.

Adam: A punch line. The rub – "You'll be selling books at the airport."

Brian: Yeah. And that's what it does.

HD: Your sound is different throughout the album.

Brian: I never thought about that but that's a good concept. It wasn't intentional. It's pop music. The lyrics are dark but the music is not dark. It's a bit of a contradiction. And then here we are on stage, and we don't take ourselves very seriously. It's tough to grasp for some people, but the album does have a consistent sort of binding link I think. But it does go all over the place. I wouldn't say there's a theme to the album. That's what we try to do in song writing – keep it interesting – especially with instrumentation. We're trying to diversify our grooves and our melodies.

HD: What's different between the live performances and the album?

Adam: There's less instrumentation on the live situation, because we don't have a bassist or a drummer. You actually don't miss that. It's a lot more energetic, live. We capture the personality of the band. The differ ence is the energy and the direct contact. Something we struggle with from the beginning is, how do we get across our personality on a record when there's nothing but music in a studio situation. I would say a live show is better and more exciting and more lively.

HD: For a band being signed to a major label now, did they give you restric tions?

Brian: Part of the reason we went with Sire and we signed a record deal is that we worked ourselves into a position where things were on our terms. We have a solid base. We went with Sire because they understood us – they understood everything we were about and that we had been together for the last four years as a band. Obviously, we're going to use their resources and networks and our next album is going to be a great album with them. But they have a vision that is very consis tent with ours. I don't think anything is going to change unless we want it to.

Adam: As far as the music goes, they've been very supportive with what we've been doing. We've just started with them, but they've almost always deferred to us in as far as our deci sions. They've been very supportive of us, as musicians, just doing our thing. It's been working so far, so why mess with it.

HD: Do you have a fan club?

Adam: Not a fan club, per say, but we definitely have a group of people that enjoy watching us play and who will come out to see us wher ever we play. When I think of a "fan club," I think of The Archies or something – it sounds funny to me. But yes, we have a solid fan base and that's how we've made our living up to now. They've been coming to shows and buying our CD's and spreading the word. One of the things we have going on is that we're approachable. After the show, we're not going to go to our dressing room and hide out. We go out into the club and talk to people and hang out. And we talk to all sorts of people via e-mail.

HD: And what is the e-mail address?

Brian: guster@earthlink.net or you could go to guster.com and you could write us from there. I'll write you back – it'll take me four weeks, but I'll write you back.

HD: If you weren't in Guster today, what would you be doing?

Brian: If I did something else, I'd be a real estate agent.

Adam: If this band ever crumbles and dies, I'm either going to go back to school and be a psychologist or I'm going to live in the woods.

Guster's CD is called Goldfly and it's out now from Sire Records.