The Guster Summit; or Music as The Great Connector

 

What you wish for could come true, you aren't surprised love, are you? 

I'm 13 years old, a month away from graduating 8th grade in 1999. My parents indulged me with my first pair of concert tickets. Not a show they're taking me along to, but the first concert I picked out for myself - Barenaked Ladies. The night before my mother fell very ill and I didn't think it was going to happen at all. Luckily my best friend's mother stepped up to drive us down to Nashville for the event. There was an opening band I had never heard of, but hundreds of people around me not only knew the words to their songs but seemed to be having a damn good time singing along. That band launched into a track called Barrel of a Gun, and I was enthralled. The harmonies of the two singer/guitar players were stunningly perfect, and the drumming was positively hypnotizing. Who were these dudes? How could there be such great music I had never heard of until this moment?

I immediately headed out to the merch table to buy my first Guster CD, Lost and Gone Forever. I stood frozen for a few moments when I realized the band was sitting there, chatting with people. The drummer, who plays with his bare hands, was resting his fingers in a large bowl of ice. I had just signed up to play drums in the high school band that fall, so I asked him if he had any advice for me. "Use sticks" he said with a dead serious look on his face as he handed me a tiny box of animal crackers. You know the kind - small and red with a string that you can use to carry the little train car shaped box by. He drew a little drummer dude on my t-shirt, thanked me for coming to say hello, and flashed his big grin at me. "I'm Brian, by the way." I was a young girl smitten. I would go home to Kentucky and hang a poster of the then-trio above my bed, as teenage girls with rockstar crushes are wont to do.

Can we keep it together? We're singing a new song now...

As the years would pass, all the milestone moments in my life would seem to coincide with the release of a new Guster album. When I graduated high school and started college there would be Keep it Together. The dissolution of my first grown-up relationship (and the abandoned wedding plans that went with it) would be soundtracked by Ganging Up On The Sun. A few years later when I quit my job as a pastry chef to work for a band myself, I would have Easy Wonderful to accompany me as I drove around the USA selling t-shirts and making friends. I settled back down, and went back into the restaurant industry as the executive chef of my own restaurant. When my pub closed abruptly and I felt more lost in life than I ever had, along came Evermotion to inspire me all over again. Same as it ever was and yet totally new, I would find in those songs a renewed sense of self that I had lost in my failures. Every step of my journey became a little lighter because I had a song to sing along to. I would see them perform live over 20 times through the years, often dragging friends along just so I wasn't alone. They would indulge me, clap and dance along and say "Wow they really are great live! Thanks for taking me"...but never could I truly get my companions to see the music, to FEEL the music the way I did.


Guster has always been an incredibly internet savvy band, long before social media became so ubiquitous. One day in 2011 singer Ryan Miller offered to play song tracks from their upcoming EP on the now-defunct turntable.fm site. As myself and other fans sat in a virtual waiting room, we began to chat about Guster - our favorite songs, favorite albums, and shared our stories from live shows and band encounters. After a few weeks of casual conversation within the chatroom itself we were all friending each other on Facebook, Hooray internet friends! When the band would tour around the country, we would compare set lists with each other - "Oh man, you got Hercules? That's awesome" or maybe "They played Center of Attention? I'm jealous!" It was such a thrill to discuss our Guster shows amongst the group because we all shared the same massive love of this music. These total strangers could understand more than some of the real-life friends I had known for eons. It's an incredibly strong bond that forms when you can share your passion for something as universal as music with people who feel that same unconditional love.

This could all be yours someday...

In January 2016 the band had to postpone a show in Philadelphia due to a massive snow storm. They apologized to their Philly fans and promised when they made it up to them in June it would be "a doozy". My friends and I speculated about the make-up date...wouldn't it be fun to to all meet up at one show together? After years of messages, shared photos, and long distance friendships wouldn't it be spectacular for all of us to share in our favorite past time in person? The planning began immediately. We would be traveling from Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky and even California to the city of Brotherly Love for one night of music. Unbeknownst to us, there would be a Yahoo! Live Nation TV livestream broadcast from the Fillmore that night so our buddies who couldn't make the journey would be able to watch along with us at home. Its a strange and wonderful thing to meet someone for the first time but yet already have such a long history with them. As we all stood along the front row (is there any other place to be?) for the show that night my heart couldn't have possibly been fuller. Very few words needed be exchanged throughout the band's superb performance. Did Ryan just mix up his words? Did Luke just nail that bass line? A simple glance at each other was all we needed. Unspoken understanding is a beautiful thing. After the show that evening, Brian would refer to our presence as "The Summit of Super Fans". Though there were a few pals that were absent from our evening that we wished could have joined us, we all knew how special it was to finally be in one room together. We spent a few days there in Philadelphia together, exploring that great city and its rich history as the Birthplace of America.

And its true, I know, we're never coming down...

My friends at home, and the fine folks along the way to Philadelphia asked me the same question over and over again..."You're driving 15 hours to see a band you've already seen 20 something times before?" and they'd chuckle at me. I could only nod and smile back at them. No amount of explaining could offer up a proper view of what this band and these people mean to me. Its been 17 years, 24 shows, two countries, a 965ft Ocean Liner, one tattoo, and approximately 13,600 miles I've traveled in the name of Guster. (Really...I spent a solid hour with Google Maps trying to concoct that figure). As time passed I have been fortunate to forge a friendly rapport with these musicians that I am so fond of. Amazingly accessible to their fans, they don't mind you saying hello in the hallway or as you pass them on the street near the venue. Ask anyone who's met them, and they'll reinforce how down to earth, humble, and flat-out sweet these four gentlemen are to their fans. Adam is kind and will share a hilarious story with you like an old friend at a reunion. Ryan loves to talk music (not just his own), and is quite loquacious if you catch him in the right mood. Luke is gracious and goofy and so charming you feel bewitched after a few moments with him. But it's Brian the drummer, affectionately known to his fans as The Thunder God,  with his warm smile and easy attitude that makes you feel as though he's as fond of you as you are of him. This band, and the people that this band have led me to, have been absolutely life altering. Music is such a universal language, and the emotions invoked through song are more powerful than can be described. They say you should find your tribe and love them fiercely. I say I've found my tribe and they're called Guster, and I will love them and my fellow fans forever.

EDIT 7/4/2016
After the positively overwhelming response, I have started a Gusterrhoids fan page on Facebook as a place where we can all connect and share out Guster stories together. Won't you join us, Big Friends?