11. How well do you do in your fantasy hoops leagues? I'm not sure, but I think you told me you've won three straight? I know you play real hoops with some musicians. Anyone with serious skills we need to know about?BR: I've been in the finals all four years I've played, and I've won twice, though once it was because the guy I was playing forgot it was a 10-day championship week and didn't set his lineup one day. Not having a great season this year, but
Andray Blatche will carry us from here on out.
I play in a co-ed basketball (real basketball) league in Brooklyn with a lot of musician friends on Saturdays. I've started to count my stats in a really unhealthy way, too. People from the Walkmen, Ladybug Transistor, Bishop Allen, Essex Green, and the French Kicks have been in and out of the league. We compete, but we don't dive for loose balls or anything.
12. You guys have found a way to remain wildly popular with the college kids and it's been going on for over a decade now. What do you attribute that to? Are the seniors just passing the music onto the freshman?BR: I don't know exactly why that is. Seems we get older and our fans stay the same age. I think "
Lost & Gone Forever" became a record that a lot of people were introduced to their freshman year of college, just like the first Violent Femmes record was a rite of passage for us when we got to college in 1991.
13. What song have you not covered yet, but want to? Care to share your experience in the R.E.M. tribute show you took part in?BR: We've attempted a lot of covers in our day, some successfully (Brazil), some miserably (I think we once tried to cover a Stone Roses song). The R.E.M. show was a lot of fun -- we played an acoustic version of "Shaking Through" off of Murmur, and put Peter Buck's guitar lick on a banjo. Mostly it was fun to be backstage with people like Bob Mould, Vic Chesnutt, Apples in Stereo, Patti Smith, etc. R.E.M. made a surprise appearance and played a few encores. I was surprised, anyway.
14. What was the first concert you attended and what was the first record you remember owning?BR: Air Supply, in the round, on a revolving stage in Waterbury CT when I was like ten years old. I was screaming "All out of Love" at the top of my lungs when they finally played it as their last encore. You asked.
15. What is at the top of your list as far as Guster shows go? Let's hear about your favorite three shows you guys have ever played.BR: A few years ago we played in Boston with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra backing us up, and that was really cool -- there were 90 musicians playing our music on everything from bassoons to musical saws. I remember Central Park in the year 2000 was a pretty epic moment for me, as that was the biggest crowd we'd ever headlined in front of, and we were super pumped up the whole night. Oh. And we were Peter Frampton's backing band at the "Jammy Awards" at MSG one year, so I got to play drums on "Do You Feel Like I Do" while Frampton rocked the vocoder.
16. What do you do on the road or in the studio during down times? Scrabble? Video games? Or maybe you'd care to share your band's obsession with Chat Roulette?BR: I'll take the Chat Roulette bait on this one. Some Russian kid made this program where you're randomly assigned a video chat with someone else anywhere in the world, and you can hit NEXT to move on to someone else at any point. It's not for the squeamish or timid, because one in every five screens that shows contains something crude or disgusting, like a male human body part -- but we've had chat roulette up in the studio for the last week, somewhat religiously. We run into fans, drunk people, weirdos, old ladies from France, etc... lately we make up songs about the people that show up just to get a reaction. It's the height of dorkiness (other than fantasy sports), but it's also what the internet used to be -- wild, unpredictable, and right on the edge of your comfort zone.
17. What are we looking at for the new record? September release? Are you drumming with sticks or your hands? Do you still super glue your fingers? Does the new record have a title yet? Let's break that news here!BR: It's a Rotoworld NBA Exclusive -- Guster to name new album "House of Blatche" after four year hiatus... no, we don't know what to call it, or what label it'll be on, but man we've worked hard on this record to get it right. We're looking at September, and a balance of stick drums with hand drums and plenty of percussion on top. I haven't super glued a finger in a few years, and I even circulate now when the temperature is above 30 degrees, so the stick move is definitely helping.
18. You guys have had your music used in commercials, movies and television shows. Is that the way bands make money today? People don't seem to pay for music anymore, so I'm guessing touring and television are the best avenues to get paid for your work, right?BR: That's a good way to make money if you can get licensed for stuff that doesn't make you feel horrible (we'd draw the line at a Coors commercial, or a
Jason Terry commercial). If there ever was a "sell out" stigma attached to using your music for TV, that's certainly gone in this era where musicians need to find creative ways to get paid. We make some money touring, and touring colleges in particular. Never made a cent selling records while we were on major labels anyway, so the new regime where people don't pay for music isn't much of an adjustment for us. We just want the music to be out there and spread around as much as possible.
19. What bands would you pay to see live right now?BR: Devo, Man Man, Sun Ra Arkestra, Pavement, Leonard Cohen, Cass McCombs, Neil Young. I've never seen the Rolling Stones but someone told me if you're a fan of the Stones that you're better off just skipping it at this point. So that's what I'm going to do.
20. Who are some of the most famous Guster fans you've met? You told me about Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin. Any others you'd care to name check?BR: Garlin's the only one that we've done a
podcast with, though I've read that Janeane Garofalo, Brian Williams (NBC), and Barry Zito are into Guster. Also, someone once spotted an Olsen twin at one of our shows.
So there you have it. The new record will likely be released in September and the band is very fired up about it. Having seen the studio where it was recorded and some of the work that went into it, I'm certainly anxious to hear the final result. Here are a few of their videos, which you should check out. Thanks for sharing, Brian. And for the t-shirts and hospitality. You can follow Guster on Twitter at
@Guster, and you can follow Dr. A on Twitter at
@docktoraBarrell Of A GunFa FaSatellite
About a year ago we ran several interviews with rock stars about their love of fantasy hoops. In case you missed them, you can click on the following links for any you're interested in.
Stephen Malkmus – Pavement/Jicks
Bo Koster – My Morning Jacket
Doug Martsch – Built To Spill
Sam Coomes, Janet Weiss, Joanna Bolme – Quasi/Sleater-Kinney/Jicks
I recently hooked up with Brian Rosenworcel, the drummer for
Guster, in Nashville for some beers and a tour of the studio where the band is finishing up their latest record. Guster's 1999 release,
Lost and Gone Forever, was considered by many to be a perfect pop record and earned the band a huge college following, as well as mainstream acceptance. The only drums used on the record were hand drums and their live shows became a pretty big deal in the early 2000s, and remain so today. Guster is still big with the college kids, and while you may not have heard much from them lately, there's a new album on the horizon, as well as various releases in over the past 10 years, including the 2006 classic,
Ganging Up On The Sun.
They even had the World Wide Leader hook up the
opening video for a couple shows they played in Boston in April of 2007. It's well done and pretty funny, and Red Sox fans may be particularly amused, so check it out.
Brian originally got in contact with me because he loved an obscure R.E.M. reference I made in a Daily Dose, which then led to a conversation about
Andray Blatche, and eventually Guster. He's a fantasy hoops fanatic and knows his stuff, much like the other people I've done these interviews with. So without further ado…
Here are 20 questions with Guster's Brian Rosenworcel 1. How long have you played fantasy hoops and how many leagues are you in? Do you also play baseball and football?Brian Rosenworcel: This is my 5th year of fantasy hoops, and I've always been in just one daily Yahoo league with my ultimate Frisbee buddies from college. I've been tempted to try fantasy baseball, but it seems wiser to stay in my marriage.
2. What is your team name and why?BR: Right now we're called "House of Blatche" in honor of my new favorite Wizard. My first team was called "Isiah's Disciples" and I managed them pretty recklessly. I owned
Eddy Curry that entire year.
3. How do you keep up with your leagues/setting lineups when you're on tour? Has touring ever cost you a championship? BR: Being on tour is pretty cushy, Steve. You play a couple hours a night and have the rest of the day to yourself. Add in free wi-fi on the bus and you've got a fantasy-friendly lifestyle. During the NBA season I sometimes walk off stage and onto the bus where I study box scores with my fingers soaking in a bucket of ice. I know that's not very rock 'n roll, but then again, neither is Guster.
4. How does your family feel about your fantasy sports addiction? I've been married for 19 years - Once we got the first five fantasy-sports filled years out of the way it was all gravy. BR: Well then, I've got a year to get through before sweet, sweet acceptance kicks in. I'm chipping away.
5. Who are some of your all-time favorite players and why?BR: I've owned
Chris Bosh for two years now, and he's my favorite kind of player -- maybe not as exciting as
Gerald Wallace or
Josh Smith, but incredibly consistent. You need to be able to count on your studs come playoff time.
Troy Murphy carried me last year. I like big guys that hit threes and get steals or assists like Troy. Or guards that can block shots like
Tyreke Evans.
Deron Williams,
David Lee, and
Paul Millsap get my rocks off too. I have a soft spot for anyone that came to me off waivers.
6. Do you draft with your head or your heart? Is it better to have a bad team full of guys you like to root for, or would you rather own players you don't care about and win at all costs?BR: Ultimately I can't live with a player that I think is 'douchey.' Like
Jason Terry. That guy is not welcome on my team, ever. I can't explain it, but I just don't want to have to root for him. But you've got to strike a sensible balance on draft day. My first year I held onto
Mike Sweetney way too long just because he was my favorite Knick. I don't do that anymore. Fantasy hoops has made me less of a Knicks fan and more of a I-hope-my-guy-gets-the-rebound-off-the-missed-free-throw fan.
7. What player did you draft that you're most disappointed with? Will you ever draft him again? BR: I drank the
Anthony Randolph Kool Aid this year and it stung me. Not to mention
Gilbert Arenas in the 4th round, which was a stroke of brilliance, until it wasn't. I'd draft Ant-Rand again if Nellie was out of the picture.
8. Will Tyrus Thomas or Yi Jianlian ever become reliable fantasy studs? BR: I'm going to say YES to Tyrus and NO to Yi. Yi seems like the kind of guy whose going to be mildly fantasy relevant but drag his actual team down with crappy FG% and selfish play until he's ultimately benched. Thomas will thrive in Charlotte now that he's a member of House of Blatche.
9. How did you discover Rotoworld, and would you classify yourself as a junkie?BR: I found Rotoworld when my friend Noah emailed me the Malkmus interview. Hard to believe other musicians take this stuff as seriously as I do. At the time I'd been a seasonal subscriber to another fantasy hoops service that required you to pay, but I'd just written them an angry email because their writers had gotten a little too creative and started regularly using the word "tilt" instead of "game" in their updates. It's a basketball game, not a f****** 'tilt.'
Then I discovered Rotoworld, in all its Technicolor glory, and never looked back. If clicking on Rotoworld 20 times a day makes me a junkie, then so be it. I've seen the needle. The damage is done.
10. Do your band mates ever get sick of hearing you obsess about the NBA? I know when we were enjoying beers in Nashville (watching LeBron vs. Melo) you were quick to apologize to my wife every time the NBA came up. But really, I'm not sure she'd rather hear us talk about Russell Westbrook instead of swapping stories about Bob Dylan, Pavement and Band of Horses.BR: I think they're fascinated with the idea that something as dumb-sounding as fantasy basketball could be so captivating to me. But we don't really talk about it. I just asked Adam, our guitar player, to name two current players in the NBA. He thought for a while and said "Mike Gminski? Is the G-Man still playing?
Manute Bol? Who's the guy with the corn rows?" Point, illustrated.
Keep reading for questions 11-20.
11. How well do you do in your fantasy hoops leagues? I'm not sure, but I think you told me you've won three straight? I know you play real hoops with some musicians. Anyone with serious skills we need to know about?BR: I've been in the finals all four years I've played, and I've won twice, though once it was because the guy I was playing forgot it was a 10-day championship week and didn't set his lineup one day. Not having a great season this year, but
Andray Blatche will carry us from here on out.
I play in a co-ed basketball (real basketball) league in Brooklyn with a lot of musician friends on Saturdays. I've started to count my stats in a really unhealthy way, too. People from the Walkmen, Ladybug Transistor, Bishop Allen, Essex Green, and the French Kicks have been in and out of the league. We compete, but we don't dive for loose balls or anything.
12. You guys have found a way to remain wildly popular with the college kids and it's been going on for over a decade now. What do you attribute that to? Are the seniors just passing the music onto the freshman?BR: I don't know exactly why that is. Seems we get older and our fans stay the same age. I think "
Lost & Gone Forever" became a record that a lot of people were introduced to their freshman year of college, just like the first Violent Femmes record was a rite of passage for us when we got to college in 1991.
13. What song have you not covered yet, but want to? Care to share your experience in the R.E.M. tribute show you took part in?BR: We've attempted a lot of covers in our day, some successfully (Brazil), some miserably (I think we once tried to cover a Stone Roses song). The R.E.M. show was a lot of fun -- we played an acoustic version of "Shaking Through" off of Murmur, and put Peter Buck's guitar lick on a banjo. Mostly it was fun to be backstage with people like Bob Mould, Vic Chesnutt, Apples in Stereo, Patti Smith, etc. R.E.M. made a surprise appearance and played a few encores. I was surprised, anyway.
14. What was the first concert you attended and what was the first record you remember owning?BR: Air Supply, in the round, on a revolving stage in Waterbury CT when I was like ten years old. I was screaming "All out of Love" at the top of my lungs when they finally played it as their last encore. You asked.
15. What is at the top of your list as far as Guster shows go? Let's hear about your favorite three shows you guys have ever played.BR: A few years ago we played in Boston with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra backing us up, and that was really cool -- there were 90 musicians playing our music on everything from bassoons to musical saws. I remember Central Park in the year 2000 was a pretty epic moment for me, as that was the biggest crowd we'd ever headlined in front of, and we were super pumped up the whole night. Oh. And we were Peter Frampton's backing band at the "Jammy Awards" at MSG one year, so I got to play drums on "Do You Feel Like I Do" while Frampton rocked the vocoder.
16. What do you do on the road or in the studio during down times? Scrabble? Video games? Or maybe you'd care to share your band's obsession with Chat Roulette?BR: I'll take the Chat Roulette bait on this one. Some Russian kid made this program where you're randomly assigned a video chat with someone else anywhere in the world, and you can hit NEXT to move on to someone else at any point. It's not for the squeamish or timid, because one in every five screens that shows contains something crude or disgusting, like a male human body part -- but we've had chat roulette up in the studio for the last week, somewhat religiously. We run into fans, drunk people, weirdos, old ladies from France, etc... lately we make up songs about the people that show up just to get a reaction. It's the height of dorkiness (other than fantasy sports), but it's also what the internet used to be -- wild, unpredictable, and right on the edge of your comfort zone.
17. What are we looking at for the new record? September release? Are you drumming with sticks or your hands? Do you still super glue your fingers? Does the new record have a title yet? Let's break that news here!BR: It's a Rotoworld NBA Exclusive -- Guster to name new album "House of Blatche" after four year hiatus... no, we don't know what to call it, or what label it'll be on, but man we've worked hard on this record to get it right. We're looking at September, and a balance of stick drums with hand drums and plenty of percussion on top. I haven't super glued a finger in a few years, and I even circulate now when the temperature is above 30 degrees, so the stick move is definitely helping.
18. You guys have had your music used in commercials, movies and television shows. Is that the way bands make money today? People don't seem to pay for music anymore, so I'm guessing touring and television are the best avenues to get paid for your work, right?BR: That's a good way to make money if you can get licensed for stuff that doesn't make you feel horrible (we'd draw the line at a Coors commercial, or a
Jason Terry commercial). If there ever was a "sell out" stigma attached to using your music for TV, that's certainly gone in this era where musicians need to find creative ways to get paid. We make some money touring, and touring colleges in particular. Never made a cent selling records while we were on major labels anyway, so the new regime where people don't pay for music isn't much of an adjustment for us. We just want the music to be out there and spread around as much as possible.
19. What bands would you pay to see live right now?BR: Devo, Man Man, Sun Ra Arkestra, Pavement, Leonard Cohen, Cass McCombs, Neil Young. I've never seen the Rolling Stones but someone told me if you're a fan of the Stones that you're better off just skipping it at this point. So that's what I'm going to do.
20. Who are some of the most famous Guster fans you've met? You told me about Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin. Any others you'd care to name check?BR: Garlin's the only one that we've done a
podcast with, though I've read that Janeane Garofalo, Brian Williams (NBC), and Barry Zito are into Guster. Also, someone once spotted an Olsen twin at one of our shows.
So there you have it. The new record will likely be released in September and the band is very fired up about it. Having seen the studio where it was recorded and some of the work that went into it, I'm certainly anxious to hear the final result. Here are a few of their videos, which you should check out. Thanks for sharing, Brian. And for the t-shirts and hospitality. You can follow Guster on Twitter at
@Guster, and you can follow Dr. A on Twitter at
@docktoraBarrell Of A GunFa FaSatellite