Dave Matthews: 20Q

Q1

PLAYBOY: Why would Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band have to do a solo album?
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I thought about that. It comes back to the idea of the badly named band, the lazy guys who said, "Fuck it, we'll just call it the Dave Matthews Band 'cause you're in the front." We never had the foresight to change it, and I think our fans know that the band really is the five of us and that taking the four letters away from the end of our name does make it a really different thing.

Q2

PLAYBOY: What was the band's real reaction to the solo album, Some Devil?
MATTHEWS: It's not like there was a big discussion. I wanted to put some songs down. Some are very acoustic, some are with other people. I wanted to sit there and go, "What do I do next?" It was like having a day job: Wake up in the morning and go to the studio and mess around and get embarrassed by my own incompetence. I really want people to know how at home I am in this band that I've been a part of for so long. It's good to stick your head out of the water sometimes.

Q3

PLAYBOY: You're as big a rock star as this country has. Do you ever wish you were more of a celebrity?
MATTHEWS: As I get older, when I walk past a group of teenagers I do start to think, Will they recognize me or am I an old-timer? And they often don't. But I cover myself by saying that if they were 25 and listened to my record, they still might not recognize me. I'm Johnny Boring. I work so fucking hard at being a regular guy—'cause I'm as regular as an orange fiery turd flying out of an elephant's ass. I don't feel regular at all, but I make an effort to be as regular as I can. I don't know why, but it seems important that I don't get a house behind a wall, that I don't insist that my Pepsi be at exactly the right temperature—because I'm really terrified of what a pathetic existence that is.

Q4

PLAYBOY: So you're scared of fame?
MATTHEWS: It's so pathetic to get that far away from the fact that your shit stinks. It's almost paranoia, not to venture too far from what I think is normal. I'd rather not be too different when I get to the end of this strange ride than I was in the middle of it—which will probably fail miserably. I'll probably say, "Why didn't I wear a pink tuxedo and take it up the crapper from that guy, just to see what it was like?""

Q5

PLAYBOY: Surely you've gone in for some rock-star indulgences.
MATTHEWS: The bathtub in my house in Virginia is made from three old cast-iron tubs, the ones with the feet. I had the middle of one and the ends of the two others glued together. I always said that if I had the money I'd get a long bathtub here in America. In England they like to lounge in the bath. In France they don't take baths often, but when they do, they like to lounge. But here everyone takes showers because they're so busy. I want a bathtub that, if I ask my wife to climb in, she can get in there with me. It's a hell of a tub.

Q6

PLAYBOY: You sit at the top of a company—the band, a merchandising company, a ticket agency—that generated more than $85 million last year. Do you run it all?
MATTHEWS: There was a time when our T-shirt operation was in the garage of the management company, next door to the room where the agent was. I knew everyone who packaged the T-shirts and everyone who designed the posters. But it's not that way anymore, and it's not just me involved in that business anymore. It is impressive, but I'm not real involved with a lot of it, except sometimes I say, "I don't like that T-shirt." I hope everyone is being treated well, and I think we're good with the insurance policies. I know we're better than Wal-Mart.

Q7

PLAYBOY: If you put out some crazy record, the guy printing the posters may not get a Christmas bonus. Does that enter your thinking as an artist?
MATTHEWS: I do wonder if someday I decided to grow a long beard that I could wrap my testicles in and live in a ditch, if I could survive the guilt. Because what I do is subjective, I can only hope that not everybody thinks I suck. Or that not everyone concludes at the same time, "Man, he sucks now," and then people start losing their pensions. So my theory is that I've got to get into a bunch of other shit; we've got to take this machine and diversify.

Q8

PLAYBOY: Diversify how?
MATTHEWS: Cheese, man—people always like to eat cheese. I might fill the gap that's been created by the lull in the French cheese import market. If there really was justice, there wouldn't be a hole there, but I'll fill it just to keep people from losing their shirts.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Do you listen to hip-hop?
MATTHEWS: I listen to a lot of things. I'm as likely to listen to an old Cat Stevens record as I am to listen to 8 Mile. But I love both. I think Eminem is just exceptional. He freaks me out, his shit is so good—as a writer, a poet. No matter what his casual exterior is, I can't believe he's not sweating to get that music out. It's so obvious that it's crafted like the finest wine.

Q10

PLAYBOY: Jay-Z recently said that one of his favorite songs is DMB's "Crush."
MATTHEWS: Are you kidding me? You have no idea how much joy you just brought me, because I love Jay-Z. I hear a genuine kindness and humor in his music. Jay-Z was sitting next to me at a club in Florida, and I didn't have the balls to go up and say, "Man, you're a badass." That's what a spineless prick I am. He was busy, you know. My friends and my wife were like, "Go and say hello," and I'm like, "No, he's busy having dinner. Leave the guy alone." And then after he left I was like, "I'm a dickhead."