You’re calling your new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, “the best we’ve made.” Really?
Dave Matthews: LeRoi Moore [DMB saxophonist who died during the recording sessions] said, before his accident, that this was going to be our best album, and that gave us great focus. In the past when the record label asked when the album’s gonna be done, it was like, “We’ll have it done by the deadline.” This was the first time I said, “It’ll be done whenever the fuck it’s done.”
What did producer Rob Cavallo—who has worked with groups like Green Day and Fleetwood Mac—bring to the table?
Potatoes. Kidding. We started with spontaneous inventions and little improvisations—not jams, because that implies people are noodling all over the place, which irritates me. We looked for core ideas, and he helped us construct songs.
There’s a lot of religion and God on this record.
I talk about it because I think that’s what we should all talk about. Love and death and sex and joy, not about whether your boyfriend pissed you off or your girlfriend lied.
You’ve been married for eight years. Do you think that’s improved your ability to write about love?
I try to write about it with the same desperation that I have when I think about the presence of death or loss. My wife has certainly been a muse to me, and I’m grateful to have found someone who will put up with me…for now.
What takes more energy, performing live or working in the studio?
They’re different. Making this album wasn’t tiring; it was invigorating! Playing onstage does get me more out of breath, though. I can’t sit down as much.