So I spoke with singer and guitarist Adam Gardner about the first annual Campus Consciousness tour -- what it is about, why it is so important, and what you can do to help. The Campus Consciousness tour teams Guster with the non-profit organization Reverb to not only draw attention to environmental issues and community service but to make active contributions to those causes.
Guster consists of Ryan Miller (vocals, guitar), Brian Rosenworcel (percussion), Gardner and new band member Joe Pisapia, an instrumentalist who joined the band to tour after their most recent release, "Keep It Together" (2003). The founding members, who met and began performing while at Tufts in the early '90s, had heard Pisapia's work in another band and had always loved his songs. After touring, it was a "natural fit" and Pisapia stayed on.
Guster has been stereotyped as that "two guitar and bongo" set up, but the band definitely knows how to make short and criminally infectious music. AMG Music calls them "one of the most successful bands to hit the U.S. East Coast scene in the late '90s ... through relentless touring and humorous stage banter with the crowd." Adam explained his band a little more in-depth: "Because of all the touring we do, there's about three years in between each album and there's a lot of growth and change in between. For 'Keep It Together,' we decided to learn a whole new set of instruments ... now that we've toured, it's not as difficult because recording 'Keep It Together' was almost starting from the ground level. We've had a few years to get better." The Guster that came to Dartmouth in 2002 is not the Guster that is appearing in Leede Arena on Friday. Get excited.
The Campus Consciousness tour nearly coincides with the band's fifth studio release, "Going Up Against The Sun," set to be released June 20.
According to Gardner, this album "has more of a classic rock feel ... Everything we've ever listened to affects our music, but there's definitely influences that are more obvious. But it's more circumstantial: early Pink Floyd, a song that sounds like a B-side Fleetwood Mac, stuff that sounds like the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads." The process, which basically consists of the band locking themselves in a room, has been made easier by the addition of Pisapia, who, as a songwriter, brought in new material. With four members, "it sounded like a rock group right away, whereas for the other records we would have to record some parts first and play them back ... so there's a live band feeling to this record."
Despite pushing in new and different directions, recording was easy and Gardner is proud of the result: "We wrote as a band and we developed as a band. Our abilities as a band show more on this record." So with a mix of new and old songs -- expect to hear about four or five off of the new record -- and a lot of listening ears, Guster was ready to tour again. However, they had something different in mind: to combine a rock tour with environmental awareness, positively opening people's eyes and giving back to the communities they visit.
"It's absolutely the best way to tour because you have an added cause behind it," Gardner said.
Reverb was founded by Gardner and his wife Laura Sullivan to "raise awareness and support for the environment by connecting touring bands and their fan-base to environmental issues and organizations."
Reverb's first success was its work with Bonnie Raitt and Green Highway, a sort of "eco-village" with the purpose of educating concert audiences about renewable energy and sustainable living. Raitt, whose activism on many issues has personally inspired Gardner, will work with Reverb on Green Highway once again this summer. Thereafter, Gardner explained, "Reverb has toured with a lot of other bands" -- including Barenaked Ladies, O.A.R., Dave Matthews Band, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette and Jack Johnson. This tour is the first time Reverb is partnering directly with Guster.
The new meaning behind keeping concerts "clean" is also substance-related, but not in the typical, rock star sense. With Reverb, it means that those bands, and now Guster, use biodiesel fuel for its tour buses and offset the energy used during the concert with wind power. One of the main components of the Campus Consciousness tour is education, and not just for concertgoers: "We're trying to get entertainment buses to use biodiesel fuel [a cleaner burning fuel made from renewable resources like fats and vegetable oils] and trying to educate companies to use it. It doesn't require any engine conversions. The big thing that's hard is that people aren't sure about it -- they don't know the facts. A lot of companies are afraid to switch just because it's unfamiliar."
As for the students, each venue has also hosted "a Conservation Pavilion, typically in the same room as the show, where students can go learn about wind power and biodiesel and community service projects in the area." Companies will also be marketing environmentally friendly products. CLIF BAR & Co., producer of the Clif and Luna energy bars and sponsor of the pavilion, will be handing out their products and selling Cool Tags, which are "wind energy credits, so you can offset the power you use in your dorm rooms."
There will be a food drive sponsored by Rock for a Remedy, and whoever brings the most food will get a chance to meet the band. Seriously, bring canned food and other nonperishable items. Adam told me to tell you. In addition, there will be other consciousness-raising events and organizations on Friday, like the Campus Climate Challenge, which works with students to eliminate campus global warming pollution.
After Friday's show, the Campus Consciousness tour will come to a close. So far, the feedback has been great. "Administrators have been psyched, students have been psyched, and we, of course, have been psyched."
But Guster's work does not end there. "One of the goals of the tour and Reverb's mission is to bring the music industry at large to the conclusion that it is a feasible option for them." Already, "we've raised up to two tons of food in the food drives, which gets donated to local food banks. By using biodiesel, we've reduced our carbon dioxide emissions by about 14,000 pounds." Guster, for one, will continue to tour "green" again this summer as they promote "Ganging Up On The Sun."
