Interview: Brian Rosenworcel (Guster)

When the opportunity to interview someone from Guster arises, you take it.

Freshly arrived in Charleston, S.C., for Shovels & Rope’s annual High Water Festival, drummer Brian Rosenworcel spoke with Asheville Stages about his weekend plans and the band’s recent activities, including updates on the forthcoming Guster album, standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, and the tweaks that have kept the group one of rock’s most compelling acts for nearly 30 years.

Edwin Arnaudin: How did you become connected with Shovels & Rope?

Brian Rosenworcel: We’ve always enjoyed their music, so we invited them to play our own festival [On the Ocean] in Maine last year. They were so great and such cool people [and] invited us to Charleston, too. This is how the world should work.

EA: With Shovels & Rope playing On the Ocean last year, I like to think that Guster playing High Water this year was the result of some backstage wheeling and dealing, perhaps over games of ping-pong. Is there an epic story behind the continuation of this festival partnership, or is it merely a friendly quid pro quo situation that you look forward to continuing for years to come?

BR: I’m not privy to the wheeling mechanisms. I’m just psyched to play on a stage with bands I love. I will say that the level of ping pong proficiency in our band is unmatched.

EA: Which other artists are you especially looking forward to seeing at this year’s High Water?

BR: I’m here with my family, so my son is psyched for Bleachers, I’m psyched for Father John Misty, and I wish we were staying to see the music on Sunday, too.

EA: What do you like to do and see while you’re in Charleston?

BR: I never got over the fact that there’s a place called Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale. I mean, I live in Brooklyn and there’s nothing quite that cool back home. With family in tow, we may try to check out a nearby island or two Saturday morning.

EA: How is the way you approach/plan for a festival set different from the way you treat a headlining show?

BR: Well, we try to read the room — play songs that’d work for this audience and not just our radio songs. Ultimately, if we love playing the song, that’ll come across. We try to be epic.

EA: How do you form your setlist each night?

BR: The band entrusts me with this task and I take it seriously. I research previous performances in town and try to make sure we’re not repeating too much. We must have played 70 different songs on our last tour. We’re not exactly Phish, but we have a serious catalogue and a lot of it holds up, so we try our best to mix it up.

EA: What’s a Guster song you don't play enough that you wish would be in more setlists?

BR: On this last tour, we added a slot in the encores that I called “Forgotten Classics” — where I snuck in songs from our first two records [1994’s Parachute and 1997’s Goldfly] that we’ve ignored for decades. They can be painful to play, but sometimes you’ll see someone in the crowd freaking out. In light of that, we brought back “All the Way Up to Heaven” from Lost & Gone Forever [1999] on the last tour and rediscovered how much we love it.

EA: On the flip side, what’s a Guster song you play too much that you wish was in fewer setlists?

BR: I definitely have played “Demons” at least a thousand times. Sometimes it’s good, but sometimes I can feel us going through the motions.

EA: I applaud Ryan for performing the encore in drag at a recent Florida show. What kind of feedback have you received since then from the drag community?

BR: We played four Florida shows and skipped the politics until the last night when Ryan went drag for a song — [it] just felt wrong to be down there without acknowledging that basic rights are in jeopardy. It’s just so stupid. Everyone should enjoy drag and feel free to express themselves in creative ways. Ronald Reagan did. George Santos did. This is part of a broader fear mongering initiative to link all things LGBTQ to “harming children” even though there’s no connection. It needs to be called out.

EA: Lizzy Caplan wearing a Guster shirt on Flieshman Is In Trouble was a wonderful surprise. What was it like for you? Did you know about the wardrobe shoutout in advance or was it completely unexpected?

BR: I think it was Jesse E[isenberg] that made Lizzy C. wear that shirt, but I’m not positive. Either way it was a perfect fit, wardrobe-wise.

EA: Several documentaries on Woodstock '99 have been released in the past few years, but they barely mention Guster. What would a feature-length — or short — doc reveal about your experiences there?

BR: Mainly, it’d reveal that we were just shell shocked to be on a big stage like that, at that point in our career. All the testosterone in the crowd and on stage didn’t connect with us, but we were just gawking at our name on the list.

EA: In the event that you never wind up collaborating with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, I will eventually make a road trip to see Guster play with a classical music ensemble. What’s involved in, well, orchestrating those collaborations? Has someone in the band written up charts for orchestras? And are you able to hold practices with the symphony prior to the performance or does it come together super quickly?

BR: Often, the practicing is limited to a long soundcheck on the day of [the] show. But when the charts are solid, you can do it. The players and the conductor are super pro. The power of 50+ musicians backing you up can’t be described. It just never gets old.

EA: What can you reveal about the new Guster album at this time? 

BR: Not much, except that we’re almost there after working in fits and starts with whatever songs and producers and band members we could muster at times during the [COVID-19] pandemic. It’s groovy and Guster-y ,and I can’t wait to put something out.

EA: The On the Ocean 2023 lineup was revealed last week. What are your connections to these particular artists and why are they good fits for the festival?

BR: We definitely stepped up and brought in some of our faves this time — Madi[son Cunningham] and Bahamas and Lucius and Shakey [Graves], etc. etc. Maybe we’re taking a page from the Shovels book?

EA: What measures do you take to protect your hands so that The Thunder God can keep drumming so well night after night?

BR: Thanks for your concern Edwin, but somehow, when I began sharing the load with a stick kit, things really evened out for my hands. I’m a surprising musician to find longevity out there on the road. During my very abusive years, no one would have insured my hands.

EA: And lastly, what’s been the secret to Guster staying together all these years?

BR: The relationships have to remain strong. That way you want to write songs and be on a bus together. Without that, everything falls apart. Our fans sticking with us and supporting us has a lot to do with it, too.

IF YOU GO

What: High Water Festival
When: Saturday, April 15-Sunday, April 16
Where: Riverfront Park, 1061 Everglades Ave., North Charleston, S.C., highwaterfest.com
Tickets: $110-$200

(Photo by Alysse Gafkjen)