Interview: Brian Rosenworcel (Guster)

Over 30 years into its run, Guster sounds as inspired as ever on the band’s 2024 album, Ooh La La — part of a huge year for the band that includes a range of special shows atop sharing the new songs with fans.

Though drummer Brian Rosenworcel acknowledges that he and his bandmates “haven't been to The Orange Peel in a while” — November 2018, to be precise — they’re at least keeping North Carolina in their tour rotation. And a little over six months after playing Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, Guster returns to the Triangle for a Saturday, Sept. 28, headlining slot at Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art.

The morning after the first (and likely only) U.S. Presidential Debate, which also happened to be Sept. 11, Rosenworcel spoke with Asheville Stages about various current events, staying creatively nimble, and playing fantasy basketball with Stephen Malkmus.

Edwin Arnaudin: Are your cats and dogs safe this morning? Or is that only Springfield?

Brian Rosenworcel: [laughs] I stayed up and watched that last night. I got a couple of dogs here. They're safe, but man, what a world we live in! Insanity.

EA: Yeah, it did feel like a Simpsons episode, so I'm glad [Donald Trump] mentioned Springfield.

BR: Right? Totally. Did you mention that knowing I would have seen it because you've seen me venting on Twitter?

EA: I'm a dedicated follower, yes.

BR: Oh, OK. I was just wondering. Because if you have that window into my darkness, then it changes everything.

EA: [laughs] Well, not to start things off on too dark a note, but you're in Brooklyn. It's Sept. 11. Where were you 23 years ago this morning?

BR: I'll never forget it. I was in Brooklyn on my roof deck, because my neighbor woke me up and said a plane had hit a tower. So, we went up and we were watching with our eyes — not watching on TV. But just watching the towers, which were, you know, they loomed over lower Manhattan. So, from the roof deck in Brooklyn. it was really close to the water. We were in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, which is kind of close to the bridges. It really felt close.

But yeah, I watched the first tower fall with my eyes, and then 10 minutes later, my whole deck was covered in ash and paper and debris that had blown because the wind was heading towards Brooklyn. So, I had to get off and turn on the TV, but I'll just never forget it.

And what I'll never really forget is the way the city felt for months afterwards. The smell lingered for three, six months, maybe. But also everyone's hearts were open so that you would ride your bike past a fire station and you'd feel emotional. People in this city have a way to lift each other up. So, I was a young New Yorker at that point, but it was definitely an introduction to the heart of this place.

EA: What's the mood typically like on the anniversaries, especially recently?

BR: The relationship to it changes over time as politics change. They shoot a couple of beams of light where the World Trade Center used to be. It’s 70 degrees and beautiful out — that's the way it was that morning as well. But the city has changed and the heart is still there.

EA: Nice. Well, on to happier memories. How was On the Ocean?

BR: It continues to be like the Star Trek convention of Guster weekends. It's just a real place to build community where fans get to know each other. You see three Guster shows without  songs being repeated — which is good for us because we always feel like we leave so many off every set list every night. So, to be able to play 70 songs, whatever it is, it feels really good.  But yeah, it's a great place to be: Maine in the summer. So, as long as we dodge those thunderstorms, it should continue to be awesome.

EA: I'm going to make it up eventually. I was actually in Boston that weekend for Red Sox games, so that was already planned before the festival was announced. But that Friday, I did request [Fenway Park organist] Josh Kantor to play “Fa Fa,” and he did it! So, I felt like that was sort of my connection to the festival.

BR: Josh is amazingly receptive to requests — and to Guster requests. It's just amazing that he can wing the melody of “Fa Fa” or “Amsterdam” with probably just hearing it once. He's just that kind of musician.

EA: He's brilliant. Are you a Red Sox fan from your time in Massachusetts?

BR: So, I grew up in Connecticut where we split 50/50 between the Boston team and the New York teams. But I have Brooklyn roots from my parents, and my dad raised me as a Mets fan. And so, you know, 1986, the Mets beat the Red Sox with Mookie Wilson's ground ball to Bill Buckner and so forth.

EA: Yeah, yeah.

BR: And I've just kind of hated the Red Sox my whole life. But the one thing is, if you're a Mets fan, the one team you can hate even more is the Yankees. So, that one year, I think it was 2003 or 2004, where they finally broke that three games to none cursed in the playoffs — it was, like, Big Papi and Manny Ramirez — it was that really awesome Red Sox team that won four in a row. And that was a pretty exciting time to finally root for the Red Sox.

EA: Yeah, 20 years ago…

So, this has been a really cool year for you guys with anniversaries and different kinds of tours. I’m glad y'all bringing back the We Also Have Eras shows next year. How do you decide which show to do when you're doing the We Also Have Eras vs. just sort of a “regular’ Guster show this year?

BR: Well, I think we were excited to finally break out of the mold of our conventional show. It's one thing that you can vary your set list and that you have a new album, but to kind of reinvent the show — at least for one tour — into something that's more theatrical and more deliberate felt really good for us.

And I think it felt good for our fans who've seen us many times and were ready for something deeper. That's what that was — it's for the completist who wants to, like, do the chronological storytelling of Guster. But yeah, we're very proud of it and that's why we're doing one last run of it.

And then we'll have to figure out more ways to keep it interesting for us. Because it's been decades and we love playing “Demons,” but we've played it a lot. We did another show in LA that we live streamed, called Hits & Bits, where we got a lot of stand-up comedian friends to join us on stage and we hosted and played some music. But it really wasn't about music. It was more about a variety show spirit and sitting on stage while your comic friends did stand-up bits about Guster fans. And it was really great. So, we're going to try to do another one of those before the end of the year.

EA: Nice. And also, it’s the 25th anniversary of Lost and Gone Forever, and y’all are playing a few shows in its honor, too. A lot of those songs are in your set list pretty frequently, but what kind of discoveries have you had playing it all together and sequentially?

BR: So, we're doing three of those and that feels like the right number — like, we're not taking the album on tour to a point where we're tired of it, but every time we play it, it feels special and it's nostalgic and reminds us of being in that place. And having Steve Lillywhite flying from Indonesia or Bali and joining us on stage — we hadn't seen him in so long, but he said his kids, it's the favorite album of his that he's produced.

So, it was his kids from London and I forget where else, they all met in Colorado and were there at Red Rocks to hear it with [the Colorado] Symphony, and Steve played bass on “Rainy Day.” It was just a real joyous reunion. So yeah, you're right — it's been a really exciting year for us. A lot of things to keep the fan base excited and to keep us going and put out a new record and all of that.

EA: And with Ooh La La, just thinking of the band's evolution in terms of writing and recording — how do you feel like that process has changed over the years?

BR: I mean, it changes every time as far as what producer we use and how we record. And even how we write, because this time we went in with a bunch of half-finished songs. We didn't have an album's worth of material and we made Josh Kaufman sweat out each song with us.

And [bassist/guitarist] Luke [Reynolds] wasn't there because of COVID for a lot of the basics. And we just had to figure out how to get it done and how to be creative. And we did and we put the focus where it needed to be on the lyrics and with the heart and the grooves.

It's a proud record. It wasn't an easy record because we definitely started…we pressed “record” before we were ready to, so that made it a longer process than it otherwise would have been. But I think we're all excited to start writing some new music and see whatever's next.

EA: I've seen Josh here a few times with Bonny Light Horseman, and I think he's brilliant. But just on a producing level, how do you feel like he's different from the Steve Lillywhites or the other folks that you've worked with?

BR: Every producer is their own stratosphere. You learn a lot every time you get into and inhabit their universe, because we don't bring a producer on and say, “OK, this is how we record our albums — get with our program.” That’s not using the strengths of the producer. We kind of give ourselves over to their method, and we have our ideas and we have our opinions.

But Josh scaled back the sonic exploration. He’s not afraid to get weird, but he also enjoys the foundation of a song being on an acoustic guitar or a piano or some warm, stunning instruments. And after [2019’s] Look Alive, that was kind of like a return to the roots for us. So  he brought that and he also brought a real focus on the heart of the song and the words and what's being communicated and how the vocal is getting across something emotional.

So, yeah, every time we work with a producer, we learn lessons and we take them with us and we hold them. And then hopefully we keep growing.

EA: Yeah, I think so. Well, lastly, are you aware that there's a movie coming out about the band Pavement?

BR: Oh, you know, I heard that. Is it a documentary or is it a fictional thing?

EA: I think it's a mix. It's [directed by] Alex Ross Perry, and [Pavement frontman Stephen] Malkmus co-wrote it, so I think it's people playing them, but also some doc stuff. Yeah, it's going to be a blur.

BR: I'm a huge Pavement fan. I see them every time they reunite. I play fantasy basketball with Malkmus. I consider him a living legend, both as a musician and as a fantasy basketball player.  He wins every year.

EA: [laughs] What??

BR: Yeah! It's insane. And he can, like, not show up for the draft and have it auto-drafted. It's like, “Oh my God! You got, like, Tobias Harris and LeBron James and all these people that no one drafted because we consider them too old.” And then he finds a way to win.

Oh, sorry. That wasn't the point. The point is, I'm excited to see that movie. Those albums are very dear to me and…go Pavement.

EA: Well, if there was a Guster movie, have you thought about who would play Guster in a Guster movie?

BR: Oh. I mean, there won't be a Guster movie. But it would be Daniel Stern playing Ryan Miller.

EA: OK.

BR: Ben Stiller would be me. We have this on a T-shirt somewhere. I think the part of Adam [Gardner] would be played by Lionel Messi. [laughs]

EA: [laughs] All right! I think this, this sounds like a Noah Baumbach film already.

BR: Yeah, we got them attached. [laughs]

(Photo by Alysse Gafkjen)

IF YOU GO

Who: Guster with Mikaela Davis
When: Saturday, Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m.
Where: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, ncartmuseum.org
Tickets: $33-$67