By Chris Rotolo
The adage goes that you can tell the measure of an individual by the company they keep. The same can be said for the genre-bending rock outfit Guster, which will descend upon White Eagle Hall in Jersey City April 6 as part of a 16-date national tour.
On an afternoon in February, Guster drummer Brian Rosenworcel discussed the upcoming spring trek from a Walmart in Upstate New York. Between inquiries about the band’s 2019 full-length collection “Look Alive,” their eighth studio record in a three-plus decade career, the drummer pauses the conversation to instruct his children that they are shopping for specific items and not the pairs of decorative tube socks they have pulled off a nearby shelf.
“The cool thing about having kids is they keep you grounded. They don’t give a sh*t about this Guster thing, or tours, or interviews. They’re not impressed by it. You’re just their dad, and they will make fun of you at every opportunity,” Rosenworcel said with a laugh. “Sometimes they’ll hear one of our songs and say ‘This is good. How come you’re not more popular?’ They don’t care who you are. It’s the best.”
It was a juxtaposing scene compared to a stretch in January, when Guster gathered in the Sandy Hook Bayshore for an extended stay in the Middletown recording studio of Ron Aniello, a revered music producer who has been at the helm of Bruce Springsteen’s last five studio releases, including “Wrecking Ball” (2012), “High Hopes” (2014), “Western Stars” (2019), “Letter to You” (2020), and The Boss’ 2022 homage to the R&B and soul tunes of his youth, “Only the Strong Survive.” Aniello even served as an honorary member of the E Street Band on the last one, performing bass, drums and guitar on each of the 15 tracks.
“We love this area. We were staying in Atlantic Highlands, and got to see Kevin Smith’s new movie theater, which is really nice and homespun. We had dinner near Red Bank, and got to head down to (Asbury Park) to see our friend Danny Clinch. We walked over to Ocean Grove, which is a really cool little town. We really love it here,” Rosenworcel said.
Guster connected with Clinch – the world-renowned music photographer and co-founder of the Sea.Hear.Now Music and Arts Festival in Asbury Park – in 2003, when the Toms River-born artist made his first foray into concert film with the production of “Guster on Ice,” a live performance documented at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine.
That same year, Guster collaborated with Aniello for the first time on the band’s fourth full-length release “Keep it Together,” a record that produced one of the top alternative-rock singles of the year in “Amsterdam,” with lyrics provided by Rosenworcel. Three years later, Guster tapped Aniello again for production work on their follow-up release, “Ganging Up on the Sun.”
According to Rosenworcel, Guster has worked through much of the material that will appear on its forthcoming release, though the details surrounding that record – including a title and release date – have not yet been determined.
He also reflected on the writing process for these new songs, a creative endeavor born from a headspace and global affairs unlike anything the band had experienced before.
“For so many years our lives were built around a routine of heavy touring and stretches of writing. We were so used to just doing the live thing. And nothing could ever stop that, right?” It was a shock to his system, he said, when he went from being a drummer in a band to being a homeschool teacher. “Maybe the worst homeschool teacher ever,” Rosenworcel said.
For the better part of two years, the COVID-19 health crisis brought the live music industry to its knees, leaving the artists, fans and venues without the shared creative experiences that had sustained them.
“When something that has been such a huge part of your life is taken away, all we could do was hope that it returned. And now that it has, I think it’s made us appreciate it more than ever,” Rosenworcel said. “And not just on the stage; but just being able to get on a bus with your friends and regain balance in your life, it’s good to have all of it back.”
During the height of the pandemic, Guster’s founding members, Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller and Rosenworcel, gathered for intimate recording sessions with engineer and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman, a Brooklyn-based member of the folk-rock supergroup Bonny Light Horseman, who has also worked in a variety of roles with The Hold Steady, Bob Weir, The National, Cassandra Jenkins and Taylor Swift, to name a few.
“We continued to write songs (with bassist Luke Reynolds), but recorded them with Josh in the mix,” Rosenworcel said. “We managed to get down a bunch of songs that are being mixed now. That’s why we were out here in New Jersey – to mix and work on the music. And having Luke back in the room with us for this process was refreshing. He brings so much to what we do.”
(Listening to Rosenworcel reflect conjures my own memories: a birthday gift from my future wife of a Guster vinyl; the record playing during our engagement; a spirit-raising playlist during a health scare; and finally, dancing to the band’s “Come Downstairs and Say Hello” on our wedding day.)
“Thirty years ago, when we were just trying to get spots on open mics, we never imagined it would get to this point,” Rosenworcel said. “The fact that people want to make us part of their lives, it’s not lost on us. It’s humbling. It makes us feel good about what we do, and what we can do for others.”
When Guster hits White Eagle Hall, Rosenworcel hinted that those dates later on in the tour could feature a taste of what’s to come on the new record.
The article originally appeared in the March 2 – 8, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
