‘Crash’ Course

You can forgive Dave Matthews for having his head in the clouds. His five-piece rock group is riding a wave of popularity that has left the former bartender in a giddy state of mind.

After years of touring and releasing one self-financed live album in 1993, the Dave Matthews Band’s perseverance paid big dividends when its 1994 major-label debut (“Under the Table and Dreaming” on RCA) sold 3.1 million copies and earned two Grammy nominations for its hit single, “What Would You Say.”

The group’s follow-up, last year’s “Crash,” has been a commercial smash as well. Spurred on by the singles “Crash Into Me” and “So Much to Say,” it has sold 2.7 million copies, according to SoundScan.

Additionally, the band has stepped up from appearing at clubs such as the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano--where it performed three years ago--to playing the H.O.R.D.E. festival and headlining amphitheaters, including Saturday night’s stopover (with openers Los Lobos) at a sold-out Irvine Meadows.

Still, Matthews hasn’t let success spoil him. He says he remains grounded and grateful because, corny as it sounds, he simply cherishes the experience.

“This kind of notoriety is something fantasies are made of,” he said by phone from an Indianapolis hotel room recently. “I mean, even though we’ve worked very hard for it, none of us in our wildest dreams expected the kind of success we’ve had. Sure it’s been overwhelming at times, but we are very thankful to be in this position. To be able to do what you love and be so damn well-paid for it is literally a dream come true.”

Until recently, though, Matthews and his bandmates--including violinist Boyd Tinsley, saxman Leroi Moore, bassist Stefan Lessard and drummer Carter Beauford--were too busy touring to think much about how far they’ve come since playing at frat parties and dives in the college town of Charlottesville, Va.

It wasn’t until the group took a month’s vacation this past winter that the 30-year-old Matthews found time for a bit of reflection. He said he came to realize how crucial it will be to avoid stagnation.

“I hope I continue to find sources of inspiration,” said Matthews, the group’s singer, songwriter and acoustic rhythm guitarist. “Once you say, ‘I have arrived,’ it’s almost like admitting failure. It’s a pitfall, so I can’t get caught in that position or succumb to that level of comfort.

“For me, a great part of success is measured by one’s forward motion. . . . Figure if I keep working, the [creative] well will keep running.”

Matthews’ musical style, an eclectic stew, fuses strands of jazz, folk, pop and rock that abandons the electric lead guitar in favor of lighter, shifting and more colorful textures. An improvisational, freewheeling spirit energizes the band, particularly live, where extended instrumental jams flourish, wandering in tone from fragile and melancholy to uplifting and dance-inducing.

In contrast to the more polished-sounding “Under the Table and Dreaming,” “Crash” displays more of a tension-filled, sexually driven component. Such edgy tracks as “Drive In Drive Out,” “No. 41” and “Lie in Our Graves” reveal a more unsettling side of the band.

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According to Matthews, this harder edge pushed its way onto the recording.

“There’s definitely more guts to ‘Crash,’ and that was something we needed after the approach to the previous record, which was a little cautious,” Matthews said.

“With ‘Crash,’ we went into the studio, got in a circle and just jammed. It was much more spontaneous, where we fed off of each other and often generated a dialogue, both in conversation and musically.”

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This jam-based, improvisational style, along with allowing--in fact, encouraging--fans to tape its concerts, has aligned the Dave Matthews Band with similar-minded groups such as Phish, Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Moe. While all twirl about in the shadow of the Grateful Dead, it’s the Dave Matthews Band that numerous rock journalists have pegged as the “leader of the ‘90s neo-Deadhead horde.”

Matthews seems somewhat puzzled and amused by that label, arguing that he is “less hippie-like” and his music is much more jazz-based than the Dead’s. Still, he’s an admirer of the Dead, and he’s relieved that his understanding of the group’s cultural impact didn’t come too late.

“My band as a whole has been to only three Dead shows, and each time was when we played on a bill with them,” recalled Matthews, whose current faves include banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the punk-rock-rap sounds of Soul Coughing.

“In fact, I don’t think any of us went to see a Dead show before then. I mean, I was in South Africa; Leroi and Carter were playing jazz; Boyd was in an orchestra somewhere, and Stefan was in elementary school. So because of the road that each of us traveled, we really didn’t know that much about those guys.”

“I guess you could say we were blissfully unaware of the whole deal with the Dead--that they were this powerful social event--until we played with them in Vegas just a few months before Jerry [Garcia] died [August 1995]. And honestly, that was the first time I experienced that cool, laid-back vibe. But since they didn’t give us the baton, I don’t know whether we’re carrying anything of theirs on, really.”

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Death has also cast its shadow over the Dave Matthews Band. In 1994, Matthews’ older sister, Anne, was killed in a shooting in Johannesburg, South Africa (unrelated to the racial strife there); the instrumental song “34” is dedicated to a close friend of the band who died of hepatitis; and bassist Lessard’s daughter, Asian, died in September before turning 1 month old.

“Music will always be a source of healing,” Matthews said. “It is really like therapy for me. Death is dark and leaves great big holes, but it’s also a wonderful way to remind us just how abbreviated life can be and how we should count our blessings. Sometimes you have to consciously remind yourself how important friends and family are. Death, let me tell you, certainly is something that brings you right back down to earth.”

* The Dave Matthews Band performs Saturday night at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. Los Lobos opens. 8 p.m. SOLD OUT. (714) 855-8096.