God love the South African Army: had young Dave not received his inscription notice when he did, the Dave Matthews Band might be a South African treasure or, horrors, not even a Band at all. Matthews chose to see the world on his own dime, however, and came to the States at age 18 where he found meaningful work [bartending] and musically like-minded friends in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rest is tDMB history, which is pretty interesting in itself because tDMB employs an interracial five-mix of violin by Boyd Tinsley, saxophone by Leroi Moore, drums by Carter Beauford and guitars by Matthews and Steffan Lessard. Matthews' vision puts the band somewhere east of the Grateful Dead and west of Paul Simon where creative guitar and pure instrumentality combine with perceptive lyrics and inspired jamming to produce a smooth rock, multi-voiced sound. The band linked up early-on with the H.O.R.D.E. tour, playing with Blues Traveler and Phish among others and gaining an appreciative fan base and HORDE-hottie status for the humble Dave. With choices from 'Remember Two Things' and 'Crash' to 2001's 'Everyday' and 2004 tour numbers, "... You could be at any type of party and turn on Dave Matthews and everyone would be happy with the music."