One Man Wrecking Machine

REPRISE RECORDS

A Boston band dealing in sun drenched melodies and jangly guitars, Guster release their latest record GANGING UP ON THE SUN; another collection of bright Big Star meets The Posies power pop.

Taken from that record, new single ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE finds the band bashing out another three minutes of good old fashioned power-pop, singer-guitarist Ryan Miller gently croons his way through a heart-warming tune, balancing heartbreak and euphoria with hook laden ease.  ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE sees Guster delivering slow burning pristine pop, a delicious collision between AM radio and scruffy college rock.

Oozing quality and class from every pore, ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE is a single of joyous pop noise that makes you glad to be alive.

BIOGRAPHY

August

Ryan Miller, Brian Rosenworcel, and Adam Gardner meet during freshman orientation at Tufts University and become friends, talking mostly about their high school bands -- The Silents, Toejamb, and Royal Flush.

October 8

After writing a few songs in dorm rooms, the trio names themself "Gus" and lands their first gig at the campus center nightspot, "Hotung Cafe."

April

Gus records their 4-song demo tape at Toxic Audio in Boston MA.

Summer

Running a small P.A. system off of a boat battery, the band begins busking in Harvard Square selling tapes for 5 bucks out of a guitar case. This would continue until noise violation tickets were enforced in 1996.

February-April

As juniors at Tufts, Gus links up with producer Mike Denneen to record "Parachute," their first album. The three band members earned a total of five incompletes in classes that semester.

May

Ryan, Brian, and Adam graduate from college, buy a used van, and hit the road. Adam grows his hair out.

July

Another artist calling himself "Gus" inks a deal with a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Resistance is futile. After a three-day brainstorming binge the band changes their name to "Guster" and vows to punish Gus if they ever meet him.

December

Guster records the album "Goldfly" in Los Angeles and releases it independently early the next year.

October 4

During a performance at a Princeton University party, Ryan Miller tinkles in a Nantucket Nectar bottle. The crowd of ivy-leaguers who averaged 1530 on their S.A.T.'s goes wild.

February

Guster signs a recording contract with Sire Records, who re-release Goldfly and do things like booking the band on the Conan O Brien show later in the year.

Winter/Spring

The album "Lost & Gone Forever" is written in the band apartment in Somerville MA and recorded in San Francisco with producer Steve Lillywhite.

July 24

Woodstock 99 in Rome NY features Kid Rock on the East Stage and Guster on the West Stage.

August

The band hosts a charity yard sale at their apartment before they move out. The "WOW" t-shirt Ryan wore on the back cover of Parachute goes for $110.

February

"Fa Fa" video is shot in a rollerskating rink in Los Angeles.

March

The band happens upon the artist named "Gus" that originally forced them to change their name in Los Angeles. And they all shared a hearty laugh...

November 2001

Guster enters a cave and doesn't come out.

Questions often asked of us:

Q: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

A: Yes.

Q: How do you guys write your songs?

A: We write about what we know. We're stenographers...we transcribe life and put a little melody under it.*

Q: Are you guys a Christian band?

A:Rather than answer this one with a simple yes/no, we suggest you check the following sources for clues: 1) Brian's last name -- "Rosenworcel." 2) Any photo of Ryan where you can see his profile. 3) The Guster Backstage Contract Rider, where we stipify that "the dressing room must be furnished with plenty of borscht, noodle kugels, potato latkes, gefilte fish and homemade rugulah for dessert."

Q: do you guys name your instruments?

A: yes

Q: You guys seem to be on the road all the time. What do the insides of your refrigerators look like?

A: Thankfully, we maintain digital fridge-cams so we can check the progress of our perishables from the bus and know what we're coming home to. Click here to take a peek inside Guster's personal refrigerators

Q: Okay, say you guys are on the road and you finish playing a show and your shirt is drenched with sweat. Where do you put that shirt? Please give individual answers.

A: Adam will hang the shirt in the dressing room or the hotel room until it dries. Sometimes he clips it in the window of the van and leaves it flapping as we drive. Ryan will wear the shirt to bed and when he wakes up in the morning it is usually dry, and good to wear again that night. If it has been a particularly sweaty show, Ryan might shove the wet shirt into his laundry bag and worry about it later. Unable to come up with a suitable solution for this problem, Brian will begin playing gigs topless this fall.

Q: What kind of music do you guys listen to while on the road?

A:There are very few records that all three of us agree on. But here are some selections currently in the collective Guster CD player:

Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life

Lambchop: What Another Man Spills

Tortoise: TNT

The Smiths: Meat Is Murder

Grandaddy: The Sophtware Slump

Q: How can I get my hands on some classic "GUS" merchandise?

A: For those of you confused here, our band used to be called GUS, while we were in college at Tufts University, but we changed it in 1995. There are some GUS stickers and shirts locked away in the Guster archives basement in Somerville, Massachusetts, but you can't have any of them. Now and then a GUS - 'Parachute' disc makes an appearance at Disc Diggers (used records) in Somerville for a respectable $3.99.

* Coincidentally, this is also how Tenacious D writes their songs.

LINE UP

Ryan

Joe

Brian

Adam

DISCOGRAPHY

PARACHUTE (Reprise Records>1994)

fall in two 

mona lisa

love for me

window 

eden

scars and stitches

the prize

dissolve

cocoon

happy frappy

parachute

GOLDFLY (Reprise Records>1996)

great escape

demons

perfect

airport song 

medicine

x-ray eyes

grin

getting even

bury me

rocketship

LOST AND GONE FOREVER (Reprise Records>2000)

what you wish for 

barrel of a gun 

either way

fa fa

i spy

center of attention

all the way up to heaven

happier

so long

two points for honesty

rainy day

KEEP IT TOGETHER - RECORDED BETWEEN NOV 2001 AND FEB 2003 IN BEARSVILLE, NY, NYC, BURBANK, CA AND SHOKAN, NY (Reprise Records>2003)

diane

careful

amsterdam

backyard

homecoming king

ramona

jesus on the radio

keep it together

come downstairs and say hello

red oyster cult

long way down

i hope tomorrow is like today

LIVE IN KNOXVILLE - 9/4/03 (iTunes>2003)

Demons

Barrel of a Gun

I Spy

Airport Song

Keep It Together

Red Oyster Cult

Either Way

Windows

What You Wish For

(Nothing But) Flowers

Ramona

Amsterdam

Medicine

Fa Fa

Happier

WBR SESSIONS (iTunes>2003)

Get it at i-Tunes

Amsterdam

Ramona

Jesus On the Radio

Careful

THE MEOWSTRO SINGS - GUSTER'S KEEP IT TOGETHER (iTunes>2003)

Diane

Amsterdam

Homecoming King

Jesus On the Radio

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Keep It Together

Long Way Down

Backyard

Red Oyster Cult

Ramona

Careful

I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today

LOVE GUSTER DON'T EAT THEM (Reprise Records>2003)

Amsterdam

Ramona

Barrel of a Gun

GUSTER ON ICE - LIVE FROM PORTLAND, MAINE (Reprise Records>2004)

Careful

Happier

Red Oyster Cult

Ramona

Barrel of a Gun

(Nothing But) Flowers

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Demons

Amsterdam

I Spy

Airport Song

Homecoming King

Fa Fa

CAROL OF THE MEOWS (Reprise Records>2004)

Carol of the Meows

DONDE ESTA SANTA CLAUS? (Released Records>2004)

Donde Esta Santa Claus?

LIVE 6/17/04 MYRTLE BEACH (Reprise Records>2004)

Careful

I Spy

Mona Lisa

Homecoming King

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Ramona

Airport Song

What You Wish For

Diane

Melanie

Amsterdam

Demons

Fa Fa

Either Way

Red Oyster Cult

Happier

LIVE IN LEXINGTON, KY - 3/2/04 (iTunes>2004)

Homecoming King

Happier

Keep It Together

I Spy

Careful

Airport Song

The Boy with the Arab Strap

Either Way

What You wish For

Red Oyster Cult

Mona Lisa

Ramona

Barrel of a Gun

Fa Fa

So Long

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Amsterdam

LIVE AT BONNAROO MUSIC FESTIVAL (2004) 

Happier

Careful

(Nothing But) Flowers

Ramona

I Spy

Homecoming King

Airport Song

Either Way

Red Oyster Cult

Backyard

Come Downstairs

Barrel of a Gun

Two at a Time

Amsterdam

Demons

Fa Fa

Keep It Together

LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - 3/3/04 (iTunes>2004)

Happier

Barrel of a Gun

Keep It Together

Ramona

Careful

Airport Song

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

What You Wish For

Red Oyster Cult

Parachute

Diane

Homecoming King

Demons

Fa Fa

I Spy

Two at a Time

Amsterdam

MTV2 ALBUM COVERS: GUSTER/VIOLENT FEMMES (iTunes>2004)

Careful

Blister in the Sun

Kiss Off

Gone Daddy Gone

Add it Up

LIVE IN SAYREVILLE, NJ - 12/13/03 (iTunes>2004) 

What You Wish For

Demons

Red Oyster Cult

Happier

Diane

Two Points for Honesty

Airport Song

Melanie

Center of Attention

Backyard

Half-Assed Great Escape

Amsterdam

I Spy

Fa Fa

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

Prove My Love

Amsterdam

LIVE IN ALLSTON, MA - 11/2/03 (iTunes>2004)

What You Wish For

(Nothing But) Flowers

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

I Spy

Keep It Together

Airport Song

Barrel of a Gun

Backyard

All the Way Up to Heaven

Careful

Either Way

Demons

Fa Fa

Mona Lisa

Ramona

Happier

MANIFEST DESTINY / SORORITY TEARS (Reprise Records>2005)

Manifest Destiny

Sorority Tears

COME DOWNSTAIRS AND SAY HELLO (Reprise Records>2005)

Amsterdam

Backyard

Jesus On The Radio

Red Oyster Cult

The Sun Shines Down On Me (Daniel Johnston cover)

(hidden) Come Downstairs And Say Hello

ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE (Reprise Records>2006)

One Man Wrecking Machine

The New Underground

GANGING UP ON THE SUN (Reprise Records>2006)

Lightning Rod

Satellite

Manifest Destiny

One Man Wrecking Machine

The Captain

The New Underground

Ruby Falls

C'mon

Empire State

Dear Valentine

The Beginning of the End

Hang On

ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE (Reprise Records>2007)

One Man Wrecking Machine

LINKS

Guster>www.guster.com

FURTHER LISTENING

Big Star

Ben Folds

Teenage Fanclub