On the Ocean, off to the races: An interview with Adam Gardner of Guster

But enough preamble. Let’s let the following conversation with Gardner commence and shed light on the eighth anniversary of this beloved festival. 

About On The Ocean

You’re kicking off the festival with a performance alongside the Portland Symphony Orchestra at Merrill Auditorium. Orchestral arrangements can completely reshape a song. How did you choose which Guster tracks to hand over to the orchestra, and what has it been like hearing those arrangements come to life?

We’ve been doing a bunch of symphony shows around the country. We’ve been trying to make something happen with the Portland Symphony Orchestra for a while, and it finally came together this year, which is super exciting because it’s been in the works for a number of years. It’s finally all lined up.

As far as set lists are concerned, we have to think about the festival as a whole and the fact that we’re playing three separate shows. So, we think about the fans that will inevitably be going to all three shows and the notion that we don’t want to repeat ourselves. We’re lucky that we have so many songs from so many albums because we’ve been a band for so long. The other component here that is related to the symphony is, what do we have for arrangements already? What do we have sheet music for? Again, we’ve been lucky that we’ve done about two dozen symphony shows up to this point, so we have a lot of symphonic charts. We have more charts than we’re able to perform in one night. There are certain songs that just really sing with a symphony better than without it, so all of a sudden songs that are deeper cuts of ours like “Mind Control” become absolute bangers in the symphony setting. It’s so powerful. It’s super fun. The hardest part is incorporating the 60 to 90 musicians behind us and getting through the set without crying because it’s so beautiful (laughs). There are moments where it catches me completely off guard. It’s a special night. 

From Iron & Wine, the Barr Brothers, and Watchhouse to Neal Francis and local Maine artists like Cilla Bonnie, On the Ocean always feels like a family reunion. When you sit down to curate the lineup, what's the thread that connects the artists you invite to share the stage with you?

We have a wish list every year, and it just kind of comes together naturally with regard to whittling itself down based on who’s available, who’s out touring, who’s in the studio, whatever it is. … You just sort of figure out who on that list is available and then go from there. We're also trying to be as diverse as possible. We’re really excited about how this year unfolded. It’s an exciting, eclectic batch of musicians and acts who are not just a bunch of white dudes playing acoustic guitar. It’s a combination of all sorts of things that happen all at once.

Speaking of “family,” what’s the importance of the family-friendly aesthetic of the festival? 

It’s key because, you know, a lot of our fans are parents now and their kids are old enough to come with them. So we do our part to make sure everyone feels welcome and that there’s plenty of activities for people of all ages to participate in. We think about the family unit a lot and how to make this sort of thing interesting and affordable for them.

Along the “community” lines, you’ve teamed up with Bissell Brothers, who have crafted the signature libation for the weekend (On The Ocean Pale Ale). Did any of the guys in the band help with the brewing process? Can any of you be considered master brewers following the production of this brew?

(Laughs.) Absolutely. No, no, no… (laughs.) This is one of my favorite things to do. I just go in there. We chat about it, collaborate on it. I usually taste a bunch of different things. I’m pretty well-versed in their lineup! (Laughs.) It’s fun to come at it with fresh taste buds, thinking about the event, thinking about the fans. We try to make the alcohol content reasonably low so people can enjoy a couple of them without falling over. It’s super fun. It’s a blast to get to do that every year, taste it, talk about it, that sort of thing. 

What style beer is it this year?

It’s going to be a pale ale again. It’s just so drinkable and fun. It’s kind of like a combination between a number of elements I like about their lineup. 

I know that Bissell is generally not available at Thompson’s Point shows (in the venue itself), so do they cart over a few kegs across the parking lot? 

I’m not sure. I believe there’s a limited amount available in there, but you can come in and out of the festival, which allows you to wander over to Bissell and grab whatever you’d like. 

Waxing Nostalgic

How has the festival taken shape over the last eight years? How is it different from year one? How has it remained the same? 

We’ve tried everything. Some things we do again and again. Sometimes we remove things that might have been too tricky to pull off in the way we saw them in our heads, but, yeah, things like kayaking have been in place since inception. We kayak out to a remote island and play an acoustic set. … That’s always fun. This year we added a 5K to the mix. I can’t believe over 200 people signed up for it, so that’s cool. Brian (Rosenworcel) is doing a sound bath experience with singing bowls and different instruments. Ryan (Miller) and I are doing events at One Longfellow Square where I’m showing a documentary of a trip I took with my nonprofit (REVERB) to the Amazon with members of the Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, KT Tunstall, etc. 

I need to bring up the Segways for a second. I’ve definitely caught shows — probably 20 years ago — where you guys rolled out on ‘em. Which, you know, was a choice. Have Segway tours of the city ever been considered as part of the festival? 

(Laughs.) That’s a great idea. I forgot about our connection to Segways. Yes, we did do that in Boston back then, which was us making a video for “Come On.” So, no, we haven’t incorporated that into the fest, but that’s a great idea, though! I just wrote that down. Next year. That’s hilarious. 

Playing “Ganging Up on the Sun” in full at Thompson's Point is a huge draw for long-time fans. Do you enjoy playing records front to back? 

Yeah, it’s interesting, right? We make a record for folks to listen to all the way through, but that’s never really what happens at a live show. It’s an entirely different experience. We write a sequence on records for that headphone experience. That’s not necessarily how we’d sequence a set. So, it’s always interesting, but we’ve done this for a number of records once they hit that anniversary mark at this point. And it works. Especially because people expect what’s coming next. It’s fun and really cool. There are deeper cuts that come out that we don’t get to play typically. It’s fun to get back in there and relearn them.

Revisiting an entire record top-to-bottom can feel like opening a time capsule. Are there songs on that record that hit completely differently for you now than they did when you recorded them in 2006?

Yeah, and again, it’s not like we haven’t played these songs in recent memory. We have. This record is one of the strongest amongst our fanbase. They like it, so we tend to play a lot of that record in general. But, yeah, there are a couple of songs that we’ve never really worked up live. So, that’s fun. It’s more about rediscovering the record as a body of work. It’s like, "Oh, okay." We appreciate it for what it is. Twenty years out is long enough to become somewhat indifferent to certain themes or whatever. We never sit around and listen to our own records. That’d be weird. (Laughs.) But we’re kind of forced to when we do these anniversary things, and we need to consider if what we’re rehearsing is too far away from the original feelings. Are we making it better? Worse? We try new things. New tempos. Whatever it is. I guess what I’m saying and continue to say is, it’s fun, man. It’s fun to look at the body of work and just appreciate that chapter of our careers for what it was. If that makes sense.

Guster started back at Tufts with three acoustic guitars and bare hands on a bongo — no bass, no drum kit. Looking back at those early campus days, what was the core belief or creative friction among you, Ryan, and Brian that made you realize, "Yeah, this isn't just a college band, this is our life"?

Yeah, we met in ‘91. Thirty was one thing, but now we’re at 35, and we’re all kinda like, "Boy, that sounds old." (Laughs). 

That’s crazy to think about though. It’s astonishing for any band to last even 10 years, but 35? Gosh. That’s insane. 

We’re very lucky. We met when we were 18. We’ve been in this band longer than we haven’t, you know what I mean? So, to an extent we’ve raised each other. We’re more of a family than anything else. It’s a really interesting combination of relationships. It’s like a marriage because you’re tied at the hip. You’re business partners, you’re creative partners. There’s a lot of opportunity for things to implode, and we’re just so lucky that we get along and love each other, honestly. We love what we do. I keep saying this, but we’re in a better place now than we’ve ever been, but we’ve never really been in a bad place. It just keeps getting stronger, and we appreciate it more and more as we continue to gain perspective. 

We’re dads.,our kids are going off to college. … The perspective allows us to understand what unique positions we’re in to do what we do. 

So when you guys did meet freshman year of college, what did that look like? Were you in the same dorm or something? 
We literally met the first day of school. It was just circumstantial. It was one of those things where someone was like, "Oh, you played in a high school band? This guy played in a high school band. You guys should form a band." And we’re all like, "Sure, yeah, whatever, guy." And we did. It’s pretty wild. 

Guster fan culture is legendary, from the early "Guster Rep" grassroots street teams handing out cassette samplers to fans hosting tailgates at Thompson's Point today. How has that direct relationship with your audience shaped the trajectory of the band?

Yeah, the one through line between our days busking in Harvard Square through present day has been the community of fans that kind of built around us. It allowed us to go straight from college to touring. We’ve been fortunate to support ourselves since we were even on a label. Fans would sell our records for us. We’d make them ourselves and distribute them through what we dubbed “Guster Reps.” We had about 2,000 of them spread out across the country. We’d send them a box of CDs, and they’d all sell them for us, write us a check, and in return we’d give them special invites to shows and autographed Fluff jars. (Laughs). Whatever we could do to keep them in the community. That’s just kind of cooked into the DNA. This festival is a culmination of the community. It’s the community coming together much like a Comic-Con. This is our Comic-Con. The fans are there to see each other as much as they are to see us. 

We’re so fortunate to have the fans we have. From the very beginning, the fans are an inherent part of what was baked into the recipe of Guster’s success and sustainability. It’s incredible to have such a strong fanbase that enables us to try out different things creatively, to flex our creative muscle, and they’re right there alongside us, willing to give it all a fair shake. That’s how bands evolve. 

REVERB, Living in Portland, and Lobster Rolls

You co-founded REVERB over two decades ago to reduce the environmental footprint of touring musicians. Seeing how much the industry conversation around sustainability has shifted since then, what is a hurdle green touring still faces today, and how does On the Ocean embody those efforts?

It’s part of everything Guster does. We started it back in 2004. At On the Ocean, we’ll have an action village there with local organizations providing plenty of opportunities for fans to plug in. We’ll be doing community service projects. We’re doing three this year. We’ve generally done one in the past, but it fills up really quickly. It’s so awesome how much the fans enjoy this type of volunteerism. We’ll be doing a trail cleanup with Portland Trails, a beach cleanup with Surfrider, Preble Street will prepare meals for folks that need them. It’s all just a lot of fun. All these projects happen simultaneously, and when we’re done we all meet back at Bissell Brothers for a “thank you” beer. 

You’ve made Portland your home. How has living in Maine and being part of this local community influenced you personally and creatively compared to the band’s early Boston days?

Maine is the first place that really made me feel at home. I’ve been all around the country, and when I experienced Maine for the first time, I knew I had landed in the place that I wanted to call home. I didn’t feel that for my childhood home in Jersey. … Maine is just different. I love the connection to nature here. It inspires me greatly. The mountains, rivers, ocean, etc. It’s all here. I love it. Creatively, what it does is it allows me to try other things, like running a non-profit with my wife. This all helps lead to a well-rounded life. 

I’ve been here for over 20 years. It’s so beautiful here, and I knew pretty immediately that this was the best place to host a festival like this. We work with a lot of local organizations and businesses, set up activities that span across the city. It’s just a lot of fun. Casco Bay cruises, bike trips, kayaking. … Community service projects with REVERB. … Community is everything. 

What’s the best way to take a lobster roll? 

Oh boy. That’s controversial. You’re trying to get me in trouble. I gotta say, I’m a purist. Just butter. On a toasted bun. The cheaper and crappier the bun, the better. Crappy white bread bun that you butter up and toast. Obviously the lobster has to be fresh, which is easy to get here. 

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On the Ocean takes place from Aug. 7-9. For further information and to grab tickets, visit www.statetheatreportland.com/.