Dave Matthews Band Salute LeRoi Moore on New Album

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From its title to the spirit running throughout, the Dave Matthews Band's seventh studio album is inspired by saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the group who died last August.

"We're still working on a project that he was a part of," says Matthews. "He's a real presence."

The band started the record early last year in Seattle with Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, who impressed Matthews with his passion. "He had a confidence about him," Matthews says. "He loves Earth, Wind & Fire and Fleetwood Mac, he talked about it like it was a holy thing. He listened to me. All we did was talk about music. He said he thought our next record was important."

The idea was to build songs out of improvised grooves. "We were recording all the time," says Matthews. "We limited each other. Only a few minutes. Once you find a groove, you can only do it for a couple minutes. Nobody wants to prove how good their chops are. No solos, fuck you. We were finding these feels, finding these moods, so we got quite a few of those."

After Moore died, the band members regrouped and were happy to find several choice cuts featuring him. One highlight is "Lying in the Hands of God," where Moore's sax lines and Matthews' vocals echo each other. "It's kind of like a duet between us," says Matthews, who named the record after Moore (the "GrooGrux" part of the title refers to his nickname). "The good space that the band is in still very much includes him. Once this is done, I don't know what'll happen."

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