Jeff Coffin Officially Joins DMB In 2009
Jeff Coffin announced on his official website that he would be "joining Dave Matthews Band starting in 2009." His complete post was as follows:
"There have been many people asking and, yes, I will be joining Dave Mattews Band starting in 2009. I am honored to be asked to be part of such a fantastic group of musicians and people and am looking forward to making some great music! Thanks to all the many for their support and encouragement. See you out there. peace, jc."
While this quote from Coffin suggests he'll be performing with the band in 2009, it does not clearly indicate that he will become a full member of Dave Matthews Band.
The qualification of being a "full" or "formal member" of Dave Matthews Band may be considered by some as a matter of symantics, but for others is an important debate.
The membership status of former DMB keyboardist Butch Taylor was a perennial discussion topic among fans. Butch started performing for DMB in 1998, but began regular appearances with the band in 2000. At the three night stint at Giants Stadium, the band took a rare moment to pose for a photo on stage during the performance. This photo was issued with the six members posing and Dave Matthews Band printed across the bottom.
In 2002, WBCN DJ Cali was interviewing Dave and asked not if but when Butch would be made into a full member of the band. Dave's response was as follows:
"It's a really weird brotherhood the five of us have. Having smelled each other's--uhm--coffee for years. In the van together. I can't think of way for him more to be a member of the band than he is. He's with us, plays a lot of tours and he's been on albums with us.
Maybe the analogy is, you have your family. And then someone moves in and sort of becomes a member of the family. Its kind of hard, they can become a member of the family but is is kind of hard to make them any more than that kind of member of the family."
Jeff Coffin can not go back to riding around in a van, building the band with the guys, and it will be some time before Jeff could match Butch's 486 performances with DMB. Yet, he will fill a position that contains a very core aspect of the band's sound and there has yet to be an official announcement from the band.
It is worth noting that a contributing writer for Weekly Davespeak, Brandon, interviewed Jeff Coffin in February 2007. In the interview, Coffin described his experience working with Dave Matthews Band:
"I love the energy of the band and the guys in particular. They are really great people and I think that is what sets them apart in the music world. Not that there aren’t great people out there, but I feel they are very genuine and they care about making music that is a genuine piece of themselves. That quality is too rare in the music world in my opinion."
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