In this current political climate, people and celebrities alike are consuming more news than they ever have, which brings out the “stick to _____” crowd in certain occasions. Dave Matthews Band’s Stefan Lessard responded to a few people telling him to simply stick to music. 

After a fan threatened to not listen to DMB after a few decades of support, Lessard was quick to point out that Dave Matthews Band has been unabashedly politically active. On top of Dave and Tim gigs in support of Barack Obama in 2008, DMB was a big player in the 2004 Vote for Change tour that supported Presidential candidate John Kerry. They’ve also played countless benefit shows to support charities and organizations that support the environment, so politics isn’t exactly something they’ve hid from. 

Lessard also noted that politics seeps into the band’s music, name-checking Crash‘s “Cry Freedom” and the older tune “Recently.” You can also add “Don’t Drink the Water” to that list as well, which carries heavy political overtones. 

Do you re-tweet conservative pro-Trump tweets on your feed? I’m an American first but our bands politics were known way before this circus https://t.co/Sz5rzuBX2U
— Stefan Lessard (@SLessard) March 5, 2017

“Cry Freedom” was one of our first political humanitarian based song, “Recently” touched on social taboos
It’s always been in the music
— Stefan Lessard (@SLessard) March 5, 2017