This story was published in The Weekly, a supplement to The Daily Northwestern.

Back in 2005, Guster played The Rivera for A&O Productions’ fall concert. This year, the band is back for Dillo Day and will rock the lakefill at 3:45 p.m.. The Weekly spoke with lead singer Ryan Miller about meeting fello Dillo performer Regina Spektor (maybe), coming up with the band’s name and dreaming diaper changing.

Do you remember playing at NU in 2005?(Long pause) Umm, maybe. (Laughs) What was the show? I remember a suitcase party. Or maybe it was Dillo. How are college shows different from regular concerts?It depends. The difference in outdoor or indoor shows. The difference in gymnasiums … It depends. It depends on the school and if people are wasted or not and what time of day and all that kind of stuff.Do you prefer if a crowd is drunk?No. Shows where people are crazy sh*t-faced don’t usually mean people care that much about the band. We’ve had good shows where people were really wasted, but not often. We don’t really play that many shows where there’s a lot of free booze, which is when it really gets out of control. And our fan base isn’t traditionally the “let’s get super f*cked up and go see a show” audience, for the most part, anyway. What should we expect for Saturday?I don’t know, you tell me. Are we playing outside? Yeah.Oh, is this with Nelly or something? Yes, it is.Regina Spektor is playing too, right? Yep.I like her music a lot. So I don’t know, what do I expect? You know; songs. (Laughs) Have you met Regina Spektor before?I don’t know if I met her during daylight. No, no. Maybe. Are you looking forward to meeting her, assuming you haven’t already met her?I mean I may not even meet her. Sometimes it happens that way. They just come, and they go, and they fly away. What is your advice for college bands trying to make it?Come up with a name better than Guster. How did you come up with the name Guster?I don’t know, but it was a bad idea. I wish we could just go back and pull a Michael J. Fox time machine and choose a name with an animal or a bear in it. That’s popular these days. What was your biggest obstacle during your rise to fame?Well, we’re not famous, A. B, we’ve never been that famous with the mainstream. Obstacles? Yeah, I think we just never had a lot of mainstream success, which was frustrating for a while, but that’s probably a good thing because we’re still playing music all these years later. Our band wasn’t very good when we started, I don’t think. We’re a completely different band from when we started, so I think a big obstacle was changing people’s perception of what our music is. But still, I’m not much of a complainer. How has the band changed over time?When we started, our instrumentation was a lot of string guitars and bongo drums, and we don’t really do either one of those things anymore. I don’t think the idea of being rhythmic was even a consideration in our first couple of records. It’s super important to us in the last couple of records. We try to make a stoner record in a good way that just feels good to listen to. I don’t think feeling was a very important part of our band early on, but a pretty important part of all good music is that it feels good. Who or what is your creative influence?Umm, smoked meat. I really like smoked meat. I think about smoked meat a lot, and I had some really good smoked meat the other day. But really, everything is an influence. Buildings and food and other music and airplanes. (Laughs) Do you fly all over the place for performances?No. We’re flying a little this summer, but we usually just go on the bus. How is the tour bus experience for you?It’s pretty mild at this point. I’m old. We’ve been doing it a long time. I like it. It’s like summer camp. You get the gang back together, and you go around, and you go look for smoked meat and explore. What would you be doing right now if you weren’t in Guster?Changing diapers. Maybe being an astronaut. Or a fireman. Do you have any pre-show rituals you adhere to?I usually get really nervous, and I wish the show would get cancelled. And then as soon as I get on stage it’s usually fine. Do you have any memorable college stories?From when I was in college? I don’t know. I still feel like I’m in college in this weird way. I keep getting older, and they just stay the same. We go to frat parties and stuff. We’re like still a bunch of children. We have children now, and we’re getting fatter. We’re like the bald, fat dudes in the corner of the frat house. We don’t let go of our youth. It’s both the best and worst thing about us. As a band, do you want your kids to be musical or take the more traditional college track?I don’t think I get a vote, really. I think you just provide any outlet they want, and then hopefully you don’t f*ck them up too much. When you told your parents that you were going to pursue music and your band after college, what was their reaction?I think they were sort of okay with it. We took it very seriously. We had done it a lot of our college years, and we had made records and toured, so they knew that we took it very seriously. I don’t think any of them thought that I would be old and still be in the same band. Nobody thought that. Do you see the band staying together for years to come?I mean, sh*t. I can’t believe it’s been 15 years. I met them almost 20 years ago. That’s crazy. That’s officially crazy. The whole thing is still crazy. You’re from Texas. What was it like going to Tufts, an East Coast school?I liked it. It was a lot less racist and homophobic. Would you ever move back to Texas?Maybe Austin. I have a renewed love affair with Austin. But not Dallas. It wasn’t right for me. Those are all the questions I have. Is there anything else you want to add?No, but this isn’t the suitcase party, is it? No.Man, I love that. That’s my favorite thing ever. Did that already happen? I don’t know.What a great idea. “Guess what? You’re going to Afghanistan!” Bam. F*cking awesome. If they ever do it, I want to play it. What an awesome thing.