by Carrie Nieman StyleWeekly
Richmond, VA

photo by Chad Hunt

During their peak in 1997, BS&M played to more than 700

enthusiastic fans at Sunset Grill, while a little known band called

Hootie And The Blowfish performed in front of 40 people at the Flood

Zone. "That's how crazy this whole thing is," says Dave Barton who says

members of Hootie came over to watch BS&M's show. "I look at situations

like that and hanging out with Dave Matthews, and remember those

crossroads. Some people do well, others take off, some fall off the face

of the earth."

After playing their upbeat, acoustic pop for 10 years, BS&M falls

somewhere in the middle. Some Richmonders, who remember when BS&M was

voted "Richmond's Best Unsigned Band" by Style readers and when they

packed bars in Richmond and Nags Head, may think they're past their

prime, but BS&M has simply evolved in order to survive. And survival

isn't the easiest thing to pull off in the music business. Instead, and

without sacrificing their sound, BS&M maintained their audience by

adapting from college/bar band to festival/wedding band.

When asked if BS&M has already peaked, Barton says,

"It depends on how you look at it. In terms of playing bars, yes; now

we're doing more festivals. People who saw us in college are now

yuppies, and they're hiring us for their weddings and corporate things."

No matter where they're playing, BS&M still consists of the original

trio: Dave Barton (guitar/bass/vocals); Rick Schaffer (acoustic

guitar/vocals); and Kyle Mills (percussion/guitar/vocals). In '97 they

added drummer Danny Fisher and guitarist Buster Bohannion to flesh out

their light-hearted, folk rock.

"We are a different force than we were three years ago - we're different

musicians than we were 10 years ago. Our audience has changed and if we

can still adapt and match up with them then we've still got it. I don't

expect to be on MTV, I don't really want to. I enjoy writing songs,

playing them and making people smile. That's what we've always done. At

one time more people came out to see us, now they have families and

kids."

All five members of BS&M are full-time musicians, supporting themselves

with the band's more than 120 gigs a year, plus their solo or duo side

projects. "When you're a musician and you try to compare yourselves to

the bands on MTV, you'll go crazy. We stuck to the basics, just being

entertaining," says Barton. "But we were fortunate, we all have houses,

and it's nice to be able to pay bills and count on a consistent income.

"It's a matter of being comfortable with the way things evolve; yes,

it's disheartening sometimes to see your numbers fall, but you know it's

going to end, you can't be flavor of the month forever. The industry's

just like that, it's geared toward pushing a new face. A lot of people,

it really gets to them, they think they're not of value. As a musician

you just try to maintain your vitality, as a human you've got to move to

the next square on the board regardless and hope for the best and that's

what we've done. We can all smile and enjoy this. It's been a cool ride."