Antsmarching.org Forums - Dave Matthews Band Discussion - View Single Post - Lillywhite Sessions Confession/Story time

jmytng9 · 06-17-2018, 03:39 PM

Hi, I haven't been on these boards in years, but an old story of mine came up in the car a few weeks back when my brother and I made a last minute decision to go see DMB.
If any of you were around the different boards Nancies.org/anyoneseenthebridge/DMBML at the time of the LWS recording and leak maybe you can help me fill in some of the details that I have forgotten. Most of those are now long gone, although I have found some little remanence on the Waybackmachine.

So anyway here is my little story

Right around the time the band was in the studio for the LWS I was at peak DMB fandom. I would be on the boards every day looking for hints about the new album. Anyone around at the time remembers the hype and frenzy that would happen with each new tidbit of information. It was a crazy/amazing time to be a DMB fan. But, as we all know the LWS got shelved and they moved on to Everyday. This just made everyone in the community even more determined to find these unheard and secretive LWS recordings. At the time of my story, nothing had yet been leaked except maybe for a bad soundcheck recording of Big Eyed Fish
This was also the time of Napster and if anyone remembers how that worked, you could search overall by artist name or title, or you could find a username and search their specific song library in depth.

One day, probably just home from high school, I decided I had had enough waiting and was going to look through peoples' collections on Napster until I found the Lillywhite Sessions for myself. I don't know what I thought I would find them, but I searched for "Dave Matthews Band" ,sorted by users that had the most DMB files and started sifting through their individual collections.
I swear it wasn't but the 1st or 2nd user library I came to that I found something interesting. Out of thousands of songs all labeled like Dave Matthews Band - Song title, Date, Location, etc, I found a group of songs titled "Song A" "Song B" etc. I started downloading just to investigate and the user messaged me. "Well, you found them" I couldn't believe it! I opened up the partially downloaded files to check and it was indeed the LWS. In a VERY ruff state. I will check my hard drives to see if I can dig the original up, but I am pretty certain they are lost to time. I chated with the user for a few min and he asked me not to leak. I of course agreed. He soon logged off and I lost the connection. Using a dial up modem at the time, I only came away with a hand full of clips of the songs, Monkey Man, JTR, Sweet Up, others all in different, very ruff states.

As promised, I sat on these clips. Then, at some point, there was a message board user, probably on nancies.org arguing with others about how he had the LWS. I watched it go on for a while with no proof. I might have even got into the discussion, though I don't really recall in what way. What I do know is that I thought back to the clips I DID have. I decided I would show this guy up by saying I, infact, had the LWS with proof. I made a short post with a clip of maybe JTR (all I had was a short clip, I don't recall what song I actually posted) Discussion exploded with many saying they don't believe this was the LWS, so what was I to do...I posted another small clip of Monkey Man. Then another. That was it. The floodgates had broken. The first actual recordings of the LWS leaked. I made everyone think I had the whole thing, but really I was just posting different small clips that I had and strung everyone along. The whole DMB community was going absolutely insane.

So, what happens next? Well, it wasn't but a very short time later (days or a week or two) that the full album that was mixed and mastered dropped. That was it, the saga of the LWS, the holy grail of DMB had been finally leaked. Maybe it would have leaked when it did without me putting those clips out there, or maybe the person that was readying them for release got spooked when they heard the very ruff cuts I had and decided that they better beat me to the punch. I don't know If I had a small hand it getting those recordings out, but It sure felt like I did at the time.

If anyone was around for that or has any insight, please comment below to help me remember/ fill in the specifics. I probably commented under the jmytng9 handle on all message boards back then, though It could have been another.

I will look for those files and post them if I do find them.

06-17-2018, 03:39 PM	#1
jmytng9 Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 25 Shows Seen: 0 DMB Hub Stubs: 1 My Tour Central Stats	Lillywhite Sessions Confession/Story time Hi, I haven't been on these boards in years, but an old story of mine came up in the car a few weeks back when my brother and I made a last minute decision to go see DMB. If any of you were around the different boards Nancies.org/anyoneseenthebridge/DMBML at the time of the LWS recording and leak maybe you can help me fill in some of the details that I have forgotten. Most of those are now long gone, although I have found some little remanence on the Waybackmachine. So anyway here is my little story Right around the time the band was in the studio for the LWS I was at peak DMB fandom. I would be on the boards every day looking for hints about the new album. Anyone around at the time remembers the hype and frenzy that would happen with each new tidbit of information. It was a crazy/amazing time to be a DMB fan. But, as we all know the LWS got shelved and they moved on to Everyday. This just made everyone in the community even more determined to find these unheard and secretive LWS recordings. At the time of my story, nothing had yet been leaked except maybe for a bad soundcheck recording of Big Eyed Fish This was also the time of Napster and if anyone remembers how that worked, you could search overall by artist name or title, or you could find a username and search their specific song library in depth. One day, probably just home from high school, I decided I had had enough waiting and was going to look through peoples' collections on Napster until I found the Lillywhite Sessions for myself. I don't know what I thought I would find them, but I searched for "Dave Matthews Band" ,sorted by users that had the most DMB files and started sifting through their individual collections. I swear it wasn't but the 1st or 2nd user library I came to that I found something interesting. Out of thousands of songs all labeled like Dave Matthews Band - Song title, Date, Location, etc, I found a group of songs titled "Song A" "Song B" etc. I started downloading just to investigate and the user messaged me. "Well, you found them" I couldn't believe it! I opened up the partially downloaded files to check and it was indeed the LWS. In a VERY ruff state. I will check my hard drives to see if I can dig the original up, but I am pretty certain they are lost to time. I chated with the user for a few min and he asked me not to leak. I of course agreed. He soon logged off and I lost the connection. Using a dial up modem at the time, I only came away with a hand full of clips of the songs, Monkey Man, JTR, Sweet Up, others all in different, very ruff states. As promised, I sat on these clips. Then, at some point, there was a message board user, probably on nancies.org arguing with others about how he had the LWS. I watched it go on for a while with no proof. I might have even got into the discussion, though I don't really recall in what way. What I do know is that I thought back to the clips I DID have. I decided I would show this guy up by saying I, infact, had the LWS with proof. I made a short post with a clip of maybe JTR (all I had was a short clip, I don't recall what song I actually posted) Discussion exploded with many saying they don't believe this was the LWS, so what was I to do...I posted another small clip of Monkey Man. Then another. That was it. The floodgates had broken. The first actual recordings of the LWS leaked. I made everyone think I had the whole thing, but really I was just posting different small clips that I had and strung everyone along. The whole DMB community was going absolutely insane. So, what happens next? Well, it wasn't but a very short time later (days or a week or two) that the full album that was mixed and mastered dropped. That was it, the saga of the LWS, the holy grail of DMB had been finally leaked. Maybe it would have leaked when it did without me putting those clips out there, or maybe the person that was readying them for release got spooked when they heard the very ruff cuts I had and decided that they better beat me to the punch. I don't know If I had a small hand it getting those recordings out, but It sure felt like I did at the time. If anyone was around for that or has any insight, please comment below to help me remember/ fill in the specifics. I probably commented under the jmytng9 handle on all message boards back then, though It could have been another. I will look for those files and post them if I do find them.