Fan Reception
Guster maintains a close relationship with its fans with regular studio updates and road journals on their web site, guster.com, and signs autographs after shows.
Guster once maintained a rep (representative) program, through which fans received promotional materials for upcoming concerts and albums to sell. Reps were rewarded with a special, rep-only series of EP's called The Pasty Tapes as well as invitations to rep-only concerts. Early in its career, Guster managed to sell more than 10,000 copies of Parachute and Goldfly through little more than word-of-mouth. Following the release of Ganging up on the Sun, the band formed a new program called the Wrecking Machines, through which fans are able to receive posters for advertising nearby concerts. Guster is a constantly touring band, often playing up to 250 shows a year.
The band's humor is noted by many fans. For laughs, the three members of Guster opened a number of their own shows as the Peace Soldiers, three redneck-looking musicians. With the addition of Joe into the band, it has since opened for itself in costume as a jam band called Trippin' Balls. During a 2001 show in Rochester, NY (which was oddly enough opened by Joe Pisapia's band Joe, Marc's Brother), the band started their show with an empty stage. The music to The Price is Right played over the sound system, and a voice called each of the band members down from where they had hid themselves in the audience. Upon hearing their name, each member played the part of an enthusiastic game show contestant all the way to the stage. During a show in 2002 when Guster played with John Mayer and John Butler Trio in Memphis, TN, the band danced around on stage with KFC buckets covering their heads while J.B.T. was playing their set.
On July 26, 2011, Ryan Miller went onto turntable.fm to give live previews of tracks off of Guster's On The Ocean EP and listen to music with fans.
Guster has also been known to play recognizable cover songs during their encores, some of which Brian Rosenworcel has sung lead vocals. A few of these performances have included: "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", the Cheers theme song, and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.
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