The Gospel According to Matthews

In early 1993, the band formed its own company, Bama Rags Records, to release its live debut, Remember Two Things, despite heavy courting from major labels. ''I guess they smelled the dollar bills,'' says Carter. ''One guy from New York came to our first meeting with notes: 'This is what you gotta change.' We were like, 'Who is this turkey? Go away.' '' The group eventually signed with RCA, because, says Matthews, ''they saw what we were doing by ourselves and were respectful of us.''

It was respect well repaid. Less than a year after DMB released Remember Two Things, sales reached 100,000, exceeding the expectations of both the band and RCA, which was serving as an unpaid marketing consultant on the indie album. When RCA released Under the Table last September, it sold 30,000 copies its first week, and has since become the label's only big rock act in several years. Aware of RCA's long dry spell when they signed, the band members assumed, correctly, that they could work the situation to their advantage. ''With not a whole lot going on at RCA at the time,'' recalls Matthews, ''we figured we'd be a priority.''

A priority, but on the band's terms. As in the case of Counting Crows and Hootie & the Blowfish, Triple A radio and the revitalized VH1 have played a crucial role in the band's ascent, but the marketing of DMB has been intentionally low-key; they didn't even shoot a clip for ''What Would You Say'' (now a top 20 MTV video) until three months after the album's release. ''We're interested in creating fans of the band,'' says manager Capshaw, ''not fans of the single.''

And those prized fans, says Matthews, can count on the band's continued desire to serve them. ''We're still gonna tour as much as we can and play lengthy shows,'' he promises, ''even if that means paying fines for breaking curfews to give fans the amount of music they've gotten used to. The most important thing is to not alienate the very foundation that helped build us.'' How far this relentlessly audience-sensitive and grassroots approach can take the Dave Matthews Band is the big question. On the other hand, can you say Hootie?