The Dave Matthews Band’s Bus Once Dumped 800 Pounds of Poop on the Chicago River. We Talked to the Man Who Commemorated It With a Plaque

On August 8, 2004, the Dave Matthews Band made history in Chicago. That day, the driver of one of the band's tour buses emptied the vehicle's septic tank while driving over the Windy City's Kinzie Street Bridge, sending an estimated 800 pounds of human feces plummeting directly onto a boat conducting an architectural tour on the Chicago River. The incident has become lore for locals and music fans alike, inspiring anniversary articles, a Wikipedia page and countless memes memorializing the infamous dump. And last month, to mark the 19th anniversary of the incident, Jeremy Scheuch, the creative director behind Chicago rock festival Riot Fest, fastened a faux plaque to the scene of the crime.

"On the afternoon of Aug 8. 2004, at this very location, the Dave Matthews Band tour bus emptied the septic tank over the Chicago River, drenching passengers on a boat tour with 800 pounds of human poop," the plaque reads. "No one died that day. But many wish they had. Paid for by the Riot Fest Historical Society."

Ahead of the 2023 edition of Riot Fest, which starts Friday, and to honor the DMB dump-iversary, The Messenger spoke to Scheuch about the making of the plaque.

What inspired you to want to create this plaque? 
Well, living in Chicago, it's just kind of one of those dumb things that happened in this city. Maybe the younger generation doesn't know their Chicago history well enough. Every year we write an article on the website reminding people of these historic events that have happened. This past year, we really wanted to put something up and remind people in a fun way of this ridiculous thing that happened that I'm sure the band would prefer to forget. 

Have you heard from Dave Matthews about it? 
No, we haven't. We do get people defending him because "he wasn't on the bus, he didn't do it personally." We get Dave Matthews superfans who are like, "This is bullshit, you guys. It wasn't Dave Matthews, it was the bus driver and it was an accident. They weren't even on the bus." I'm like, "Yeah, but it was their shit." You shouldn't poop on a tour bus. That's the touring 101. You don't poop on the bus. 

Why a plaque?
There's historical plaques all over the place for real history in Chicago. Why not for the dumb stuff, too? I mean, I would love to get a metal plaque and weld it on there, but then putting our name on there … it would technically be vandalism. 

So what is the "plaque" actually made of?
It's probably gone by now. We just got it printed. It's not actually a metal plaque. It's plastic board, basically. We just had the two designers that work for Riot Fest. I just came up with a dumb idea and they Photoshopped something and we went to the guy who makes all our big signage for Riot Fest.

How do you think this kind of thing ties into the spirit of Riot Fest? 
It's fun. Rock & roll, it doesn't need to be serious all the time. I think too many people take too many things way too seriously. A few people get a chuckle out of Dave Matthews' poop falling from the sky on people on a boat, which had to have been a horrible experience. 

What do you remember about the response to the incident back in 2004?
The internet really wasn't a thing. It was one of those pre-internet things people just heard about. There may have been a Rolling Stone article, but it was just like, "Oh, my gosh, did you hear about this?" kind of thing. 

More like word-of-mouth lore. 
Yeah, and then it's like a game of telephone by the end. It's almost like Dave Matthews actually just straight up pooped on people. 

Do you see people commemorating it every year in Chicago?
A T-shirt company made a T-shirt commemorating it. I've seen bootleg T-shirts of it too around the city. 

Do you commemorate it every year? 
Well, I wrote that article six or seven years ago initially, and that specific story got more clicks and views than any other thing besides obviously the lineup-announcement stuff. It's the dumbest things that get associated with us. It's the Dave Matthews Poop Bus. It's the John Stamos Butter Sculpture. Maybe we'll just get a bunch of plaques, just zip-tie them up every now and then, just so people remember. Or be like that person who puts the rose at Edgar Allan Poe's grave every year.

Were there tours that included your plaque when you put it up?
Apparently they did. It really blew up more than I thought. There were people's tour guide groups or Instagrams that featured Chicago tour spots that actually had more likes on their Instagram posts than ours. If you go to Wikipedia now and look under the Dave Matthews poop incident, there's a reference to the Riot Fest Historical Society commemorating it with the plaque. 

Any future plans related to the incident? 
I think we might throw a party next year for the 20th anniversary.