BOXING CLEVER

"IT'S NOT rock, it's not alternative and it's not pop," says Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, commenting on the success of his outfit's multi-million selling debut album Yourself or Someone Like You. "We just put out a record and said, 'Here's 12 songs'. We're not trying to speak to a generation or any of that stuff, we're writing about common themes."
With their sales still rocketing worldwide, the Florida based Matchbox 20 would appear to be yet another example of the increasing proliferation of stateside bands who hit paydirt on their first recording, often disappearing rapidly after the second or third.
"Yeah, they're calling it the Hootie syndrome," Thomas explains. "The first Hootie ... The Blowfish album sold something like 14 million, and the second sold 3 million and people said they're finished. But they brought out the second one while the first was still on the charts, and when you think about it, 3 million is still a lot of records."
Still, he feels that such as scenario may well await Matchbox 20 if they're not careful. "I think we've probably bought ourselves enough time," he muses. "We've been touring solidly for two years and we could do with a break now. For a long time there was no press or interest in the band. Then we made a video and it eventually took off on MTV. But we don't feel we owe anybody anything.
"We've been trying to get to a point where we can walk away from this one. We're already working on new stuff. We've done a lot of things on computers with vintage amps and drum loops going on so it'll be a bit different - there's no point in going back."
Like their peers Hootie ... The Blowfish and Counting Crows, Matchbox 20's music is deceptively simple and similarly unadventurous in its presentation: its all well-crafted hook-laden songs with jangly guitars, dependable harmonies and lyrics that don't alienate the listener. Not surprisingly, the band members' influences are broadly based: "We've all been playing since we were 14 years old," Thomas relates. "We listen to all kinds of stuff - The Stones, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Del Amitri, The Jayhawks, Vic Chesnutt, Uncle Tupelo. At our shows we get all kinds of people from 13-year-olds to 40 - the frat boys are there and so are their parents!"
Another notch in Matchbox 20's bow was being asked to contribute to the recent tribute album of Fleetwood Mac songs from their classic Rumours album. Their version of 'Never Going Back Again' was, according to Thomas, Mick Fleetwood's favourite track on the album.
"It was a real thrill for us when he told us that," he relates. "We all grew up with Rumours and those songs are so timeless they'll never go out of fashion."
One problem for bands like Matchbox 20 and their ilk has been in translating their stateside success across the Atlantic. How different do they find the European scene from the one that bore them so much success in America.
"It's a completely different culture musically and we understand that," he says. "All you have to do is listen to the radio and watch TV. There's a lot of boy bands for a start. But we love to come here and play to 1,000 people in a small club - it makes a nice change from the States where we're doing 9,000 seaters and big festivals.
"But success in Europe isn't important to us in the long term," he concludes. "It's the icing on the cake for us." n