Matchbox Twenty still on fire

MANILA, Philippines - Matchbox Twenty makes its way to the southeast to drumbeat its newest record North. After its shows in Hong Kong and Thailand, the American rock band is swinging by Manila tomorrow, Nov. 8, for a concert at the MOA Arena, then will head next to Singapore.  

North is the first all-new material since 2002 for the band that came together in Orlando, Florida in 1995 and then fired up the music scene during the late ’90s to the 2000s with multi-platinum albums and songs that lit up the charts like Unwell, Push, Bent, Bright Lights, among many others. 

From 2008 to 2010, Matchbox Twenty went on a hiatus during which its members pursued individual projects, but had never considered breaking up for good (as some breaks do transition to disbanding), and then returning to the scene solid and strong last year with a fresh album. North zoomed straight to the top of the charts (the band’ first-ever No. 1 album), starting off with the energetic and melodious single She’s The One. 

The guys of Matchbox Twenty are Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Kyle Cook and Brian Yale. The STAR recently had a brief phone chat with lead guitarist Kyle to talk about their impending first-time visit to the Philippines.

“We’ve always wondered why it took us 17 years to get there,” Kyle began.

Here are excerpts from the interview with Kyle as arranged by Warner Music Philippines. 

On touring Asia and Manila:

“Finally, we’re coming to Manila after all these years. What excites us the most is the thrill of the unknown, going into someplace internationally, you know, we’re going to see (Philippine) culture for the first time, and finally, we will get to see how that culture will react to our songs. We last came to Asia a decade ago. We made an appearance at the MTV Asia Awards in Singapore.”

On what’s special about North and its making: 

“It’s tough to quantify that. The way we kind of create this was quite of random. I think the process was different this time around. Personally, I’m singing a song The Way on this album, which I also wrote. We were involved with the songwriting on this album. We liked the idea of having some diversity. So, I think we kind of got together about a year before starting the album. I hate the word ‘jam’ but we kind of got together, turned the amplifier on, turned on the recording equipment and didn’t necessarily have a direction of what we’re gonna do, we didn’t have a concept, we just had a spark of making another album. And north is that direction when you’re not sure where you’re going. That’s probably why it’s called North. ”

On how the hiatus helped the band:

“The hiatus helped in a lot of ways. We are very fortunate to be in a line of work where we can take a time off, and in our case, four to five years, I think, right? We brainstormed for the album about five years ago. The fact that we got involved in different projects certainly postponed the time that we have for Matchbox Twenty. (Note: Kyle himself had collaborated with Mick Jagger and John Waite, started producing artists in his home base in Nashville and is releasing a solo record next year.) We are very creative people and we’d like to work with different musicians and  songwriters but I think the hiatus helps us be inspired to come back to the band and appreciate what musical chemistry the band has.

“All our other experiences add color to the music that we make. It helps us not repeat ourselves. If we were the kind of band that came out with album every year or every two years, we might sound stale or get into a pattern or kind of be stuck in a formula. But I can understand why a lot of people interpret breaks as breakups or that people are not making music anymore after a couple of years’ passage. That’s not the case for us. But we have a good communication amongst each other as far as letting each other know what our goals are or what our plans are. We have a good understanding. We are friends. That helps us be together and maybe (stay) around longer than everybody wants (laughs).”

On staying together:

“(There’s) a general mutual respect amongst the four of us, and respect for what we achieved, the impact that we’ve had on people’s lives which we didn’t expect to happen. We always respect that so I think the personal opinions and what they mean to the whole in the big picture, keep the band together, relationship strong, respectful… But I’m not sure how we really do it ‘coz there are a lot of bands that had fallen into really dark times, and really dark experiences, which I don’t think we had. We are fortunate in that we haven’t had really gigantic drama happening within the band. But I should knock on wood (laughs).”

On the band’s continued success:

“I think it would be presumptuous for me to say that we had expected this level of success. If I go back to my 19-year-old self when I joined the group and started doing shows, no, I couldn’t have imagined that 17 years later, I’d be talking to you halfway across the globe about people there who are interested in our music. But I think we knew we had the chemistry together which is very important for a band to have. You can call it confidence. I think we had the confidence in each other, in the songs that were being written and the way we interpreted the songs as a band, we felt we really had good chance. We are very thankful that we have been given this kind of gift to be able to continue making music and to have a loyal fan base waiting for us to write more and make music.”

(North is manufactured and distributed by Warner Music Philippines and is available on CD and iTunes.)