- Title: USA: Matchbox Twenty strikes a new chord with their latest album
- Date: 18th October 2007
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROB THOMAS SAYING: "We had so many things inherent in this band that were different in this process; we had a new producer, we never worked with this producer, we all wrote, we've never done that before. We all wrote all of these songs together. Paul has been our drummer for 11 years; now he's our guitar player. We're a four piece band instead of a five piece band. All of these things, it was going to be different anyway. It was different in the beginning. It was going to come out different. So there's nothing we could've done for it not to be. With all those ingredients in place, all we had to do was go in and try and write what we thought were good songs and they were going to be different. They had to be."
- Embargoed: 2nd November 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA43EAB3YMOXQE166CTRK9RI9JS
- Story Text: Matchbox Twenty moves a little further from their grunge roots into the realm of pop music with their latest album "Exile on Mainstream," a greatest hits record that includes six new tracks.
After a three-year hiatus, rock band Matchbox Twenty released an album of greatest hits that it hopes will carve out a new direction for the group. Two of the band's four members, singer Rob Thomas and guitarist Paul Doucette, say the album, "Exile on Mainstream," may be the closing of one chapter but also the beginning of another with six new songs.
"Exile" is the band's first album without Adam Gaynor, who left the group in 2005. Matchbox also worked with a new producer, while drummer Doucette made the transition to guitar. Thomas said with so many changes in the mix, a new sound was inevitable.
"With all those ingredients in place, all we had to do was go in and try and write what we thought were good songs and they were going to be different. They had to be," said Thomas, who has also carved out a successful solo career.
The six new tracks on "Exile" are mostly bright and bouncy, a far cry from the group's grunge roots. The album's first single, "How Far We've Come," is an infectious pop stomper and is only the second title this year, following Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder," to reach the top 10 of the Adult Top 40 in just three weeks.
And that's a credit to all band members; for the first time, all members of Matchbox played an active role in the song-writing process. Thomas said that after being together for 11 years, the group has learned how to work well as a single unit.
"Let you ego get out of the way and just let a good song come through. We all trust each other enough now and our sense of what a good song is that, it's not about your idea. It's not about you being the impetuous for anything. It's just about what comes out of that."
"Exile," which is currently in stores, is a two-disc set -- one for the new songs, one for the retrospective. A music video interactive limited-edition package is also available. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
