![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Matchbox-Twenty-SeptOct-2012.jpg\" "\\"Matchbox-Twenty-SeptOct-2012\\"")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nOn the pop-rockers\u2019 latest release, everyone gets a turn in the spotlight<\/strong><\/p>\n Matchbox Twenty\u2019s new album, North<\/em>, is the band\u2019s first collection of all-new material in a decade. It\u2019s also their first release to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. But what really sets the record apart is the group effort to make it.<\/p>\n Rob Thomas has long been the frontman and songwriting engine driving the pop-rockers, scoring hits like \u201cPush,\u201d \u201cBent\u201d and \u201cIf You\u2019re Gone.\u201d This time, however, the group embraced a different approach with Thomas making room for writing\u2014and lead vocal\u2014contributions from bandmates Kyle Cook and Paul Doucette on more than half the album. During the 10-year hiatus, both Cook and Doucette were busy with other projects while Thomas released two solo records. Given their mounting outside experience and Thomas\u2019 solo profile, it made sense for the three to work closely together on new Matchbox Twenty songs. \u201cWe started to get into that territory where it wasn\u2019t clear what the difference was between my solo stuff and the band, if I\u2019m writing all the songs for both,\u201d Thomas says.<\/p>\n The group holed up in a cabin near Nashville for a few weeks to whittle down 60 potential songs, resulting in a collection that takes chances. There\u2019s a slinky \u201980s power-pop feel to single \u201cShe\u2019s So Mean\u201d and a glossy groove on \u201cLike Sugar,\u201d which Thomas claims piles up keyboards \u201cthat sound like Dr. Dre\u201d\u2014not that anyone will confuse North<\/em> for a g-funk record. Thomas tells us why this effort is a triumph of shared history, collaboration and inspiration.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Does it feel like 10 years have passed?<\/strong><\/p>\n It really doesn\u2019t feel that long. Between solo records and our greatest-hits record, I\u2019ve either been on the road or in the studio the whole time. And a lot of time went into writing this record. Everybody lives all over the country, so it\u2019s not always easy setting aside time to focus on the writing. There was constant work going on, and we were always aware of what our next move was going to be. If you have a lead singer who does a solo record, then everybody decides the band must have broken up, and then when the band makes another record it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, they got back together\u201d\u2014but we were never really apart.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Describe the writing process.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the past, it was usually my songs and I would bring them in for the band to arrange. But this was much more collaborative. Kyle, Paul and I started at the very beginning writing everything. Paul and Kyle have become much better writers over the years, so there\u2019s nothing on there where I think, \u201cI could have done that better myself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Had you previously felt that way?<\/strong><\/p>\n They were always just my songs in the past. The band\u2019s job was to arrange them. But this wasn\u2019t just a writing collaboration\u2014there\u2019s stuff that Kyle wrote, and a song that Paul wrote that Kyle sings. Things were coming from a lot of different sources, which is nice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did giving up that role feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n It took me a second to figure out. Initially the only reason I did this is because I have songs in my head I want to get out. So when I started, the idea of not writing or having others write for me wasn\u2019t an option. But now that I have a solo outlet, it\u2019s not like I\u2019m stockpiled with songs I need to put out. It\u2019s like a to-do list: All these songs build up and when you make a record, it\u2019s a chance to move them out of the bullpen so you can make room for more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What did you learn from going solo?<\/strong><\/p>\n You become more confident in what you can do because you\u2019ve done it in a different setting. If you stay in one dynamic with the same people you wonder if it\u2019s that specific dynamic that works, or if you have any kind of magic that makes it spark. After everybody went off to work with other people, we came back feeling as though we really knew what we\u2019re doing. When I\u2019m in solo world, I\u2019m much more responsible for everything. It\u2019s my job to coordinate these great players and to work with the producer to guide them. With a band, they\u2019re coming in with their own unique ideas. When Paul writes drum parts, he\u2019s thinking like a songwriter, not like a session drummer. So it\u2019s going to be more interesting than just a functional drumming part.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is the band\u2019s shared history important?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been playing with Paul for nearly 20 years, and there\u2019s a certain shorthand that comes into play that you can\u2019t just create. Energy gets into the music when you come up with a melody idea, look over at somebody and know they\u2019re thinking the exact same thing. There\u2019s something comforting about that.<\/p>\n How long did that take to develop?<\/strong><\/p>\n It started to happen for us on [2002\u2019s] More Than You Think You Are<\/em>. During that time our producer, Matt Serletic, was also running Virgin Records, so he wasn\u2019t always around while we were in the studio. I\u2019d come in and one guy\u2019s laying down guitars and another is on Pro Tools editing, and Kyle\u2019s there trying to get a good banjo sound\u2014it was like, \u201cWhere\u2019s the producer?\u201d Matt has his personality all over everything, and he\u2019s like another band member. But we started working together better then. It was good for us to step up and take more control.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How long did the album take?<\/strong><\/p>\n We spent a week in Nashville, a week in New York, a week in L.A. and another week in Nashville, then returned to Nashville for pre-production because we had these 60 song ideas to work on and decide if they were good enough for the record. That was a three-month process. By the time we got to L.A. early this year to record, we had about 20 songs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How do you whittle down 60 songs?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The first cut is the hardest, and the easiest. The hardest because you have three different records in that big batch\u2014and you\u2019re not sure which record you\u2019re making yet. An acoustic record? A rock record? A pop record? We had enough songs to do each. So you start by cutting songs that just aren\u2019t that good, and that\u2019s pretty easy. A few favorites emerge, like \u201cShe\u2019s So Mean\u201d and \u201cOverjoyed.\u201d After three or four of those the record starts to take on a personality. Then you can say, \u201cOK, we love these songs, but some would sound out of place on this record.\u201d By the time we got to the studio some of the songs moved to the wayside and we were writing new ones. There were two that I brought in at the very end of the recording process. I wanted to feel out what kind of record we were making before I started writing. And I didn\u2019t want to bring in songs that sounded like they should be on my solo record.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Does Matchbox Twenty fit in the current pop landscape?<\/strong><\/p>\n For the most part, I don\u2019t think we do. It was important for us to make this record and not find the hot beat producer to try and follow the leader with what\u2019s on the radio. It would be disingenuous if we walked in and said, \u201cOK, this record\u2019s going to be our dance record,\u201d or our roots-rock record, or whatever. Our job is to write what we feel should be on the radio but at the same time doesn\u2019t sound like anything else on the radio.<\/p>\n \u2013Eric R. Danton<\/p>\n MATCHBOX TWENTY On the pop-rockers\u2019 latest release, everyone gets a turn in the spotlight Matchbox Twenty\u2019s new album, North, is the band\u2019s first collection of all-new material in a decade. It\u2019s also their first release to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. But what really sets the record apart is the group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,7],"tags":[5246,5250,5245,4862,826,5248,4053,5252,5251,5247,5077,5244,5249],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7916"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7919,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916\/revisions\/7919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"