Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Frosted Tips with Lance Bass, an iHeartRadio podcast. Hello,
my Little Peanuts, it's me your host, Lance Bass. This
is Frosted Tips Everyone with me and my husband Michael Turchin.
Hello there, Turkey Church and the Bist.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I hope everyone has recovered from their Labor Day weekend.
We sure have. We had a nice, little relaxing weekend.
It was in Mexico, celebrating some friends getting engaged. It
was nice to get away because we didn't really have
much of a summer vacation.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
No, apart from our road trip, which was amazing. We
drove the one on one. We should do that every year.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I agree. I can't wait for the kids to get
old enough to do it, to go traveling with us.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I want to be a camping family.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I will be a glamping family.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
We can be a glamping family. Camp we have to
pitch a tent everyone, So for sure one of those
Daddy family ten bedrooms.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Somehow you put air mattresses in there.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's got like a balcony with the jacuzzi.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, they sell those at home devot, but.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
How fun will it be to have like? Because we
don't let the you know, kids sleep in our bed
because we don't want to start that habit because we
have so many friends that are like, don't do it.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
I know so many friends kids now are like three
four and they're still sleeping their bead.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
And it would be hard for twins because one of
them is going to be jumping around. It's just it
would be really hard, and I don't want to be
get that happy, although I just want, desperately want to
sleep next to them. Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Soon once they're I mean they're not even too yet,
so once get bigger a little more.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
But I feel like.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
This would be you know, you're forced to have to
like snuggle it.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, I'm down. Let's go care right little tent. I
mean we can practice at first in our yard.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Oh yeah, we can just go yeah, I've always I
used to do that as a kid. Well not all
the time, did it maybe twice as it always started
out as a good idea.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Then you have to like pee in the middle of
the night, and then you're like and.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Then you just go to your bed. You're going back
your friends like you know what, we're gonna camp out,
so you know, you pitch the tent and your friends
are back there. Yeah. Yeah, two in the morning, like
I got a pee, I'm thirsty, and then you go
straight to your bed. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I would do that a lot as a kid.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
I would always pitch a tent on my parents' balcony
on their bedroom to sleep there.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's what It always sounds like a good edem it
that just doesn't that way. Guys. Today we have mister
Rob Thomas Long.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, we got a good, good one.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Oh my goodness. Yes, he's not an official boy band,
but he was a boy in a band. Yeah, so
it counts. Of course it counts because you know, we're again,
we're gonna run out of boy band members, so we
got to really start stretching out a little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, but he's had such a great career.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
It started at the same time as we did nineteen
ninety five Orlando, Florida. Yeah, I would say we're people
really compared us. It was hard to match for twenty
and sing for you know, it wasn't back she didn't say.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
It was always and twenty in sanc it's like who's who,
Like we can't tell hard. No, they were great dancers
and for the longest time I thought you were, and
we played great and I thought your name was lay
Space because you're the base player of Matts Box twenty.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I thought it's true.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
I thought it was just a stage name.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, but we definitely went in different directions and they
did quite well.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, he's that was just reading.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
He's sold. He sold over eighty million records. Who the
ones he's written.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
That's a lot. That's good.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Someone's got some good royalties come in his leg. We're
going to ask him unless he got screwed like everyone
else did. I think he's good. I think you've been
doing it this long, you're going to be making some
good as cap deals there, all right. So when we
come back, we're gonna have the only, the one and
only the only.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
So there's another Rod tob Is.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I don't know, it's a very rare name. I would
think Robert Kelly Thomas is going to be with us
Mats Box twenty. And I think, you know helped. I
mean in the late nineties, remember the Latin explosion happened, Yes,
and then Smooth with Santana right in the middle of
that that this is what solidified, like the Latin influence

(04:01):
on the music ad.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
And all it took was a German born American singer
named Robert Kelly Thomas.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I'd be right back, mister Rob Thomas, Guys, how are you?

Speaker 3 (04:29):
How you doing? Man?

Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm doing good. It's been five years since I've seen you.
I love it. Everything good. Where are you calling from?

Speaker 3 (04:39):
On my studio here in New York?

Speaker 1 (04:41):
All right? Nice? Nice? Have you lived in New York? Lone?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah? About twenty five years?

Speaker 1 (04:46):
So twenty five years. Nice.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
When I met my wife, we were like, we lived
on the bus for like three years, you know, because
it was the first record and kind of just going
through all the first record stuff. And so when I
got off the road, I didn't live anywhere and we
were together, and she was from New York. So we
moved into the city and we were there, and then
we moved up to Westchester a while back.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Nice, you love it. That's when my husband here, Michael.
By the way, Rob, Hello, When we met, I was
moving from LA to New York. So a month after
we met, I'm like, well, this isn't gonna last. But
then somehow it did. I think long distance really made
the hot heart fonder. As they say, all right, well,
let's get started, shall we I mean I could talk
to you for hours, but we only have one hour
with you, all right. Robert Kelly Thomas an American singer, songwriter,

(05:29):
multi instrumentalist, best known for being the lead singer of
rock band Matchbox twenty. Thomas also records and performs as
a solo artist. With Lonely No More, released in two
thousand and five, he had even more chart success now.
He has received three Grammy Awards for co writing and
singing on the nineteen ninety nine hit Smooth by Santana,
which was also his first song as a featured solo artist,

(05:50):
and he's also been a songwriter for artists such as
Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Mark Anthony pat Green, Taylor Hicks,
Travis Tritt, Daughtry has some good names, right that, Rob Thomas.
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Hey man, that's you know what right there? Tonight?

Speaker 1 (06:03):
I was gonna ask you, is that is all that true?

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (06:07):
I mean all of it. I think that we were
smudging multi instrumentalists.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, Well, what's your favorite? What's your favorite instrument to
write on? Uh?

Speaker 3 (06:16):
You know, I love riding on the guitar, right, but
I'm a limited skilled guitar player, So eventually I wind
up having to move out of the piano because like
I'll hit a chord that I don't know and I
wanted to go and I know that I can find
it on the piano because I'm a much better piano player.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Oh nice, nice, Well let's start at the beginning.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Now.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I know you were born in Germany because your dad
was in the Army. Where in Germany were you born?

Speaker 3 (06:38):
So in launch school and on the Romstein air for
Air base. You know, we heard a lot about that
during uh, you know, during pretty much any war because
that's where they take all of the soldiers when they're
anywhere from anywhere in Europe. So I think it's actually
an air force base, but it's shared by the army.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Oh nice, Yeah, we because in sinc we started Orlando
obviously first, but then we have to Germany and you
did the opposite, but Germany to Orlando.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
So so what.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Brought you out to Orlando?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
It's funny, Lou Pelman, it was so weird.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Wait no, he did not.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Ever heard this.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
I think, you know, like nobody's really from Orlando, right,
like everybody wanted out there. My h For me, it
was like middle school. You know, my mom got a
job in banking software at a company in Orlando, and
so that's we just happened to move there. So we
just kind of happened to be there, and that's where
the band started, but only because that's where I was,
you know, when I graduated high school.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, was it hard for you to move to a
different country at such a young age?

Speaker 3 (07:42):
No? So actually, I mean I was like freaking two,
Like I left as a baby, and then.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
That was so you don't really remember too much of that.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yeah, exactly. So I went straight from there to Fort
Jackson Army Base in South Carolina, where that's where my
mom and dad lived. Then my mom and dad got
divorced when I was like two, okay, and so I
was like in South Carolina for a long time and
then over to Florida.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, And I mean I've read where your childhood and
teenageers were pretty difficult.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
You know, like so many artists that we know, you
dealt with homelessness to abuse, and it's amazing to see
where you are now with the rough start that you had.
Where did you find the drive to actually pursue music
through all that?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
I mean, I think, you know, there's always that point
I think when you're going through stuff like that, and
that at that young age too, where you're you're kind
of on the precipice of things going really really good
or really really bad, and so like I was kind
of falling down the wrong path. And I met musicians,
you know, at a really young age, like I think
I was a freshman high school. They were seniors. But
I just it spoke to me in a way like

(08:48):
my first band. I remember my first band, I think
we were called Bondage. We played, We played like a
cool party at a friend's house in and I remember
our first song was I Just Died in your Arms tonight,
Like that was the first song that was man. I
was just like, oh, this is great, and it was
kind of it just spoke to me in a way

(09:10):
that nothing else had. And then I didn't really have
any other skills, and so I didn't really have a
lot of backup plans. So even when I started to
kind of work in bands and take it seriously and
you know and gig out on weekends and stuff, I
just started to make it where I would take any
job that would never become a career. So I learned
how to do everything in construction and everything in restaurants
and everything, you know, delivering and making futons and like

(09:34):
anything that I could quit on a Friday if I
had to, and then get a new job on a Monday.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
That's all right. I've always wondered when your when your
first band Bondage, which, by the way, did you name
the group Bondage?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
I'm sure I did. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
What music were y'all doing at that point? Was it
still rock?

Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean yeah, it was. It was like all rock.
Like the guy so the guy, this guy nam kz
out of Tracci was the keyboard player, and he was
kind of like the music spyngali of everything. He was
the guy that kind of pulled everything together. He knew
what he wanted to do. He was getting ready to
go to Berkeley College of Music the next year, and
he came like straight from Italy, like his family are
straight from really spoke English and so like he had

(10:13):
this kind of cool European style. It was all Cavarerici's
before we knew a cava Ricci's where it was all
like but he brought over like depeche Mode and all
these other bands and all these alt bands, you know,
and the kind of turned me to the Cure and
and and you know, all tho these different things, and
so he was kind of the driving force behind it.
I wasn't even writing yet. I was just singing these

(10:34):
songs that he was writing right now.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
You. Tap of the Secret was another band that you
were in right before Matchbox twenty. When did When did
Tap of the Secret start?

Speaker 3 (10:44):
So I think that was probably like ninety two, Like
that was when I was I was starting to write
songs and I wanted a band to play these songs
that I was writing, and that has that had me
Paul and Brian all from Matchbox twenty. We're in that
with two other guitars players. So that was kind of
like the beginning of everything, and then we that band.

(11:04):
It's it's really interesting because you know, you know, they
tell you you have your whole your whole life to
write your first record, and then the sophomore record is
kind of the.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Hard record, yeah said several times on the show.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, And so I lucked out in one way because
we we had a huge litigious falling out with the
with the guitar players in this band, and one of
the things that had happened. You know, I was kind
of naive in a lot of ways, like we all
are at that age, and I these guys were just
I had written a bunch of songs and these guys
kind of walked in the room with these copyright papers

(11:35):
and we're like, here, just sign these, and we all
signed them. And I didn't realize I was signing away
all these songs that I had written, just into the band.
And so when things got really, really bad and really
contentious at the end, I except for three Am. Three
Am was a song that I always felt close to
because it meant a lot to me. It was like
one of the first songs that I wrote that I

(11:56):
really felt people should listen to. I abandoned everything else,
every other song that we had worked on, and I
wrote that first Matchbox record in like a six month period,
like I put it all together, and just I didn't
I just didn't want the satisfaction of them, you know,
me making a record. And then the best thing that
happened because listening back to those original group of songs,
they were dog shit, you know what I mean, Like

(12:18):
they would like I wouldn't be sitting here having to
talk with you twenty seven years later, if it's like
my first you know, entry into the world.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, now I feel the same way. Like with with
the INSANCT guys. We did not get signed to America
early because no one wanted to sign us, and I'm
so glad they didn't because if they listened to our
first stuff, there's no way people would have accepted us.
We would have been dead in the water.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I know. It's so funny, like there's a certain time
where you you are better, like you are showing promise
at a certain age, but you're still kind of following. Yeah,
and you you know, and we had a chance, and
I say, you and I back coming from what I
call the last good time, right of being able to
kind of build that up privately like a mask, get
yourself better, figure it out, and then you controlled the

(13:02):
point of jury to where people saw you and how
they saw you and how you you brought that information out.
You know, we could still at least until like two thousand,
you know, we still kind of you could kind of
control the way that you wanted to be.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
I mean, it was really hard work. You know, it
took forever to you know, get a single out go
to every radio station in the country and you know,
travel and get everyone to pay attention to you. But
you're right. I loved the fact that we were able
to start small locally, get the radio station in Orlando
to like us, then see if anyone else outside that. Uh.
These days, yeah, a kid can put a song on

(13:37):
TikTok and it blows up overnight. But then they're like, wait,
I don't even know who I am. I don't know
what my sound is, what's coming next?

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, it can be, and you're not. I mean, a
lot of those kids, it's hard for them to find,
you know, a live audience. It's hard for them to
kind of embed themselves in that way that we were
allowed to do. Yeah, I mean, it's so funny, like
how there's so much Like if I was young now
and looking at the world, I would be amazed at
the access that I had to my artist and freedom
that I had to choose my entertainment and how I

(14:05):
wanted to listen to it and what I wanted to hear,
and listening to bands that I never would have gotten
to here if it was only like these three places
where you could find music. But at the same time,
there's so much happening at one time that it's it's
so hard. If you're young and you have a machine
behind you, it's hard because the entire world is watching
you from the jump in a minute that you make that
brand you with who you are. And if you're like

(14:29):
a young kind of independent band, you have all these
opportunities now that you wouldn't have had before. But it
doesn't there's nothing there to kind of boister you up
so that you get to the next record and the
next record and that kind of progression the way it's
supposed to happen.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, Well, like you said, I mean, I think we
were part of the last great generation of music before
it just kind of got the you know, the business
got weird, which every business does, but you know, our
business really went through a change in the late nineties
early two thousands with how we listen to music, how
people get signed. You know, back then labels actually developed
our or just but now they're just pr firms. What's

(15:03):
the major thing that you've noticed in the last you know,
twenty five years of what has changed just for you
personally in the music industry.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Well, I mean, I think one of the things is
how exponentially quick. It starts to change, right Like what
Like I remember when we first came out, having a
conversation whether or not we thought we needed a website, right.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, and see, like is this gonna take off?

Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't that's totally I mean like having these conversations
because when we started out, it was like your press
kit for labels was you had a folder and it
had like a set inside of it and some flyers,
some gigs that you've done, and maybe a couple of
bumper stickers, you know, and then that do that to labels,
and that's what they were used to getting and so
and it took like, you know, a decade for that

(15:46):
to kind of change into like, oh, we're gonna do
things online. But then it took like three or four years,
so like, oh, no, we're only going to purchase music online.
Then it took only like three years, so it was like, oh,
we're we're not going to purchase music at all, We're
just going to listen to it online. Now like we're
I am having conversations with my label about the fact
that they're disappointed because my record, our record, the Last
Matchups record, sold really really well physically, but it's not

(16:09):
streaming well. And I think it was five years ago
where they were just like I just you know, you're
everybody's listening online. But we got to get those numbers up.
Like there was a complete change within like a four
or five year period where now I went into the
same president of our label and she's like, really just
thinking about algorithms, like this is the algorithms, and this
is what's going to search better. This is what you know,
and it's not I try to not be the you know,

(16:32):
the old guy like oh back in my day. Yeah,
but so fast it gets harder to wrap your head around,
you know. And so my son's twenty five years old.
He has a band right now called The Lucky. He
graduated from Berkeley College of Music, and he is way
more equipped for this new world than I am. You
know what, I understand, you know what. He understands what

(16:53):
he's doing with TikTok, and he understands why that matters,
you know.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And I think it's a it's a good balance. You know.
It's taking the new and tain attention of what is
ha algorithms, that type of stuff, but also bringing just
that old school look at music and what really works
because yes, numbers are numbers, but you can't quantify feelings,
you know, And I think a lot of the times
people you know is right now As a songwriter, I think,

(17:18):
look how songwriter has changed the last twenty years. You know,
back in our day, you know one or two songwriters. Great,
now there's twenty twenty writers to one major song. You know,
one person do like half of the b verse this
will do the last you know, it's like Frank and
Stranger together. Do you think that is fair once? First off?

(17:39):
And as a songwriter, are you taking care of these
days with numbers and all that? You know what we're
doing with the sag straight All the actors are trying
to get a piece of what they deserve, so are writers?
It has music caught up to that, No, I.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Mean I think you've I'm sure you've been a part
of this. You know when you go every year ask
caap or be and MI and you do the march
on Congress to try and you know, talk about the
exact same you know, term limits that every artist has
had since the beginning of the music industry, like since
the sixties, whereas every other entertainment industry has kind of
changed what, you know, what their contracts are. These they

(18:17):
turn in like seven year terms. We don't have any
of those things. And then all of this was happening
while streaming became the number one way of listening to music,
and there was not one consideration for artists, you know,
like I remember when when labels hated working with Spotify,
and now they love it because they get a really
good chunk of everything on Spotify. But nothing's been worked
out for the artists. And so if you're a performing writer,

(18:39):
you're a little bit better off because you have those
performing royalties. But in truth, like I remember sitting with
the guys from ass CAAP and going through like Smooth
was a good example because it was like one of
the most streamed songs of the decade or whatever. And
even with those numbers, if you were the other writer
that wasn't the performer and you and all you had

(19:00):
was your writing credit, I think it made like sixteen
thousand dollars from streaming. It was like no, we're like,
you know, it would have been billions and millions, Like
he should be able to pay his kids college, right,
but not because no considerations for streaming, you know, as
a writer and purely a writer, you know, those those guys.

(19:22):
It makes it why I can't understand the incentive now
to want to be a writer.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, I mean, especially.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Sure like Benny Blanco or somebody, if you're going to
write with their track, you're going to automatically get fifty
percent of that track. You know that that's the only
way that you're going to do it because as a writer,
he realizes he's going to bring a lot to the table,
but he's not going to get a lot.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Out of it, right, right, right, I know, it's uh,
we have. It's it's funny how you know. I'm in
the film and television, anim and music, and just comparing
the two, there's a lot of similarities. But I do
think music is always behind.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, I mean we are in some ways. And I
say this, and I say this, I think more than
an ambassador to everyone who's coming up and the people
who haven't maybe had as many lucky breaks as I've had,
because I mean I've done well. I'm hearing this really
nice house in Westchester, so I'm not complaining. But on
the overall picture, take me out of it. It's always
been like my wife says, that there's you know, there's

(20:13):
a certain gravitas for all the entertainment industry, and then music,
even though it's a driver of so much, is like
the bastard son of the entertainment house.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
It's so true, behind and getting the scraps and try
being in a boy band in the music industry. You're
like the pariah of the music industry.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Oh yeah, it's like, can you I mean you can imagine,
like right now, the movies start to, you know, show
just a small crack in the facade, and everybody starts
to come to arms, like we must protect the movies.
We must protect the movies. And then like a while back,
someone said, you know, I just don't understand why we
need to pay for music at all, and nobody was like, yeah,
you know, I get that. That's only true. I think

(20:50):
it should be free. I think the whole world should
have it. And you're like, yeah, but you know what
about mortgages and things like that.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
I mean, I love art too. Maybe should just have
free art, right, yeah, exactly, your art away for free. Mind.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah, it's good to souther beast. Let's have a free throw.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Okay. So in ninety six, you released your debut album
Yourself or someone like you. On the same day that
the record label folded, it only sold a few hundred copies.
So what did you guys feel like at that moment?
Where did you think your career was going to go?

Speaker 4 (21:37):
When you're like, hey, what are the odds your album
coming out? And then folding this Wow.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
And everybody was getting dropped. It was online because I
think it was like bands like I Think, Who Me, Sugar, Ray,
Kid Rock and Edwin McCain before that, they stuck around
and everybody else got dropped. And we kind of folded
into Atlantic one hand because thought our career was over
obviously because also we had a song now called Long

(22:05):
Day and it was underperforming, so that didn't help the situation.
And we, uh, there was another part of this store
that was like we had sold six hundred and twelve
records and we thought, wow, we never sold six hundred
records in a week. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, I know, if you sell those those many CDs
at a concert, you're like, yeah, that seems.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Like a month work of shows.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
And then I mean we so we were we were
sweating it out and we were still not playing you know,
we we have we had been since way before the release,
you know, in the van and trailer playing every shitty
little club. It was funny because you think that the
deal is to get the record deal, like that's your
main goal, this this aspiration that you have, and then
you realize that you just have to now do the
exact same work but harder and over, like.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
The entire actually started all the way over.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
But you don't really have any money because all that
money you got from the advance goes back into the product, right,
So I went back into a van and trailer and
that back into paying salaries and gear all the stuff
that it took. So like we didn't really have money
even though we had had this advance, and we're trapped
around playing the nobody and so I literally so for us.

(23:14):
There was a station in Birmingham, Alabama, and a program
director named Dave Rossi. So back in it, you have
to imagine that it's a time where radio stations could
play songs because they liked them. Right. There was no
computer kind of telling you what the playlist has to be.
There's no U right front. It was just a dude
who was like, oh I like this song, push and
he just started playing in a lot in Birmingham and

(23:36):
it became like the number one song in Birmingham and
we're playing all to all these empty places and get
to the Fires Music Hall and there's a line around
the block and that was like it was like a
film in that way, and that from that moment on,
every week Exponential just got bigger and bigger and bigger,
and we're starting to like see these numbers and then
you're like people are having these conversations about you when

(23:57):
you're not in the room, and that felt good and
so then we from that point on it was a
pretty good, steady success. But it was it was touch
and go at the beginning.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
There, and like we were saying before, that's what I
call the wave, right, you know, one town a song
will start blowing up, and then the wave starts and
just starts growing and growing, and you just follow that wave.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
You ride it.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
So by the time you get you know, if it
starts on the East coast and you get to the
West coast, you've written it for like six months, Like finally,
you know, you can see the height of the song
go up and down all the way across the country.
It's it's a fun thing to do, but I don't
know if that happens next day.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
It was like almost thirty years later. The one thing
that stayed consistent is the place where we seem to
do the least is our hometown. Always always absolutely like
like we don't even go to Orlando anymore, Yeah, because
we don't sell enough, like to you know, we can
go to Tampa and sell twenty six thousand seats you
know at the Amphitheater. Yeah, tell nine thousand in Orlando?

Speaker 1 (24:50):
What is that? Because same thing. I mean with every
band that I've talked you, the same thing. Or in
Orlando that was the least visited concert ever was always
we would do Tampa for a lot. We know, we
do Orlando every once in a while, but yeah, like
no one really cared, and maybe just because they know
you so well. But I also feel that way in
La too. La is always the worst show too, because
everyone's a little too industry and you know, they're just

(25:12):
too cool.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
There's always been pretty good, especially considering that we're, you know,
a nineties band, and also it got better like with
the nostalgia. Yeah, definitely a sense of like, you know
people because now it's it's a lot of those people
that came because those people that were my age anyway,
they're like in their seventies now and their kids are

(25:35):
coming and their grandkids are coming, and so there's like
this kind of different kind of a resurgence.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's that oh yeah, now the last run and it's
so great, Yeah, Orlando. But it's fun to see this
research is because one, I constantly feel like I'm just
twenty one years old at all times, and I can't
believe it's not nineteen ninety nine anymore. But the research
is especially of push right now.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
I mean Ryan Gosling has you know, has covered your
ear song? And uh I thought that to me, this
the performance from Ryan was, you know how like impersonators
impersonate Share. I think this was his version of like
really trying to impersonate you and like the most exaggerated possibility,
who impersonates me?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Share?

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, that's what we said, Like this is that had.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
A baby like everybody and I and I understand too
it because like, especially like that first record, I was
a deep Southern accent, you know, so there was a
lot of like was that Share, It's funny everybody does that?

(26:44):
Like it's it was such was so earnest. It's kind
of like yeah, and I uh, I mean, honestly, I
don't know, Like if I have a bigger crush on
the male or female lead and then just to see
that face saying my words come out of that mouth, yes.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yes, I love it would however, official recorder duet of this, that.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Would be amazing.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
I would do anything he asked me to. Okay that
I that I'm still awaiting he that he asked for
my home address because he wants to send a present
to my house.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Oh my god, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
President.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Maybe it's because you know, he sent Greta Gerwig for
her birthday a flash mob to her exercise class. What
so maybe it might be a flash mob. Just speak
be watching out for that.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
That would be amazing.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
I think a lot of people forget that he has
a great singing voice. I mean, he was on the
Mickey mouse Club, so I mean he's people forget that
he was a singer first before going in.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Now that's true. That's why he was like right there
with Justin and everybody.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, Justin and and Brittany.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
The fact that Disney does not bring back Vickey mouse
Club because they used to bring it back every twenty years. Right, well,
it's been way past twenty years. The talent that came
from there, Why would you not bank on just redoing
that show to create the next super.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Because like you know, if you argue, but if you
think about all of the years of American Idol, there's
only been a handful of people that really the voice
with the most famous judges of all time. I don't
know they've ever really broken.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
And the best talent, but yeah, they don't break any artists.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
I'm sure you get this, guys, because if you ever
spend any time in Australia and you know about any
of these Australian actors, every one of them was either
on a show called Neighbors, yes, called Home and Away
and two of the worst fucking soap op going to
see in your life. It's an hour of like two

(28:45):
people sitting in the room having a cigarette. But every
if you name a famous Australian actor or actor, they
came out of that right there, Like that's that's what
Mickey Mouse Club could continue to be.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
It's true like the EastEnders in England, Like I feel
like east in England as a looking back, as you know,
a teenager. Would you have ever auditioned for a show
like Mickey Mouse Club? Would that have been your your
cup of tea?

Speaker 4 (29:12):
No?

Speaker 3 (29:12):
I don't think so. I mean because I was. I
was never for me. It was all about writing, you
know what I mean, Like I was, I overcame my
fear of like being in front of people so that
I could sing the songs that I wrote. And I
always kind of felt like, now, if if I couldn't
find a career at this, I will just go away quietly,

(29:32):
you know, like I'm not gonna wind up on Dancing
with the Stars and I'm not gonna wind up somewhere
else trying to keep it out in the spotlight, because
I only want to be known for the thing that
I do. And I was also driven by like that need,
you know, I was. I didn't know where I was
going to go. I didn't have any other options, Like
I was just driven by this need. And then the
songs like they kind of like it was a snaky

(29:53):
in its own tail. It was the need created the songs,
and then the songs created the opportunity, and then you know,
it just became so much about that that like I
just didn't have I didn't. I never had enough self
worth to be like, oh, I'm gonna try out for
something and get it.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
What made you feel that you had that you were worthy.
Was there a moment you're like, Okay, I'm good at this.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
No, I mean I'm still working with my therapist on that.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, we all are.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
You know that's a heart. Work Worthy is a really
hard thing because you're I think if I equate the
amount of work that I've done, you know, I think
that if you you know, I've worked really really hard,
and so there's a certain amount of deservedness that you
have because you put the hours in. I think that
I'm a good songwriter. I'm plagued constantly by great songwriters,

(30:39):
you know, by like like waking up one day and
just hearing something that I'm just like, it looks like
math again, even though it's just a first and a chorus,
But for some reason, it's like some sort of weird
math that I can't get my head just so it's
just so beautiful, Like when when a Lord came out
with Royals. I mean you could break it down to
its parts and you know exactly what it is. It

(30:59):
sounded like an alien just coming out of the you know,
because it was so perfect about it. Yeah. I mean
maybe that's the idea too. It's just never it should
always be a false horizon that you never quite get
to because then you're always krying of trying to chase it.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, I mean's true. Would do you remember the first
song you ever wrote?

Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah? Well, I think it was a song called how
Long Can a Dream Last? And I think it was
Actually do you remember the when the rock star guy
Jamie Something came on to Melrose Place?

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yes, yeah, I do actually, which is weird because I
was more of a nine o two one old guy,
but I do remember this. Yes.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Well, I thought was like, you know, as we were
getting older and we just started to maybe outgrow because
I'm a little older than you, but like as we
started to outgrow nine o two one oh ors Place
was like, oh we're here for you, come on away.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah yeah, yeah, it was graduation.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Yeah, a single called how Do You Talk to an Angel?

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Well, because when we all when we all started, that
was the song that was out because I remember when
we lived in Germany, Jamie would you know, do all
the radio shows with us and all that, and we
always thought he looked. I think he was a little
like Chris ker Patrick a little bit at the time,
was it a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
So basically it was that song because I was It
took me like all the songs I wrote were just
bad versions of Lionel Richie songs, right, Like I was
trying to like write love songs to pick up girls
because I was a weird kid and I didn't really
fit in. Like I got along pretty much with a
lot of groups, but I didn't fit in.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, So I would like go to these you know,
like house parties and in high school when like somebody's
parents would gout town and just we would you know,
just ascend onto the house and I would have, like
if they had a piano in the house. I had
a copy of the line of Richie Greatest Hit Songbook
on me, and so like I would say, like all
the jocks would like drink and pass out, and they

(32:51):
would leave me with all their girlfriends and I would
just playing like Linel Richie songs, just trying to you know,
my things. Years later, I ran into Lionel Richie at
a at a hotel and it came over to him.
I was like man, listen, you know, I just want
to say hi, and and he was really nice and generous,
and I said, you know, I got to tell you your

(33:11):
your songs have gotten me so late, and he goes
me too.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
I mean, imagine, just imagine how much sex Lionel as
created in this world, because it is a lot. There's
a lot of babies out there because of Lionel lot.
And you forget how incredible Lionel is. We just saw
him at my Heart Festival last year or two years ago,
and I mean love Linel, right, but when when I
saw him, I was sucked back in. I'm like, oh

(33:41):
my god, Yes, this is why you're a legend.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
I mean, so many songs.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
What other legends do you love?

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Like?

Speaker 1 (33:47):
What what? What inspired you?

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Well? I mean, you know when I so when I
was growing up, I was in South Carolina, in the
Deep South, So it was like Willie Nelson and Whaling
Jennon's and Conway Twitty and like all these kind of
like tree storytellers. Right, there was something about like these
guys they lived these really hard lives. You know, they
were drinking and fighting and fucking and doing drugs. But
then they wrote these beautiful songs about it. You know,
it's just weird, you know, dichotomy of these these two worlds.

(34:13):
And uh, then when I moved to Florida and I
was in like middle school, high school, it was that
second English invasion. So it was all of these alt
bands that were coming over from you know, London, and
we were all Angli Files for a second and like
and then it was all about that for a while.
And then you know, I went through the punk phase.

(34:34):
It was all like Black Flag and Dead Kennedy's. So
it's kind of like these different you know, phases of
my life. But the consistence no matter what I was
listening to, you were like Lena, Richie Elton, John Billy, Joel,
Tom Petty, I was always one. And I mean Willie
and Willy stayed there as well, and the Stones, you
know that kind of thing. It was all it's still
just stayed centered around songwriters for me.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Yeah, I was just thinking, yeah, you're definitely in this picture.
And remember the Grammy picture we took with I think
Dave la Chappelle. Oh yeah, it was the big like
it was tr MTV, t r L put all their
Grammy nominated artists together in one picture. It was the
only time they did it because it was impossible to
get all us together. But yeah, you guys were there.

(35:19):
I believe I think everyone.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
I was in there. Yeah, it was Matchbox during that
time because.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
That was yeah, it was two thousand.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
I believe it was like Diddy and j Lo and Brittany,
like the four Girls before Destiny went to three.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, it was, it was. It
was a very It was a fun day. But I
need to put that picture up.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
It used to office.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Oh well I don't have an office anymore, but that
was a that was fun day. When do you remember
the moment you found out you were Grammy nominated for
the first time?

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah, I remember my my manager calling me insane. I mean,
you know, like everybody knew that that Supernatural was going
to be a big nominated and.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
You're kind of the reason the Latin you know, music
exploded in the late nineties.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
I think we were like a second wave right of
an exposure because it was it was posting Ricky.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Martin yeah right, yeah, yeah, Rickyeah, that was that started
right there at the Grammar. They were like, who is
this guy?

Speaker 3 (36:16):
That'd be an amazing But I think, you know, there
was a lot of really good songs that year, so
when it came to songs, it was kind of you know,
and again like you just never really kind of put
yourself in that thing. I mean, you guys have been
there before. But I'm sure that when it first started
to happen, you're like, well, it's not going to be us,

(36:36):
Like like you really did think, well, it's pleasure to
be nominated, you know, You're like, it's just nice to
be in the conversation.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, yeah, we're still saying that after nine nominations and
just yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
My spots has never won anything either. I mean, yeah,
it felt it felt really good. And what's funny is,
you know, me and Carlos then we were pretty tight.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
But so did y'all know each other before Smooth or
did Smooth.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
During that whole year? You know, like according and doing
all the promo and we did all these you know,
filming together, so we had spent a lot of time together.
But now it's funny, like he texted me five minutes
ago like, well yeah, and he just sends me like
songs that he's listening to, or new stuff that he's
working on, or like pictures of him from the road,

(37:21):
you know, like like well, like we're just two old men,
you know, whether our wives are making fun of us
because we're like up on the road, what are you
up to? And He's like, I just fucking burned Chicago
to the ground.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Would we ever see you guys doing a tour together
in the future.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
We talk about it all the time. That we have
is that neither one of us wants to play first.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yeah, well you can do the whole jay Z Beyonce
thing they did it.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, well, I like I also said that I will
I'll play first, because it's Carlos like, you know, I'll
come out and and play first. But then Carlos is like, yeah,
but I need my two hours, and I'm like, yeah,
but I need my two hours, like take a four
hours show. So we're thinking that maybe one offs, but
the next movie, maybe do a record together. Ye you
never really did was take a record, like write a

(38:14):
whole new record of all originals and get put it out,
you know, but not just like twelve smooths, but you know,
try and see what it sounds like. So we talk
a lot.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
That would be so incredible and the timing is perfect,
I mean now is the moment. You know, it's like
everyone is just really wanting to feel good again, you know,
and go back just a few years where it was
felt safe and you make people feel safe.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
I'm like a fucking hug.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Yeah, you are a hug. You are a great hug.
So this also gave match By twenty some more visibility
ahead of the second album, and you also change the
name to match Bucks twenty spelling out twenty. Why don't
you do that?

Speaker 3 (38:58):
I mean it was more of a joke, like yeah,
I mean we just we just liked it. We started
liking it spelled out it looked classier to us, you know,
and we don't that we were like to being compared
to bands like like Blink or like.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Yeah yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
And but then people didn't get the joke. I remember
like opening up Entertainment Weekly or something, and there was
like a we were the the like the the dick
of the week or whatever they call it, you know,
like and the guy was just like, how dare they
think they would ever be compared? You know? It was
that was the joke. We changed our name from Matchbox
twenty to Matchbox twenty, Like that was the That was
the joke.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I love that. That is so great. Well, in two
thousand and four Songwriters Hall of Fame awards you with
the first how David Starlight Award. How David for those
that don't know as a prolific songwriter, I mean, name
some songs.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
I mean he did so much like Leon Warwick and
I mean everything, walk.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
The pretty much everything that I mean for decades.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
So yeah, he was the Bernie toppin Yeah, Wes Elton,
he was that for for Bert exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Uh, when you knew you were going to get this, uh,
this award? What went through your head? Because I mean
you were a songwriter first, and I can imagine you know,
the Hall of Fame, Songwriting Hall of Fame, you know,
honoring you with this huge award. I mean you must
have gone back to when you were a twelve year
old and be like, oh my god, I did it.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, I I was. It was. It was the best
thing since Matchbucks twenty won their first Jammy.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
Yeah wait, what's a jammy? Don't know what jammy?

Speaker 3 (40:33):
It was like Orlando Magazine. In Orlando, the the flag
was jam Magazine, Okay, and so like and every year
they'd have the Jammys, which is like the local band.
It was like a big deal, dude. They held it
at the Tupperware Center, so it was you know, pretty.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Fucking that's legit. That is legit for that. Yeah, we
were never nominated for for a Jammy jam.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
On the Jammis. We did, we did, but uh so no,
I mean that was obviously it was very cool because
I was in a room full of people that, you know,
songwriters are a funny breed because some of them we
all know, and then some of the most famous ones
you wouldn't recognize on the street. But we were you know,
so like us there with like Mickey Newberry and all
these people, and You're just like, wow, this is you know,
these are my people. So that felt good.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Looking back at your career thus far, is there a
moment that just really sticks in your head, You're like, ah,
that that that is my favorite moment.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
I mean, there was something beautiful about the very very beginning,
you know, the van and trailer time, Like right at
that Sally Fields, they like me, they really like me.
Yeah yeah, But the cheesiest answer of all, I mean,
like I like, we just got off the road and
we got along. We had the longest tour you ever had.

(41:52):
We got along better than we've ever gotten along. We
played the bigger numbers you've ever been playing into. So
I mean maybe it's now, you know, I mean this
ability to like work and do my solo thing and
then be able to work on the Matchbox thing, and
the fans being generous enough to let me go back
and forth and kind of patient with me, and and
and being open whatever it is I have to say

(42:14):
in either place, we have to say. You know, in
the case of Matchbox, like I think there's something you know,
you put so much into something at the very very beginning,
the hope is that you're putting equity into the future.
And so I kind of feel like, you know, anything
that you and I did that that was happening where
you were a part of the national conversation for a minute,
Like that was you buying that currency that you could

(42:34):
spend later on no matter where you are. So even
if like maybe we're not a part on, you know,
of every conversation, now we're just kind of there and
we're sofied, and we have an initiated group of people
that care.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
About yeah, and being an icon, Rob be an icon.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
You know what I was looking for I was I
was gonna say, demi God.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
But okay, it is true. I say a lot of
the time, my favorite moments were the beginning because it
was that that hustle, in that fight, and it really
bonded you with your brothers and you know, you were
all in it together, just trying to prove to everyone
like we deserve to be here. And then I can
only imagine years later, when you know you've established that

(43:17):
fan base and you kind of do whatever you want,
that now you tour for different reasons. You know, you're
grown up, you all have kids, you know, you just
you just look at life differently. I can imagine it
goes a little smoother this time around.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Yeah, I mean everybody nobody's as precious about, you know,
their ideas as they used to be. It's I don't
get these out now than we're all you know, then
the world's going to end or even worse. My idea
is the only idea that counts. That mentality. Yeah, like
when you guys, what year, what year would you say, like,
was the year that it broke for you guys?

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Well in America nineteen ninety eight?

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Yeah, that makes sense. I remember going overseas and seeing
you guys, but also seeing a lot of boy bands
and singing boy like singing groups out there.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
Oh there were five hundred and I.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Remember like going back, and they hadn't broken the state
yet at all.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Like it, there was no such thing as the word
boy band in the states of them, and no one
knew what that was.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
I mean, the closest thing had been like boys to
men or.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Something, right, Yeah, I mean that's who we all idolize,
like New Kids the decade yea New Kids was I
guess the last official I mean you would call them
up because they you know, sing and dance and they're
you know, white kids without instruments. Yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Mean that's I mean, yeah, I guess I like singing
group better than I like boy band.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, we all do. But we're we're trying to take
the name back, you know, and it's fun. And the
reason I started this show is I wanted to bring
all these fandoms together and we're definitely uh, you know,
expanding who all can be a part of the boy
band world. And now we're just like, you know, any
dude in a band, you you know, we consider you
in the boy band family. Boys to men we have

(44:53):
you know, everyone is now just a part of this
family and we're all having a good time.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
But I remember, man, I remember like one year, I mean,
we're I think it was a Gray Music could have
been an MTV Music Awards. They all kind of run together,
but and you guys, it was one of the places
where you guys were doing Friday night.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
And I remember, like my wife and I are just
on our feet, just fucking hands in the air. But
I also looked around and so were everybody else, you
know what I mean, Like like there were there were rockers,
there were rappers, you know, like I would look at
and see you know, like fucking Dave Grohl, just like
fucking yeah. Like there was a sense of community there
that I thought, it is great.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
I remember that was the Billboard Music Awards.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
It didn't feel that cutthroat.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
It didn't feel It's true.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
It was just this moment where you just like you
see all these people from all these different genres, but
everybody was just kind of like in for the moment.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
It's true. I'm seeing that right now with Taylor Swift.
You know, it's like we're we're at that moment again
where there's not familiar. Well, there's this new artist, she's
up and coming, she's you know, she's a country singer.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Uh, she's a promising futures, a promising No.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
But with Taylor, it just reminded me of those incinct
days where you just look around and yes, there's a
lot of you know, girls and teenagers and they're having
the best time, but there's all walks of life. There's
like these dudes, and you know, like parents that are
just freaking out over Taylor just as much as their
kids just having the best time.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
I'm sure a handful of problematic dudes as well, of course.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Oh yeah, yeah, there are a few.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
I was, yeah, me, no, Yeah, I was sitting next
to one boyfriend who just was sitting down the entire
time on his phone.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
He could tell he really wanted to get into it.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
But was just yeah, he was trying to land cool. Yeah. Looking.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
We traded bracelets. Okay, okay, you trade friends, have friendship braces.
Who do you think is doing it right right now?
Who's one of your favorite artists?

Speaker 3 (46:40):
I mean doing it right is obviously Taylor Swift.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
I think, I mean I can't get more right than
her right now.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Because a new artist. Her name is just Rosie and
she's just really about to come out. She's a beautiful,
beautiful writer. I really like I'm a big like. I
love like Florence in the Machine and like Nathaniel Weightlift.
I love my Morning Jacket. Yeah, Okay, I guess I
guess everybody I like is still over forty.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
We got our likes, you know.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
You released the album Where the Lights Go, Where the
Light Goes, the first Matchbox twenty album in over a decade,
back in May. What's it like making music and performing
with the guys twenty years later?

Speaker 3 (47:23):
I mean it's been easier, ye, Like we we kind
of thought at some point that we were done making records,
Like I was making solo records. Kyle'sman working solo stuff.
Paul has been doing film scoring and television scoring, oh yeah,
and so we were all kind of doing these own things,
and we kind of thought, well, maybe every few years
we'll get together, will tour and maybe put out a song,

(47:44):
and that'll just kind of be what we do. And
then so we're gonna go out in twenty twenty, and
then you know, in twenty twenty and twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
One, and then I don't remember that year happen.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Yeah, it's a blur.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
Twenty twenty two. Everybody was kind of going out, but
I wasn't ready yet. My wife was still not well,
and Pooky, our bass player, was not feeling well. He
had had some immune problems. And so that was the
year that we felt bad because we knew that other
people were out and it was it was kind of
just us. And so that's when we decided, well, let's
just if we're gonna we were gonna work all summer anyway,

(48:15):
so why don't we get together and make a record.
And it just kind of was born out of that,
but it was super easy, like we didn't really have
a lot of pressure on it. We'd started off with
let's let's just put some songs together. I had took
some songs that I was gonna work on, and I
had a solo record kind of all planned out with Atlantic.
It was gonna come out right after the tour, and
so I kind of put a hold on that and
took some of those songs and we all just kind
of started throwing in songs, and it turns out we

(48:37):
had a record easy. We just had to make it.
So it was kind of you know, it was just
a different thing, Like it wasn't that weird. We're all
gonna you know, move in like a boot camp and
live in a studio for six months and you know,
bleed this record out and you know, and hurt for it.
It was kind of like, we're all gonna get together
every couple of weeks and you know, sometimes it'll be
the two of us, and sometimes the two of us
and sometimes the whole group, and you know, and then

(48:58):
we're gonna do stuff in our own studios at home
and just kind of build it up. And it was like,
oh shit, it's done. Look at that.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yeah, oh, that's so nice. Of your entire disciography. I
think it might be three AM because you talked about
this earlier. But what is what are you most proud
of writing? Man?

Speaker 3 (49:16):
That's a hard I mean, that's a hard thing. I
think three Am I weave a lot of credit too,
because it was the first song that I thought was
a good song that it wasn't just like I wasn't
writing from the outside and I was writing from the
inside out. Yeah, So that's and that was a song
that like Paul heard and that's what made him answer
this ad in the paper to come be our drummer
at the time.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Wait, that's how okay, So yeah, how did I don't
think I asked how did you all get together? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:38):
How did you?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:39):
I mean me?

Speaker 3 (49:41):
You know, Pooky was in was with us from the
very beginning. He was had just graduated from University of
Miami and was living in Orlando, going to Full Sale
in Orlando, Orlando, and had joined He knew the two
old guitar players. Paul answered an ad in a in
the in Jam magazine.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Did he know?

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Did he have a m There's gonna be like a
Netflix series of like a period piece of nineteen ninety
five at Jam magazine.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Mag It's like it's like it's like a rolling stone,
only the stakes aren't quite so high.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
Yeah yeah, yeah, we gotta get that bad.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
We can't do well.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Oh you know.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
The funny thing is, so Paul, don't answer that ad.
He was our drummer in Maxbox twenty for twelve years,
and then we fired our guitar player, Adam, and then
Paul became our guitar player. Now he's been our guitar
player since like two thousand and three or something like that. Wow,
twenty years now our guitar player instead.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Wait, why don't y'all have to fire the guitar player?

Speaker 3 (50:48):
This wasn't working out? Yeah, I mean to go Yeah,
I mean the like we tried everything. The four of
us were just we were we were a certain kind
of single minded unit, and he just wasn't sharing any
of the kind of stuff that we were, you know.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any particular like rituals or
habits to get into that creative mindset?

Speaker 3 (51:09):
I uh, I mean little weed never hurts.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Yeah, lots of good writing on weed.

Speaker 3 (51:15):
Yeah, I I like it. You know, it's funny. So
I come if I'm doing in my studio, like I
like to clean everything, Like I like everything to kind
of be in a nice orderly place before I sit
down at the piano and like just start writing, you know,
especially if I'm gonna smile the weed, because I'm just
like everything.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Like now you like O. C. D. Clean or just
like I just need things.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
It's it's a little both. Like One of the things
is that I you know, the writing for me is
more it comes at like really inconvenient times. You know.
It's usually like you lay in bed and you're about
to fall asleep and this idea comes in and you
know that you know you're not gonna remember it. Like
everybody always says a couple of misnomers, right, They always say, hey,

(52:00):
you're the songs that come quickly are the are the
best ones, And that's not always true. Sometimes it takes
you forever to find that right chorus or that right
next verse. You know, the lyric and also the idea
that like, if it's good, you're gonna remember it. Like
that's you got to record everything. And it's because a
lot of times, like you sit down and you write
down an idea, like a lyric idea, but then you

(52:21):
forget the melody that came with it, and then it's
useless without that. So like sure we all have just
voice note after voice note after voice note after voice
note of like me is sane?

Speaker 4 (52:32):
I mean Lance pretty much every night Lance like will
wake up in the middle of sleeping and it's pull.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Out, this is such a great idea. I'm definitely gonna
remember tomorrow. I don't need to go write at my notes,
but I'm like, nope, I will never remember this, so
I will like wake up put it in my notes.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Chedburg that We're like you lay in bed and you're
just so tired that you try to convince yourself it's
not that good of an idea.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
I'm like, you know what, it's good, but like, am
I really going to do something with this? So I
really need to remember this the next day.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
But then the next day I kind of a really
good idea, but I can't remember it.

Speaker 3 (53:09):
I've had times where like I'm not like especially like
if I have a couple of, you know, glasses of
wine and then I go to bed, I jump up
really quick and I get on the voice note and
I kind of forget my surroundings and I'm like, I
just wakes up like the houses on fire.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
That is great. Since you're such a great writer, would
you ever attempt to write a musical?

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Yeah, it's funny. I've been talking about that. So there's
there's two things right now. There's a producer what the
guy who directed Jersey Boys actually and i'may the guy
who wrote Jersey Boys is writing the book for uh,
I guess it kind of it's it's a jukebox musical
of mine and matchbox songs. Okay, nice, but it takes

(53:52):
place and like it's a play within a play, and
it's kind of like this done like a like a
Greek chorus kind of it's you know, it's it's pretty.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yes, I love that because your songs are I mean,
you're a storyteller. You do remind me. And you can
tell you grew up with country music because you know
country just that's a story, right, and with all your songs,
like you just really just lay out this beautiful, like
visual story that you can just see. So I could
definitely see your music being turned into a jukebox musical.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Yeah, thanks, man. I mean, you know, there's there's a
there's a line in Push that's it's it's in the
second verse, like it says a like don't just stand
there say nice things to me, And that's a very
country kind.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Of a line.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Yeah, totally, you know, I mean.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Like because you can't forget another way to say it,
so you just kind of say it. Yeah, that's the
best way to do it, you know, especially if you
use a lot of if you use a lot of
colorful language, you know, and a lot of metaphors and
a lot of and then all of a sudden you
throw in just very plain spoken something. It really hits
a lot harder. I think that's the country what I want.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
I love it. Give us a frost to tip on
what advice you would give to aspiring musicians today and
this crazy music landscape.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
I mean, I think again, my understanding of the business
world is probably not the best one to take it from.
I think anybody over fifty is not necessarily because because
I have great advice on how things used to be
and how things used to work. But I would say
that I still believe that no matter what you're doing,

(55:19):
no matter how you're coming at it, the content you
know matters. And I think you know, if you're coming
in and you're you need to have a good song.
With my son's band is really really good. They're a
better band than I was at that age. But you know,
I always tell them, you just need that one song.
And the funny thing is, if you have the one song,
these other songs retroactively will do better because they're following

(55:40):
by that one good song. You know, like these songs
right now, you don't have to change anything about them,
and they might not be hits, but if you have
this one hit, they might become hits because all of
a sudden they'll be looked at different, they'll shine a
different light on or something.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
I'm not sure how you look at it, but yeah, people,
I find it.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
The song, the song, the song is always is always
key in music anyway.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
And then you have that dreaded sophomore album up.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Yeah, prove everybody wrong. Just take your take your album
you're working on right now, throw it out, write another one.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
There you go, and uh, I always say, you know,
for new artists, don't worry about trying to win over
the world. Just try to win over your fan base, like,
create that little fan base and it will grow. If
you're authentic, they will find you. They will find you.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Can you guys, imagine like when you're starting out and
you're doing well already, right, but then you look over
and you see like, you know, fucking Nickelback or something,
and you're like, you know, I want a little bit
of that too, And then all of a sudden you're like,
you're not Nickelback, but you're not in sync, and then
like what are you? You know, because you're trying really
hard to like chase after markets as opposed to like
do what you do really really well and bring that

(56:49):
initiated group of people and then then foster a relationship
in love with them and it'll grow out from that.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Nickelback, Oh my gosh, that was another Orlando band. I
know Chad lived in Orlando. It's Canadian, right, I don't know,
but I know they lived in Orlando. I don't know why.
But why do you think they got so much ship
for a while there? Like because they were like it's
the joke about Nickelback.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
I was glad when they did because people left us alone.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Like this fantastic.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
Matchbox was Nickelback before Nickelback, and so soon it says
the kind of like, yeah, fuck those guys. So you
started this, I mean I think you know as well
as anybody man, Like, there's a certain level of success
that once you achieve it, you were you're such an
easy target.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Yeah of course, you know. Yeah, as much as you're loved,
you're going to be as hated as equally.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Well, yeah, it's easy for people to punch up you
got of course.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
So they see that and it's like they figure, like
there's no real harm to anybody there.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Exactly with your son's bands. The Lucky right is your
son's How much influence did you have on this band, Like,
how much are you helping him? Is this something that
you loved for him to get into or were you
kind of like I kind of hope you don't go
into music or be a front man.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
You know. I believe them enough to pay for Berkeley,
for him to get to Berkeley. In of this four years,
he just he did all the right things with it.
He practiced all the time, He became such a phenomenal
guitar player. He started to really become a gearhead, like
he just you know, like he would go like to,
you know, get a ticket to John Mayer, and John
would go meet him at the gate and bring him

(58:28):
back and he would just like geek out over John's rig.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
You know, just.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
What is this?

Speaker 2 (58:34):
You know?

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Yeah? And so I'm really really proud of the work
that he puts into it, and he and he works
really really hard still. And so when he came out
and he moved out to LA with his band, I
think probably the worst parental advice, but the best advice
to a young artist was I told him not to
have a backup plan. You know. I was like, if

(58:56):
this is what you're doing, go a thousand percent in
get yourself a waiter, gig, get something you know, it's
gonna pay your bills, and then spend the rest of
the time putting everything into the into the band. And
it's going to take a minute, you know, for that
to pay off, but it'll be it'll be worth it
because I figure the worst case scenario is that I'll
have him on my couch for a little while when
he's thirty.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
You probably wouldn't mind.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
That, listen. Yeah, I'll love our kids when they're thirty
to come.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
All right, let's get to some fan questions here. Well
E four nine to eight already asked would you ever
do a duet of Push with Ryan Gosling? And yes, Ryan,
give us a call. I'm sure he's listening right now.
All right, how does it feel to have your son
following your footsteps from Mary Beth. I'm gonna be kind
of touched on that, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
I mean so, you know, another fun fact about my son.
I have a private gig coming up in a couple
but then I have a few more coming up, and
then I'm going to start on the new solo stuff,
you know, after Matchbucks gets back from Australia. When we
do that, my son is actually going to be the
guitar player in my solo band.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Oh that's all.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
And talking about great experience, you know, because.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
He's he opened up. We just did the Hollywood Bowl
and he has been opened up for us when we did.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
The whole That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Yeah. Yeah, ar guitar players just got tired of being
on the road, and so I called him up and
asked him if he wants to take over. So he's
gonna he's gonna move into that spot.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
So I mean, how proud of a dad were you
to see your son opening up with the Hollywood Bowl?

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
Yeah? Yeah, it was an amazing feat.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Yes for anyone by the way.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
So in thirty years, that was our That was the
last box to check off, right, Like we had done
everything from the Will Turn to to h Troubadour to
the Staples Center, the Forum, you know, the Greek back
when they had a universal amphitheater, like we played all
the good stuff. We've never done Hollywood Bowl. Yeah, technically
he played it before I did.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Yeah he did.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
He did.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
That is again like you we played every venue but
that uh, and I go to the shows there all
the time, and I'm like, God, this would be so
nice magical venue. Man, I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Believe it took us that long, but there is. It's
something that was very beautiful and special about being there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Yeah, we saw Dolly Parton there a couple of years ago,
just and Reba McIntyre. We just saw Janet Jackson. I
mean just there's some and it's great. And because you
have to change your show a little bit there because
the stage is smaller and you can't bring in your
full set, so you know, you have to put on
your own a different show at the Bowl.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
It's like that that white band show creates its own atmosphere,
you know, it becomes the light show is the actual
you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
And the fireworks that you can put in there. Janet
had some crazy fireworks. I've never seen anything like that.
That was Jesus, what's came up to? Says whose idea
was it? To put a camel in the real world
music video?

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
Originally it was an armadillo, But you can't an armadillo
can't make it through the gutters.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
On a bowling alley, Okay, I I yeah, I mean why.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
We needed one or the other? Like why, I don't know, man,
It's turtles all the way down. I don't know what
to tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
I love it, naturally get a camel exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Well, Rob, it was so great to uh talk to
you and really dive into your life. You're You've had
such a phenomenal career, and I feel like this next
chapter is even going to be bigger, and I'm excited
to see what is great for you solo with Matchbox twenty,
I can. I'm so happy that your son is about
to start taking off. I mean, your your life is good. Oh,

(01:02:36):
by the way, I want to ask, how did you
meet your wife?

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
She uh came to see a show in Montreal at
a time where I was more famous than she thought
that I was, but less famous than I thought that
I was, and her like friend had drug her to
a show. She didn't really know anything about me, and
I got her number and then went to Europe and

(01:03:01):
just talked to her every night on the phone, and
then just fell in love with her and got we
got married. We got engaged on our first date. Well
you know, I told her on our first date we
were gonna get that I was gonna marry, And then
like a month later we got engaged, and then a
year after that we got married and then that was
five years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Wow, that's a good love story. Before we let you go,
what can we are? Do you do you have time
to watch TV at all?

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
I do?

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Okay, is there anything that we need to be like?
You know, yeah, what are you watching that reality show?

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
Can we talk about? Are you? Are you guys? Have
you guys called it with the Bear? No?

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
No, but everybody talks about that show.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Yeah, the Bears. We need to catch up.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
Yeah, mine and I were watching Miracle Workers, that Daniel
Ratcliffe show that it's a different season. It's like a
different point in history every season.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
Yeah, I've heard I've heard of that, but now I
haven't seen that one yet either, The Great The Great. Yeah, wow,
you're giving us some good recommendations because I feel like
we watch every single show and I've not seen any
of the shows you mentioned. Yeah, so this is good.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Some of the best I have somewhere. I have like
a sticky that I just send to my friends of
like this is you know, on HBO, and like it
goes all the way back to like fucking Breaking Bad.
You're like you you know, because I'm like my mom
just watched Breaking Bad for the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
It was a good one. He still hasn't seen the
full Yeah, I'm seen it heavy.

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
This is how bad I I never watched it when
you were watched it, and then I decided I watched
it when you were watching an episode one day and it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Was the finale.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
You watched the finale first.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
It's the only episode I've seen was the finale.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
I'm like, oh man, the Downton Abbey rabbit Hole.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Oh yeah, oh yes, so good.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
I went to a movie theater with my wife right
when that last movie that came out, and I was
like the whole time, I'm like, you know, I'm gonna
go and I could watch this at home. It's fucking down.
I didn't need to see it in theater. Yeah, And
an hour later I'm sending a theater like just so beful.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
I mean, that's it was so good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
It's so great. One of our good friends is the
Irish guy on the show, the one that was the
ballet that married one of the whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Our friend, Alan Leach.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
He plays the uh uh Branson.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Yes, yes, yeah, he's uh. He's great. He just lives
down the street and there they have kids kind of
like the same age as ours, so we have a
little play group and stuff. Look at it and Rob,
it was so great to see my man. I hope
you have an incredible day when you're back in l A.
I definitely want to come see you guys. Do y'all
have any plans on touring California?

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
I know right now. We so we just got off
the road. It was like fifty four dates. It's like
the longest done and so we're, uh, we're barring a
couple you know, corporate and other you know, kind of
like charity gigs. We're doing Australia in February and we'll
be there for like a month, and then after that
I'm kind of like right back into solo world. So

(01:05:56):
I'll reach out to you when I get back out
there on solo World.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
I would love that. And we're we're looking forward to
the solo album for sure. So uh yeah, we're we're waiting.
We're waiting. The world is waiting, Rob. All right, man,
Well you have a great day, all right, yeah, exactly,
all right, all right, we'll see you later and we'll
catch up with you next time.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
Good to see you, all right, you two man?

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
What a horrible nasty guy. Worst interview God, what a legend.
I made a legend.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
What a great I was gonna say it again, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
A nice I mean, you know, I wouldn't say we're friends,
but we've definitely been around each other.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
No, I just loved his vibe.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
He's always cool and the whole man, the whole now,
and he's never looked better.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
I was gonna about to say, at what the hell
he he looks good. He does has not aged a day.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
I feel like he's gotten hotter.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
He's differently good looking. Yeah, yeah, like something like something's
in the something.

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
Because yeah, well for some people, yeah, some people got
like the well water or.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Not to cheese comes out of yeah exactly. But the
lovely guy, you know, and the whole band is who
was the match Mark's twenty member that we would always
go over to, uh uh Leah Black's house. Is that
Matt Or that was Brian Maybe, Oh you're right, which
one get but one of them? I remember that's that's

(01:07:43):
who taught me how to meditate for the first time. Remember,
I was like, I just can't meditate my brain just
you know, and it's like, no, I'm the same way,
and the way you do it is you go back
to the same place in your head, and it's like
people like us.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
It was like a major ad. You go back to
the same plate and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:59):
You build one little thing in this little world every
single time, and you just slowly build it, and then
you know, over time this world gets bigger and bigger,
but you just focus on this one little you know,
and mine is an ice world.

Speaker 4 (01:08:12):
I guess just all and when I when one of
my times in therapy, I did the same thing. But
it's like imagine like your ideal like out forest park
that is just.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Your own, and you go in.

Speaker 4 (01:08:24):
All you do is just keep looking around the park
and notice something different and build a beautiful like here's
gonna be a waterfall, there's gonna be a flower.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
I have lots of igloos in my town, like a lot,
but they're like great igloos. And I have lots of
animals that don't really they're not supposed to live in
Arctic areas.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
But it's a complicated brain of yours.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
It is. It's very Zootopia.

Speaker 4 (01:08:45):
But let's say it's like your Farmville game, Heyday game,
but in your head, Heyday's so fun. We can't go
down this rap, we can't I'm gonna end it right here,
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
That is all the show we have for you. Thank
you so much for listening. Everyone, have a great day,
because it is a great day to have a great day.
Be good to each other, don't drink and drive, take
care of all those little animals and the remembered. Hey,
thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at Frosted Tips
with Lance and Michael Turchinard and at Lance Bast for

(01:09:18):
all your pop culture needs

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
And make sure to write a review and leave us
five stars six if you can see you next time.

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