You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need. And for Matchbox Twenty, one of the most successful bands to have emerged in the past decade, what they thought they wanted heading into 2007 turned out to be very different from what both they and their fans really needed… and are now, in 2008, happily getting via the band’s recently released new collection, Exile On Mainstream.
Literally the new release gives fans the best of both worlds. It features six new songs overseen by Steve Lillywhite, which marks the renowned Grammy-winning producer’s first work with the band. As well as, it collects 11 of the band’s biggest hits. The new songs also represent a major shift for the band which, for the past three albums, saw Rob Thomas writing the bulk of the material, with the other group members later adding their parts. This time, drummer-turned-guitarist Paul Doucette, guitarist Kyle Cook, and bassist Brian Yale were all included from the very beginning of the songwriting process. On the band’s recent tour of Australia, Joe Matera sat down with Kyle Cook and Brian Yale to talk guitars, the new collection and how working as a foursome affected the songwriting process.
Ultimate-Guitar: You previously worked with Matt Serletic for all your previous albums, but for the new tracks that appear on Exile On Mainstream you worked with Steve Lillywhite. What did he bring to the recording process and how did it differ to the way you had worked with Matt?
Brian: I think transparent is a good description of what Steve does when it comes to the sound of our band. I don’t know whether he works the same way with every other band but with us, he kind of allowed, and granted we’ve been making records for more than ten years now, he kind of stepped back and allowed us to develop what we thought was the right arrangement for the songs. And then he kind of came in and sort of molded it a little bit after that. The main difference between him and Matt, in my opinion, is that with Matt he was really involved in every little specific part from the very beginning, from the ground up.
Kyle: As well as, with Matt we would do an enormous amount of pre-production where the song was essentially finished before we stepped foot into the studio. But with Steve it was much more about getting an idea as to what you want to base the song on, like whether it was the main hook or something. And then we’d go onto the next song and then leave that song for when you went into the studio. And then the magic and everything of playing live and not really knowing what you’re doing yet, would lead you stumble upon a lot of things that way. And for us it was more about playing live this time around. For our whole career we kind of had people come to our shows saying, ‘its so rock and roll, live’. And yet we’ve never found a way to capture that on a record basically. So this was our kind of way of trying to do that instead of having a song with, you know, like a 100 tracks on it. So it was more about distilling what we could do live.
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| "There was this English Eighties thing that eventually sneaked into the music we were writing." |
While previously Rob (Thomas) would initially bring the songs he wrote to the band who then would add their own ides to them, this time around the songwriting process saw the whole band working together from the ground up.
Brian: Yeah, we spent three days up at Rob’s place, at his home studio. I remember the first day it was basically a dinner meeting. Then the other two days it was with the three other guys them one day and then I came in on the last day. And it was kind of crazy in those three days because we came up with eleven songs. Just things like fragments and bits and pieces of things that we felt really good about and which we could base a whole song on. It was like a round robin kind of session really.
Kyle: I don’t think we consciously decided to do it that way. It kind of naturally happened that way, in as we didn’t in the traditional sense of all of us sitting down and developing a concept for a song and then completing it. We didn’t do it that way as much. Rather it was about getting the spirit of a song. We’d get a simple melody or a simple fragment like a verse to a chorus or an intro, just the skeleton of a song and then we’d move on to another idea. But we’d catalog it first and then move on. It was kind of a system we developed where we would be sitting in this circle and it could have these two chords moving back and forth. And then we’d create an energy, and a vibe and a groove and get one person sort of mumbling some lyric or some sort of melody over it. And then looping that phrase and having the next person trying it and then the next person and so on. We’d do it until something concrete solidified itself.
Kyle: And we were also watching the 20th anniversary DVD of Live Aid during the process, the Philly and London performances especially. We would put those on mute and let it run throughout the whole writing process and it really inspired us.
Brian: Yeah because we all grew up in the Eighties and there a lot of great songs from the Eighties that really stand the test of time in regards to melodies and stuff, but not necessarily what people tend to cover today. They tend to go for the darker Eighties stuff. But we’re like “wow’ some of this early Eighties stuff like Boomtown Rats and The Police, they had just great songs. And so there was this English Eighties thing that eventually sneaked into the music we were writing.
Kyle, your cherished Danny Gatton Telecaster has been featured on many of the band’s previous albums, did you use it again for the new songs on the new album?
Kyle: I think I purchased that guitar right before the Mad Season record so it was all over that record, a lot of it on the More Than You Think You Are record, and of course a lot of it on this record as well. And I use it probably for half of the live sets. It is just a great instrument.
What about any of your other guitars?
Kyle: I have a 1979 Gibson Les Paul which I think is a Standard. I got it when I first joined the band. Matt the producer at the time, had bought the guitar, kind of, for the band and for me. It was because I didn’t have any money at the time and was living with another guy in this house and I only had this no name brand guitar that had a whammy thing, and was like, all Van Halen out.
Brian when it comes to bass guitars, what are you using now?
Brian: I still use Stingrays as well as Sadowskys, which are hand made guitars by Roger Sadowsky who is a custom shop builder in New York City. It is an incredible instrument. I got my first Sadowsky on the second record, Mad Season, and I’ve kind of have been splitting time between those guitars and the Stingrays. It all depends on the body of the song though. If it is more of a mid-range song I’ll go for the Stingray and if it is more of a full range Fender-esque sound, I’ll use the Sadowsky. I also use a lot of drop D tunings and use five strings basses as well.
Is there any reason why prefer using the drop D tuning?
Brian: I’ve been using it over my whole lifetime actually. There is a special tuning thing called a Hipshot De-tuner where you replace one of your tuning peg machines with it. Then you can set it to drop down to a specific note. And so I set it to a D note. I started using the D tuning because I was trying to mimic some synth bass lines back in the Eighties and Nineties when I was in college. But what happened over time is it became a great key for Rob. And so it lends itself over our career.
You mention playing five string basses as well?
Brian: Yeah, I had never played a five string before except for maybe for one song on our second record and again a bit more on our third record. And I played it again on one track on this new record. But using the Hipshot made it easy for me as it was about going for that low D without having to go to a five string. Also the newest thing I’ve done for this record bass wise is that for half of the new tracks on this record, I’m playing with a pick and I’ve never played with a pick before. Ever.
Kyle: It seems subtle but it does a lot for adding to that overall rock band feel to the record.
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| "Having been excited about how we went about making this record, we're now really looking forward to making the next one." |
Kyle, what’s the current status of your side project The New Left?
Kyle: We’re friends and we like making music together but we don’t have a label at the moment. And I couldn’t get everybody in the same city as I wanted them to move to Nashville so we could develop ideas more. But it’s been tough. For us – Matchbox Twenty - it’s much easier and though we live in different places, when we need to get together to rehearse or do things, the money is there, the finance is there to make that all possible. But for us – The New Left - it was a lot harder so not living in one city became a problem to developing it further. But we made that EP and I’m proud of what we did creatively and we had a lot of fun doing it. And hopefully we’ll make some more music in the future.
Brian: I want to add that I actually borrowed The New Left’ bass player’s John Kibler’s Ampeg amp for this record. I was in L.A and didn’t have an Ampeg combo and John told me he had this cool new Ampeg Flip Top and so I checked it out and ended up using it on every track on this record.
Last question, what can we expect to hear next from Matchbox Twenty?
Brian: The six tracks on this record are kind of like a little bit of a look into the future and our new direction. Because of this album being a kind of greatest hits, our record label really wanted a full record but we didn’t really have time to make a full record. So it was our opportunity to kind of change things up from a production stand point, from a writing stand point and with the whole overall sound. And we wanted to take a chance and see what it would be like and whether people would like it as well. And it really is like how things are going to be.
Kyle: When Rob finishes his next solo run which will probably be towards the end of next year, we’ll be going to go into the studio and make a full record. But we’re probably going to be writing between now and then. Because we’ve started the collaborative process, and having been really excited about how we went about making this record, we’re now really looking forward to making the next one.
Interview by Joe Matera
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long time fave
Just toured Aus, saw them 2 Thursdays ago. Pretty good live 
