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Matchbox Twenty Shuffles Roles To Make New Start

By CURTIS ROSS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

TAMPA - Matchbox Twenty has a decade's worth of hit singles and albums that have sold in the millions.

So when singer Rob Thomas began describing his group as a new band last year, raised eyebrows were guaranteed.

Guitarist Kyle Cook, though, backs up his band mate's statement - and the emphasis is on "band."

"We're approaching every step of the process together," Cook says by telephone from New York City, where the band is rehearsing for its tour, which lands in Tampa on Saturday.

"We're all contributing, from the beginning of writing the songs to the final touches on the recordings," Cook explains. Previously, Thomas did the lion's share of the songwriting.

Also contributing to the new band feel are the departure of guitarist Adam Gaynor and Paul Doucette's shift from drums to guitar.

"We were having problems in the studio," Cook says of Gaynor. "It was a link in the chain that was a little weak."
Push Stars drummer Ryan McMillan will join bassist Brian Yale in the rhythm section for the tour.

McMillan also was featured on a six-song EP of new material, which was packaged with a greatest-hits disc as "Exile on Mainstream," released in October.

It was the first release from the band following a hiatus in which Thomas began a successful solo career.

Cook wondered if it meant the end of Matchbox Twenty.

"There was a period where I thought, 'There it is. We've lost the singer,'" Cook recalls.

"I had to put myself in his shoes and think, if I didn't have to be involved in a democracy, if I could call all the shots, would I want to step out of that?

"It was definitely uncertain," Cook says. "But we did a show in Vegas two years ago and it went well.

"Everybody was thinking, 'Hey, there's a band here worth holding on to.'"

ON TOUR

Matchbox

Twenty

WITH: Alanis Morissette and Mutemath
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: The Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa; (813) 301-2500

TICKETS: $49.75, $59.75 and $77.75

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com.

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