Band adds horns, orchestral arrangements on mad season by Matchbox Twenty.

Staff Writer Teri vanHorn reports:

On their long-awaited second album, matchbox twenty open their sound by emphasizing background vocals and woven guitars while adding horns, orchestral arrangements and big-band elements, the album's producer said.
"It was very much about trying new things," said Matt Serletic, who also produced matchbox twenty's debut, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996).Serletic pointed to the amalgamation of synthesizer and guitar on the album's first single, "Bent," as an example of the experimentation that marked the group's recording sessions for mad season by matchbox twenty, due May 23.
"[The new LP] was very much about trying new things." — Matt Serletic, producer Serletic called "Bent" "a whole new dimension" for the band. "It's got this raw power to it that comes from creating this darkly, sonically rich palette of textures," he said.
When it came time to record the new LP, the group acted more like a fledgling garage band than a multiplatinum rock group. The quintet, which formed in the mid-'90s in Orlando, Fla., took refuge from the studio to jam in the basement of a rented cabin in the mountains of North Carolina.
"We were back to playing in the basement like your high school rock bands," said Serletic, who co-wrote two of the album's songs with frontman Rob Thomas. "We'd spend a couple weeks at a time really honing these songs until we had something we felt really connected to."
The band then returned to an Atlanta studio to continue recording the album. Mad season by matchbox twenty features 13 songs that range from hard-charging rock to serene ballads to midtempo pop tunes.
Touring, Marriage Influence Recording
Serletic said the new album testifies to the bandmembers' growth as musicians — a result of two years on the road. The group features Thomas, guitarists Kyle Cook and Adam Gaynor , bassist Brian Yale and drummer Paul Doucette.
"They were a young band when we made that first record," Serletic said. "Every musician in the band has developed his own really unique musical approach. ... Technically, the band couldn't be in better form, and creativity, the ideas that were bouncing back and forth from the whole band was so exciting."
Thomas wrote all of the album's 13 songs, penning 10 alone. He and Serletic co-wrote the midtempo "Last Beautiful Girl" and the ballad "Bed of Lies," while the singer collaborated with Doucette on the rocker "Stop."
Both of the songs Serletic and Thomas wrote together came about during the band's retreat to the mountains. "Bed of Lies," like most of the album's songs, explores the emotional complexity of a relationship.
Serletic and Thomas, who are each newly married, wrote the lyrics after reflecting together "on the excitement about having lifelong companions and ... how we have to watch it so it doesn't go astray," the producer said.
"As a writer, Rob is really about those human-interaction moments," Serletic said of the album's themes. "I think that's why people gravitate to him as a writer, because he really goes into the essence of a relationship."
'Perfectly Set Up'
Thomas won three Grammys this year for his collaboration with Santana on the song "Smooth" (RealAudio excerpt), which Serletic produced. Thomas said in February that the song's success — and the bump it gave his stature as a songwriter and performer — didn't inflate his expectations for the new album.
"It's been such a high that there's really no other place to go but down," he said backstage at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards. "You don't want to get too ahead of yourself."
"Smooth" has provided matchbox twenty with a larger audience to work with, according to Chris Tanner, who from 1994–1995 booked an embryonic version of the group called Tabitha's Secret.
"Rob Thomas was a major rock star before he worked with Carlos Santana," Tanner said. "But because of his [increased visibility] and presence with every age level, I think it's perfectly set up for the album to do phenomenally well."
The track listing for mad season by matchbox twenty is: "Angry," "Black & White People," "Crutch," "Last Beautiful Girl," "If You're Gone," "Mad Season," "Rest Stop," "The Burn," "Bent," "Bed of Lies," "Leave," "Stop," and "You Won't Be Mine."
Matchbox twenty, who previously spelled their name "Matchbox 20," have sold nearly 7 million copies of Yourself or Someone Like You, according to SoundScan. The LP featured the hits "Push," "Real World" and "3 am."
The band will travel to Europe in June for an extensive tour, but only six dates have been announced so far.
Matchbox twenty tour dates:
June 10; Nurburgring, Germany; Rock Am Ring
June 11; Nuremberg, Germany; Rock Im Park
June 12; Hamburg, Germany; Grosse Freiheit 36
June 15; London, UK; Apollo Hammersmith
June 16; Manchester, UK; Manchester University
June 18; Glasgow; UK; Old Fruit Market
[ Mon., April 3, 2000 9:10 AM EDT ]

Angry -A midtempo, jangly song reminiscent of the BoDeans. "This was kind of me being sarcastic about the whole anger thing, and I'm trying to pat myself on the back about being a bigger man when I'm really not. It's me fighting with myself," says Thomas. "I wanted it to open the record because it seemed like if our songs were a train, it would connect to the last [album] and make one continuous record."
Black and White People -Horn-propelled pop pleasure written by Thomas eight years ago. "Part of me is just so glad this song is on the record," says Thomas. "When we did the last record, we didn't know what to do with it. It needed its own time to grow."
Crutch -A rush of words poured out of a relationship that left one partner feeling bitter and used. " I made it more universal," says Thomas, "but it's about my old guitar players from my last band. It's kind of my big finger to them. It's probably one of my favorites."
Last Beautiful Girl -Reflections on a relationship gone bad and a girl who knew all the right things to say at all the wrong times. Cool, '70s-style backing vocals surround the midtempo track."
If You're Gone-"I wrote this right after I met my wife," says Thomas. "We were separated for a few weeks and were on the phone all the time, and I was thinking, 'I met this wonderful person,' and I wondered if everything I was going through [with matchbox twenty's success] was going to make it too crazy to build a relationship."
Mad Season-The song took on a more universal tone but was originally about the wild ride that the band has been on since success hit, says Thomas. "The whole idea came from our mad season," he says. "It has nothing to do with being bad, it's just crazy. There are not handbooks for any of this."
Rest Stop -Written from the woman's point of view, this is about her having to end the relationship before she "loses her nerve." And the man's sad realization that she sees all his faults despite his efforts to hide them. "This is actually a true story," says Thomas. "I was hitchhiking to Daytona [Fla.] and met a woman, and I just wound up staying with her and her friends. She was driving me back, and she stopped somewhere in the middle of the night to wake me up and let me out about three miles from a rest stop."
The Burn -Vague track about just not having the energy to pull it all together and wondering why that bolt of ambition, "the burn," never hit.
Bent-About as optimistic a song as there is on the album "Bent" is a lover's plea that his intended help him through life. "It's a love song and a rock song; there's a hopeful tone to it," says Thomas. "It's kind of like the person is saying, 'As misguided as I may be, these are the things that it takes to be with me.'"
Bed Of Lies -Beautiful layered ballad about a wrenching lover's spat. "I was originally hearing this as a Bonnie Raitt song," says Thomas. "Matt was putting on the verses, and it took on this Peter Gabriel-esque turn."
Leave - Quiet ballad about the exact moment when the relationship goes sour and all that's left is the heartache.
Stop -Driving rocker about being fed up and scared and just ready to shed all the troubles.
You Won't Be Mine -Sultry, lean, jazzy number that highlights Thomas' voice and swells to include a 68-piece orchestra.
All songs are written by Rob Thomas. He co-wrote "Last Beautiful Girl" and "Bed of Lies" with the "Mad Season by matchbox twenty" producer, Matt Serletic, and "Stop" with Paul Doucette, the band's drummer.

"Mad Season by matchbox Twenty", Matchbox 20's long-awaited follow up to their multi-platinum, 1996 debut "Yourself or Someone Like You" is finally ready for a May 23 release on Atlantic Record. According to the April 1 issue of Billboard, the album's 13 tracks consist of an eclectic array of rockers like "Stop" (not a Jane's Addiction cover, mind you), ballads("Bed of Lies"), and ambitious forays into uncharted genres like orchestral jazz (the album closer "You Won't Be Mine," even features a 68 piece orchestra). Band leader Rob Thomas wrote all the material (the predominant theme of which is apparently relationships and their inevitable highs and lows), except for "The Last Beautiful Girl" and "Bed of Lies," which were co-written with Mad Season's producer Matt Serletic (who also produced Yourself...). Matchbox drummer Paul Doucette co-wrote "Stop". Matchbox 20 reportedly plan to begin touring in support of the new disc in either late Spring or Summer.

(3/28/00, 10 a.m. ET) - The new album Mad Season By Matchbox 20 (due May 23) reflects what the Matchbox 20 went through as they became megastars with their debut outing, Yourself Or Someone Like You. The first single from the album will be "Bent," which arrives at radio April 7. Other tracks on the album include "Angry," "Black & White People," "Crutch," "Last Beautiful Girl," "If You're Gone," "Mad Season," "Rest Stop," "The Burn," "Bed Of Lies," "Leave," "Stop," and "You Won't Be Mine."
Vocalist Rob Thomas told LAUNCH that he hopes to reach the level of Counting Crows's Adam Duritz in terms of honesty in songwriting. "I'd really try to come out of that," Thomas said. "I'd like to be able to be that person and say what's on my mind. You know, because as therapeutic as it all is to do something like this -- to be able to put down your feelings and be able to scream it -- I think it would be so much more if you were totally honest with yourself and said exactly what you meant. That's one of the things I liked about the Counting Crows record, I think, is that he was pretty honest about what he was writing about -- he was saying straight up where he was coming from. I think it takes a lot of guts. I think a lot more guts than people realize sometimes."
Thomas wrote all the tunes on the album, as he did with Yourself Of Someone Like You, although producer Matt Serletic helped the "Smooth" one with "Bed Of Lies" and "Last Beautiful Girl," and Matchbox 20 drummer Paul Doucette added his two cents to the song "Stop."

-- Darren Davis, New York

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