By PAUL CANTIN -- Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz
Sometimes, being a face in the crowd has its advantages, especially when you're a best-selling musician.
That's the view of Rob Thomas, singer with Matchbox Twenty, who says his band's success has come in spite of the fact that the individual band members don't have a high public profile -- a circumstance he hopes will continue with the release of their new album, "Mad Season By Matchbox Twenty" (out Tuesday).
"When we were at five million records (for their last album, "Yourself Or Someone Like You"), the only press we got was the fact that we never got any press," says Thomas via telephone from Atlanta, where the group is rehearsing for their upcoming tour.
"(The media) did this whole thing on how we were this faceless band and we had sold five million records, and nobody had any idea what we look like. We consider that the height of success," says Thomas.
"This meant that there was nothing except our music that had sold those records. We have never been particularly hip, which has worked in our favour. The whole time our record was gaining ground, that was the time of Hole and you name it. Beck, Puff Daddy. I'm trying to think of everybody who was on the cover of Spin while we were out.
"Quite frankly, the majority of them sold less records than we did, but they were all bigger stars than we were. To me, that is perfect. I would love to continue that way."
Thomas may have a tougher time maintaining that low profile now. His stature got a considerable boost recently with his guest-vocal turn on "Smooth," the Grammy-winning hit single that powered Carlos Santana's comeback.
"'Smooth' made it a little harder," he acknowledges.
"So now we will try to back off even more, not be out there so much that people get sick of you."
The group's individual profiles may be low, but expectations for "Mad Season" are high -- particularly given the fact that some naysayers are predicting Matchbox Twenty is headed for one-hit-wonder status, he adds.
"I understand we are not reinventing the wheel here. You can't really get too into other people's opinions. We, amongst our band, have so many opinions. You can't get mad at someone for not liking your record," he chuckles.
"That to me is the height of egotism: How could you not like my record? If you sell a diamond record and you are still worried that people don't like your record, you are a complete bastard, probably."
Thomas says the band was able to get out from underneath the mountain of pressure by pretending they were starting from scratch while writing and recording "Mad Season." He believes that's how they escaped the trap of making a record that's simply about the travails of fame and fortune.
"The I've-seen-a-million-faces-and-I've-rocked-them-all record, you know," he laughs.
"My opinion is if you sell a bunch of records, and then you come back and all you can write about is how you sold a bunch of records, you must be pretty shallow, because, what defined you before you did that? And is that all you've become? Is that all you can write about? Then you are probably an assh---.
"Our obligation to ourselves, emotionally and creatively, is in the studio. The writing process, getting in the studio, putting down the record. And here, now, with us rehearsing the tour, that is our obligation to ourselves," he says.
"Beyond that, it is up to everybody else. There is nothing we can do about it, other than, what we are going to do anyway, which is go out and play the best show we can. When you approach it that way, it kind of takes the pressure off, because it is totally out of our hands."