It’s taken over 25 years, but Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana are over people covering their Grammy-winning song, “Smooth”.
The Matchbox Twenty frontman made the tongue-in-cheek comment during his solo headline show in Sydney last month, and, appearing on a recent episode of the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast, Thomas said he stands by what he said.
“Carlos agrees,” Thomas said.
Though the song was released in 1999, Thomas says he and Santana still talk “all the time” and have a very close relationship.
“Like, two days ago, I got a text from him. He’ll text me a random Whitney Houston video with no context.” he said.
“He’ll just do that with anything. He’ll send me a thing of him and Miles Davis playing, you know? Like, some club, just but doesn’t write anything, just sends me the thing. And then he’ll write, ‘I hope you and your queen are having a blessed day.’ It’s always very ethereal kind of stuff. And I’m like, ‘You’re smoking hash right now.’
Following its release in June 1999, “Smooth” stayed at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for 12 straight weeks and won the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2000.
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During the podcast, Thomas also confirmed that Matchbox Twenty will return to Australia in 2027 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You.
The band are also still kicking around ideas of how they’ll start the milestone tour, which could include some gigs on Broadway.
“We’re working on it. It’s more of a residency, but we just thought instead of being in Vegas, it looks better on the T-shirt if we do it [on Broadway]. I’m a New Yorker, you know?” Thomas said.
“It’s very early stages,” he said.
“Matchbox Twenty guitarist Paul Doucette] and I, like two nights ago, I was up after this first show in Sydney, we were texting each other some ideas back and forth. But they’re letting me get done with this [tour] and then we’re gonna start talking about it.”
Watch or listen to the full episode below.
