This week’s guest on the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast is US artist and Matchbox Twenty frontman, Rob Thomas!
Thomas just wrapped a headline tour of Australia and New Zealand in support of his latest solo album, All Night Days, and jumped on the podcast during his three-show trip in Sydney earlier this month.
On this episode, Thomas talks to Rolling Stone AU/NZ Editor-in-Chief Neil Griffiths about the tour, how he managed to get Teddy Swims on stage with him in Adelaide, and some major plans for the 30th anniversary of Matchbox Twenty’s debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You.
Watch or listen to the full episode below.
In our last conversation, you spoke about embracing nostalgia and that being a gift. But being at your show, there was such a healthy mix of younger and older fans who, while they’d love to hear Matchbox Twenty songs, they want to hear your solo and new music. This wasn’t a nostalgia show.
I think a lot of those older people are bringing their kids and they’re bringing their grandkids. I was a Fleetwood Mac fan because my mum was a Fleetwood Mac fan. At the very, very beginning, you do it for a myriad of reasons, right? And then if you’re lucky enough to have success and that success goes on for a little bit, then you realise you have an initiated group of people. There’s casual fans. There are people that, you know, if you say name my top five artist, they’re not gonna say Matchbox Twenty, but if you say Matchbox Twenty, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re good,’ That’s who you make the new music for – those people that are really in on the ride and they wanna know the whole thing.
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All Night Days had an interesting journey, didn’t it?
I made this record, and then I had a whole plan, had a tour and everything set up, and then had a parting with Atlantic Records after 30 years, which was a weird spot to be in. And so I had a small amount of panic. I had it all planned out, and I didn’t want to have to start cancelling things. And luckily, Monte Lipman, who runs Universal in the States, is my neighbour. I just texted him – I wanted some advice. And he was like, ‘Oh, welcome to Republic, dude. You’re in.’
Next year is the 30th anniversary of Matchbox Twenty’s debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You. In our last chat you mentioned Australia is in the plans for 2027, and some plans to play 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? It seemed like it’d be fun to take over a Broadway theatre and do something.
We want to do something unique and not just play a bunch of shows. It’s very early stages. 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 and then we’re gonna start talking about it.
After this tour and before the Matchbox Twenty plans, will you take some time off?
I have this friend of mine who’s a very successful TV guy. He has this idea for a TV show that’s kind of a Larry David-style show with me, called Rob Thomas Can’t Say No. And it’s just a talk show. Just about a guy, me, who is a successful musician that lives in Bedford, but also just gets himself in trouble because he’s just trying to please everybody all the time. So it’s like an anti-Larry David. Everything goes horribly wrong. But only because I’m trying to do the right thing and be nice.
We just got some writers on board. I put a hold on it last year because I wasn’t as available as they would need me to be. And I didn’t want to waste anybody’s time.
