Zero Magazine covers The Matches!
Always known for taking the road less traveled, The Matches are set to release their sophomore effort, “Decomposer”, and showcase just how far down that road they are willing to go.
For a long time now it has seemed that the record-recording handbook stated that you had to find a solid producer to make a good album. Not for The Matches though. They decided to cover all their bases and use nine. That’s nine producers. On one album. I’m telling you….the road less traveled. “Our recording session was nearly more like a tour of studios,” said vocalist/guitarist Shawn Harris. With a line up that consists of ingenious producers including Tim Armstrong of Rancid (Transplants, Pink), Goldfinger’s John Feldman (The Used, Story of the Year), blink-182’s Mark Hoppus (Motion City Soundtrack), Nick Hexum of 311, and the ever famous Epitaph founder Mr. Brett of Bad Religion, among others, Decomposer boasts 13 tracks that each have a completely separate-yet-amalgamated feel.
“Part of the idea was to get these guys in bands that are also producers to really get creative on the songs. We wanted to do an album that didn’t sound like one sitting. We wanted to have something eclectic because our last album we kind of holed away in our studio and focused on this one thing and didn’t let the outside world through the blinds you know? On this record we wanted to get all of these things in our head out and expand on our sound and octopus off of our last record.”
Amidst the 13-tracks, any listener will be able to hear the variety created by the foursome who also includes Justin SanSouci (bass/backup vocals), Jon Devoto (lead guitar/backup vocals), and Matt Whalen (drums). Decomposer includes a wide range of tracks, from selections like “Salty Eyes”, a beatle-esque song that is almost reminiscent of Queen, to “Papercut Skin” which sounds like Devo on meth, to an almost David Bowie tribute called “My Soft and Deep”…just to name a few. Don’t be fooled though, even though each song may differ from the next, The Matches are still very much in the songs and fans will surely be pleasantly surprised.
Fans will not only get to hear the new songs on September 12th of this year when Decomposer finds it’s way to the shelves, but they can also expect to catch The Matches live both in the states and abroad. The boys will play two CD release shows in San Francisco in early September only to travel across the pond to showcase both new and old songs to Britain, though it won’t be the first time they have been outside the mainland.
“Our first tour out of the country…actually our first tour in general was to Bosnia. We totally faked that we were a popular American band. Our drummer’s father was involved in a charity that was helping to build elementary schools and so he told us they were looking for American bands and we’d actually never even played a show. We managed to, over the phone, get over there and we had our flight paid for and everything. We headlined a tour over there with a young band from Bosnia as support. It went really well and they had no idea we were faking it. We were freaked out. It was the first show of that tour and we played Sarejevo in front of like 1,200 people.”
Now with a bit more experience under their belt, The Matches have tentative plans to tour extensively in the fall and through the new year, all the way into the summer.
“We get back from the UK in early October, and I think we are going pretty much right out on tour after that and we are going to stay out on the road pretty much as long as we can and the plan is with the next record… we are pretty much already recording it. Pretty much in any holes we have in our schedule, we keep recording. Our thought here is keep recording keep recording keep recording so that as soon as this touring cycle is over and Epitaph says ok next record, were just basically giving them the art.”
The road that The Matches have chosen to take does not seem an easily chosen one, but it is one they have gladly chosen to take, and it seems to be working. Their history has shown that it has been uphill until now, and only uphill ahead. Not to say that it has been completely smooth, but traveled hard with a lot of hard work under their belts. The best part is that they are gaining a lot of great help along the way. Harris attributes this to not only hard work, but to the input of the producers on Decomposer, a “f**king awesome label” (that label being Epitaph), and to the fans. In the liner notes of Decomposer, The Matches extend gratitude to the fans, writing “We are the sum of all of you, and all of you are some of us.” The Matches plan to continue their travels and see what’s in store ahead.
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