Matchbox Twenty is back

By Dalia Wheatt, tbt* staff writer
Published January 25, 2008

Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20. Also: Alanis Morissette swears like a sailor
	[Times file photo]

Matchbox Twenty

Catch the now-foursome with Alanis Morissette and Mute Math at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $49.75-$77.75. (813) 301-2500; www.icepalace.com.

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Guitarist Kyle Cook is sick of being the new kid in Matchbox Twenty.

"I still feel like the new guy. I think I'll always be the new guy, 'cause I was the last guy to join," Cook said.

Cook has been with the pop-rock band since it formed in Orlando a decade ago. But by then, singer Rob Thomas, drummer Paul Doucette and bassist Brian Yale had already been playing together, along with a revolving door of other members, for five years under the name Tabitha's Secret.

Fellow guitarist Adam Gaynor joined Matchbox around the same time as Cook, but in 2005 Gaynor left the group for "personal" reasons, making Cook the unrivaled newest member of the band. At 32, he's also the youngest.

Cook joked that he's desperate to add another musician to mix, just so he won't be the new guy anymore.

"We need a bluegrass record with a spoons solo," Cook said. "I'm gonna work on that."

For now, Cook and the guys are working on criss-crossing the country with Alanis Morissette and alt-rockers Mute Math on their Exile in America tour, which stops by the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday. This will be Matchbox's first tour in more than four years, their first as a foursome and their first since Thomas detoured into a solo career. Expect plenty of numbers from the band's October release, Exile on Mainstream, an album of greatest hits (Push, 3 A.M., Real World) that also features some new stuff, like the pulsating How Far We've Come.

Cook recently chatted with tbt* by phone.

Explain the album title Exile on Mainstream.

It's an obvious play off the Stones' record, Exile on Main St., which we're all fans of. What I get from it is that we've had a lot of success at radio and we've been very mainstream in the commercial sense, but critics have always sort of given us some s---.

What do you think is your most underrated song?

Probably a song called Long Day, which is the first single that didn't really get its fair day in the sun.

These new tracks on the album are your first recordings as a foursome. What's the hardest part about going from five members to four?

For us it's been a really smooth transition. Adam personally was a really nice guy, but we struggled a bit in studio with some things on the recording end. Adam was the fifth member. I think from a musical point of view, the experience is a little cleaner. I think the hard part is visually. You build this brand, and you get used to that idea of these people being the brand, and then when you slowly start taking people away from that, I guess in some people's eyes it could get less valid or something.

Are you a big Guitar Hero fan? Is it easier or harder to play the video game since you actually play the guitar?

No, I'm not. It's harder to play the game. My little brother, who doesn't play a lick of guitar, will just smoke me on that game. And I don't get it. A lot of the songs I know, because some of them are from my era, like Sweet Child O' Mine (by) Guns N' Roses. I'm like, "Dude, I know how to play that song (on a real guitar). How are you smokin' me on this game?" It's just tough for me. I think it's 'cause I'm a player; I can't get used to this little color-coded thing and looking at light beams coming at my head. But I think people that aren't guitar players do like it. For instance, Rob loves it and plays it all the time, and he's really good at it.

What's the craziest rumor you've ever heard about your band?

That Rob was sleeping with Tom Cruise. (laughs)

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 09:06:25]