Melisma/Atlantic recording artist matchbox twenty returns to active duty with the release of their most accomplished and vital work to date, the eagerly anticipated "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE." From robust rockers like "Cold" to tender gems like "The Difference," the album represents a remarkably realized expression of the band's musical potency and power. Alongside a slate of extraordinary new songs penned by the band's Grammy Award-winning lead vocalist Rob Thomas, the set also features writing contributions from bandmates Paul Doucette and Kyle Cook. As a result, the album flashes with collaborative spirit and celebratory energy. With "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE," their third outing, matchbox twenty has crafted a richly satisfying collection of heartfelt and passionate rock 'n' roll.
After nearly two years of solid touring in support of 2000's "mad season by matchbox twenty," the band pulled off the road in October 2001, treating themselves to a much-needed respite. They spent time with their friends and families, as well as embarking on extracurricular activities - Thomas penned songs for artists like Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, and Marc Anthony; guitarist Cook worked with his other band, The New Left; drummer Doucette and guitarist Adam Gaynor wrote and recorded songs of their own.

In April 2002, matchbox twenty reunited in Nashville on the occasion of the "Willie Nelson and Friends: Stars and Guitars" concert. While in Music City USA, the five bandmates decided to spend a week in the studio to begin the process of making record no. 3.

"We never see each other during our time off," Thomas says, "so we played each other solo stuff we'd been working on, looked at each other's new I-Pods... we just got to know each other again."

A month later, the band reconvened in Los Angeles in order "to really suss some stuff out," according to Thomas.

"We just started throwing ideas around," Doucette elaborates. "Those first pre-production meetings basically consisted of, 'Alright, who's got songs? Who's got fragments of songs?'"

"Then we spent some time - but not too much time - working out each song," bassist Brian Yale says, "doing them in different tempos and different keys and different grooves, really assembling the arrangements of each of the tracks."

From the very start, the band's goal was to strip down the matchbox twenty sound to its core - great songs, powerful performances. Much of the record's vibrancy was born from the band's extensive roadwork. With nearly one thousand gigs under their belts, matchbox twenty was anxious to bring some of their on-stage muscle into the studio.

"When we play live, t that's the real matchbox twenty," Gaynor says. "There's Kyle and me, playing guitars and singing harmonies, there's Paul wailing on the drums, there's Pookie running around playing his bass, and on top of all that, there's Rob's incredible voice. It's about as energetic and as raw of a sound as you can get, and we wanted to put that onto our record."

"It's a cliché, but we really wanted to get back to basics," Cook says, "back to rock and roll."

"There's no question that a lot of this record's sound came from the fact that we toured so much," Thomas says. "After 'mad season,' we got out on the road and played those songs night after night, and I'd think, 'That's the way they should be.'... This is the most rockin' record we've done, but at the same time, there's a warmness to it, a real organic quality that I just love."

In some ways, the stripped-down sonic approach of "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE" is also a reaction to the ornate and intricate production sound of "mad season..."

"The attitude on the second record was, 'Let's throw everything we can on there, regardless of whether or not it needs to be there,'" Doucette says. "We were given a rare opportunity to do that sort of thing, and I'm glad we did it, because now we're not sitting around wondering, 'What would it be like to put a 70-piece orchestra on every song?' We've done that."

"It was a very natural step for us to take as a band," Cook says. "We had a great time experimenting with what the studio can offer to a song, creating these gigantic arrangements with tons of countermelodies and things like that. I think this record is more of a combination between the two, between the simplicity of three or four instruments and a voice, and a grander kind of presentation."

"On the last record everybody was left alone with their parts, letting each of us showcase our strengths as a musician," Thomas says. "This time we wanted to show that we were a band, not just five individual musicians, or four guys backing a singer. So everybody was together in the studio at all times. It was great. We kept pushing each other - 'Come on, let's fucking pump it up!'"

matchbox twenty officially began recording "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE" in June 2002, settling into the renowned Bearsville Studios in bucolic Woodstock, New York.

"The overall vibe definitely comes from what we did up there," Thomas enthuses. "We were in this legendary studio out in the woods, away from everything. We'd stroll in, looking like barefoot mountain men, and jam every song into shape until we got all the parts the way that we wanted them. It was all very natural, very spontaneous."

"That's the only place I've ever been where every ten feet, you see deer," Gaynor notes. "There's deer on the road, deer in the backyard; when you come down for breakfast, there's a deer at the grill making some bacon. It's pretty unbelievable. It definitely gives you a nice Zen feeling, working in a place like that."

The band followed the Bearsville sessions by heading down to the bright lights of the big city, wrapping up recording in early October at the Hit Factory in New York City.

"When we came down to New York, we brought everything back into this century again," Thomas says. "We were able get those great guitar sounds going, add new layers to the whole thing. The tone that we were looking for - that 70's rock vibe - was already in place, so we knew exactly what we were looking for. The trick was trying to keep it as organic as possible."

As with their two previous albums, the "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE" sessions were helmed by matchbox twenty's unofficial sixth member, producer Matt Serletic. The Grammy Award-winning Serletic took more of a hands-off approach to the recording this time around, allowing the band to find their voice and helping them to filter their ideas into a cohesive vision.

"It's been way more collaborative," Doucette says. "We had a lot more to bring to the table on this record. Matt was very encouraging, like, 'Go ahead, here's the reins. Take over.' Then when we were done, he'd listen and make suggestions - 'That's cool' or 'You may want to change that part.' Basically he did what a producer should do, and it was great."

"Everybody has so many ideas that you need to have a funnel," Gaynor says, "someone who can process all that information. That's why we're so lucky to have a producer like Matt."

Along with Serletic, the band was ably assisted behind the board by engineer Greg Collins (System of a Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and mixer Jim Scott (Wilco, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers).

"We wanted to work with the people who worked on some of our favorite records," Thomas explains. "Everything now is so processed. We wanted guitars that sounded like guitars, drums that sounded like drums."

"We were all heavily influenced by 70's rock," Yale says. "That's what we grew up with. So we wanted to try and get that sound onto a record, because we all felt that that's truly the kind of the band that we are."

The band's all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude extended to the writing. Though Thomas remains the band's primary composer, a pair of tunes on the album are Thomas/Serletic collaborations and, most significantly, a pair - "Feel" and "Soul" - are joint Thomas/Doucette/Cook offerings. "It's really great how this band has so many talented songwriters," Thomas enthuses.

"'Feel' evolved from this riff that always surfaced during sound check," Cook says, "something that everybody had a great time rocking out on. Then in pre-production, it developed into a song."

"We were in Nashville and I started playing this little country-rock melody," Doucette recalls. "Then I thought, 'Wait a minute - I can take this melody and put Kyle's riff on top of it.' Rob took that and wrote the verses, then we got together and worked out the chorus. Again, it all just came together very naturally."

In addition to the group efforts, the album includes "Could I Be You," written solely by Doucette. The song was initially intended as part of the drummer's extracurricular solo project, but Thomas had other ideas. "That's such a great song," he says. "I had been hearing Paul working on it for a good year and a half, until finally I told him that he couldn't put it on his solo record. It was a matchbox twenty song."

"I wrote it when things started really happening for us," Doucette says of his composition. "I was looking around, thinking, 'Why aren't I happy with all this?' Everyone was having such a great time, and I wasn't. And I could not figure out why. I realized that things aren't always how you think they're going to be. The sad part is that you're not really acknowledging how good things actually are."

"Disease," the album's first single, "definitely rocks," comments Doucette, "but it's also got strings and an almost disco melody going on, so at the same time, it's one of the most poppy songs we've ever done."

"It's like Monsters of Rock goes to Studio 54," Thomas laughs. "I've had a good feeling about 'Disease' for a long time, and I knew a while back that I wanted it to be the first single." As Billboard enthused: "'Disease' goes a lot further than the majority of today's radio fodder, with a creative, unpredictable melody, a thoughtful lyric about shedding an addictive romance, and Thomas' most passionate, unleashed vocal to date - truly."

"Disease" - along with tracks like the explosive, gospel-driven "Downfall" - displays the arrival of a new element to matchbox twenty's music, a loose and danceable exuberance that serves to push the sonic envelope that much further.

"One of the things about this record that I'm really happy about is the groovability," Gaynor notes. "It makes you want to move your hips a little bit. It's more sensual, more sexy than anything we've ever done. And even the more laidback numbers have that vibe."

A remarkably confident work, "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE" shows off one of the world's premier rock 'n' roll bands at the very peak of their potential. The album ups the ante in every way, finding increased musical fervor along with a richly developed depth of songwriting. For the five members of matchbox twenty, the album truly proves that this band is much more than the sum of its parts.

"We wanted 'MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE' to be something that everybody in the band felt comfortable with and attached to," Thomas says. "Every record we've made, right before we go into the studio, we think we're going to want to kill each other and that we're never going to make another record again. But when we finished this record, we all looked at each other and said, 'Hey, that was great. This is what we should do with the next record...'"