The Matches

Tue 25th Mar, 2008 in Features

The Matches, known for their charismatic live performances and infectiously quirky tunes, will delight fans with the release of their latest, highly anticipated album A Band in Hope.

Shawn Harris, singer and guitarist, begins the interview with an apology. “Sorry, I’ve got to call you back later; I thought I had time between interviews.” After a moment of confusion, he apologises and informs me that he has only been back in America for two hours and he was on the phone to his mother. After a pre-warning of his immense jet-lag, he precedes to talk about his recent Australian tour as part of the Soundwave festival.

Having just completed another round of Australian shows, The Matches, consisting of Shawn along with Jon Devoto on lead guitar, Justin San Souci as bassist and Matt Whalen as the drummer, are no strangers to these shores. His description of the recent shows is: “Summer-y. I have naturally brown skin, so I’ve never had to apply sunscreen.” Obviously a contrasting climate for his home town of Oakland. As for his favourite show of the tour, “the two Sydney and Melbourne sideshows. It was personal. It’s rad to play to a couple thousand people, and winning over a bunch who don’t know you, but it’s great to play to a packed house.”

A Band In Hope’s predecessor Decomposer has only been out for a year an a half. Miraculously, The Matches latest instalment all came together in three to four months. With the album being leaked, Shawn was not fazed. “Great, it’s been done for so long, it can be lonely playing new songs,” he reasons, “but we’ve already had immense sing-a-longs for the last two months.”

This album was recorded in nine different locations with “a bunch of different producers. That’s our way.” As for the progression on this album and whether it surpasses their other two full lengths, Shawn believes that all of their albums “simply snapshot who we are at the time of making it. I think it’s a better indication than when I was seventeen when the first album came out, and twenty-two at the second. It’s not better, it’s different. Fans have been growing with our band. Not to discredit all earlier stuff, [it’s] different, not necessarily better.”

The new album also introduces Shawn as the pianist, a talent which he has not displayed before. “I wrote the song while driving and saw it on the piano keys. I sounded it out as I was imagining. I laid down the vocals and piano and wanted to do the harmonies, but Jon wasn’t there. There was way too much of me to do harmonies.” They then decided that a role-reversal was in order, with Shawn taking a back seat with his vocal duties to let Jon take charge because of his “great bravado.” The result? The track Darkness Rising proves to be the epic ballad of the album.

The Matches display an obvious appreciation for the success of their band. “One thing about our band is that we’ve been lucky from the start.” Shawn claims they had the same beginning as any garage band. “We started out early high school at 14 or 15 covering Rancid and Green Day. We were lucky to meet our manager early,” despite the fact that they “weren’t very good.”

It was their manager who laid the blueprint for who they are today, citing Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks and The Clash – literally the “influences of our influence.” This throwback influence “set us apart from bands we were playing with early on. We weren’t mimicking Saves the Day or Jawbreaker. We found ourselves by tracing the roots back. Nobody makes music better than Bob Dylan.” His belief is that standout bands of today are Muse and Biffy Clyro, with the primary reason being that they “search deeper than other bands.”

A Band in Hope also displays some incredible artwork, mainly a white flag encapsulating the essence of the album as well as the multiple title contexts. It also demonstrates the band’s strong political opinions.

“I was fascinated with the idea of flags,” Shawn explains. “I first wanted to burn all flags. They are made to unite people but they divide people. I took a white flag…it’s a proud symbol of surrender.”

This was the musical and lyrical inspiration behind the album – the thought of “abandoning hope.” The focus centered around Shawn’s opinions on the dramatic contradictions of the world, with the symbolism of tendrils yanking down the – œcloth’ which is the “power of good and evil.”

“The President of this country uses the good and evil analogy in a tragic way,” Shawn laments. “It’s used to control people, thinking that we’re going to war to rid the world of good and evil. There’s no such thing, it’s in everyone. It’s in you and me. It’s worked for the government, so why can’t it work for The Matches album?”

The Matches’ third album A Band In Hope is out now through Epitaph.