Matchbox Twenty: first tour as a foursome

By Dalia Wheatt

St. Petersburg Times

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," he said.

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

In 1995, Atlantic Records offered Tabitha's Secret a contract. The group dropped its two guitar players, replaced them with Cook and Adam Gaynor and changed its name to Matchbox 20 (then later, the more sophisticated Twenty). In 1996 the group released its debut album, "Yourself or Someone Like You," which included the radio hits "Push," "Real World" and "3 am." After 10 years and 28 million records sold, Gaynor left the group for personal reasons (it's unclear whether Gaynor was the dumper or dumpee), making Cook the unrivaled newest member of the band. At 32, he is also the youngest.

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

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

For now, Cook and the guys are working on criss-crossing the country with Alanis Morissette on their "Exile in America" tour, which stops at Scope in Norfolk on Sunday.

This will be Matchbox's first tour in more than four years, their first as a foursome and their first since frontman Thomas detoured into a solo career. Expect plenty of numbers from the band's October release, "Exile on Mainstream," a greatest-hits album that also features some new stuff, including the pulsating "How Far We've Come."

Cook recently chatted with the St. Petersburg Times.

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 (trouble about it).

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. We had signed to a label called Lava Records, which was a subsidiary of Atlantic.... They were working that single in the very beginning, and they just never could really turn that song into a hit. We all felt that it was going to be that one on that record that everyone was going to know us for, you know? We actually took a poll when we were in the studio.

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?

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.

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

That Rob was sleeping with Tom Cruise.... Our manager manages George Michael. Part of the joke was, "Well, that seems a lot more logical than Tom Cruise."