Whenever I’ve listened to Album 4, I’ve always felt there were some rough gems in there, but it mostly conveyed to me that the band had little gas in the tank at that point.
Yeah, I agree. Hoping we get some new tunes in the next few years. Very curious what they'd sound like now!
A new record has been in the can for a while now (just needs mixing and some other stuff) so I’m hoping it’ll be released sometime this year or next!
If you've ever watched the documentary (Bleeding Audio, I think) about them (I would really recommend it), then the somewhat half hearted B-sides and demos make some sense. They'd been grinding away for like a decade, had 3 records, had done decently well and could have all been better off if they'd just taken office jobs. The way things played out for them was really unfair (I won't spoiler it here, because it came as a shock to me during the doc) and it sounds like Shawn in particular was really hurt by the whole experience. I'll be curious to hear whatever they release (if they do), but I wouldn't expect much. Given they were largely from quite artsy/hippy backgrounds, I wouldn't be shocked if whatever they come up with is massively distant from the first 3. I mean, I'd love to hear some extension of the fizzy weirdness of Decomposer, but I think that time is long passed.
Decomposer is fantastic and A Band In Hope has like two, maybe three good songs so I sincerely hope whatever is next is just something kind of new again. I liked parts of Fortress Social Club. 2012 was great.
Maniac- Die Rad is such an amazing song. Unfortunately the album didn't live up to the hype I had for it.
Definitely takes some repeat listens to uncover the hooks on A Band In Hope, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I do like it now!
A Band In Hope rules. Doesn't quite hit the highs of Decomposer for me - I love every song on that album, but the run of "What Katie Said" through "Shoot Me In the Smile" is just unreal - but it's not far off the mark.
The Matches' Bleeding Audio doc was really well done. Finally caught up to it recently. It's truly a shame what was done to them.
Jon just pretty much confirmed an anniversary show for E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals is happening on his IG.
this will inevitably involve anniversary show(s), but IMO i'm hoping the WWWY folks come to their senses and book the Matches for October. Need an E. Von Dahl album play at the nostalgia fest, c'monnn
I mean, they played Say 18 at the last EVDKTL anniversary shows… but also gave a big speech before it about how horrible it is.
epitaph dropped the ball on promoting them, their manager screwed them over for years, missed radio opportunities, basically the same thing that happened to the starting line, just mis-managed. chain me free should have been a radio hit but it wasn't this song should have been released as a single from their second album, but it wasn't. i felt like it could've been a radio hit as well but what do i know lol they were like the perfect blend of pop punk and weird niche post rock? god bless the matches! forever underrated and underappreciated