The Matches
The Matches are an American rock band from Oakland, California, initially active from 1997 to 2009. Formed as the Locals, the group changed their name after five years to avoid conflict with a Chicago band of the same name. As the Matches, they self-released their debut album, E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals, in 2003, then signed to Epitaph Records, which re-released it the following year. Decomposer followed in 2006, seeing the band move from their pop punk roots in a more idiosyncratic direction with contributions from nine different record producers; it reached no. 18 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. With their third album, A Band in Hope, their sound became even more heavily layered and experimental; it was their only release to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching no. 179.
The band went on hiatus in 2009, releasing a digital album of previously unreleased songs, previously released B-sides and bonus tracks, and demos. Since 2014 they have reunited several times for shows and tours celebrating the ten-year anniversaries of each of their studio albums, resulting in three live albums and a new single. A documentary film about the band, titled Bleeding Audio, premiered at film festivals in 2020.
History
The Locals (1997–2002)
s Matt Esposito and Justin San Souci and freshman Matt Whalen started the band in 1997. Sophomore Shawn Harris saw them play at the school talent show and soon joined them: "I offered to play second guitar and add some original songs to the mix, and we spent the next four years getting noise complaints from neighbors." The four named their band the Locals. In 2000 they came to the attention of Miles Hurwitz, former assistant publisher of BAM, through his eighth-grade son. He attended one of their practices, later saying that "I saw a spark — talent, vocal charm, hook-tinged material, musical accomplishment and much potential. And much to be improved." Hurwitz, 28 years the bands members' senior, became their manager. He would play a critical role in their career, co-writing their songs with Harris and other band members, producing some of their tracks, directing some of their music videos, and participating in creative decisions including planning the group's image, wardrobe, and photographs. In their later album credits, the band nicknamed him "The Wizard". "Miles kept us together," said Harris in 2008; "We didn't know we could be in a band. We didn't know how to make that jump We'll work with him forever. He's an integral part of our equation."After graduating, Esposito left the band to attend the United States Naval Academy, and was replaced by Jon Devoto. The Locals self-released a six-song demo and a three-song EP. The band members took jobs as kitchen hands at historic San Francisco music venue the Fillmore, where they would watch bands perform weekly; Harris worked as a cook while Whalen and San Souci were servers, hoping that this would get their band an opportunity to perform there. They took vocal lessons, and Hurwitz expanded their musical palette by having them listen to albums by Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Bob Dylan. "He was a history teacher for a while," said Harris; "He made what we were doing seem more important and relevant. Subtly at first and then more and more, that set us apart from the other bands in the genre we play in."
The Locals built up a following in the East Bay. Not readily accepted by the entrenched punk rock scene based around the 924 Gilman Street venue in Berkeley, they instead become popular at Oakland all ages venue iMusicast, where they launched a series of shows called "L3: Live, Loud, and Local". "We could barely play," said Harris in 2016; "like we broke all of our amps at every show, I spent more time crowd surfing than playing my guitar. I couldn't really tell you how to play a power chord at the time; we barely could play. But we put on this show that people came to and they freaked out, so I started focusing on lyrics and making songs have more substantial content." They engaged in what they called "commo promo" tactics, playing brief, unannounced acoustic sets outside schools, dormitories, shopping malls, restaurants, and music venues such as Slim's. They would go to local high schools, enter classes that were in session, toss stacks of flyers in the air, and run through the halls strumming their guitars and singing their songs until they were chased off campus. These tactics were successful in drawing hundreds of young fans to their shows. "We didn't mean to start a completely different scene," recalled Harris a few years later, "but we ended up doing so. While I love punk rock, I also don't love punk rock. I think it's just as much of a dick as it is a savior. I love Bad Religion and Rancid and Green Day, but I'm not gonna throw my fist up in the air for the institution of punk rock."
In late 2002 the group was contacted by a Chicago band also called the Locals, led by frontwoman Yvonne Doll, threatening a lawsuit if they did not change their name. They complied, renaming themselves the Matches.
''E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals'' (2003–2005)
The Matches recorded their debut album, E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals, in a series of basements and living rooms and self-released it in February 2003. The title was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Yvonne Doll and the band's forced name change. Harris and San Souci created the album's artwork. Through self-promotion and performances with bands including Reel Big Fish, Lit, and Zebrahead, the Matches gained attention for their energetic live shows and sold over 4,000 copies of the album without the support of a record label. A show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California on October 21, 2003 was filmed, and released the following July as part of Kung Fu Records' live concert DVD series The Show Must Go Off! The band contributed the song "December Is for Cynics" to the compilation A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas, released in November 2003.By year's end, the Matches had signed to Epitaph Records. The label had E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals re-mixed by Joe Barresi and re-released it in May 2004 with a slightly altered track list. The Matches performed on that summer's Warped Tour, which they would repeat in the three subsequent years. They appeared, along with the A.K.A.s, as guests on the Dwarves track "Kids Today" on the compilation Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2, released in August 2004. That November, a music video was released for the song "Chain Me Free", and the band went on tour opening for Yellowcard.
At this time, the Matches' music was rooted in pop punk. Reviewing the re-release of E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals, Rolling Stone remarked that the band "join the long list of punk-pop bands that have made their clichéd mark on today's music scene" and "wear the influences of Green Day and Rancid proudly." The Dallas Observer called it "an energetic romp through the same ideas lots of pop-punk bands romp through: broken relationships, boredom, depression, the lure of the road", while AllMusic remarked that the band was "young enough not to raise eyebrows at the punk-pop kiddie park. But they have a better grasp of dynamics than much of their peer group".
The Matches teamed up with Zebrahead for a cover version of Oingo Boingo's rendition of the Willie Dixon song "Violent Love", released in May 2005 on Dead Bands Party: A Tribute to Oingo Boingo. That July saw the release of Takeover Records 3-Way Issue No. 2, a split album which they shared with Near Miss and Reeve Oliver, with each band contributing three tracks. Harris and San Souci created the artwork for the album. The Matches played the Warped Tour again that summer. Harris began illustrating with Melbourne-based artist Emilee Seymour; together they formed the design firm Oxen, creating the artwork for the next two Matches albums as well as for Epitaph labelmates Matchbook Romance's 2006 album Voices.
''Decomposer'' and ''A Band in Hope'' (2006–2008)
The Matches made a guest appearance on MC Lars's album The Graduate, released in March 2006, performing on the track "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock". After a stint on that year's Warped Tour, their second album, Decomposer, was released on Epitaph that September. The album was recorded at various studios with nine different producers, including Hurwitz, Matt Rad, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, Nick Hexum of 311, and John Feldmann of Goldfinger. It built on their prior pop punk sound, adding idiosyncratic elements of pop, rock, punk, and electronics. Singles were released for the songs "You Know Me" and "Salty Eyes", and music videos for "Papercut Skin" and "Salty Eyes". Hurwitz directed and came up with the concept for the "Salty Eyes" video, an homage to the D. A. Pennebaker film Dont Look Back, in which Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" plays while Dylan holds up and discards cue cards with selected words and phrases from the lyrics; in their video, the Matches replaced the cue cards with old television sets, creating a chaotic scene. A few weeks after its release, Decomposer peaked at number 18 on Billboards Independent Albums chart. Extensive touring followed: By March 2008, the Matches had done four tours of Australia, seven of Europe, and three Warped Tours.Their third album, A Band in Hope, was released in March 2008. Like the previous album, A Band In Hope was the result of the band's collaboration with several different producers: Tim Armstrong, Mike Green, John Feldmann, Nick Hexum, Miles Hurwitz, John Paulsen and Paul Ruxton. The band embarked on that spring's Alternative Press Tour with All Time Low, The Rocket Summer, and Forever the Sickest Kids to support it. The album found the band moving further away from pop punk, incorporating elements of album-oriented rock, mainstream Top 40 paradigms, and alternative rock. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "a tidy mass of musical ideas — metal, glam and punk all mingle, lots of vocals, textured, carefully layered sound, sometimes like a pocket-size Queen." Meanwhile ' stated plainly, "This album is epic. There is so much growth in both their musicianship and lyrics that it's hard to believe that this is the same band that released their last two albums." An AllMusic review also drew a comparison to Queen, as well as to Andrew Lloyd Webber, saying "the Matches don't seem to know exactly what they're doing big chunks of A Band in Hope are almost shockingly unexpected, verging at times on just plain weird." On that note, The Flat Hat noted: "what seems like the emergence of a different band on each track... might sound like a recipe for disaster. It isn’t. The album’s thumping drums, clean guitars and soaring vocals will stop you in your tracks." This writer also asked whether "operatic falsettos, erupting in a fury of crashing thunder and straight up Les Mis-style gang vocals Cheesy?" and concluded "Sure, but tell that to your fist, because it’ll still be raised high." Reflecting on the album a year and half later, Harris remarked that "on Decomposer and A Band in Hope, we played around with a lot of studio tricks—especially Decomposer, which was us learning about a bunch of studio tricks. And then on A Band in Hope, we got carried away a number of times." "Wake the Sun" was released as the album's single, and music videos were released for it and "Yankee in a Chip Shop". According to Harris, Epitaph did not expect the album to perform well commercially, but opted to release it anyway. It ultimately reached number 24 on the Independent Albums chart, number 179 on the Billboard'' 200, and number 99 on Australia's ARIA Charts.