Biography!
Click on the band members for seperate biography's or scroll down for a general one.
Adam Gaynor
Rob Thomas
Kyle Cook
Paul Doucette
Brian Yale
Rob Thomas-who was born on a military base in Germany and reared in the southeast-honed his songwriting abilities while fronting in a variety of local bands in his high school years (he lists such artists as Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Al Green and R.E.M. as influences). While enjoying the local scene, Thomas was introduced to matchbox 20 drummer Paul Doucette and bassist Brian Yale. After playing together for a few years in bands and touring regionally, the threesome (Thomas, Doucette, and Yale) decided to start a new band-what was to become matchbox 20. After recruiting the talents of Adam Gaynor from Criteria Recording Studios in Miami and Kyle Cook from the Atlanta Institute of Music, the lineup was complete.
The band quickly joined forces with producer Matt Serletic, who co-produced the Collective Soul albums, and began tracking demos. It wasn't long before the project attracted attention from both coasts. And soon matchbox 20 found itself added to the Lava/Atlantic roster. The band wasted no time and headed back into the studio with Serletic to record their debut album, Yourself Or Someone Like You.
Rob Thomas is a storyteller whose lyrics focus mainly on personal relationships, and he delivers his lines with a certain intimacy, like two friends sharing a good secret. Yourself Or Someone Like You builds momentum from the strong vocal delivery of principal songwriter Thomas, who doesn't so much sing these songs as bite into them. He's complimented by the background vocals of lead guitarist Kyle Cook and rhythm guitarist Adam Gaynor, whose electric and acoustic guitar arrangements are combined with the rhythm section of drummer Paul Doucette and bassist Brian Yale.
The instinctive union among these five musicians--immediately evident during the band's electrifying live shows--is a reminder of what can be achieved when musicians never lose sight of the fact that the song is the most important thing. "I think we get up there and try as honestly as we can to convey the songs as energetically and heartfelt as we can," says Thomas. "These are our songs and we really feel good about 'em. I don't think we try and put any dramatics into it, but after a show when we're just talking to people, they'll tell us, You know you were so into it, that was so intense to watch.' To us, we were just playing the songs and losing ourselves in them. It's like if you come to a rehearsal, you're gonna see the same thing. It's not something that we can help really."