Before that incident, the Matches had been surprisingly devoid of lucky breaks. Despite massive critical acclaim and a fervent fanbase, the group has never caught fire in the same way as its musical peers (Panic at the Disco, Fall Out Boy). The group’s third, more pop-oriented record, “A Band in Hope,” reflects the band’s optimism about hitting the next level…and staying true to its art. Harris spoke with us from the road, where the band is currently playing on the Alternative Press Tour.
You asked any fan of yours who downloaded your album for free to go out and do something nice for a stranger, and send you the proof. Did that work out?
Yeah! We got some great videos. I was expecting most people to just do something simple, like putting roses in someone’s shoes at the gym. But instead, we’re having people send us elaborate art projects, or doing something unusual like decorating trees in Times Square with little crystal boxes. And, oddly, they’re also going out and buying the record, too. I think they’ve paid off their karma.
Why call your album “A Band in Hope”? Was there hidden meaning, or is it just a pun?
It’s a pun…the lowest denominator of intelligence. With the title, it’s partially about our ongoing rift in our confidence. What we’re doing is contradictory—making art and selling it. You don’t want the music to get murky just to sell something. Also, on our second album, we thought the world was ours. “We’re entitled to everything!” we thought. This album is a reality check. The “hope” would be that it’s artistically redeeming. The despair we feel is that we still have to try to “sell” it.
You work with several producers per album, instead of just one. Is that difficult?
For the way we do things, it’s a lot easier. I wouldn’t peddle that message to other bands, though. Our goal is to put out a record a year, and we write and record a lot on the road. It’s not fulfilling to sit on music. And we tour a lot to support ourselves, so we adapted the strategy of making records between tours. It’s not feasible to do that with one guy. Besides, it works for hip-hop records, so why not for our band?
It seems that your sound is moving even further away from the “pop punk” category. How is that affecting your fanbase?
I don’t want to move away from anyone who likes our band…I trust our fans are pretty open-minded. But it is a bit of a challenge when we tour. When we headline, we try to get a really diverse line-up, and that always gets a good response. And, when we go out and open for some MTV-approved pop band—well, some people get us, and some people don’t.
What’s your routine for keeping your voice healthy on the road?
Before we started flying so much between shows, which really affects me, I thought I had the Terminator of voices. I thought I was indestructible, and I could belt out Andrew W.K. songs by day, do a show and drink whiskey all night and have no problems. Now I have days where I’m cutting out every song in the set list that has a falsetto.
What’s the story behind your new track “Who Let the Yankees in the Chip Shop”?
In London, we got chased and pushed around a couple of times; I guess we were hanging around the wrong crowds, the soccer crowds or something. We’ve been there eight times and never felt so intimidated. I think it was at the height of Bush’s communal idiocy. Anyway, we just wrote about being dumb drunk Americans hanging around dumb, drunk British people.
In “If I Were You,” you use the phrase “If I were you, babe, I’d be thinking of me.” Does that line work?
[Laughs] I had that line text-messaged to me. I was like “You did not just say that!” But yeah, it worked.
You interact a lot with fans on your Web site. It’s funny, because I went to Matches.org, and it’s a group of Cantonese-speaking Christians who are “dedicated to serve the Lord with music.”
That’s our non-secular side project. We like being contradictory.
