Rob Thomas Thought He Could Handle His Alcohol, Until He Came to Australia

by Cameron Adams

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty has revealed he thought he could handle his alcohol – until he came to Australia.

Australia was one of the first territories to embrace Matchbox Twenty, with their 1996 debut Yourself Or Someone Like You spending a year in the ARIA chart and selling over 700,000 copies.

The band toured Australia several times to promote their debut, a time when Rob was single and ready to mingle.

However he found Australians could drink hard and “even the elderly” were able to outdrink him down under.

“I used to try and keep up, when I was single Australia was always a mess for me,” Rob told LiSTNR podcast Front and Centre hosted by Ella Hooper.

“I always had a recovery time of two weeks when I would come back home. You would go there and everybody wants you to have a good time. It really is a warm and open people, it surprised the hell out of me. It seems there the people are fans of live music and good songs. To me it seems if you do well there it’s a good sign, it’s nothing but they like your music and they’re loyal.”

The episode also delves into how Rob eventually managed a successful solo career while remaining in Matchbox Twenty.

“For the last 10 years I’ve managed to just kinda under the radar continue to make records. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place. I’ve seen so many hot things come and go, come and go,  this is the next big thing, I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go and we’ve just continued to make records, I think it’s because we’ve never attached ourselves to anything other than ourselves.”

Front and Centre featuring Matchbox Twenty and Maroon 5 is available on LiSTNR now: