Bleeding Audio | When A Band Breaks Up, and then Reunites | The Matches | Full Documentary

[@AdolphSaxOfficial]

These guys deserved so much better. What a fucking band.

[@adrianna0223]

Just saw this band in Chicago last night. Amazing I love them so much

[@MikaelJohnston]

I was the engineer and producer for The Matches when they appeared on the “Takeover Records: 3 Way Issue #2” EP release in 2005, which featured their songs “A Girl I Know,” as well as acoustic versions of “Shoot Me In The Smile” and “Sick Little Suicide.” I believe we tracked one other full-band song (can’t remember the name), but I didn’t end up mixing it due to a scheduling conflict. For this, I was lambasted and blacklisted from ever working with The Matches again by their then-manager, Miles Horowitz. This was despite the fact that I had not only worked for free but had convinced my close friend and studio owner where I worked, Bryan Matheson, to donate the studio time, and a Grammy-winning engineer friend and mentor of mine, Michael Rosen, to lend me two racks of outboard gear to complete the project. By the way, I was happy to see that Bryan was interviewed for this documentary. Before working with The Matches, I had always gotten along great with Miles and enjoyed our conversations about the industry, which is partly why I agreed to do the project. However, the control he exhibited over the band and his hubris was… over the top, and at the time, I didn’t think it served the band well. For instance he would insert himself into the song writing process including writing and scrutinizing Shawn’s lyrics which I found bizarre since i believe he was in his 50s at the time and it seemed inappropriate for him at his age to assert his lyrical ideas for a pop punk band that appealed largely to teenage girls. I wouldn’t have attempted to do that as a producer and I was only in my early 30s at the time. According to this documentary, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. I also know he treated most of the people who also donated time and energy to mix and produce this band (none were paid, to my knowledge) like serfs, as if he was doing us a favor by allowing us the honor of working for free. It wasn’t a good working experience because of this. Everyone should be treated with respect and valued for their contributions. When Miles tried to force me into abandoning a previous commitment to mix the extra song that wasn’t used for the EP that I had tracked, (which wasn’t initially supposed to even be released), rather than politely scheduling the mix session to follow my current commitment, he demanded I drop everything and mix the song immediately. I made the cardinal sin of telling Miles “No,” at which point he told me, “You’ll never work with The Matches again,” and I didn’t. He hired someone else to mix the song I tracked and to my Knowledge I was never credited as a tracking engineer for that song, (maybe they didn’t use it, I don’t know). It was unfortunate things went down the way they did because I really enjoyed working with the band, and my production of “A Girl I Know” was well received; I could have brought a lot more to future productions. I have also perhaps never worked with a nicer and more genuine group of guys than Shawn, Justin, Matt, and Jonathan. I had a great time interacting with the band. Jonathan and I even used to work out late at night after sessions at 24-Hour Fitness, and I hung out with Shawn and Justin on more than a few occasions outside the studio. I remember my friend Brad Gillis (Night Ranger/Ozzy) also let the guys borrow different amp heads to try during our sessions, partly so his then-teenage daughter Montana could meet the band. I would have really enjoyed working on more material in the future. I have to admit I found it extremely sad but vindicating when the documentary discussed how controlling Miles was, especially during their later albums. I found it especially egregious that Miles hadn’t helped the band members register any of their songs with performance rights organizations (BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC) in their own names. In my opinion, Miles was WAY too experienced not to have known better, which makes me question whether he registered the songs solely in his name and collected all the money made from the publishing side. Money certainly wasn’t being made from record sales, given they were one of many bands caught in the post-Napster era that preceded the downfall of the music industry (specifically record sales). If it had been my band, I would have dug into the performance rights situation more deeply because joining and registering my songs with BMI was the first thing I was ever taught in the industry. It seems like too much of a rookie mistake for a seasoned industry professional to make. I can’t imagine a man who was an owner and editor of a major music publication (BAM) and deeply entrenched in the industry for years before The Matches didn’t understand this fundamental part of the business and how it worked. Especially given that the documentary mentioned how he talked them out of signing a publishing deal, which, in my opinion, was a terrible move. The “right” publisher would have provided them with a much-needed advance and then generated thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, in royalties from sync licenses that would likely still be paying out today. Personally, most of the money I’ve made in this industry has come from sync licensing. Anyway, I hope those guys are doing well. Maybe there’ll be another Matches reunion, as I’m sure there are still many fans who would support it! I would urge them, if they read this, to explore compiling their entire catalog and working with a publisher to secure more sync licensing revenue if they haven’t already. Great documentary! PS for those that are interested here's a link to the EP I did with the Matches on Apple Music - music.apple.com/us/album/takeover-records-3-way-issue-2/301801391

[@heythere6983]

isnt copywriting songs and owning all the different type of royalties something that comes with fees for each song? Iv looked into this before briefly and its a little confusing as to how to copyright stuff and all the ways to do it, i wouldnt even know what lawyer to trust

[@chrisrios1709]

Someone mentioned Chain Me on a reddit post about "bands that shoulda...." earlier this year. It's been in rotation ever since. Just heard about this Doc on the Alison Rosen is your new best friend episode with Jordan Morris. Edit: it was defintely a reddit post about bands that "had" to change names.

[@jangleleg3260]

Best band. They changed my life. As a musician/ performer, I have modeled myself after them. The love They share, the high energy, and pure fun they bring.

[@mm_eggs]

Forever my favorite

[@joshmelafferty]

My friend didn't like The Matches and didn't know why I loved them so we went and watched them live and he said, Yeah, I get it! I was just listening to their albums non stop 2 weeks ago, had no idea they got back together!!!

[@DragonNuggets]

Glad i got to see you guys play live twice back in the 2000s, best live shows i ever experienced. Thank you for your music. Love up❤

[@keztukariri]

Never heard of these kids before but WOW 🥰 NEW FAN ALL THE WAY IN NZ ❤❤

[@damonstout8287]

Still my second favorite band today!! Me and shawn share birthdays and we wished eachtoher a happy birthday at warped tour amd that was after he recognized me from a previous show the year before! Amazing ppl and group

[@BronsenKawewehi]

Incredible doc about an incredible band. Hope to catch them live someday

[@marcusjmonroe]

The Matches FOREVER!!!!

[@twiggy45713]

I 1st heard of The Matches at a Warped Tour. Been a fan ever since. They deserved more. Such a good band.

[@TommycoolGun]

I remember hearing one of the songs playing burnout 3

[@VashD15]

Kind of surprised at how little of the actual band turmoil they covered. Nothing about the creative mindset behind the albums, the fourth album, the hiatus side projects, or a word about Dylan the replacement bassist and Something by Numbers? Feels like there's a lot missing.

[@Koshinskydrums]

Saw the matches when they opened for reel big fish and zebrahead in regina sk. Met the band after and chugged a beer with them. Super awesome guys! It's 2024 and I still listen to evan von Dahl killed the vocals. 🤟✌️

[@tinapicazo1675]

Love The Matches

[@djack8430]

Loved the Matches man. E Von and Decomposer are top tier. Some decent songs on Aband but there was another album after that which had a fantastic to Didi

[@OaklandDB]

and then breaks up again, and then REUNITES!

[@damonstout8287]

Loyal fans shared this band and while not a band you gained new fans I know I made fans out of a few people.

[@theweeklysqueal]

Should've stuck to the power pop/punk style in E Von. Dahl. Shame.

[@batcaveloner1383]

Decomposer is an amazing album. A band in hope is ok…

[@theweeklysqueal]

@@batcaveloner1383 Yeah, but if they wanted to make a living which they clearly did, they should've recognized E. Von Dahl was gold and not have deviated from the style. It was pop enough for widespread appeal but unique enough to be theirs. Too bad their manager screwed the pooch with the song registration thing. I remember 2003-2004 in the Bay Area and E. Von Dahl was organically taking off. It's absolutely insane that they weren't financially comfortable.

[@batcaveloner1383]

Seems like there have been very amazing bands that could’ve been much more successful but weren’t becuz of shitty management….. :(