Fuck Yeah The Matches

While shamelessly promoting my own band back in the MySpace era of 2004, I was alerted by similar covert activities being undertaken by Epitaph Records to the existence of a quirky pop-punk act from Oakland, California named The Matches.

Immediately capturing my attention with the bratty yet rather witty ode to unrequited love, “Dog-Eared Page," The Matches presented as something decidedly different to the post-hardcore/screamo sounds that were dominating the scene, so I invested in a copy of the Epitaph re-release of their debut full-length E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals and it quickly became the soundtrack to my final year of high school, taking pride of place in the CD player of my very first car. As my friends and I drove aimlessly around the outer suburbs of Melbourne, the likes of “Borderline Creep," “The Jack Slap Cheer," “Say 18” and “Sick Little Suicide” provided the perfect accompaniment to the reckless activities that boredom births. As we waited impatiently for our chance to make our mark on the world we thought to ourselves, “this band is destined be huge.” For whatever reason (and arguably through no fault of their own, as their followup output was excellent), The Matches, much like us, never quite followed through on our early promise, eventually running out of puff and going on ‘hiatus’ in 2009, with frontman Shawn Harris confirming his departure from the band in 2010.

Thankfully for fans, nostalgia is a powerful phenomenon and The Matches reformed for what was intended to be a one-off show in the Bay Area to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Epitaph release of E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals. Predictably the show sold out and the band responded to demand for more shows to be added throughout the US and abroad. To my delight, that demand led to The Matches bringing the tour down under, so with a scheduling clash with Every Time I Die preventing me from attending their Melbourne show, I pressed play on E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals and made the 450-mile trip to Adelaide to relive some of the joy of misspent youth. 

The Matches - Darkness Rising

After going on hiatus in 2009, the band reformed last year to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their smashing debut record, E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals.

The Matches - Scratched Out

After going on hiatus in 2009, the band reformed last year to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their smashing debut record, E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The Matches