And now they are coming to the Rich River Golf Club — not the actual band, but the Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas Tribute Show.
The backbone of the Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas Tribute Show is made up of Aaron ‘Ronny’ Howard on bass, Tim on guitar and Paul on drums, who have been playing the hits together for 18 years.
“We do our absolute best to play the songs as people would recognise them on the radio,” Ronny said.
“We don’t try to do live versions or our own interpretation of the music.
“We have modelled everything very much on the Matchbox Twenty albums.
“So, when people hear us play, they will recognise it as what they have listened to over the years.”
Over many years, the tribute members have painstakingly worked to replicate Matchbox Twenty as accurately as possible.
“There are a lot of instruments that we don’t play, like horns, synths and Hammond organ and all that kind of stuff,” Ronny said.
“We have created our own backing tracks to go with the songs.
“Part of that process is painstakingly for hours upon end, listening to the same track repeatedly, trying to pick out the individual instrument to find out what it is doing and how it sounds and how you can replicate that on a backing track.
“A lot of work over the years has gone into that, but the whole point is to make it an authentic, recognisable Matchbox Twenty.”
Ronny’s favourite Matchbox Twenty track to play is 3am, as it lifts up the audience towards the end of the night and is fun to play.
Recently, the tribute band welcomed a new singer, Sean Black, who is a solo performer in his own right.
“Sean’s band actually supported Rob Thomas and shared a stage in the past, so it is a pretty cool thing to boast about,” Ronny said.
Now, ‘Give me your heart, make it real or else forget about it’ at the free Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas Tribute Show at Rich River Golf Club on December 14.
