Before Matchbox Twenty, there was Matchbox 20... Before Matchbox 20, there was Tabitha's Secret... Here are my 9 months with Tabitha's Secret.

So, it was the "winter of our discontent!". Actually, no, it was just the winter of 1995, and I don't believe I was harboring any discontent. Maybe with something, but can't confirm. At the time, I was primarily an East Coast booking agent based in the Wash. DC area, initially at Cellar Door Entertainment and then controlling my own very small, precisely boutique but hopeful national agency named State of the Artists. Along the way, we worked with several developing acts such as Dave Matthews Band, Hootie and the Blowfish, Edwin McCain, Everything, 2 Skinnee Js, Huffamoose and Egypt... and later working with established or upcoming national acts including 24-7 Spyz, Too Much Joy, Marvelous 3, Nothingface, Matthew Good, Stuck Mojo, Groove Collective, The Hazies, Neal Casal, Karma to Burn and Watershed. Obviously, not to leave them out of the mix, I was also working with a Jacksonville, FL upcoming juggernaut act called Spider Monkey. They were on the rise, happening, doing business, all that happy horseshit lingo wrapped in a touring tortilla. I quickly developed a hardworking and trusting relationship with their manager, Kevin O'Malley.

In that early winter of 1995, Kevin agent-approached me with artist #2, to be named later. I declare later to be now. They were Tabitha's Secret and made up of members: Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Brian Yale, Jay Stanley, and John Goff. Based in Orlando, FL, they had been a band for what I initially believed was 2-3 years, but later found out was longer than that. Kevin sent me a CASSETTE!... YES, IT WAS! My memory is slightly fuzzy, and I don't want to purge through the attic right now, but I believe it contained six recordings, with the immediate standouts being "Forever December" and a swingin' little ditty titled "3 AM". The track "3 AM" not only grabbed my attention on first listen but kept my attention 100% on the 10th listen. I had spent the prior year+ crushing on the Counting Crows' "August and Everything After", and these songs and lead singer struck a somewhat similar nerve. Kevin confidently mentioned that WJRR in Orlando was toying around with giving Tabitha's Secret some airplay, not just on the local hour, but just a touch amongst the regular rotational outfits of the day. If that was true, DING! DING! DING!... we have a winner here! Not only did I like what I heard, but add WJRR to the mix of possibilities? In the 1990s, WJRR had a small personality crisis deciding whether they were Rock, Alternative Rock or Active Rock, but regardless, they were a strong presence in the market and in a significant region in FL. Coincidentally, I had recently met the WJRR program director Steve Robertson (affectionately and professionally known by his call sign: Steve-O). Steve-O was authentic-style friendly, seemed dedicated to his profession and really knew the musical landscape in his city. He quickly became my favorite radio peep in the business. Then again, I had limited connections in radio at that point, so there's that piece of information. At WJRR, Steve-O had already been a key component in breaking artists like Collective Soul and Seven Mary Three. If he believed in the artist and their professional set-up, he seemed willing to push that sucker along and get it to the next stage. Once again, he will prove himself with these guys, as well.

As we revert back to the main topic of Tabitha's Secret and early 1995, let's just mention... I was in! Let's do this, and let's get it in gear straightaway. For a unit that had been together for a substantial period of time, these guys hadn't actually established much of a touring fan base outside of maybe 1-2 other cities in Florida. I was working with a touring pallet that included very little colors. Without having seen them in a live situation yet, I still put together some shows over a few available weekends, just to get some collective momentum. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long to finally check them out, as they were playing in April on a WJRR street festival in Orlando supporting Letters to Cleo and Seven Mary Three. Upon arriving at the scene in Orlando, FL around noon, I encountered a sight that is so fantastic to look back on. After acquiring my laminate, I vaguely remember being instructed where to go to meet the Tabitha's Secret clan, which basically included a street corner. After meeting 4/5 of the group, Rob Thomas comes leisurely strolling up the block with his girlfriend... bleeding pure hippie vibe, not hipster vibe, I said hippie vibe. All I saw was sandals, cut off jean shorts and a tie dye. That would be describing both of them, although I do remember one of them also had a deadhead belt to go along with the ensemble. Nevertheless, this was Rob, and it was intriguing. We jabbered away, got to know each other a bit, and then off to prep for the show. I wish I could remember if his get-up was also his stage attire. I positively recall being propositioned backstage by a member (to remain nameless) of Letters to Cleo on where he/she could attain an 8-ball. That was both uncomfortable AND illuminating.

Tabitha's Secret had a minor buzz in Orlando at this point, being that WJRR had started providing them mild airplay several weeks prior to the event. That was Steve-O delivering. They took the stage, and it was only a few songs in before I realized that Rob was far beyond the goods. He was ready for the next step. Rob's vocal delivery was so clean, representing equally pop and roots, while his stage presence was unequivocally Adam Duritz. I hate narrowing the stage presence down to just a simple and measly comparison (referencing the Counting Crows again), but to me personally, it was an impactful evaluation. Oh, and then there was 3 AM, the litmus test in the live setting. That small slice of airplay clearly created the necessary response from the fan mixture in the crowd...  Still, I never lied to myself. What I initially witnessed with that live performance was a lead singer mostly carrying a band on his back. The other musicians seemed manageable, but lacked a bit of stage presence. That was going to be our job. With the new material, these five young gentlemen would need gigs on top of gigs. Along with that usually comes cohesion and improvement, so we'll get there.

Later that festival evening was definitely intriguing. Some combination of band members, along with Rob, Kevin and myself joined the new hot shit producer Matt Serletic for drinks at Jani Lane's Sunset Strip. That's right. It was the club owned by Warrant's own lead singer, Jani Lane, in downtown Orlando. Matt had very recently been in the studio in Atlanta with Tabitha's Secret recording a few new tracks titled "Tired" and "Swing". Oh really? That's pertinent information. He had CDs with these final mixes, and I was able to obtain one, of course. After eventually exiting Jani's establishment, I remember immediately dropping this CD into my Sony Discman plugged into the cassette player of my rental car. Here comes the cliché from that experience. That song "Tired" was an outright hit. I listened to it repeatedly in my car, on the plane and then in my office for days. Wait until the day this hits people's ears.

Now it was time to go for broke with fifth gear booking agent effort, but we just had to lay down the basics. Kevin O'Malley knew my aggressive mindset before my mouth ever opened. The main expectations of the band were as follows: 1) prepare for miles and miles on the road... 2) budget your life around very little to zero income to show from it for several months... 3) perform like a winner every night, regardless of the circumstances. This is the sacrifice for investment. We would play all the major cities inside the basic triangle of Ft. Lauderdale, Wash. DC and Nashville and add secondary markets under opportunity or necessity. Routing from the home base of Orlando undoubtedly presented a challenge, because we repeatedly had to travel north without playing the same city within each month. That was a semi-established parameter; not overplaying a market. These affected lengths of touring schedules, potential days off in certain scenarios and created several deadheaddrives to and from home. If we could warrant staying out for 10+ days at a time, we would do it, but it would result in those necessary days off in the mix, producing zero $$$. All appropriate parties supported the overall plan of attack. Nobody seemed to complain along the way, except Jay Stanley. But that became a common theme throughout. Jay complained about almost everything. 

I emptied my career relationship well, incorporating timely horse trading and exhausted favors with the proper venues, agents, managers and artists to maximize touring impact in the shortest time possible. I felt that this Rob Thomas and band scenario called Tabitha's Secret could be on the cusp of something very legitimate, but while increasing exposure, the performance emerging from the stage needed improvement. I was able to work out several quality support slots on sold out shows, along with an occasional small festival, throughout the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic during the spring/summer/fall of 1995.      Along with that, definitely came a decent amount of mid-week patchwork tour dates to complete the routing, always weighing exposure vs. the suitable venue and/or proper promoter. Sometimes it was a small dive bar and other times the premier club in town, but we would usually be mixing those up with the local performers.

From a day-to-day perspective, other than consistent communication with the manager, I would typically have at least one weekly phone call with the group's main contact, guitarist Jay Stanley. In addition to that, Mr. Thomas would additionally check in every few weeks, because he appreciated (and I always welcomed) honest one-on-one creative feedback... in addition to blowing off personal steam. The majority of my discussions with Jay would be grounded in mostly unconstructive grievances. Taking liberty with the exact rhetoric, here are a few examples. EXAMPLE #1: Jay- "Hey Chris, what's up with these long drives to the first shows in South Carolina? (sigh)"... Myself- "Well, I don't know Jay? You mean, to the first of three packed house support slots on this run?"... Jay- "Couldn't we grab a gig on the way there?"... Myself- "Ok Jay, where would that be? Within the last three weeks, we played Gainesville, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Macon, Atlanta and Athens. Where do you propose?"... end of subject... EXAMPLE #2: Jay- "Chris, can't we get paid more than $100-125 at some of these [insert random venues]... Myself- "Ok Jay, you do realize the booking was on a Wednesday night in [insert random location], where you probably aren't worth a single ticket while filling a local band slot? I'm essentially getting you paid more than most others would receive".... end of subject. REPEAT CONVERSATION ONE MONTH LATER. Now let's introduce general responses from Rob regarding the same subjects... "Chris, these big openers have been great. The headliners were good guys. The club owners treated us well. The other small shows were rough, but we still did our thing. The bartenders at so-and-so were pretty nice, and all the places gave us our full rider. All good."

I never had a negative experience with Rob. This guy held the creative future of Tabitha's Secret in his hands on a daily basis, participated in all machinations on and off the road, and his attitude with me was always positive. He welcomed critical dialogue, because he knew he would get productive, non-pandering answers from me. In all my interactions, he always displayed a good sense of humor, carried himself with humility and was very appreciative. Whether on the phone or in person, our communication never ended without a sincere form of "thanks for the hard work" from his end. Our back and forths were always a well-embraced supercharge.

Whatever we were doing as a whole was working, because I soon had venues/promoters/artist managers beginning to pipe up about Tabitha's Secret, who seemingly came out of nowhere. Rob was always the focal point of the exchange, which was certainly not a surprise. Additionally, Paul (drummer) and Brian (bassist) were really coming along as live performers during the process. I couldn't say the same about the guitarists, Jay and John, but we kept on trucking. Along with the positive touring came an opportunity with Aware Records and their yearly compilation sampler.

Having known the label owner for a few years, during the spring of 1995, I commenced the ball rolling for the eventual inclusion of Tabitha's Secret's "3 AM" and Spider Monkey's "The End of it All" on the Aware Records 3 compilation CD, featuring unsigned talent from across the U.S. Not only were these compilations nationally distributed, the record industry had become knee deep in these as an A&R source (with a portion of "technically" unsigned acts even being placed on it, as they were signing their major label deals). That is how influential they became. This was another injection of validation for both bands. This is when I really recognized that record labels were "comin' around the mountain." Concerning Tabitha's Secret, there was a sneaky recording industry intensity in the air. I will later find out I was one of the last to know the full underbelly of this intensity.

There was a point in the fall of 1995 that a few of my talks with Rob were getting a layer deeper than just how tour dates were going. Up to that point, we had developed a trustworthy professional relationship. He must have known through both Kevin O'Malley and Jay Stanley (himself) how frustrated I would get with Jay, for the most part. On one phone call, he finally asked my opinion of not the whole group, but particularly Jay, hoping for a gut-style answer. This was roughly 7-8 mos into our working association, so I had a backdrop to work with. I could not have been more candid, and I gave him the honesty he always counted on. I told him I believed Jay was an unnecessary pain in the ass, a shitty guitar player and I might have described him as wallpaper on a live stage. I didn't personally know John much at all, so I only mentioned that I didn't think he was bringing much to the table either, after several months of work. As I stated before, my opinions of Paul and Brian were on an upward trend, so I provided that assessment, even though that wasn't what he was fishing for. I am not sure if it was 5 or 6 or 7 weeks later, but Kevin O'Malley was no longer their manager, primarily because they were no longer a band. I don't even remember if I had to cancel any bookings. That earlier phone call was the last time I spoke to Rob... until... ???

We enter late summer of 1996. That's a substantial period of time. There lies my favorite radio trade magazine at the time, The Album Network, one morning on my desk. The cover: Rob, Paul, Brian, a few other dudes and the logo Matchbox 20. Back when it was the number. Hello there and holy shit! There you have it. As much as I want to think they rose from the ashes, it was FAR from that. The core of the band re-formed as the music business machine grabbed a hold and did its part. Lava/Atlantic Records, new heavyweight CAA agent and the lead single "Long Day" was already making its move up the alternative radio charts. The crazy and coincidental cherry on top you ask? They were suddenly scheduled at our Wash. DC club, The Bayou, the following month for a radio sponsored show. I have a strong feeling I could make it out to that one.

When I arrive to the venue just after doors open, I make my way directly upstairs and into the backstage dressing rooms. First there was Paul and Brian in the hallway, noticeably surprised. With so much time passage and being on the road for a bit, their present focus didn't put two and two together. My city + our venue + me + them = my appearance? Ha! It was great to see them. We did the obvious mutual dapping, then they told me Rob was in the back room getting ready. As I two-step my way into the Matchbox 20 confines, I received an alarming vision. The lead singer of Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas... black shoes, black jeans, black T, black jacket, moussed hair... black eyeliner... and black nail polish. Why, of course! When we locked in, my instant reaction was "they fucking car washed ya!" Huge laughs! Then it was nothing but genuine smiles and a memorable hug. He was honestly thinking he might see me that night and also admitted he absolutely received the ROCK-N-ROLL CAR WASH! He did look pretty damn "chicks will dig my swagger" good though. M20 eventually took the stage and killed it. The two new guitar players were an overwhelming but expected improvement from Tabitha's Secret and Rob was taking part in a new live performance sport. The stage was definitively his now. Spending time with those guys that night in Wash. DC will always provide a significant reminder of the entire 18 mos leading up to it. I was pretty damn happy for them. After moving to Nashville months later to join a larger agency, I did see the M20 guys again at the Ryman Auditorium. That night is a full story in itself, so we'll leave it there. Although, it was fantastic. I would rather finish up with a fair and necessary retrospective.

Let's keep it simple with some explanatory bullet points after the 1995-96 music industry X-RAY was finally revealed to me.

- There was conclusive record label heat through music attorney represenation on Tabitha's Secret (more so Rob) prior to my involvement.

- Although I only thought it was music producer interest, the Matt Serletic affiliation with Tabitha's Secret (once again, particularly Rob) went way deeper, involving the workings of his production company/independent record label in association with a major label deal.

- These industry interests caused friction within the band throughout 1995, particularly with Jay and John, due to disagreements with that legal representation and the professional path moving forward. This explains a lot when looking back on communications and relations with both Rob and Jay, coupled with multiple Kevin O'Malley conversations.

- These disagreements led to the eventual Tabitha's Secret wreckage and subsequent re-emergence with new guitarists and a new name.

- These differences also led to songwriting lawsuits from Jay Stanley. Remember those two Matt Serletic produced tracks I listened to outside Jani Lane's Sunset Strip in Orlando, FL?... They were never released by Matchbox 20 or Matchbox Twenty.

The year 1995 was a substantial year for me as a young booking agent in the music business. When I look back on the work I did with Tabitha's Secret, having known their internal industry X-RAY before their sort-of temporary demise, the chances of me losing the band at that juncture of my career to a behemoth agency was probably imminent. The thing is, I still would have represented them and completed the hard work. That WAS what I WAS. If I believed in something or somebody (like Rob), I would just buckle down and kick ass while I planned the future. Tabitha's Secret may have Matchbox 20'ed on me, but they were one of the catalysts that soon sparked my journey toward greater talent that did remain on my roster and propel me to bigger opportunities.