The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

[S.D.]

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

Easily one of the most esoteric, visceral bands to emerge from the UK in the last few years, I feel that Eighties Matchbox haven't received nearly enough recognition as figureheads of modern Goth and Garage. Although some might see connections with The Horrors, who I do like a great deal, it's worth pointing out that Eighties Matchbox have been doing their thing for almost a decade now, and were responsible in part for much of the revived inspiration and interest in people like The Birthday Party and The Cramps among younger audiences, which The Horrors can only claim to have been an addition to. Eighties Matchbox have continued to develop their aesthetic and sound with fluidity and fervour over that time, and I think more people should know about them.

You might even like some of the more familiar aesthetics in their video for Rise of the Eagles...

Any thoughts or opinions would be interesting.

[303]

saw them live 2 years ago with QOTSA they were great guys, and got to have a drink with them afterwards. Their bass player looked and sounded really messed up though

[S.D.]

Yes, they have been known to party hard from time to time. I think I've said hello to all of them at one point or another, it was pretty unavoidable living in the same city and frequenting the same bars! Guy was really polite when I said hello to him, the others were kind of quiet, but they all seemed cool. I just think the band are fucking awesome.

Glad you got to see them in such a cool line up as well.

[303]

Yes, they have been known to party hard from time to time. I think I've said hello to all of them at one point or another, it was pretty unavoidable living in the same city and frequenting the same bars! Guy was really polite when I said hello to him, the others were kind of quiet, but they all seemed cool. I just think the band are fucking awesome.

Glad you got to see them in such a cool line up as well.

yeah they were great guys. I knew a few songs of theres from music videos, but wish I would have know more about them proir to the show, I would have got into it more

[The Hand]

Yep they're decent, if limited. The whole gothabilly, baritone Morrison/Iggy/Curtis thing is cool & they can write extremely catchy, commercial sounding stuff that still retains integrity. Saw them in 2004 & they were pretty good, but the weather was really shit & windy, which affected the sound a bit.
I have heard an amusing story of them failing to tempt the barmaids at a Cumbrian venue into "some kind of sex fest"

[S.D.]

Why on Earth would you want to tempt Cumbrian barmaids into a sex-anything?! Not even the Cum part of the name would be enough to entice me.

[The Hand]

It's good to see that healthy fear! Northern women are not to be messed with

[S.D.]

The new album has to drop at some point soon.

AND START FUCKING LISTENING TO THEM IF YOU ALREADY DON'T!

[303]

Wow, that weird thsi thread just got bumped. I work with the old guitarist for an indie band called the paddingtons who played with and often hung out with b-line. he was telling us some funny storys bout the guys, but I felt bad for Sym, who has gone to live with his parents cos he was taking the rock and roll life too far living by himself.

[S.D.]

I have heard various stories about the band taking things a little too far in various instances. There was also reports about how Guy got into Buddhism and things like that to quell his drug use, which is commendable, I am not sure how adherent he was, but hey, best of luck and all that. And yeah, I know who The Paddintgons are, I never got to hear much of them, but I remember selling their CDs often when I worked in record stores.

Matchbox are doing a Brighton show for Christmas I think, so I'm naturally fucked off that I can't be there to see it. Currently I have a wicked playlist comprising tracks from In The Garden and The Royal Society to enjoy. I was dicussing with a close friend who is a big fan the other day, how their online boards seem to have become dead in the last year, which is a shame, as there were some awesome lyrical interpretation threads on there when I last visited.