About
With their newly minted moniker in place, the Matches scrapped enough money together to put out their first record. Recorded in basements and living rooms and released in February 2003, the tongue-in-cheek-titled E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals added more fuel to the fire growing around the band up and down the West Coast. Coupled with their invigorating live show, the guys landed dates with bands like Reel Big Fish, Lit, and Zebrahead, and also contributed a track to the 2003 Immortal Records holiday benefit compilation A Santa Cause alongside bands like MxPx, New Found Glory, and Fall Out Boy. The Matches had hooked up with Epitaph by the year's end and a remixed version of E. Von Dahl (which had already sold upward of 4,000 copies) was issued through the label in April 2004. Relentless touring continued, including stints on the 2004 and 2005 Warped Tours, and the group appeared on a three-way Takeover split with Near Miss and Reeve Oliver. All this activity led up to the eventual release of their sophomore album. The more ambitious Decomposer appeared in September 2006 and was recorded with nine producers having a hand in the project, including Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz, Rancid's Tim Armstrong, blink-182's Mark Hoppus, Goldfinger's John Feldmann and 311's Nick Hexum. After more extensive touring, in 2008, the band returned with a more heavily layered (and more uneven) record, A Band in Hope, described by Harris as "a pendulum's sway between hope and despair." ~ Corey Apar
From 🇺🇸 United States
Genres