The Split
In 1995 the band interviewed several managers and selected Kevin O'Malley, then manager of Spider Monkey, a regional band enjoying a great deal of success at the time, to represent them. O'Malley immediately connected the band with a publicist, agent Chris Tanner out of Nashville and several record company reps including Kim Stephens, a promotions and A&R rep for Atlantic Records. Kim Stephens brought the band's demo to Jason Flom, then President of Atlantic's Lava sub-label. O'Malley arranged a showcase at Potbelly's in Tallahassee, FL and Flom was sold on the band's material, which included the future hit 3AM. Kevin O'Malley's brother John, Jay Stanley and John Goff financed a new recording session in Atlanta which yielded recordings of new material (the songs Tired, and Swing) as well as refreshed versions of Forever December and 3AM.
Also that year, songwriter/producer and representative for Atlantic Records, Matt Serletic, approached the members of Tabitha's Secret concerning a long-term record deal with his production company, Melisma, which neither Jay Stanley nor John Goff were interested in, believing that it would be better to sign an album deal directly with the label and not with Serletic's company. However, Serletic pressed on with his desire to sign the band. It is commonly believed that Serletic was more interested in helping Thomas find his voice than he was in the band Tabitha's Secret. In spite of objections from Stanley, Rob Thomas decided to take the offer.
Stanley and Goff's refusal to sign a long-term production contract, along with alleged pressure from the record company to drop the two guitar players, convinced Thomas to leave the band and take the deal for himself. Stanley continued to operate Tabitha's Secret as a business, however, Goff signed over his interest in the Tabitha's Secret business to Stanley in 1998 and started his own company, separate from Stanley.
Serletic's own personal manager and accountant were installed to handle Thomas's affairs. Shortly after, Thomas, Yale, and Doucette signed a seven-record deal with Atlantic Records. Atlantic Records introduced the trio to two guitarists: Adam Gaynor (Serletic knew Adam from his time at Criterion Studios in South Florida with Collective Soul) and Kyle Cook (Serletic grew up two houses from Cook in Stone Mountain, Georgia). With Cook on lead guitar and Gaynor on rhythm guitar, the five formed the well-known band Matchbox Twenty.
Read more about this topic: Tabitha's Secret, History
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