Thursday, March 20, 1997
By PAUL CANTIN
Ottawa Sun
Crowded into the credits of their album, Yourself Or Someone Like You, the members of Matchbox 20 have secreted a special
piece of information.
Their shoe sizes.
"We just thought it would be a gas if people started sending us shoes," singer Rob Thomas explains from a gas station in the Rockies.
What started as an in-joke has had an unintended effect on the group's fans, though.
"We have women coming up all the time wanting to know who is the size 13."
Because you know what they say ...
"Big feet mean big shoes," Thomas confirms.
The group plays Sunday at Barrymore's, and so far, Canada has been pretty good to the band -- except for the weather. Already, late winter storms in the Prairies led to at least one cancelled gig. But radio's embrace of Yourself Or Someone Like You has taken some of the sting out of the hazardous cross-Canada drive.
"That's fun, because you're out here and you are about to die, driving through mountain passes through the ice, barrelling down with a trailer attached, trying not to die getting to this gig," he says.
"It makes you feel better when people show up to see you, rather than risking your life for a couple of people in a tavern."