If you’ve ever been in a band you’ll know how hard it is to get noticed. Anyone can book a dingy bar in Newtown, but selling an album in numbers is much more difficult. Tabitha’s secret (think Tabitha from Bewitched) scored a record deal after 3 years touring the bars in Orlando. The demo tape included a track called ‘3 AM’ which became the second single for Matchbox 20, (Twenty) on their debut album ‘Yourself or Someone Like You.’
Lead singer Rob Thomas wrote about his experience as a teenager, caring for his dying mother. Doctors gave her 6 months to live as she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. 3 AM was about the time when the bars were all closed and there was nowhere to go but home, a home you dreaded because of the terminal illness within.
Happily, Rob’s mother pulled through and is alive and well. However, as with all record deals, there was a catch. Tabitha’s Secret was split half and the remaining members sued Rob Thomas’s new band over their use of the song. As a result, both groups released ‘3 AM’. One became a hit, the other became nothing. One good thing to come from the leftover remnants was the album name ‘Don’t Play With Matches.’ That’s a not-so-subtle dig.
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