Former Matchbox Twenty guitarist, Adam Gaynor, has been locked away in his Studio City, California home for the last few months working with a new artist. Undercover would like to introduce you to Tommy Hubbard.
“It’s kinda Crazy”, Gaynor says as he speaks from his couch in his cozy Studio City home. “Not since like 12 years ago, when I met a young man in Orlando Florida, playing me pieces of 3am and Push at some guys house, have I ever felt this way about an artist before.”That “young man” Gaynor refers to is none other than a young Rob Thomas, circa 1995, of the eventual 25 million album selling band matchbox20.
Gaynor was the rhythm guitarist and background vocalist on the band’s first three records. After his departure, he moved from South Florida to California looking for his next project.
“I came out here to pursue a TV hosting gig”, Gaynor continues. “I did a few jobs, and then I met Tommy. After that, it was kinda like, Holy crap, this might be worth putting MY life on hold for a bit.”
Unknown and unsigned, singer/songwriter Tommy met Adam through a friend. “A friend of mine at an acting management company asked me if I wanted to go to the house of the guitarist from Matchbox Twenty and play some stuff,” Hubbard tells Undercover News. “They dumped me at his house with my guitar. That’s how I met him. I played him some stuff and I don’t know how impressed he was because he didn’t have much of a reaction. I think he was more nervous that a weird kid was in his house”.
Gaynor remembers it like this "I wouldn't say a weird kid was in my house, I just thought we needed to get him a haircut”, Gaynor says laughing. “A few months later we did! But before the haircut, I listened to his music for about four sessions at my place, and each week he came back, I started to identify these incredible ideas of his. We worked a little on his arrangements, but man, this kid can write a pop song!”
Tommy Hubbard has roots all over the US and even a stint in the UK. Hubbard’s father is a Lt Colonel in the Air Force, so Tommy’s upbringing left him pretty scattered throughout the world.
Although he may be relatively unknown, Hubbard is certainly not inexperienced. His resume goes back to 2003. When Tommy was just 13 years old, he auditioned and eventually was honored to be the youngest participant in the first ever “Riffathon”, a UK open entry guitar competition.
Out of thousands and thousands of applicants, the top 10 guitar players from the competition performed in the finals at a school where Led Zeppelin played their very first show, in England.
Jimmy Page and Brian May were judging the competition. Hubbard adds: “We had to pull a Zeppelin song out of a hat and had a couple of weeks to learn it. I got ‘Ramble On’. I got up on stage to play the song in front of Page and May and somehow won the whole damn thing. It was so surreal. Jimmy even signed and gave me one of his own guitars! I mean, your playing a Zeppelin song for the guy from Zeppelin. It was a crazy experience”.
As for the present, Tommy and Adam just finished Hubbard’s 4 song recording demo. Which sounds more like a finished master than a demo. Together, the two of them worked at different studios in LA, at Gaynor’s home and even a few friend’s homes. Gaynor adds: “I think the most challenging part for me was, taking these incredible pop/rock songs that Tommy wrote and working with him to establish what we wanted his sound to represent. After we established that vision, it was full steam ahead!”
Before the two of them met, Tommy floated around LA for a few months, writing songs and taking a few acting/modeling jobs to fill some time before he signed a management deal with Gaynor.
When describing his songwriting, Hubbard says they are generated from his life experiences as the son of a Military Father. Tommy never lived long in one place. “We have been stationed everywhere, Texas, North Dakota, Massachusetts and California,” he says. “We even lived in a small town in England for three years”.
It wasn’t until he left home that he discovered his life was somewhat different than the average kids. “I spent all my time with kids who grew up on base,” he says. “After I got off these bases, I realized just how different my life was. I can see that now but up until then it just felt kind of normal”.
Asked why it was different Tommy grinned, "Living on base was more like living in the 1950's. Ummm, as far as I can only imagine of course. If you fall off your bike, ten moms would run outside and brush you off. Looking back on it now, that's a little creepy!”
As of today, Hubbard adds, “We're mastering as we speak and shopping soon in the next few weeks. The master plan falls with Adam,” he says.
Gaynor adds, “Tommy and I are a fantastic team. He is such a talented artist for 19 years old and as beautiful a person on the inside as he is on the out. He has become somewhat of a little brother to me and I am looking forward to playing Yoda to his Skywalker,” Gaynor laughs. “Seriously, he keeps telling me how excited he is to be working with me and I keep telling him that he has no idea the kinds of songs he is writing at such a young age. We'll attack the Earth together, and I think selfishly, this may be the most exciting and challenging time of my life. I only hope he has at least half as much fun as I will watching him go through the same experiences, I already had. I will brace him for the news that the next 10 years of his life, God willing, will be living on a tour bus. His reaction, will be quite fun to see".
Check out Tommy’s website MySpace www.myspace.com/tommyhubbard
