Coming into the spring of 1980 there were lots of surprises in store for Matchbox. Our US label Sire Records, who were a part of Warner Brothers, had released our first album that came out on Magnet as well as the single Rockabilly Rebel. Next, Sire wanted us to do a North American tour.
The label’s boss was the legendary Seymour Stein, the man who’d signed all manner of huge acts including Talking Heads, Ramones and Madonna. Stein arranged for some of his people to meet us to get plans under way. We all gathered at the Holiday Inn Hotel at Heathrow Airport where plans were hatched for a three-week tour of the US and Canada in May 1980.