After years on charts, singer Rob Thomas keeps focus on his music

Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer

After nearly 15 years in the music biz, Rob Thomas is done trying to please other people.

The Matchbox Twenty singer has long been maligned by critics for his supposed crimes against music and, less specifically, his hair. But after selling millions of records with Matchbox Twenty and two successful solo albums, including this year's "Cradlesong," Thomas has found a happy place.

Today, that happy place is San Diego, where Thomas is on the phone before playing a show at San Diego State University. Thomas performs at the Fillmore Detroit with One Republic and Carolina Liar on Monday.

"It doesn't really affect me at all anymore," says Thomas, 37, of people's perceptions of him. "I think the whole idea of being cool at 37, or worrying about being cool, is the most uncool thing you can do."

Early on, it was a bit more of a problem, he says.

"When you put your first couple of records out, that's all you're concerned about. 'Why aren't we the cool band? Why aren't we on the cover of every magazine?' Then years later you look and see all these bands that were 'the cool band' just aren't around anymore. You're like, 'Oh, I get it, my job wasn't to be the band of the moment. My job is just to try and continue to write good songs.' "

With Thomas, the songs ended up winning out.

In addition to crafting an impressive number of hits with Matchbox Twenty, he found success with his genre-spanning 2005 solo debut "...Something to Be," as well as with "Cradlesong," which was released in June and debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. And then there was "Smooth," his monster 1999 hit with Santana that ended up becoming one of the biggest pop smashes of all-time.

Thomas has even begun to wear down some of the critics that long had their knives sharpened for him. In its congratulatory 4-star review of "Cradlesong," Rolling Stone went so far as to call Thomas "underrated."

"As far as reviews I've read, here's the spectrum," Thomas says, clearly amused. "I read a review that said I was the next generation's John Lennon, then I read a review that said -- and this was the whole review -- 'Thomas continues to have (expletive) hair and (expletive) music.' And I figure I don't believe either one of those things, so somewhere in the middle has to be the truth."

Thomas wraps his tour next month and plans on getting together with his Matchbox Twenty bandmates next year to record an album with a tour to follow. The group is "already starting to kick some ideas around," and Thomas says he feels fortunate to have both careers.

"It's really nice," he says. "You step in and go into Solo World, do the whole tour and the promo and then right at the end of it, you go into Matchbox World, and it's a completely different dynamic. It's four of your best friends, you all work together through the whole creative process, and then you're back out touring with the guys you started touring with. And when we start to get sick of each other, I go back into Solo World for awhile. It makes things easier."

Through it all, Thomas says he's no longer trying to set the world on fire, but just doing what comes natural to him.

"My job is to sit down and write the best songs I can possibly write, make the best record I can make and go out and play the best shows I can play," he says. "I have no control over whether it's going to be successful or not successful or how it's received. So when you realize that, it makes it really easy. You narrow it down to just, 'Hey, my job is just to write and play music,' and everybody else decides where that puts me."

agraham@detnews.com (313) 222-2284