Mat McHugh

Mat is now at another step in musical journey known for its mulitple personality approach: from stoner bands, rock bands, dub heavy collaborations through to steering the Beautiful Girls transition to the skeletal and angular stinging form of reggae/rock that the band is now. T.B.G. have toured the globe for the past 7 years now. In that time charting (top 20 twice), seeing off border hassles, line-up changes, freezing venues, cooking venues, black ice and all manner of other obstacles, ie: cars hurtling across the highway in front of them.

They’ve toured with a list of artists longer than most arms and played festivals in Austalia, Japan, Europe, the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. Working outside the traditional “major label” release route, McHugh has found plenty of friends and fans (often in labels) to release his work. All the places listed above have access to Mat's music. Australia, the U.K., Japan, France, Germany and of course in the U.S. all 3 T.B.G. albums have been released. In 2007, McHugh teamed up with underground cut-and-paste artist Katalyst. That song has been used on Katalyst’s most recent album and featured on (national radio) Triple J. Although there have been plans, the two are yet to perform it live.

The past year has been peak time for Mat and T.B.G. The band appeared on pretty much all major TV music shows and radio throughout Australia: a special on the band on Vid Hits, the Rove show, the Grand Final Football show and the ABC’s Saturday night Sideshow.

When he’s not releasing his own material Mat has found time to help deliver the message of other artists, bringing a new voice to South African Johnny Clegg‘s "Dela", UB40’s "Bring Me Your Cup", "Big Mama’s Door" and in performance a couple of Chris Whitley tunes. There is a strong affinity with Whitley’s approach to art and life in the way McHugh works. A cut and run ethos that refuses to walk a straight line, that keeps people guessing about where he'll move artistically. There have been some solo recordings and along the way a few new songs have surfaced - then disappeared - on Mat's MySpace. Notably the "Like A Lion" bootleg from 4 years ago (another project that is still finding friends and has a version of Bob Marley's War). This was never officially released but did find its way out.

Now there is the makings of a new solo project. Mat has been working on new songs, with a view to bringing yet another slant to his music. "Darling, this Scene ..." is the first from those sessions. It’s a return to the McHugh/Pritchett co-production styles that have worked well for T.B.G.

There is another shift at work. Acoustic songs, yes, but darker and the songs are a stack starker than the recent T.B.G. material. There’s no release time or date, no plan at work, just an idea to get the songs finished and see how they work out.