Mat McHugh of THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS interview

The Beautiful Girls

On September 30th, 2010 @ The Roxy in Hollywood, THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS will be hitting the stage with their signature brand of folk, reggae, rock, and roots.  Deft musicians and able storytellers, their frontman — Mat McHugh – took some time out of his on-the-road-schedule to answer a few questions posed to him from Release List and BANG YOUR HEAD!(lines).

Here’s the exclusive interview:

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Release List: Did you guys do anything differently in recording your most recent album to spice things up in the studio / what did you do the same that works?

Mat: Everything about this album was done differently to anything we’ve done in the past. The was it was made was by me pretty much sitting in my basement piecing everything together. I used samples of our own drums and played pretty much everything else.

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Who voted against “The Handsome Men” as a band name? Follow up: Was naming the band The Beautiful Girls a reverse Jedi mind trick to attract more women to your shows?

Ha. No man. It was just a joke. We anted to come up with a name that was the opposite of all the punk bands our friends played in. We kinda wanted to piss everybody off. It hasn’t hurt attracting girls to our shows though, I must say.

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How do you think the African American community is going to receive the album considering the title “Spooks”?

Hopefully it doesn’t cause any offence to anyone. It’s just a word. In my eyes and in my reality it holds no negative connotations.

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Speaking of the latest album, it just hit #18 on the Australian charts, does that mean more to you in the digital age?

It doesn’t really mean much to me at all, to be honest. Our albums tend to sell over time. they never seem to come out with a bang. We rely on word of mouth and like the feeling of people discovering our music for themselves which, I guess, is the opposite of how the media-driven music industry would tend to operate.

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What place on earth has the most beautiful girls? Besides my bedroom….

The most beautiful girl in the world is my fiancee. I don’t notice other girls. She’s in colour and everybody else is grey. You’ll have to ask somebody else.

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Considering that Australia is the land down under, do you wish people would stop asking dumb questions about your toilets? Any other dumb questions about Australia?

Mostly people are pretty educated as to what Australia is all about. We enjoying talking about our country because we’re all really proud to have come from such an amazing place.

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Considering the higher degree of difficulty for women to make it in the rock genre of music, are you really a beautiful girl inside the most advanced man suit ever made? If so, what’s that like to put on?

Higher degree of difficulty? I’m not sure I agree. People are people and everyone one is an individual case.  I try and avoid stereotyping things because it can get kind of depressing. There are plenty of women doing just fine in the ‘rock genre’.

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The Lightning Round:

1. Who would win in the most peaceful fight of all time? Bob Marley or Ghandi? Bob Marley was a stepping razor. No contest.
2. I’m thinking of a famous Aussie. Who is it? Probably Mel Gibson. [<- Editor's Note: I LOL'd.]
   
3. What’s the cheesiest song you know all the lyrics to? I don’t even know all the lyrics to my songs let alone anybody else’s.

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What’s next for The Beautiful Girls?

More music. More shows. More love. More happiness.

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Check back soon for our coverage of their September 30th show at THE ROXY!

Watch the video for their song, Freedom, right here:

For more info:

• The Beautiful Girls on MySpace
• Their Last.FM page