Ok peoples ! We’ve got exciting news for you… The Beautiful Girls are playing The Northern with KID MAC to kick off 2012! Keep the the 3rd and 4th of January  saved for summer -music- goodness with The Beautiful Girls get your tickets HERE and enter our Common Ground Comp’ to WIN a T.B.G prize pack  including tickets HERE. Enjoy this interview with Mat McHugh about what’s in-store for the shows and what’s news with The Beautiful Girls .
Hey Mat – Thanks’ for taking a wee moment to chat with Common Ground – we know you’re a busy man! Muchly appreciated.
Q- You’re back in OZ on a summer tour with The Beautiful Girls to wrap up 2011 and welcome 2012. Does this feel like a well deserved treat after a massive year releasing your current solo E.P, “Go Don’t stop” and touring America and Canada? Is it nice to be back on the road with the guys for some imminent shows at pre-loved haunts?
Yeah, it’s just nice to hang out with the guys again. The whole idea for us doing summer tours along the coast is just to have a good time. It’s a treat for all of us I think. I’ll be taking my family on the road and doing as much surfing and freewheeling as I can get away with.
Q- Tell us about the summer tour- sounds like it’ll be as much about surf, fun, friends and family as about reconnecting with fans and playing some great shows live! Do you have a bit of time in-between gigs to get sand in your toes and salt in your hair?
The TBG summer tours have always been a bit of a reward for a year of hard work touring. We always make sure to make it as much about the lifestyle and the vibe as we can. The more shows I play and the more tours I do it occurs to me the most important thing is enjoying life. You can’t just live for the hour onstage every night. That would mean the other twenty three hours are wasted. The music is just a small part albeit the part that ties it all together and allows it to happen.
Q- It must be quite a contrast playing onstage to a receptive, captive & captivated audience with the stripped back sounds of acoustic guitar in your solo tours; then launching headfirst into playing summer festivals, to dancing, crazy kids accompanied by the exciting presence of a full band. Do you enjoy the diversity of having these duel stage personas?
Yeah, it’s fun. I really enjoy both sides of the coin. My intention for touring solo was to pay my dues as a solo artist by throwing myself to the lions every night. No safety net. The plan from after this TBG tour is to do a lot more touring under my name but as a 3 piece. Guitar, bass, drums. I want to capture both sides of the coin in one show. The TBG summer festivals have been really enjoyable and they were a good chance for me to reflect on everything we’ve achieved as a band. It still freaks me out to see thousands of people singing personal songs that I wrote in my bedroom.
Q- Look’s like there’s an imminent Mat. McHugh album in the pipeline, when can we possibly get “click happy” on the BUY button? Is there a talked about release date yet?
I’m working on it at the moment. If everything goes to plan it should be out around March/April. I want to make sure it’s good obviously and have been working on the songs all year. The EP I released was more of a home demo with a drum machine. The album has acoustic guitars, drums and bass. There’s even banjo on a track which is a first.
Q- When it comes to The Beautiful Girls live show’s can we look forward to a mix of both tunes from Spooks and other T.B.G records as well as some of your solo numbers Mat?
Well, there will absolutely be songs from all of our records. For the festivals we played no acoustic songs because I felt they should be left for Mat. McHugh shows but on the tour we’ll be playing them all. Weirdly, I don’t feel comfortable playing ‘solo’ songs with TBG but when I play shows under my name every Beautiful Girls track is fair game. It just seems to have worked out that way.
Q- Kid Mac is also touring with you guys for these shows. You feature in his track “Hear You Calling Me” What was it like collaborating together? Was this something you co’ wrote together?
Mac just sent me through a bunch of tracks he was working on and that particular one stood out. It was called something different at the time and the name got changed to fit the chorus lyric. I wrote the melody and the lyrics for the chorus part and sent it back to him. Oh. and a couple of little ‘la la la’s’ too.
Q- Byron Bay is itching to see The Beautiful Girls at The Northern on the 3rd and 4th of January – with two shows in the bay what’s your favourite thing about playing in our home town? Where do you guys like to surf, eat, chill?
A lot of my friends live up there so usually it’s a pretty busy time playing catch up’s. I would live there if I could but for one reason or another I get stuck here in Sydney. I tend to surf the spots around Byron that are the least crowded. I’m not going to start naming any for fear that may no longer be the case.
Thanks again for your time! Look forward to seeing y’all in Byron!!