The Beautiful Girls’ frontman Mat McHugh, centre, is glad to be back on tour with mates following solo shows in the US.
By Casey Neill
THE Beautiful Girls will bring honesty, fun and their favourite tunes to the Ferntree Gully Hotel next month.
Frontman Mat McHugh was looking forward to returning to the venue when the Mail caught up with him last week.
“It’s just amazing how many good places are around in nooks and crannies,” he said.
“We want to take stuff we’ve listened to and share it and hopefully turn people onto checking out something they wouldn’t otherwise do.”
Mr McHugh was glad to be back playing shows in Australia for the summer, following a recent solo tour in the US supporting the John Butler Trio.
Before that, he’d spent a few months with The Beautiful Girls in the States. His solo shows were tough without their support.
“They grab your attention and make people dance and move,” he said.
“When you are by yourself, it’s just the words and the singing.
“It turned out great though.”
Mr McHugh was stoked to be playing to sold-out venues and silent crowds.
“It was a really good feeling to have such a positive response,” he said. “It has been a big year.”
And things won’t be slowing down any time soon.
The Beautiful Girls will play several festivals as well as their summer headline tour throughout New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
Summer touring has become a tradition for the band, who jet set around the globe for much of the year.
“For us it’s almost like a little reward,” Mr McHugh said.
He will return to the US for three weeks for another round of solo shows before more gigs with the band in Australia in February.
“It’s pretty full on,” he said.
He’ll then sit back and create a “pretty mellow solo acoustic record” and tour with it.
“Just me and a guitar,” he said.
The Beautiful Girls’ mid-year tour focused on songs from their latest release, Spooks.
“This time we’ll play all the songs people will want to hear,” Mr McHugh said.
“We want to make it a really fun night.”
The album and latest single, ‘My Mind is an Echo Chamber’, was a return to old school dub, reggae and hip hop following a slight detour for the band in 2007, with the commercially successful track ‘I Thought About You.’
“It was an experiment,” Mr McHugh said.
“I felt a bit dirty in that world.
“The crowd changes a little bit. It was less about the whole thing and more about just that one song.
“I think it’s back to normal now.”
“All the records are different and I hope everything we do in the future will be different again.”
But honesty will always remain a feature.
“I always think when I write a song ‘does this sound like it’s coming from a bunch of guys who grew up on the coast of Australia?’” Mr McHugh said.
“Music has to be an honest representation of who you are and what you want to express.”
The Beautiful Girls will play at the Ferntree Gully Hotel on Thursday 20 January, with support acts The Chemist, Jakk’s Azimuth and Anna Paddick.
Tickets are $30 plus a booking fee from the venue and www.theatlasagency.com. Doors open at 7pm.
