Mat McHugh

Hi, I’m Mat. I live on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia and have all my life. It’s where my heart is. There’s parts of my blood, sweat, tears (and other bodily fluids) all over it’s sands. All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a surfer. I used to cut out pictures of my favourite pros and keep scrapbooks of all their photos. I was honestly obsessed. In the water every morning before the sun and home every night after it had gone down. Nothing much has changed. Music was always a part of my life too because my dad played music and shared his love with me from a super young age. Always there was songs being played in our house. Always plenty of love. I guess I never aspired to play music but it was always there and I was playing musical instruments as far back as I can remember. I feel like it’s an easier way of expressing myself than talking There was a dream for a minute of being a pro surfer but I figured out that I hated competing and couldn’t stand hassling for waves in a heat. Instead, music happened by accident after a demo that I had recorded of my songs found it’s way onto Australian radio. It cost 300 bucks and took four hours to make. I came up with the name ‘The Beautiful Girls’ because I was too shy to use my own name and I thought that a ‘band’ name would provide me with a little buffer from prying eyes. I’ve pretty much been travelling my whole life and the last 8 years or so have been spent touring with the band internationally. I’ve decided to go out under my own name now because I feel like my heart is strong and I can take the consequences for my musical expressions whichever way they may fall. My life has been amazingly fortunate in that I’ve been able to share stages with my idols and meet countless new friends around the world all through independently releasing music. Plus, I’ve gotten to surf some pretty sweet spots. I’m really looking forward to this next adventure and to getting to come out and play some songs for you all. Hopefully we can sing ‘em together.