A Beautiful Girl on the inside

Thu 15th Jun, 2006 in Features

The Beautiful Girl’s music is soft and intense, like a small wave crashing on a snow white, sandy shore. Acoustic guitar is accompanied by prevailing rhythms and whimsical lyrics. The comparisons to Xavier Rudd and Jack Johnson’s brand of surf rock are inevitable, but not welcome by the band’s lead vocalist.

“If someone asked me what it was, the last thing I’d say is surf rock. People call things what they want and it’s closer to surf rock than death metal. You have to get labelled a little bit and I guess we’re surfers and part of our music probably has a rock element to it … Call me old fashioned but I think music is just music. It’s weird to talk about actual music itself, like it’s cool to talk about where you’re coming from but describing music is like describing a colour to someone that’s never seen it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just music and music to me means a lot.”

Matt then goes on to say that the Beautiful Girls never wanted to promote themselves as a surf band, even though the guys do enjoy ripping up the waves, because it would commercialise the two most important elements in their lives.

“I’ve grown up a street back from the beach since I was five years old. The thing I feel the most comfortable in the world doing is surfing. To me surfing isn’t a fashion thing, it’s just a thing I’ve just done since I was a kid. To me, it’s just something I do and I love doing. It’s what makes me feel the best in the world. Surfing’s about connecting to something other than what you see in front of you. There are these bands that espouse the fact that they surf, like they’re right in there and that’s good for them but I don’t want to come across as that because I feel that it’d be cheapening surfing and cheaping my connection with it just to score some record sales. I’d be happy if no-one in the world thinks I surf because I know I do. But secretly, just between me and you, we love it.”

The only thing the Beautiful Girls boys love as much as surfing is music. Matt describes how it was also something they grew up with and a natural way to express them. As young adults Matt and Clay were struggling to be a successful band, building contacts and playing the scene in Sydney. After some setbacks they were discouraged and Matt really had to get away and think about why he was making music in the first place.

“I got to the stage where I’d basically had enough of it so I went overseas and thought about it. I’ve been playing music since I was a little kid, before I can remember, why do I actually do it. And that got me to the root of it all, that I actually love it. And I let go of any aspirations I ever had and I came back and decided to play the music I play because I love playing it. And then everything started going great cos I was basically happy if nothing happened in the band, I was happy if I could be satisfied with the music I wrote when I was at home playing it. If any young band asks me for any advice I’d say ‘just love it’, cos it’s such a lottery. If you love it then everything else is gravy.”

Matt is fiercely proud of TBG’s success, especially because it’s an independent effort. He does draw a line and pulls back from seeing his own band as beyond reproach.

“I just don’t want to come across as being music industry martyrs, with a holier than thou attitude. I just want to illustrate the fact that your decisions are on your head. If you do something wrong it’s because you did it. If something goes great it’s not because some faceless member of section of four/number five decided to put something into effect.”

The Beautiful Girls are happy with the level of success they’ve achieved and the fact they’ve been full time musicians for four years. They’ve just come back from their third tour of North America and their album is selling well in Japan and Europe. They’re about to head around Australia again, but they don’t think there’ll be a show to top their appearance at the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival in 2003.

“We were in the smallest venue (of the festival) and it was packed for an hour before we went on. It was really hot and it seemed like there were thousands of people outside trying to get in. Amazing to see. And when we turned up and went into our dressing room Ben Harper was in there, Jack Johnson was in there, Donavon (Frankenreiter) was in there, G love was in there. All these guys turned up to see us play and we were all jamming before we went on. That was pretty amazing as far as I’m concerned.”

You can catch the Beautiful Girls when they head off on a national tour throughout June and July.

The Laying Tracks Tour

With special guests THE FUMES

JUNE
Monday 26 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney NSW
Wednesday 28 – Peninsula Lounge, Moordoouc, VIC
Thursday 29 – University Of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, TAS
Friday 30 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC 

JULY
Saturday 1 – Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads,VIC
Thursday 6 – Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta, QLD
Friday 7 – The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 8 – Kawana Lake Community Center, Kawana, QLD
Sunday 9 – Hotel Great Northern, Byron Bay, NSW
Wednesday 12 – Lake Jindabyne Hotel, Jindabyne, NSW
Thursday 13 – ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Friday 14 – Newcastle Panthers, Newcastle, NSW
Saturday 15 – Yallah Roadhouse & Shooters Bar , Yallah, NSW
Thursday 20 – Prince Of Wales, Bunbury, WA      
Friday 21 – 3 Bears, Dunsborough, WA
Saturday 22 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
Sunday 23 – Fly By Night, Fremantle, WA 
Thursday 27- LISENCED ALL AGE – Governor Hindmarsh,       Adelaide, SA
Friday 28 – Governor Hindmarsh, Adelaide, SA
Saturday 29 – Town Hall Ruins, Darwin, NT