New Artist: Aqualung
I know what you’re thinking: “Sammi, a Jethro Tull song can’t be an artist of the week.” Not so, faithful readers. Aqualung is the name of a band, moreover, one guy, and he’s a pretty amazing musician. Learn all about him below!
- Name of Band: Aqualung (Matt Hales)
- Sound: Very calm, think Coldplay but with a little more edge, a little more depth. There’s something more important underneath Matt Hales’ words than at first lesson, at least in my opinion. His music can be very ambient, but also stirring.
- Location: England
- Website: www.aqualung.net
- You May Remember Them From Such Songs As…: “Brighter Than Sunshine” was a pretty big hit the world around, and for good reason. It’s a quite pleasant tune. It’s the one that’s got the most radio play, and I also remember hearing the opening to the song “Left Behind” in a car commercial, so that was exciting when I heard it.
- Next Performance: Nothing right now,*tear*, but let’s hope he plays somewhere soon, yes?
First off, I just wanted to mention how ridiculously cool Matt Hales’ parents are. They ran an independent record shop, and that’s what he was brought up knowing in Southampton, England. It’s like destiny that he wound up being such a musical child, having all that immersion. Around the age of 12, he did have inklings of being a stuntman, but thank goodness he grew out of that phase quickly and by age 16 he had a scholarship under his belt and was studying music at Winchester College. His genius had only just begun, believe it or not, because a year later he had a symphony written, Life Cycle.
Classical music wasn’t Hales’ only interest, thank goodness for a more general public, so during his teenage years, he formed his first band. They even produced an album in 1990, but broke up not long after. Heck, they couldn’t even decide on a name, going by Mecano Pig, White Noise, Da Fook Mo a Dib…..so who needs it? Hales was due for bigger and better things.
Next stop? City University in London, where Matt studied music in 1990. During this time, Hales collaborated with his brother, Ben, and created a band called Gravel Monsters, better known as RUTH. The band was marginally popular (I have one of their singles!) They released some singles and an album, Harrison, but nothing ridiculously earth-shaking happened. They changed their name again to the 45s (What is it with Hale and indecision?), released a couple more singles, and got signed to Mercury Records. It was not long-lived, because they split up in March 2002. No worries, dear readers, life will get quite beautiful, and maybe a little strange?
I admit, that was a poor transition, but Hales’ first single as Aqualung was “Strange and Beautiful.” It was released in September of 2002 under the label B-Unique. It was featured a couple places (You’ll hear about it later, folks!) and led to his debut album, Aqualung. Pretty sure I just heard a chorus of angels singing when I wrote the album’s name. Hales had arrived.
Still Life came out a year later and was very well-received by the critics, but he still didn’t have a lot of publicity. In order to promote the CD, Aqualung went on two very different tour outings, one run to unusual venues like churches and such with his brother Ben, and the other one with a more rounded-out band at traditional venues. I know what you’re thinking, though: All this was done in the UK, and I might be a US reader, so when do I get a chance to hear the wonderfulness that is Matt Hales?
Not to worry, my friends, for Hales thought about the good ol’ US of A with his next CD, Strange and Beautiful. (My introduction to Aqualung, good times!) It was basically a combination of tracks from his first two CDs, and then the band got signed with Columbia Records. You may ooh and ahh now. “Brighter Than Sunshine,” arguably the most popular track on the album, got massive airplay, like I mentioned above, and was part of the Top 40 culture for quite a few months.
Hales isn’t really showing signs of stopping, releasing his album Memory Man in March of 2007. The first single from it in the US is “Pressure Suit,” so if you heard that song and were like, “Hmm, I wonder who that is?” You have your answer now, so I hope it made you happy.
Snaps for trivia, coming up next!
Photo Source: http://flickr.com/photos/danielmorrison/407768583/
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