The Beautiful Girls

The Beautiful Girls are taking it all the way back to the sonic beginnings to celebrate anniversaries of their two seminal releases Morning Sun and Learn Yourself.

Periscopes, Music, Blackbird and LaMar, amazing performances all over the planet, the voice of Mat McHugh, heart-on-the-sleeve songs, pioneering Australia’s surf-roots-reggae sounds; these are things fans worldwide think of when they think of The Beautiful Girls.

Now Mat has decided to strip back the performances to their original essence - the striking three-piece sound which first brought the band to attention fifteen years ago. This is the 'Learn Yourself XV Tour’.

Beginning as a musical collective that started out playing ‘guerrilla gigs’ - jacking open the power box at their local skate bowl – as a vehicle for Mat’s songs, the road for The Beautiful Girls (named to irk all their ‘punk rocker tough guy’ friends) would lead from open-mic nights to #1 albums, glowing reviews, tours, international travel, meetings with heroes, dalliances with villains and an exploration of what was important as artists, musicians and human beings.  

The recording career kicked off in 2002 with a debut EP, Morning Sun recorded in 3 hours for $300 as a demo and handed out to friends. The track Periscopes became a Triple J radio hit that summer and the Goodtimes EP, followed that same year.

In 2003, The Beautiful Girls released their debut album, Learn Yourself then another EP, The Weight Of The World in 2004. Three more albums followed, We’re Already Gone (2005), Water (2006) and Ziggurats (2007). Ziggurats’ main single, I Thought About You, was nominated for Blues & Roots Work of the Year at the 2008 APRA Awards. The album Spooks released in 2010, peaked at number 18 on the ARIA charts, debuted at #1 in the Australian Independent Chart and number 7 in the US Billboard Reggae Albums Chart. Spooks, which McHugh recorded with longtime co-producer Ian Pritchett, was described as ‘a majestic production where stylistic threads run deep’ which showcased Mat’s ever-solid song writing and his skill as a player of many instruments and producer. 

In the eight years to 2010, Mat and the collective that comprised the live version of The Beautiful Girls, chalked up a dozen world tours, travelling to Japan, Europe, Canada, the United States and South America. Fans of the music span the globe.

Since then The Beautiful Girls have been invited to appear at festivals and special events around the globe. While the band only plays a limited number of shows each year, this is where the depth of the songs, the interaction with the audience and the “spooky, dubby, digital dancehall tinged, rootsy, punky, reggae” music of The Beautiful Girls is at its best.

It’s a sound that The Beautiful Girls invented and none do it better.

Friday 1st December 2017 – 8:00pm
Tickets $39
With Special Guests
Phone orders call Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056