When a band can reinvent itself, not only from album to album but also from show to show, it says something about the creative capabilities of the musicians. Such creativity can be found in the Australian band The Beautiful Girls.
The three Aussies, Matt McHugh, Clay McDonald and Mitch Connelly, have been friends for as long as they can remember. Growing up on a little peninsula near Sydney, they surfed together on the beautiful beaches that littered their home area. Several years later, still surfing, they formed a group with their respective instruments in order to put together an album.
“I’ve been playing guitar since I was 5, but I’m still learning, forever learning,” lead vocalist and guitar player Mat McHugh said. “If there was nothing more to learn, it wouldn’t be worth it to keep playing.”
Clay McDonald, 27, has been playing the bass guitar since he was 12. Drummer Mitch Connelly has been playing drums for the past eight years. With all their years of experience and a common desire to learn more, they decided to form the band the Beautiful Girls.
“The name of the band came from a Van Halen song we heard,” they said. “We don’t really like Van Halen, but the song stuck with us.”
After forming in 2002 they began work on their first release, a full-length album labeled Morning Star. Later in 2002 they recorded an E.P. called Goodtimes in only two days.
The band’s new album, Learn Yourself, to be released later this year, has a different and mellower sound from their previous works. It draws on a more soothing sound of acoustic guitar and the soft mutterings of Matt McHugh. Its melodious strumming and smooth integration of the bass helps lull listeners into a relaxed state.
The album sounds reminiscent of Ben Harper, especially on the track “La Mar (The Ocean).” The drum is slow, interspersed in the chorus, offering a single, constant beat. The guitar is tranquil and simple, leading into McHugh’s gentle voice. The bass is quiet in the background, but helps emphasize the encompassing serenity the song evokes. During the chorus, Matt is joined by other voices singing, “And so it goes/ so it goes/ slows your mind, mind, mind,” giving the song a little upper.
The tracks also draw on reggae and hip-hop, most notably in “Black Bird.” The album opens with an electric guitar riffing to a constant beat, progressed by both the drums and bass. This is an interesting combination because both the drum and the bass guitar supply the beat in the song, and they both compliment the smooth, laid-back sound of the electric guitar. McHugh’s grows deeper and stronger in the song as he sings, “That black bird / That black bird / He said,” weaving a story throughout the song about the sorrows and sadness of the world.
The Beautiful Girls are not trying to impress anyone with their creativity. All they want is to make music.
“We’re trying to make music that we like,” McDonald said. “If other people like it, that’s great, but our goal is not to get a certain group to like us.”
When performing, the band has a laid-back, embracing attitude toward the crowd. At their Aug. 31 show at the Memorial Union terrace, the band talked with the crowd, asking them to join in the music, dance and party hard. Their songs became more upbeat when played live, each musician demonstrating that he could mix things up and that he did not have to stick to what he knew from the album.
While performing, each of their creative outlets shone through, with each one of them taking a little solo or “kicking it up a notch” with a new beat, riff, or jam. They each played off each other, never getting overly zealous with the spotlight or showing off their capabilities. They allowed for error and seemed to embrace that even though they were on a stage, they were no different from those dancing in the crowd. They were there to entertain, and they loved it.
