Matthew Good

Matthew Good (born June 29, 1971, Burnaby, British Columbia) is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002. Other band members included drummer Ian Browne, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Genn, and original bassist Geoff Lloyd, later to be replaced by Rich Priske.

Good's early career in music involved a variety of folk demos and a stint as the lead singer of a folk band, the Rochester Kings. The Matthew Good Band was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1995. That year, they released their debut album, The Last of the Ghetto Astronauts. Although initially popular only in the Vancouver area, the album began to catch on across Canada in 1996, with the singles "Alabama Motel Room", "Symbolistic White Walls" and "Haven't Slept in Years" becoming significant hits on radio and MuchMusic. The Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, made on a budget of roughly five thousand Canadian dollars, would become the most successful indie rock album in Canadian history.

The band's 1997 album Underdogs spawned the hit singles "Everything is Automatic" and "Apparitions", which remains the band's biggest hit. Good's political outspokenness and brash confidence were unusual in the Canadian rock scene of the 1990s, and he became known as much for being a difficult person to work with as for his music. He maintained a subversive image, sometimes posing for publicity photos in a gorilla mask.

Beautiful Midnight followed in 1999 and became hugely successful, skyrocketing the band's celebrity status and taking home two Juno awards in 2000 - Best Group and Best Rock Album (Good himself boycotts the Juno Awards, and guitarist Dave Genn has been quoted as saying that he only attends for the open bar). After touring Beautiful Midnight for nearly two years, the band set to work on The Audio of Being, which was released in 2001. The album evidently created significant internal tensions in the band - following the departure of Dave Genn, Good dissolved the band in 2002.

Good is also a writer. From late 1997 through the end of 2000, Good published a series of monthly manifestos on the band's website. These would later be compiled and released in his book debut, At last, there is nothing left to say, published in 2001 by Insomniac Press.

Good released his solo debut, Avalanche, in 2003. This album featured major stylistic differences from those recorded with the previous band, and featured the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on several tracks, including the first two singles, "Weapon" and "In A World Called Catastrophe". Good and co-director Ante Kovac were later nominated for a Juno Award for Best Video Of The Year for "Weapon". Ante Kovac received the award alone on stage. Good later revealed in his blog that he had actually fired Kovac half way through the making of the video.

Most recently, Good has become heavily involved with Amnesty International, bringing Amnesty representatives on the road with him during his 2004 tour. His second solo album, the politically charged White Light Rock & Roll Review, was released June 15, 2004. Video singles include "Alert Status Red" and "It's Been A While Since I Was Your Man".

Also in 2004, Good faced controversy from some fans regarding the video for "Alert Status Red". Short clips of surveillance footage of the Columbine High School shootings had been included by the video's co-director Kyle Davison, and some viewers found the inclusion of these clips insensitive. Good temporarily removed the video from his website to consider if the inclusion of the surveillance clips was appropriate. Two days later Good returned the video to his website and expressed his support for the work of his co-director.

Good is currently on vacation with his wife in Europe, and as of early January 2005. He authors a politically-charged blog at http://www.matthewgood.org/blog/

There have been various rumours surrounding the release of a Best Of album and an upcoming cross-country acoustic tour.

Discography

Rodchester Kings

1991 ...And In Closing

Matthew Good Early Demos

Matthew Good Band

Matthew Good as solo artist

2003 - Avalanche
2004 - White Light Rock & Roll Review

External links