Artist description "Matt Ellis plays a music of rag tag glory. A shambolic, loping beast of groove, splintered guitar and the howling impassioned voice of a man that sings as though searching for some kind of impossible truth."The Single Guy, Revolver.

Music Style Alternative

Musical Influences Nick Drake, Rodriquez, David Gray, Gomez.

Similar Artists Nick Drake, Rodriquez, David Gray, Gomez.

Artist History Matt Ellis is a singer/songwriter based in Sydney, Australia. Born in Manly and raised in Hong Kong, Matt started playing in bands in high school.Back in Sydney in 1995, Matt formed the hard rock band Sedgwick Pie. Under his self founded label Krow Pie, Sedgwick released two EPs. The first, Seed was released in 1996 independently. The second, Eight Golden Nuts was released in 1997 on Phantom and MDS, while the band enjoyed tours with Reef (UK), Grinspoon and Tumbleweed to name a few.In ‘98 Sedgwick Pie amicably parted ways and Matt emerged a solo artist. His transition involved consistent acoustic gigging around metropolitan Sydney with such artists as Iota, Kim Salmon and Lo-tel. An unusual request saw Matt perform his original, acoustic version of the Australian National Anthem on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, for the launch of the Yes ‘99 Republican campaign, featuring in the Sydney Morning Herald.During this time Matt, together with his band and main producer David Price (Yothu Yindi/Midnight Oil/INXS), began recording his debut solo album. Over the next 18 months, Matt and his band recorded the 11 tracks that make up Peel at Albert’s, Q Recording, Thunderbird and Paradise studios, in Sydney. Matt Ellis enjoyed a successful launching of Peel and is continuing to play to strong crowds throughout Australia, promoting his debut with his band: bass player Michael Rix, drummer Jon Howell (Leonardo’s Bride, Lo-tec Highbrows), violinist Sean Windsor (Universe) and on Hammond, Johnny Gauci (Welter & Ian Rilen). Matt is currently looking to further his career overseas, starting with a solo acoustic tour of the United States in August.

Group Members Matt Ellis: Guitar VocalsMichael Rix: BassJon Howell: drumsJohnny Gauci: KeyboardsSean Windsor: Violin

Instruments Vocals, Guitars, Drums, Hammond Organ & Violin.

Albums Peel

Press Reviews The relationship formed with a great album starts out exactly like one with a good friend or lover. When you are first introduced, you’re both aloof and ambivalent. You meet again a few more times and your relationship evolves, so slowly and sublimely, you don’t even realise that they have wormed their way in. As you pick up on their quirks and idiosyncrasies, you become drawn to them more and more until you have such a tangled history, even if you wanted to shut them out you can’t. My wife and Exile On Main Street immediately spring to mind.I listened to this Matt Ellis record ten or fifteen times, trying to categorise and pigeon hole it. Almost wanting to dislike it, I kept coming back. It wasn’t that I was persevering, there was some unresolved issue I had that I couldn’t nail. Did his voice annoy me? How could it when it’s got Chris Wilson’s blues soul and Jon Sevens rock howl. The songs? Structured, but raw and diverse. The playing? Fucking fantastic. So what’s gnawing away at me from the inside? Could it be that I love it? These songs make me sweat. They transport me to the band room at a dive pub. I can see the red spotlight glistening on Ellis’ forehead, as the intensity of tracks like Time You Doubt and Shells leave me and the other imaginary punters transfixed. The smoke and beer permeate my clothes, like The Cause and She Said permeate my consciousness. I want to take up smoking again. I want to play drums with ferocity and sing tenderly. I have to keep moving my head from left to right because my view is being obstructed by that pissed idiot swaying in front of me. I never want to actually see Matt Ellis play live, as I fear he can never take me to where these songs take me. This is no twelve bar blues pub rock. It’s not alt rock or white noise or post rock, it’s just passionate rock and roll. It has grown on me like fungus and I like it. It’s still too early to tell if this relationship is built to last. This is just an obsessive fling at this stage, so Exile… shouldn’t get too jealous yet. But technically, I have scored.4/5 StarsSimon Tracey, Revolver.Formerly frontman with the local hard rock combo Sedgwick Pie, Matt Ellis has stepped out as a solo artist and on this first excursion, his work proves a far moodier, more atmospheric prospect, with a strong pop sensibility and the odd hint of quirkiness to match the often enigmatic lyrics. There seems to be a quiet desperation behind many of these songs that gives this debut an edgy intensity that gives it a subtle and unexpected power. Yet it’s all built over a deceptively basic structure, just Ellis’ raw, broodingly effective voice and churning (electric) rhythm guitar. With the subtle and intelligent accompaniment of bass player Michael Rix and drummer Tamlin and the additional sweep of colours added here and there by violinist Anna McInerney and various keyboard players (all very understated for the most part), each song builds with its own internal sense of drama to great effect.There are hints of social conscience throughout Peel, without anything becoming too specific or overly polemic. Shells teases impressions of "middle white man/ boy/ wife", while Living As You more bluntly tilts at equalities, individualities, hypocrisy. But it’s more a case of toying with the sounds of the words rather than using the words to make a case. And just when you think you’ve got Ellis pegged as a sensitive singer songwriter with a penchant for the slow-build power ballad, he hits you between the eyes with the raw rock of The Wicked, complete with some searing licks from Doug Clarke’s slide guitar. It all adds to the sense of drama. Cheekbone Contract builds on that rock drama with some pumping Hammond from Wayne Miller. Ellis certainly has a strong, instinctive understanding of dynamics and how they can best be used to serve the emotional content of a song. To sum up, Peel is an intriguing debut from a striking talent.Michael Smith, The Drum Media.

Location Sydney, NSW - Australia

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