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Aqualung will performing at the highly anticipated Rockit Festival at the end of October, Matt Hales fills us in a bit about Aqualung and their current plans for a new album.
Q1) Please introduce yourself:
Hello - i am matt hales sometimes known as aqualung
Q2) What style of music will you be performing?
My style
Q3) What made you decided to perform at this year’s Rockit festival in Hong Kong?
It sounds like a cool event and of course a chance to see hong kong for the first time.....
Q4) What quality in your performance do you add to the 2 day event?
Hopefully a short trip to a strange and beautiful world....
Q5) Are there any other performers at Rockit this year that you are looking forward to see?
It's been a while since i saw the cooper temple clause so that will be cool. also be very interesting to hear some hong kong bands.
Q6) Which other festivals have you performed at and what did you enjoy the most about those?
We only played v2004 this year cos i was busy with my new son, but it was excellent - loads of people singing along - lovely!
Q7) Which if any artists have inspired you and your music over the last few years?
cornelius, wilco, rufus wainwright, bjork.
Q8) What have you got planned for the last few months of the year, and anything special for next year yet? (Gigs/ releases/ collaborations?)
Working on my new album here at home, a few dates in the states and thena special christmas gig at the queen elizabeth hall on the southbank in london. mmm twinkly.....
Q9) If there was one thing about a festival that really makes it special what do you think it would be? Or if there is not just one thing, what is the major combination?
The location, hanging out with the other bands, but most important - the people who come to listen.
For more information on the Rockit festival checkout www.rockit-hk.com
More information on Aqualung:
If anyone can claim to have had their career choice in some way chosen for them, it’s Aqualung’s Matt Hales; born above his parents’ independent record store, he was writing songs by the age of 4. By 11 he’d been commissioned to compose his school song, by 14 he was co-writing with his brother a clutch of “songs about road safety”. By 17 he’d had his first symphony “Life Cycle” performed by a 60-piece orchestra, with Matt himself conducting. No ordinary childhood. No ordinary child.
Matt achieved some minor success with the band RUTH, formed with his brother Ben, and then as a new incarnation The 45’s, but after being dropped by their UK label, a disenchanted Matt opted out to pursue solo musical goals.
It was a the haunting song “Strange And Beautiful”, written for a VW Beetle advertising campaign in the UK that changed Matt Hales’ life. With record shops and radio stations across the UK besieged by people desperate to find THAT song, Aqualung was born, a record deal signed, and the song released, reaching Number 7 in the UK singles chart in 2002.
Aqualung followed the 200,000 selling eponymous debut album with the release of ‘Still Life’ in October 2003. With ‘Still Life’, the Ivor Novello-nominated Matt Hales has propelled himself to the status of one of Britain’s strongest songwriters. With a big push planned for America, it’s only a matter of time before Hales is recognized as a major global talent.
www.aqualung.net
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