Mat Devine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mat Devine | ||
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 2006 promotional photo
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Mathew Devine | |
| Also known as | Matthew Wolfgang Devine, Nathaniel Hawkwinde III, Matthieu Devine | |
| Born | April 16, 1974 | |
| Origin | Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A. | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards | |
| Years active | 11 | |
| Label(s) | Atlantic Records | |
| Associated acts |
Kill Hannah | |
| Website | http://www.killhannah.com | |
Mathew Devine (April 16, 1974) is the lead singer, pianist and guitarist in the band Kill Hannah.
[edit] Early Life
Devine was born in Norwalk, Connecticut and spent his early years in Norwalk and nearby Westport, Connectitcut. In the summer before his 9th grade year, his family moved to West Nyack, New York. Three years later, the family moved again to Lake Forest, Illinois.
Suburban Chicago did little to impress or inspire Mat, though he was to form several crucial friendships during this era, including members of writer/director John Hughes’ family, who was to provide a much needed kick-start for Mat’s musical career. As he was finishing out his high school career, Mat became close friends with John Hughes III. He became a regular in the Hughes house, often spending the night there with Mrs. Hughes cooking him breakfast in the morning.
[edit] College
Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois became home for Mat for the next two years as he became an undistinguished English major. ISU did little to foster Mat’s creativity, with his only lasting achievement being the creation of a small Super8 film editing room, hijacked from the photography department. After securing a collection of cast-off film editing equipment, Mat holed up in the tiny "film department" and began creating short films, usually set to his own music, usually grainy and softly lit, with people doing little more than hanging out, or walking around.
Devine's major accomplishment during his ISU days was writing the eponymous song Kill Hannah. Back in Lake Forest for the summer, John Hughes III was an aspiring music producer. With a certain amount of convincing, John Hughes II agreed to a kind of development deal with Mat. Mat would record several songs, and John Hughes III would handle production work. This was the first real musical production experience for both Devine and John Hughes III. Session drummer Matt Walker was brought in to record the drum tracks. The Hughes influence is obvious in songs such as "Glacier" and "Surreal" which sound very late 1980’s even though they were recorded in the mid 90’s.
The development deal with Hughes et al eventually fell apart when a mutually agreeable deal could not be reached. Acrimonious correspondence was traded between lawyers for nearly three months until the exasperated Hughes duo pulled the plug.
After one semester at ISU, Devine began studying at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, eventually earning a BFA, with a focus on photography. Mat continued making short films, several set to music by early incarnations of Kill Hannah.
In early 1996, Devine's first formal EP entitled Hummingbirds the Size of Bullets was self-released. The six song EP featured imaginative packaging including; parchment paper, feathers, weeds, and for a select few, an actual dead fish in the spine of the jewel case. Now a rarity, a copy in adequate condition traded hands on eBay for $265.00 in 2002.
[edit] Early Musical Influences
As a young teenager, Mat started to take an interst in music. He started off listening to his older sisters vinyl collection which included things like The Cure, Siouxsie, The Cult, The Smiths, Love and Rockets. In the early 90's he started listening to shoegazer bands like Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, Ride. Bands that he enjoys listening to are The Smiths, Bowie, The Cure, R.E.M., Linkin Park, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Deadsy, Billy Idol, Dandy Warhols, BT, Depeche Mode, Ride, Marilyn Manson, Ours, The Smashing Pumpkins (Devine and Billy Corgan collaborated on the production work of an early version of a Kill Hannah song that eventually became "Cry Baby"), Bad Trance, Good Jungle and Cyndi Lauper .
