Matthew Good

Matthew Frederick Robert Good (born June 29, 1971) is a Canadian musician. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the Matthew Good Band, one of the most successful alternative rock bands in Canada during the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the band disbanded in 2002, Good has pursued a solo career and established himself as a political commentator and mental health activist. Between 1996 and 2016, with sales by Matthew Good Band included, Good was the 25th best-selling Canadian artist in Canada. Good has been nominated for 21 Juno Awards during his career, winning four. Matthew Good's father was a colonial Englishman from India and his mother was from British Columbia, Canada. Good's introduction into the music scene began while he was in high school, when he was asked by members of a folk group to write lyrics for them. Good then began singing with the group. Good taught himself to play guitar at age 20 and continued to write songs. Good's early career in music involved a variety of folk demos and a stint as the lead singer of a folk band, The Rodchester Kings. Matthew Good and guitarist Simon Woodcock were discovered at an open mic at Simon Fraser University by manager Brent Christensen. Early Rodchester Kings demos were recorded at Fragrant Time Records in Burnaby by Greg Wasmuth and Steven Codling. From 1992 to 1993, Good recorded short demo tapes called Left of Normal, Broken, and Euphony, which featured the acoustic songs "Mercy Misses You", "Heather's Like Sunday", and the title track "Euphony". In 1994, he won a prize from 99.3 The Fox's Seeds, an annual competition of local Vancouver-based bands. The prize included recording time at a local studio/recording school, where, in September 1994, Good, along with band members Steve Codling, Judy Renouf, Eran Vooys, and Ariel Watson, recorded 15 Hours on a September Thursday. This demo tape included the songs "Second Sun", "The Ocean", and "Last of the Ghetto Astronauts". In December 1994, the band signed a publishing deal with EMI Publishing. In March 1995, the original band went on tour across Canada. Upon returning home, the band split up and Matt started over with a new group of musicians. Good formed a three-piece rock band in 1995 composed of himself, drummer Charlie Quintana (later replaced by Ian Browne) and bassist Geoff Lloyd. Dave Genn originally only recorded with the band as a paid session musician. The four recorded the band's debut album, Last of the Ghetto Astronauts. The band released the album independently in 1995, after which Genn officially joined the band. The band was not originally called "Matthew Good Band". In fact, the first 5000 copies of Last of the Ghetto Astronauts were just titled "MGB". After the album was released, "Alabama Motel Room" began to receive significant radio airplay, and people began requesting the song on radio and the album at retail stores calling the band, "Matthew Good Band". At the time, the band had been having conversations about the band's name, but the band then decided that the band would be called "Matthew Good Band". Although initially popular only in the Vancouver area, the band began to have more success across Canada in 1996, with the singles "Alabama Motel Room" and "Symbolistic White Walls" becoming significant hits on radio and their music videos being played on MuchMusic. In December 1996, Matthew Good Band signed a two-album deal with Private Music. In mid-January 1997, on the first day of pre-production for their next album, the group was notified that BMG Entertainment North America was merging Private Music into Windham Hill/High Street Records, putting a halt to the production of the album. In mid-March, after negotiations, Windham Hill/High Street released the group from its contract. Good was paid what he was owed for the two albums, and the group then decided to record the new album regardless of label support, using the money received from the divorce of their contract with Windham Hill/High Street to fund it. The group then agreed to release the upcoming album under a distribution agreement with PolyGram Group Canada. After releasing the EP Raygun in May 1997, the band released their second full-length album, Underdogs, later that year. The album was produced by Warne Livesey, who would go on to produce every full-length MGB album and most of Good's subsequent solo albums. The album spawned the singles "Everything Is Automatic", "Indestructible", "Apparitions" and "Rico", all which were hits in Canada. In November 1998, Geoff Lloyd left the band and was shortly thereafter replaced by Rich Priske. On January 21, 1999, Underdogs was certified Platinum in Canada. In September 1999, the band released their next studio album, Beautiful Midnight. The album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart and featured the hit singles "Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up", and "Strange Days". In January 2000, Good underwent vocal cord surgery after being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, prompting him to temporarily quit smoking. In March 2000, The band won two Juno awards for "Best Group" and "Best Rock Album". Good himself did not attend the ceremony, and guitarist Dave Genn has been quoted as saying that he only attended for the open bar.[citation needed] Beautiful Midnight became the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada and selling over 300,000 copies by 2016. In 2000, the band's song "Running for Home" was featured in an episode of Higher Ground. In the summer of 2000, Good stayed in a hotel for three weeks in Whistler to work on songs for the new album. Good later wrote that he spent much of the time "trying to keep down food supplement bars, trying to forget the growing tension within the band, the high expectations of needing to produce 'hit songs' (whatever they are these days), throwing up, and trying to find some semblance of direction in my personal life". The band entered the studio in late 2000 to record the material. The sessions saw a great deal of intra-band turmoil. In February 2001, the band began a brief tour of the United States to promote the American release of Beautiful Midnight. In June 2001, the band released the EP Loser Anthems, and followed it with what would be the band's final tour in the summer. In August 2001, Dave Genn quit the band, though he returned four days later. The band released The Audio of Being on October 30, 2001. In November 2001, it was revealed that Genn had left the band again and Ian Browne had also left the band. In February 2002, Universal Music Canada confirmed that the band had broken up. In March 2002, during his first interview after the breakup was confirmed, Good stated that the breakup was "a conscious effort on everybody's part". In a 2009 interview for The Ongoing History of New Music, Good stated that he decided the band was done after The Audio of Being was released, citing him no longer wanting to placate the needs of the other band members and no one wanting to tour the record as reasons. Good released his solo debut, Avalanche, in 2003. The album featured major stylistic differences from those recorded with the previous band. The album featured the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on several tracks, including the first two singles, "Weapon" and "In a World Called Catastrophe". Good recorded the album with long-time MGB producer Warne Livesey, who earned a Juno nomination for the effort. At the 2003 Juno Awards, Good and co-director Ante Kovac won the Juno Award for Video of the Year for "Weapon". Good's second solo album, White Light Rock & Roll Review, was released on June 15, 2004. Singles included "Alert Status Red" and "It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man". For the album, Good elected to take a stripped-down approach. Rather than record each instrument separately, Good and his new band (which consisted of himself, former MGB bassist Rich Priske, guitarist Christian Thor Valdson and drummer Patrick Steward) recorded the songs as a unit, with Good