Matt Mays

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Matt Mays
Matt Mays @ the X, Aug05
Background information
Born	August 10, 1979 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada
Genre(s)	Indie rock Folk rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar Harmonica Tenor saxophone
Label(s)	Sonic
Associated acts	Matt Mays & El Torpedo
Website	mattmays.com

Matt Mays is a Canadian singer-songwriter and lead singer of Matt Mays & El Torpedo, a rock music group based in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and New York City. Previously, Mays was a member of a Canadian indie band The Guthries.

[edit] History

MM&ET consists of Tim Baker (drums), Rob Crowell (keyboards, saxophone), Jarrett Murphy (guitar, vocals), Andy Patil (bass, vocals), and Mays (guitars, vocals). Previously, Mays toured with the Atlantic Canadian group The Guthries.

At the 2005 Juno Awards, Mays presented an award, and was himself nominated for New Artist of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year for his self-titled album.

“Cocaine Cowgirl” received heavy airplay on Canadian rock radio in 2005, and its video heavy rotation on MuchMusic. At the 2006 East Coast Music Awards, MM&ET were nominated for entertainer of the year, group of the year, radio rock recording of the year, album of the year, and single of the year (for Cocaine Cowgirl), and won all of these but entertainer of the year award. They closed out the national broadcast of the event with "Cocaine Cowgirl". As he introduced the band, host Mike Smith (Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys) said that they were one of his favorite bands. In Maclean's magazine, Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada listed Matt Mays & El Torpedo among the artists whose music he “never leaves home without.”

In February 2006, MM&ET appeared with the Symphony Nova Scotia in their 'Rising Star' series on the Dalhousie University campus.

In April 2006, fellow Canadian rocker Sam Roberts released his new album titled Chemical City. Mays was involved with the song writing of the track "Uprising Down Under", as well as performing on the track.

In 2006 Matt Mays and El Torpedo released a music video for their new single "Time of Your Life (Until You're Dead)", directed by Drew Lightfoot. The video was filmed in Kensington, Toronto. This particular video features of card manipulations of American comedian and magician Erik Tait. This video received notice in the magic world after it was pointed out that the card manipulation with the box is physically impossible. This particular manipulation was achieved by filming Erik's hands then playing the footage backward. The card work is also acclaimed in this video as members of the band perform some of the manipulations.

Matt Mays' most recent project is the album When the Angels Make Contact, released on November 7, 2006. The album is a soundtrack to Mays' unfinished film called When the Angels Make Contact. The album flows with the themes of the movie following the character "J.J. Carver". On the official site, [1], you may listen to the album, watch the music video for the title track, as well as watch the "movie trailer", both directed by Drew Lightfoot. This album features Buck 65, Scratch Bastid, and Rose Cousins, among others.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo were the musical guests on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 15, 2006.