Mat Devine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is written like an advertisement.
Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view.
Mark blatant advertising which would require a fundamental rewrite in order to become encyclopedic for speedy deletion, using {{db-spam}}. (December 2007)

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Kill Hannah. (Discuss)

Mat Devine
Birth name	Mathew Devine
Also known as	Matthew Wolfgang Devine, Matthieu Devine, Matass.
Born	April 16, 1974 (1974-04-16) (age 34)
Origin	Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Years active	1995 - Present
Label(s)	Atlantic Records
Associated acts	Kill Hannah
Website	http://www.killhannah.com (under construction) Official Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/killhannah

Mathew Devine (April 16, 1974) is the lead singer, pianist and guitarist in the band Kill Hannah.

1 Early life
2 College
3 Early Musical Influences
4 Chicago Suicide Club
5 References
6 Music

[edit] Early life

Devine was born in Norwalk, Connecticut and spent his early years in Norwalk and nearby Westport, Connecticut. 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 to late 90s

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.Recently in 2008 albums such as "American Jet Set","Hummingbirds the Size of Bullets"CD LP ,and "here are the young moderns"have sold from the range of 123.00 to 150.00 on eBay.

[edit] Early Musical Influences

As a young teenager, Mat started to take an interest in music. He started off listening to his older sister's vinyl collection, which included bands like The Cure, Siouxsie Sioux, The Cult, The Smiths, Love and Rockets. In the early 90's, he started listening to shoegazer bands like Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, and Ride. Bands that he enjoys listening to are The Smiths, David 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.

[edit] Chicago Suicide Club

Mat Devine co-founded Chicago Suicide Club, a lifestyle brand dedicated to art, fashion and events. As part of the underground music scene, CSC has produced DJ events / aftershow parties with members of Shiny Toy Guns, Peaches, Ladytron, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker, Gnarls Barkley, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Assassins, Bauhaus/Love & Rockets, The Ramones, The Sounds, Superstars of Love, VNV Nation and Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars.^[1]