Matt Mahaffey

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Matt Mahaffey

Matt Mahaffey is the primary member of the Murfreesboro, Tennessee power pop band Self and has worked as a producer with various artists. Mahaffey was involved with music from a young age, and he often performed with his brother, Mike Mahaffey, when they were growing up. He plays many instruments, including guitar, drums, and assorted keyed instruments.

1 Self, the band
2 Personal
3 Other work
4 External links

[edit] Self, the band

Self was formed in the early 1990s. Mike had been in several bands, all of which had little commercial success. Matt had been studying music in college, and producing hip-hop artists in the Nashville area on the side. The two brothers were talking, and Matt asked Mike to come work on his new project. Self's first major label album, Subliminal Plastic Motives, was released in 1995 and saw some moderate success on MTV, with the videos for the songs "Cannon" and "So Low" gaining spots in the channel's rotation. 1996 saw the independent release of The Half-Baked Serenade, and in 1999 Breakfast with Girls was released on Dreamworks Records. Shortly afterward in 2000, Self released an all toy-instrument album, Gizmodgery. As of November 2007, an album (Ornament and Crime) and a DVD remain unreleased, and a new album is scheduled for the near future.

[edit] Personal

Matt grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee and attended Sullivan South High School. In the mid-nineties he moved to Murfreesboro, TN and attended Middle Tennessee State University where he would live and work for much of his career. In the early 2000s, Matt relocated from Murfreesboro to Los Angeles, in order to be closer to his record label, Universal Records, and to find more work outside Self. The rest of the band remained in Murfreesboro. Highly critical of the Los Angeles scene both in interviews and songs, as of 2007, he has returned to his home in Tennessee, much to the pleasure of his fan base there.

He is married, but has no children. He remains close to his sister, Melanie, and his mother, who are two of his biggest fans.

[edit] Other work

Besides Self, Matt has worked on various other musical projects. Some well known artists he has worked with are Pink and Smash Mouth. He has also worked on some of the music in the Dreamworks films Shrek and Shrek 2. More recently, Matt produced hellogoodbye's album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! with Jeff Turzo under the production moniker Wired All Wrong.

Matt played guitar on tour with Beck sporadically in 2005 and 2006, and in the past he has toured with pop stars, such as Mandy Moore.

Matt & his brother, Mike, wrote & performed the infamous Expedia.com tagline. Matt has also written jingles & composed music for Pedigree, Jumbone , Medicare, & Lexus.^{[citation needed]}

Other projects include work with God Lives Underwater's former guitarist and programmer, Jeff Turzo, under the name Wired All Wrong. Matt's involvement in the project is primarily vocal contributions, but he also does some work on the production. Partially due to the deaths of GLU's David Reilly and Self's Mike Mahaffey, this project has gained momentum, and their debut album, Break Out The Battle Tapes was released on Nitrus Records on September 12, 2006. A few live dates were played in support of the album.

Matt sang vocals in the ELO tribute band, L.E.O..

Mastered The Funky 16 Corners funk compilation on Stones Throw Records

Provided original music for Nickelodeon (TV channel) TV show, Ni Hao Kai Lan.