Paulie Bromley

The Beautiful Girls
The man behind The Beautiful Girls, Mat McHugh, Corner Hotel, Richmond, December 2007.
Background information
Origin	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Roots, pop rock, alternative, reggae, dub
Years active	2001 (2001)–2012, 2014-present
Labels	Independent/MGM Distribution, San Dumo, Die!Boredom
Website	www.matmchughmusic.com

The Beautiful Girls are an Australian roots music group founded in 2001 Mat McHugh, Clay MacDonald and Mitchell Connelly. They have released three extended plays, Morning Sun (2002), Goodtimes (2002) and The Weight of the World (2004); plus five studio albums, Learn Yourself (2003), We're Already Gone (2005), Ziggurats (2007), Spooks (2010), and Dancehall Days (2014). The latter four albums have all peaked into the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Spooks and "Dancehall Days" also debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Independent Chart and, No. 7&5 (respectively) on the American Billboard Reggae Albums Chart. Their single, "I Thought About You", reached No. 60 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist, Mat McHugh, has issued two solo albums, Seperatista! (2008) and Love Come Save Me (2012) as well as an EP, Go Don't Stop (2011).

Clay MacDonald and Mitchell Connelly worked on Angus & Julia Stone's first two EP's and first two albums. MacDonald and Connelly write and record instrumental hip-hop under the name 'The Undertones'. They have an unnamed unreleased noise/rock EP under the name of 'Salmon Facade'. MacDonald also plays with fuzz rock group 'Valley Floor'.

By 2014 The Beautiful Girls had toured the world multiple times – including Japan, Canada, Brazil and the United States – and their total album sales had reached 350,000.

In 2001 The Beautiful Girls formed in Sydney as a roots music group with Mitch Connelly on drums and percussion; Clay MacDonald on bass guitar, backing vocals, xylophone and recorder; and Mat McHugh on lead vocals and lead guitar. Previously McHugh had travelled to New York to pursue a music career, he returned to Sydney to record some demos where he founded the band. McHugh choose the name to counter the "macho posturing and the associated tough-guy band names. And a beautiful girl was just about the sweetest, most appropriate opposite I could think of". In March 2002 The Beautiful Girls issued their debut eight-track extended play, Morning Sun on a self-funded independent label, which was distributed by MGM Distribution. The track "Periscopes" received airplay on national radio station, Triple J. McHugh explained why they chose not to sign with any major label, "It's the way we've always been as a band and the way I've always wanted to do things. I like artists and musicians who I get the vibe of where they’re coming from and an understanding of what kinda person they are. For me it's just a way of conversing back and forth with people". In November 2002, a second EP, Goodtimes, was issued with five tracks.