Years active 1987 - present | Name Matt McIntosh | |
Genres Punk
Hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-punk
Hard rock
Alternative rock Instruments Guitar
Bass guitar
Vocals
Drums
Piano Labels I Scream Records
Victory Records
Smorgasbord Records
Stillborn Records
SK1 Media Associated acts Deathkiller
Hatebreed
The Eventide | ||
Matt mcintosh niu highlights
Matt McIntosh (born January 13, 1971) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, whose musical background begins during his early teens, in the mid to late 1980s American hardcore punk movement.
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Matt mcintosh november 2008
Origins and musical beginnings
Matt McIntosh was born in Greenwich, CT and raised by his mother Kathleen McIntosh (nee Merryman) in the New York City suburb of Stamford CT, moving frequently within the city until settling on Stamford’s east side in the late 1970s. By 1985, at the age of 14, he was frequenting hardcore-punk shows at The Anthrax, a makeshift music venue located in the basement of an independent art gallery on Stamford’s west side. In a 2010 interview McIntosh described witnessing his first live show as “the most exciting thing I’d ever experienced.”, and in regards to the lifestyle, has characterized himself as "a lifer".
1980s
In 1986 McIntosh received a guitar for his fifteenth birthday and soon started The Entombed (predating the Swedish metal band of similar name) with likeminded high school friends. In November 1987 the band played their first show with veteran New York City punk band Reagan Youth at the relocated Anthrax, now in nearby Norwalk, CT. The Entombed played the club frequently between '87 and '90, generally placed on bills supporting first wave hardcore-punk acts like Reagan Youth, The Undead and Ed Gein's Car, due largely to the young band's adherence to an early American hardcore-punk sound and aesthetic, which was seen in contrast to the then burgeoning "youth crew" straight edge scene. McIntosh's recollection of this time was shared in author Chris Daily's 2009 book, Everybody's Scene: The Story Of Connecticut's Anthrax Club. In early 1988 Revelation Records owner Jordan Cooper became interested in the band, who then recorded and delivered four songs to be released by Revelation Records offshoot imprint, Chunk Records (materializing several years later as Crisis Records). However, Cooper moved the label from New Haven, CT to Huntington Beach, CA months later and The Entombed 7" was lost in the shuffle. In a 2012 interview with DoubleCrossXX webzine, Cooper mentions the band and erstwhile plans for their record. Shortly after a live set at WNYU's Crucial Chaos radio show in the summer of 1990, The Entombed disbanded.
1990s and 2000s
McIntosh would be involved with a string of bands throughout the 90s and 2000s, including several years fronting the post-hardcore outfit Eventide, as well as playing guitar as an early member of the Connecticut metalcore band Hatebreed, touring extensively from '96 to '99 and recording their breakthrough debut LP Satisfaction is the Death of Desire for Victory Records, quickly becoming the Chicago label’s top seller, and since cited by many critics as a classic of the genre. McIntosh also fronted the short lived hardcore trio Deathkiller, releasing 2007's politically charged New England is Sinking, to mostly positive critical reviews. The band toured Europe once and the states sporadically until their disbanding in 2008.
Solo work
In November 2007 McIntosh digitally released his home recordings as The Basement Demos, which through blogger activity and pod-casting helped the effort to emerge as a modest independent success. The EP’s eight self-produced tracks fuse elements of rock, post-punk/electronic and folk, utilizing acoustic guitar, keys, strings, found sounds and rudimentary programming, and establishing McIntosh’s role as a solo artist.
On September 4, 2012, McIntosh issued Gaffes, Missteps & Horrible Mistakes; a collection of demos and outtakes recorded between 2008 and 2011. Like The Basement Demos, the eight track effort emphasizes a compound of styles including rock, post-punk and Americana, bearing similarly minimal production values.
Present day
McIntosh plays in the band 222 with his son, drummer James McIntosh.
222 issued the eleven song Religious Symbols for free download on November 12, 2013. Though all releases issued by McIntosh's SK1 Media imprint are made available for free, it is suggested (though not required) a donation of any amount be made to one or more of the charities found on the band's website.
In February 2014 the band released a video for the track Appetite for Reduction.
Influences and lyrical style
McIntosh has cited the urgency and primitivism of early American hardcore punk as a continuous influence on his writing, and has stated that The Clash's social/political awareness and incorporation of multiple genres into their work has greatly influenced his own.
With his solo output, McIntosh has been noted for bringing the spare, repetitive rhythmic structures and rudimentary electronics most closely associated with the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 80s, into a more traditional singer-songwriter setting.
McIntosh's lyrics, both solo and otherwise, tend to gravitate between personal/introspective, and socially conscious, with leanings toward nonconformist, anti-war and anti-consumerism sentiment.
Other influences McIntosh has named are Tom Waits, Black Flag, New Order, Public Enemy, Fugazi and The Jesus and Mary Chain.