Aqualung

有的时候人需要一些运气，才能够让自己发光发热，在人生道路上走的更为顺畅，当然音乐也是一样，有的时候一首超级完美歌曲，就是因为当时的天时地利人合都不对，硬生生埋没掉一首好歌，连带一位好歌手/乐团都随着陪葬。这个事实用在才子Matt Hales化名Aqualung身上再恰当不过，搭配福斯新款金龟车广告全面放送，〈Strange And Beautiful(I'll Put a Spell on You)〉就这样成为众所瞩目点播率超高歌曲，让原本搞了几年音乐总是没起色，前途堪虑甚至要放弃的Matt，产生一道曙光，同样重燃起唱片公司对他的信心。 出生英国南安普顿，家人经营一间独立唱片行，让Matt Hales很早便开启对音乐的兴趣，四岁就藉着家人的钢琴开始学创作，16岁领到奖学金去研习作曲能力，隔年完成第一首个人交响乐作品，自己指挥60人的管弦乐团演出。有着古典底子的Matt，对于时下流行的摇滚乐同样着迷不已，曾在念大学期间在校门口卖起与哥哥Ben翻唱The Police乐团歌曲的卡带。无论曾组织起The 45s亦或The Ruth，也签下合约发行作品，但都没引起太多回响。直到2002年的〈Strange And Beautiful(I''ll Put a Spell on You)〉单曲登上英国金榜Top7，终于打响知名度，连首张同名专辑都有金唱片纪录，隔年再接再厉问世的《Still Life》，同名单曲获选黛咪摩儿小老公艾希顿库奇，加上青春偶像艾曼达皮特联合主演的爱情喜剧片“再见钟情/ A Lot Like Love”之重点衬乐。 by Drago Bonacich London-based Matt Hales, aka Aqualung, started getting involved in music at a young age while listening to different tracks played at his parents'' Southampton record store. He began writing songs at age four on his family''s piano. At the age of 16, after achieving a scholarship, the enthusiastic young man began attending composition classes. A year later a symphony called Life Cycle became his debut in the classical field, performed by a 60-piece orchestra. His brother Ben joined him in a band to cover the Police''s classic songs. In the early ''90s, following studies at London''s City University, he became part of the Britpop band Ruth, releasing Harrison on ARC Records in 1999. After leading the 45''s (not the Atlanta-based garage rock revival band) and issuing two singles on Universal, Hales grew disenchanted and started working on Aqualung in 2002, often co-writing songs with his wife Kim Oliver and brother Ben Hales. The alternative rock project (initially just a lo-fi bedroom venture) became quickly popularized by a VW Beetle TV ad in the U.K. featuring his song "Strange and Beautiful (I''ll Put a Spell on You)," which coincided with the release of his self-titled debut in 2002. Several singles followed into the next year, as well as his second album, the fuller-sounding Still Life. The record spawned another hit single in "Brighter Than Sunshine," and soon, various Aqualung tracks were popping up in popular television shows and movies on both sides of the Atlantic. Hales then combined tracks from his earlier U.K. albums into one 12-song set for Aqualung''s proper American debut, which finally surfaced in early 2005 via Columbia Records entitled Brighter Than Sunshine. Extensive touring throughout North America followed over the next two years, driving the album to number one on Billboard''s Heatseekers chart and going on to sell over 250,000 copies. On the road, since Hales was essentially just playing songs he''d written years earlier to a new audience, he would routinely switch up the Aqualung show with different musicians, settings, and approaches to keep things as fresh as possible. The diverse elements he explored during this time (including the echo device called the Memoryman) subsequently drove the creative process behind what would later become Aqualung''s next album, March 2007''s more ambitious Memory Man.