Staff Bio: Matt Brown
Senior Reporter
I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, two months and a day after Hendrix died. This makes me both a Scorpio AND too damned old to have never owned a driver’s license. On both counts, I truly could not give half a shit.
“This boy was born with a paint-peeling gift of sarcasm and the Velvet Underground as domestic background white noise. What else could he be but a rock critic?” – Janet Brown, literary lioness and Matt’s mother, Seattle, Wash.
For my ninth birthday, my parents gave me a tape recorder and four cassettes – Eat to the Beat by Blondie, Young, Loud and Snotty by the Dead Boys, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and the Paul Stanley solo album. I listened to all four. Often.
“Matt Brown is the fearless music encyclopedia of musical whuppass that all you wannabe top forty gordys should bow down to. Inhibitions are his little bitch….he spans all genres and rocks all night. Matt Brown, legend, hellchild, allstar.” – O.J., ski bum and freestyle rhyme artiste, last sighted in Seward, Alaska
Not long after, we relocated to Tacoma, Wash., where I inexplicably remained throughout my teens and early twenties.
In 1985, deep in the basement of a house on Bristol Street, Hal Tiffany pulled out a stack of records, turned the bass on his stereo way, way up, and showed me the true meaning of Hip Hop. Seventeen years later, stinking drunk on absinthe, he introduced me to Nada Mucho!
“About the Beastie Boys, Grand Master Flash once said, ‘They are some bugged out gentlemen.’ That’s exactly what Matt is – a bugged out gentleman. Sincere, honest, charming; and bugged the fuck out! Still the only guy I know who will call every one of my insane bluffs and challenges with equal parts enthusiasm and matter-of-fact diligence. Yo G, you’re still the hardest brother I know!” – Hal Tiffany, Nada Mucho Hip Hop Editor, Seattle, Wash.
Further travels took me throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, eventually ending (for now!) in Tucson, Ariz. Since the local music community here is varied, eclectic and well worth investigating, it wasn’t hard to convince Nada Supreme Ruler Matt Ashworth that he should support a satellite office.
“Matt turned out to be a sometimes mellow and totally juvenile Star Wars freak with a keen interest in local music. It was his love of local music that I was sucked down into (in the late 80s) and I also became a fan of local favorites like Mother Love Bone and TAD and the whole gamut of grunge. His reviews are entertaining and if you don’t like them, tell him yourself. He’s used to criticism” – Ernie Hoyt, dandy drinking buddy and manager of Tower Books, Tokyo, Japan.
“If a person followed him around for a day they’d see the gears turning in his head (well oiled?), and Matt thinking, ‘Wow, this is some crazy shit, (a) how do I get myself into these things (b) I’m sure glad I’m not involved in this spectacle or (c) wow, that’s really interesting,’ followed by ‘I gotta write this down.'” – Toby Graves, unsung musical genius, Kent, Wash.
“Anyone who has not had the opportunity to meet him is truly missing out. In fact, you should get off your butt, look him up, buy him a drink and rap about the wonders of existence,” – Tyler Freeman, ultimate idea man and eternal Goldenboy, Ashland, OR.
“P.S. If you ever find yourself one too many drinks under, late one night in the local dive bar with him, whatever you do DO NOT FEED that man any tequila. You will not have a clue the next morning where you are or how you got there. And remember HE COMES FROM THE NORTH!”