Mark Matos & Os Beaches, Apache Thunderbolt, Moomaw

Description

Mark Matos was raised in the large Portuguese immigrant communtiy in California's Bay Area and Central Valley, where his father and grandfather founded one of the Bay Area's first portuguese marching bands and were instrumental in bringing Portuguese Fado musicians to the Bay Area. Shortly after graduating high school, he hitchiked out of town and, inspired by the beat generation, spent the following decade on the road; washing dishes in Alaska, cold in Boston drunk tanks, amongst slack key players in Hawaii, and crashing countless couches in Seattle's Capital Hill.

By 2003 he had settled in Tucson, AZ where he began playing as Campo Bravo amongst the likes of Howe Gelb, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and his long time collaborators, the Golden Boots. In the summer of 2006, while on tour in Wisconsin, doses of LSD were administered and he abruptly changed course, deciding to leave Tucson, disband Campo Bravo, and return to his native Bay Area. With the formation of Mark Matos & Os Beaches, Matos and band came to the attention of the San Francisco Chronicle ("exhilerating"), The Bay Guardian, and The Owl, which called the band "one of the highlights of Noise Pop", leading to the band signing with eclectic upstart, Porto Franco Records. The debut album was recorded at San Francisco's Closer Studio under the watchful eyes and ears of Eric Moffat (Mark Eitzel, The Dwarves) and features contributions from Matt Adams of the Blank Tapes, Dave Mihaly (recently seen backing Jolie Holland), Ben Reisdorph, Kacey Johansing and Tom Heyman (Court & Spark, Chuck Prophet).

Matos has performed with the likes of Smog, Okervill River, Howe Gelb, Akron/Family, Mother Hips, Black Heart Procession, Scout Niblet, and Neko Case, amongst many others.