In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history... Matt St. Hubbins, born Matthew Andrew Smith, on February 27, 1971, is the sole (soul?) creator of the sonic project known as St. Hubbins. Even in his youth he had his head in space, enraptured by the world of Star Wars, which became the main influence of his childhood. But as he got older, he was lured into the world of heavy metal. Ozzy was his first metal love, then came others like, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Iron Maiden, and anything that had the metal sound that spoke to his soul. He used to listen to Blizzard of Ozz every night as he lay down to sleep, and to this day it remains one of his all-time favorite albums. He also saw many concerts during the 80's, and this fueled his interest in the world of the Rock Star!!! <><><><><><><><><> Around 1984, he happened to notice a picture of a band in the current issue of the cable guide. He noticed one of the members had long blond hair, and he felt some sort of cosmic connection to him. He read under the picture, "This is Spinal Tap", Thursday at 8:00 pm on HBO. Right then he knew he had to watch it! So that Thursday night, he sat down to watch it and his mother came into the room as the movie began. Immediately she asked him what he was watching, and he said, "This is Spinal Tap". She stopped in her tracks and was speechless until the end of the movie. When it was over, he asked her if something was wrong. She said, "Matt, there's something I want to talk to you about". "Ok", he said quizically. "Well, you know the singer of Spinal Tap, David St. Hubbins? He's your real father". "What?", Matt exclaimed. "Let me explain," she continued. "When I was younger, I was a big fan of Spinal Tap, and I had the opportunity to get backstage and meet them after one of their concerts in 1970. I had a little too much too drink, and I had a crush on David like you wouldn't believe, and next thing I know he's talking to me and we, um, you know..." she trailed off. "I know, you don't need to tell me any more" Matt replied. "But David never found out about you, so to this day he still doesn't know you exist", she sadly said. <><><><><><><><><> It was at this point Matt knew why he felt such a cosmic connection to David. He also knew it was time to start learning to play the guitar. So he saved up enough money from his paper route to buy a cheap guitar, and he began taking lessons at a local music store in Worcester. He learned all the basics, as well as some of his favorite Ozzy songs, and started jamming with some neighborhood friends. They would mainly play cover songs by Ozzy, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and any other cool song they learned. But Matt never really formed a "real" band until 1988. <><><><><><><><><> During Matt's high school years he started to open his mind to other types of bands and music. The Beatles "White Album" had alot to do with his broadening musical tastes, as well as being turned on to Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Jim Morrison and The Doors. It was Jim Morrison in fact that started inspiring Matt to write some poetry of his own which he would later use in writing his own songs. From then on he started listening to almost anything that sounded cool to him. <><><><><><><><><> The first "Official Band" ("Official Band" meaning a band that had a solid line-up for longer than 3 months and wrote their own songs and played live in front of an audience) Matt was in was Autopsy (no, not the Death Metal band from California). They played a kind of "Death Rock" music, mainly because they didn't really know how to play Thrash or Speed Metal, so they played the closest thing to it. Autopsy played only one live show, and never recorded anything other than basement jam sessions. They broke up in 1990 when their drummer, Joe Kennedy (not THE Joe Kennedy), went off to college. <><><><><><><><><> About a year after Autopsy broke up, Matt and Jesse (the bass player of Autopsy) joined another band called Lost Souls. Lost Souls were closer to the "Speed/Thrash Metal" sound that they had been trying for with Autopsy. Lost Souls also never recorded anything other than their jams and live shows (about a half a dozen, played mostly to friends of the band and the other bands on the bill) before they broke up in late 1991. So Matt, Jesse, and Derek (the other guitarist from Lost Souls) started another band called Sufferage, and they played "Death Metal". They recorded a 4-Track demo and played one live show before their drummer, Jamie Parslow, died from a gunshot wound to the head. This tragedy, along with having ALL their equipment stolen weeks later, was too much for Sufferage to take, so they broke up soon after in early 1992. <><><><><><><><><> Things started getting better in March of 1992, after the release of the new Spinal Tap album, "Break Like the Wind". Matt and a good friend of his, Mike Baronas, hosted a record release party for "Break Like the Wind" on March 27th at their college, Fitchburg State. This was the first time Matt went public and let everyone know he was one of David St. Hubbins' children. The party was a success, but it didn't bring him any closer to meeting his father. That summer, he finally got to see Spinal Tap live, and it was a monumental moment in his life. Even though he got to SEE his father play, he sadly, didn't get to MEET him. <><><><><><><><><> In Spring of '93, Matt, along with his old bandmate, Jesse, joined up with another Death Metal band called Engorged, who happened to be one of the best bands Matt had EVER played in. The drummer of Engorged, Steve Provost, was, and still is one of the most talented drummers in the Worcester area. Matt felt very fortunate to have played with such talented bandmates. They recorded a 16-track demo and played many shows and Death Metal fests in New England. Then, in August of 1994, Matt decided to quit Engorged so he could start writing his own songs. <><><><><><><><><> Matt tried finding other musicians to start a band, but everyone he jammed with didn't seem to understand his vision. So, in the Spring of '95, inspired by Beck and his 4-track demo Golden Feelings, Matt bought a 4-track recorder and a drum machine and started recording a demo to give to people to let them know what kind of music he wanted to play. Combining his poetry with his past metal roots and his softer, mellower side, he created his own sound, a mixture of folk, rock, metal, spoken word, and experimental music. He decided it was time to use the St. Hubbins moniker as the name of this musical project, and let the world know he was proud to be a member of the St. Hubbins family. This demo would become the first St. Hubbins' release, "Brimstoned", and it was released in July of '95 on Matts' own Testosterone Deficiency Records label. Matt quickly distributed copies of it on cassette to potential band members and anyone who wanted a copy. He also sent copies of it to local magazines for review. Most of the reactions from friends were positive, and one review by Cole Morgan from the now defunct "Pit Report" zine from Boston, said that it sounded like "...what Pink Floyd would sound like if they had to write a horror sountrack in 24hrs." But Matt wasn't concerned about reviews or pleasing people, he just wanted to write songs he liked, and get his message out to people who would listen to what he had to say, and maybe, just maybe, they might like it!!! <><><><><><><><><> Click on the link below for the next chapter in the History of St. Hubbins
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