Matt Sharp

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Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp
Background information
Birth name	Matthew Kelly Sharp
Born	September 22, 1969 (age 54) Bangkok, Thailand
Origin	Arlington, Virginia
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1989–present
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar, vocals, guitar, synthesizer, drums
Website	Official website
Associated acts
Weezer, The Rentals, Homie

Matt Sharp (born September 22, 1969 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a American bassist and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and former bassist of Weezer. Sharp left the band in February 1998 in order to focus on his own band The Rentals. In addition to his work with Weezer and The Rentals, he has also released one EP and one full length album as a solo artist. Since his exit from Weezer, he remains a highly polarizing and controversial figure within the Weezer canon.

Biography

Early life

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Matt Sharp's birth certificate

Matt Sharp was born in Bangkok, Thailand to American parents on September 22, 1969. When he was one year old, he and his family moved to Arlington, Virginia. At age fourteen, Sharp began listening to punk rock music like Suicidal Tendencies. He then decided that Arlington and its music scene was too boring for him and decided to move west to California. At age sixteen, he arrived in San Diego. Months later, he met Patrick Wilson, future Weezer drummer. Wilson convinced Sharp to move into an apartment with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. However, he soon afterwards moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a musical project.

In early 1992, Wilson showed Sharp material from his (Wilson's) and Cuomo's "50 Song Project". Sharp liked the material and moved back down to Los Angeles and joined what would become Weezer.

The Rentals & Exit From Weezer

After the release of Weezer's first self titled release in 1994, Sharp formed The Rentals, a side project in which he was both the chief songwriter and lead-singer. The Rentals released their first album, Return of the Rentals, later that year. The band had a radio hit with the single "Friends of P."

Sharp left Weezer officially in 1998 - apparently a mutual and amicable decision between himself and the band - in order to focus on The Rentals. They released the album Seven More Minutes in 1999. However, the album sold less than Return of the Rentals and the band went on hiatus.

After nearly four years of no musical output, Sharp released a solo, acoustic EP in 2003 called Puckett's Versus the Country Boy, followed by a full length self-titled album in 2004.

Reunion with Rivers

In February of 2004, Sharp was joined by Weezer vocalist Rivers Cuomo at a show at the California State University of Fullerton. The duo played two Weezer songs, "Say It Ain't So" and "Undone", and an old demo, "Mrs. Young". They also played the song Time Song which was meant to be released on a collaborative album between the two musicians. However, the project was eventually abandoned.

Present

In 2005, Sharp reformed The Rentals six years after the release of Seven More Minutes. They released The Last Little Life EP in 2007 and toured across the country. Currently, they are promoting their newest effort, Songs About Time, which will consist of three mini albums, a daily photo diary, and videos released weekly.

Film Appearances

• Sharp plays the part of God in a surreal sequence in the unreleased 2003 film Slashed, made by Matt's friends in Ash.

Discography

With Weezer

• 1994 - Weezer (The Blue Album)
• 1996 - Pinkerton
  

This discography lists only Weezer's studio albums. For more Weezer releases featuring Matt Sharp, please see the Weezer discography.

With The Rentals

• 1995 - Return of the Rentals
• 1999 - Seven More Minutes
• 2007 - The Last Little Life EP
• 2009 - Songs About Time

This discography lists only The Rentals' albums. For more detail, please see the entry for The Rentals

Solo

• 2003 - Puckett's Versus the Country Boy
• 2004 - Matt Sharp

With Homie

• 1998 - Meet the Deedles Soundtrack (co-producer and background vocals on "American Girls")

With Tegan and Sara

• 2004 - So Jealous
• 2007 - The Con

Interviews

See [[Main article: Matt Sharp interviews]]

External Links

• Matt Sharp on Twitter