Matthew Caws is American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Background
Caws was born in New York City, the son of Peter James Caws and Mary Ann Caws. In 2007, his mother married Doctor Boyce Bennett. She was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Caws" maternal grandmother, Margaret Devereux Lippitt, was the daughter of painter Margaret Walthour Lippitt.
Career
He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Nada Surf. Caws" mother, a Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and French at the Graduate Center at City University of New York, lives in New York City. Caws" father, University Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, lives in Washington, District of Columbia
His father married Nancy Breslin, Doctor of Medicine, Master of Fine Arts, a psychiatrist turned fine art photographer.
He was born in Southall, Middlesex, now part of West London, England. Caws has a half sister from his father"s second marriage named Elisabeth Breslin Caws.
Caws has an older sister, Hilary Caws-Elwitt. They formed the band The Silly Pillows together and live in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Matthew Caws" parents, both university professors, took sabbaticals in France—in Paris, and in the Vaucluse in Provence—which helped Matthew develop early skills in French.
The Cost of Living split up in 1990, after having released two records, played in venues such as the CBGB, and even having a video played on Music Television, but Matthew and Daniel joined another band, Because Because Because, with two other musicians. This enterprise was short-lived and they soon split up, despite the recording of a demo, unreleased to this day, for the label Stickboy, which would later release Nada Surf"s first single (7"), "The Plan/Telescope", in 1994. Hilary, Matthew"s elder sister, was a DJ for a campus radio.
She helped develop and influence her younger brother"s musical tastes, lending him records from her impressive collection and cassette tapes of her show.
He was also writing and editing for Guitar World, interviewing, among others, Oasis and Mick Jones. Minor Alps
In 2013, Caws and singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield formed the new band Minor Alps.
The duo"s debut album, Get There, was released on October 29, 2013 on Barsuk Records. Julie Gayet, alleged girlfriend of French president, Francois Hollande appears on the Minor Alps music video of their song "Waiting Foreign You.".
Membership
Caws is also a member of the indie rock duo Minor Alps, alongside Juliana Hatfield.