Chris Matthews is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

rock musician. He has been a member of numerous bands, notably

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

, This Kind of Punishment and

The Headless Chickens The Headless Chickens was a New Zealand band. Going against the grain of the Dunedin sound that dominated the Flying Nun Records roster at the time, the Headless Chickens made extensive use of electronic instruments in their music. History Th ...

for whom he was guitarist and lead vocalist, as well as writer or co-writer of many of their songs. Among these was the 1991 single "

Cruise Control Cruise control (also known as speed control, cruise command, autocruise, or tempomat) is a system that automatically controls the speed of a motor vehicle. The system is a servomechanism that takes over the throttle of the car to maintain a ste ...

", co-written by Matthews and

Michael Lawry Michael Lawry is a New Zealand rock musician. He is a member of numerous bands, notably The Headless Chickens (founder member) for whom he played the keyboards and experimented with sampling, as well as writer or co-writer of many of their songs ...

, which was voted by

APRA APRA or Apra may refer to: Places *Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India * Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam Acronyms * American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...

's members as the 76th greatest New Zealand song of all time.APRA top 100 New Zealand songs of all time
/ref> In 2008, he formed Chris Matthews and Robot Monkey Orchestra and released the album ''The Map of love'', a cycle of songs based on the poems of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

Discography

With Children's Hour

* ''Flesh'' (1983) Flying Nun Records * ''Ya! Ya! Ya!'' (1984) Flying Nun Records * ''Looking For the Sun'' (2005) Failsafe Records

With Headless Chickens

* ''Stunt Clown'' (1988) Flying Nun Records * ''

Body Blow ''Body Blow'' is the second studio album by New Zealand rock band the Headless Chickens. It was originally released in 1991, then rereleased for Australia in 1993 with a substantially reworked track list, losing "Crash Hot" and "Road Train" but ga ...

'' (1991) Flying Nun Records * '' Greedy'' (1997) Flying Nun Records

With Chris Matthews & Robot Monkey Orchestra

* ''The Map of Love'' (2008) Robot Monkey Records

References

APRA Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand musicians {{NewZealand-musician-stub