Matthew Albert Costa (born June 16, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter from

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

, United States. He has 13

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

releases: 7 self-recorded EPs, 6 complete LPs, 4 of which are released via Brushfire Records. His first album in five years, ''Santa Rosa Fangs'', was released on May 18, 2018, on

Dangerbird Records Dangerbird Records is an independent record label in Los Angeles, California. The label is home to artists from around the world and part of the burgeoning Silver Lake music scene. The label has had international success from its small roster of ...

Life

Matt Costa, who is of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

descent, states that his father works in the airline business. In early 2003, Matt's homemade demo reached

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

guitarist

Tom Dumont Thomas Martin Dumont (born January 11, 1968) is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's ''So ...

, who offered to record more demos for Costa in his home studio. Those first recordings led to two EPs (Matt Costa EP, Elasmosaurus EP) that Costa and Dumont distributed themselves. These were later combined and mixed by

Phil Ek Phil Ek is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. Ek began his career in Seattle, Washington in the early 1990s recording live sound in clubs. He then moved into studio recording, recording small projects and demos for local bands. Aroun ...

to form Costa's first full-length CD entitled ''

Songs We Sing ''Songs We Sing'' is an album by singer/songwriter Matt Costa. It was originally released on July 26, 2005, and then re-released with a new track list by Brushfire Records on March 28, 2006. 2005 independent release ''Songs We Sing'' was origin ...

''. Costa spent the summer of 2005 opening on Jack Johnson's summer tour. He has since toured with

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals The Cardinals were an American rock band that were formed in 2004 by alternative country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams and fronted by him until 2009. The band was featured on Ryan Adams and the Cardinals albums, ''Cold Roses'', '' Jacksonville ...

, G. Love & Special Sauce, and

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

. Costa joined Jack Johnson for his 2006 European tour. He has also contributed to the Jack Johnson and Friends

Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original book series. Geor ...

soundtrack; his track is entitled "Lullaby". This song was taken from his ''The Elasmosaurus EP.'' Costa has also toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and South America. The video for Costa's first single "Cold December" was released February 2, 2006. On July 31, 2007, he released a song titled "If You Took To Me" as part of the environmentally minded polar bear documentary '' Arctic Tale'' and its soundtrack. On October 7, 2007, Matt released the first single, "Mr. Pitiful," from his record ''

Unfamiliar Faces ''Unfamiliar Faces'' is the second studio album by Matt Costa, released on January 22, 2008. In the spring of 2007, Costa teamed up with long-time friend/producer Tom Dumont (No Doubt guitarist) and recorded twelve songs for the album. CD Track l ...

.'' The song "Mr. Pitiful" was used during a scene with

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame i ...

in the movie ''

I Love You, Man ''I Love You, Man'' is a 2009 American bromantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, based on a script by Larry Levin. The film stars Paul Rudd as a friendless man looking for a best man for his upcoming wedding. However, his new ...

'', the redband trailer for the film ''

Youth in Revolt ''Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp'' is a 1993 epistolary novel by C. D. Payne. The story is told in a picaresque fashion and makes heavy use of black humor and camp. The book contains parts one through three of an eleven-part series ...

'' starring

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

, and the movie ''

Marmaduke ''Marmaduke'' is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015. Publication history The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille ...

''.Funnyordie.co
"Youth in Revolt Redband Trailer"
December 7, 2009. The song is featured during the opening credits of ''

The Answer Man ''The Answer Man'' is a United States 15-minute radio program that aired from 1937 to 1956 on the Mutual Broadcasting System and also in syndication. It was broadcast late Sunday evening on some stations. During the 1940s, the program was sponso ...

''.

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

also used an instrumental cut of this song for the worldwide iPhone 3GS ads. On December 23, 2008, Costa married. ''Mobile Chateau'', Matt's third album, was released on September 21, 2010, via Brushfire Records. The record was recorded at Pheasant Studios in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

as Costa's first solo production. In 2012, he released an EP titled ''Sacred Hills EP.'' His fourth album, which he decided to self title, was released in 2013. It contained some songs from his previously released EP such as "''Loving You"'' and "''Good Times"''. Shortly after the release of the Self-Titled album, along came a Deluxe and commentary version of the album. His song "Good Times" was featured at the end of an episode of the third season of HBO's ''

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

'' in 2014. In 2015, Costa released a string of self recorded EPs. First of the storm came ''Eucalyptus EP'', with its acoustic style. Mid year brought ''Cat Mosta EP. T''he end of the year carried the EP titled ''Neon Brain EP.'' Before the year ended, he released a Christmas song titled ''Many Memories Ago''. Costa began 2016 with another EP called ''Anchor and The Albatross'' ''EP''. Later, he released an album for a documentary titled ''Orange Sunshine''. The documentary revolved around ''The Brotherhood of Eternal Love.'' The album held a psychedelic rock style. Ending 2016, Matt released a small bunch of songs recorded live when he had gone on a trip to London. In 2017, the single ''Where Have All my Heroes Gone'' was released. Costa's first album in five years, ''Santa Rosa Fangs'', was released on May 18, 2018, on his new record label

. Later, Matt released ''Santa Rosa Fangs (Novella Edition)'' in which he storytells the meaning behind the album and connects his real life with the fictional one he had created in the album. Two songs, ''Lovely Saturday'' and ''Evening Star'' were included in the edition.

Discography

EPs

* 2003: '' Matt Costa EP'' * 2005: '' The Elasmosaurus EP'' * 2012: ''Sacred Hills EP'' * 2015: ''Eucalyptus EP'' * 2015: ''Cat Mosta EP'' * 2015: ''Neon Brain EP'' * 2016: ''Anchor & the Albatross EP''

Albums

* 2005: ''

'' (independent release) * 2006: ''Songs We Sing'' ( Brushfire re-release) * 2008: ''

'' * 2010: '' Mobile Chateau'' * 2013: ''Matt Costa'' * 2018: ''Santa Rosa Fangs'' * 2020: ''Yellow Coat''

Singles

* 2006: "Cold December" * 2006: "Sweet Thursday" * 2006: "Sunshine" * 2008: "Mr. Pitiful" * 2010: "Witchcraft" * 2013: "Good Times" *2018: "Sharon"

Samplers and soundtracks

* 2006: '' A Brokedown Melody Soundtrack'' * 2006: ''

Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George ''Jack Johnson and Friends: Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George'' is a soundtrack album by Jack Johnson and others for the 2006 film ''Curious George''. Along with Johnson, it includes Adam Topol, Ben Harper, G. Love, Kawika ...

'' (released by Jack Johnson) * 2006: ''Brushfire Records Winter 2006 Music Sampler'' (with Jack Johnson, G. Love & Special Sauce, & Money Mark) * 2007: ''Arctic Tale'' * 2012: "Vienna" plays continually on in-room cable at the Marriott Vienna in Austria

References

External links

The Official Matt Costa Website
*
Matt Costa collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Matt 1982 births American male singer-songwriters American singer-songwriters Brushfire Records artists Living people American people of Portuguese descent 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers Dangerbird Records artists