Guy McKnight

Infobox musical artist
Name = Guy McKnight

http://www.musictowers.com/assets/gallery/G/pic_8-3-2007_1-32-26_PM_7056.jpg]
Background = Singer
Birth_name =
Born =
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = Psychobilly
Occupation = Singer, Songwriter
Years_active = 1999 - Present
Label =
Associated_acts = The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
URL = [http://www.theeightiesmatchbox.com Eighties Matchbox]

Guy McKnight is the lead singer of the Psychosis Rock band The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. McKnight, a formidable on stage presence, suggests "For me personally, I feel like singing these songs and performing feels like one of the most natural things for me to do. I feel really in my element when I’m on stage." The band split from their record label Island Records in 2005 and they also saw the departure of guitarist Andy Huxley in the same year. These events had a significant impact upon McKnight; "I’d say that 2005 was probably the worst year of my life – there we were, with a shared breakdown…" However McKnight also felt a new energy in the band with Huxley's departure; “ [His] leaving the band has been a real catalyst for a new energy. I’ll always be grateful for him leaving, because actually he put me in a corner where I have to write songs, instead of relying on him and whoever else to write music, and then myself just to add vocal melodies and lyrics. Now me and Sym [Gharial, bass] , are writing all the time, and I love it." McKnight also has strong views on the state of society today and how he feels music can be the catalyst to change this; “Because of this slanderous media-driven society that we live in, I think we’re led to believe it’s not really that important, or that music is just something that you can throw away, when actually I think it has unbelievable potential to help people, certainly to communicate with each other. I think it’s exactly the same with the power of words, because of headlines and tabloids and magazines, people have forgotten how powerful language is, and how you can change someone’s life with just one word. I’d say that terms of there being a lot of rubbish out there, or whatever it was that I said, anything that is insincere is just a complete waste of everybody’s time.” In early 2003 McKnight, drummer Tom Diamantopoulo, and ex guitarist Andy Huxley, turned to Buddhism and also gave up drugs, and McKnight clearly feels that the Buddhist mentality fits in with his approach to music; “...everything is energy existing on a certain vibration, a certain frequency – I don’t think it’s any coincidence or accident that the first sense that you develop in the womb is your hearing, and the last sense to go, apparently, when you die, again, is your hearing. The ears are the gateway to the spirit. With sound, with words, with vibration, with music, you can really touch people’s hearts, you can really communicate with people." McKnight is clearly passionate about his music and his ability to interact with the fans is a crucial part of this for McKnight, he claims; “With our music, and our performance, our desire is to encourage people to really let go, to let go of their inhibitions. The only way you can do that is if you really open up yourself. If you’re giving 100% and opening up, then that can inspire others to do the same.”