BIOGRAPHY
M.E. Baird (Matthew Ede Baird) was born in December 1967 in the working-class town of Frankston, an end-of-the-line bay suburb an hour south of Melbourne Australia. His upbringing was far from conventional and at times confusing and even dysfunctional. He spent most of his youth either traversing the continent on long outback sojourns or weekends living in Melbourne with his sister who was nineteen years older with two young sons of her own who were like brothers to M.E. Baird. His sister would introduce him to drawing at a very young age and later ignite his passion for 'song' via her extraordinarily diverse record collection. Time spent with her and his surrogate younger brothers would represent some of the happiest times in his life. M.E. Baird's father, Harrie T Baird, who was 48 years of age when M.E. Baird was born would also profoundly and enduringly influence him. His father, was fifty years old when he was born and had already raised three much older children. Despite the gap in age and generation, there was always a very strong bond between the two right up until his father's death at 92 years old.
From an early age, M.E. Baird had notions of becoming a painter influenced by his older sister who had studied fine arts and extended family members on his Father's side who were and still are well-regarded and established artists. At age sixteen decided to enrol in Fine Art studies at the local technical college. However, lacking the financial support to continue, he left and spent the next seven years adrift working as a labourer, travelling and building upon his musical knowledge. In 1992 at twenty-five years old and unsure he could financially maintain a life dedicated to making and playing music he enrolled to study urban design and architecture at RMIT in Melbourne. However, once graduation approached, he didn't feel that his suitability to become a 'design professional' was certain. However, the academic environment appealed greatly to his desire to explore creative thought and the creative process. This desire for knowledge was quickly noticed by some of his lecturers. He was encouraged to undertake academic work, where he could still maintain his semi-professional music career and collect a regular paycheck. This eight-year period at RMIT both studying and lecturing represented a golden era for M.E. Baird, it really was a very different time to now and a fantastic time to be living and working amongst the vibrancy of the inner city suburbs prior to gentrification. However, this period would also see the beginnings of serious mental health issues stemming from his childhood that would worsen and lead to several crisis points throughout his adult life to come. He would temporarily leave music and academia to travel in Europe and Northern Africa. Returning to Australia in 1999 he relocated to Sydney and worked seasonally in academia for four years as well as developing his visual art practice before returning to Victoria in 2003 with the birth of his daughter. Being back in Victoria, the urge to write songs and make music returned and he went on to write and record three critically acclaimed albums while still holding various research and lecturing roles at RMIT and Deakin universities. The second album, 'Mysteries of the heart; Vagaries of the mind', written and recorded under the fictional musical moniker of Lionel Lee and his band, Lionel Lee's Curse was voted runner-up in the category of Best Folk-pop Album of 2010 by the Melbourne AGE EG Entertainment Guide.
A challenging period in M.E. Baird's life and career ensued from 2011 to 2016 and he was ill-prepared for what was to unfold. During this dark period, six of his family members would die in a three-year period, that included his father, mother, sister, his nephew (who was like a brother) who was brutally murdered as well as an uncle and aunt who were like guiding angels in his life. Surprisingly in 2014, he somehow found the space and time to write and recorded his third solo album entitled Fall, the first under his own name, albeit just his initials. However, after completing the album and literally days before its formal release he decided to shelve it. It became clear he could not muster the energy nor the mental presence required to promote and tour a release. He also decided in late 2014 after the death of his father to move with his wife and young daughter to northern New South Wales. After moving to Northern New South Wales, he was encouraged to re-release Fall in 2016, two years after recording it. The delayed release of the album should have signalled a bad omen, for although hailed by a few as a masterpiece, most considered it too dark, too slow, and not for an Australian audience. The whole experience, combined with grief and what would later be diagnosed as a complex post-traumatic response, he would not return to writing and recording for another three years.
By 2017, M.E. Baird had recovered somewhat and was performing some live shows again, spending more time on his art practice and was beginning to see a brighter and more creative future ahead. Deciding it was time to get back to songwriting and recording again, M.E. Baird enlisted Brisbane-based producer and musician Jamie Trevaskis to record a bunch of songs at Jamie's studio set amongst the Eucalypt forests at Mt Nebo, Queensland. The tracks recorded would become M.E. Baird's fourth solo album entitled, TIME which was released in the winter of 2019. The album received glowing reviews and was widely accepted as M.E. Baird's most accomplished and uncompromisingly original album to date and an Australian national tour showcasing the album commenced in 2019. Recording TIME with Jamie at the helm ignited a deep creative bond between the two based on trust that would forever alter the direction and process of M.E. Baird's creative work. However, in a life that had been marred by past trauma and mental health issues, M.E. Baird was to face his biggest life challenge, when he was diagnosed with advanced and aggressive prostate cancer, halfway through a national tour and two months before the planet would descend into COVD. What he was not expecting at the time of diagnosis is that he was about to set out on a four-year journey that would profoundly change him as a person emotionally and creatively resulting in some intriguing artworks, film projects, and a new album.