Matt Pless (born July 11, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Catonsville, Maryland, in Baltimore County. He is known for his solo career, as well as his now disbanded pop punk band 3 Prong Outlet. Since the disbandment of his punk band, he focused on folk music, with an emphasis on protest music and political songwriting. Matt Pless began his music career at the age of 8 when he started writing songs and performing them for his 3rd grade class. This followed his exposure to ‘60s pop-rock groups, such as The Monkees and The Beatles, the musicality of Billy Joel, and various children’s show songs from Disney films and Jim Henson’s Muppet Show. He started his first band in 1998 with the formation of a pop punk trio, 3 Prong Outlet. The group included bassist Steve Smeal, and AJ Russo on drums. As the lead singer and songwriter/guitarist for the band, Matt proved early on to have a knack for composing songs that featured catchy hooks and memorably clever lyrics layered over distorted guitar chords and galloping drum beats in the vein of punk bands such as Green Day, Blink 182 and The Mr. T Experience. Matt broke up 3 Prong Outlet in the fall of 2004 and began his solo career. He recorded his first solo venture, the full-length "Requiems for Wishing Wells”, swapping his electric guitar for an acoustic and immersing himself in the music of Bob Dylan and Bright Eyes. Matt promoted "Requiems" on his first solo tour of the U.S. playing coffee shops, bars and basements and showcasing his new style of aggressive, yet still catchy, acoustic music which would eventually fall under the category of folk punk and anti-folk.
