Catfish

When Matt Long passed away last year, at the desperately young age of 29, the whole Blues community in the UK shed a tear for a prodigious talent lost far too soon.
This album is the final recordings of his band, Catfish, and demonstrate just what a huge talent he was. It is a proper album, not just sweeping up his last bits and pieces, and stands up as a cracking bit of British Blues/rock.
For Matt’s father, band-mate and producer Paul Long, returning to music has been a slow and painful process: “At first I found it too difficult to listen to any of the music, but eventually I found it comforting and decided to look at the unfinished and unreleased Catfish music.”
Catfish members Paul Long and Adam Pyke are joined on these recordings by Kev Hickman and Phil Wilson on drums, Alex Voysey and Ash Wilson on additional rhythm guitar, and Chloe Josephine (Brave Rival) on backing vocals.
Half of the record is material the band was working on in the studio, and some are from recordings discovered after Matt had passed.

9 tracks, ranging from outright blasters to acoustic numbers, and showing all the different sides of Matt and the band.
Paul Long said: “Matt was not able to give this album his blessing, we never had that conversation, but we felt his music should be able to be heard and played, rather than filed and lost. There is no more, this is all there is.”

The album opens with ‘Time To Fly’, a big number that Catfish had performed live and rather ‘rescued’ by Paul with a live vocal and a guide guitar part Matt had laid down. Featuring Chloe Josephine and a brilliant, passionate vocal from Matt.
‘Change My Ways’ is dark and powerful and has a stunning solo from Matt.
‘Don’t Turn Around’ shows a wholly different side of the band with a number that is slower, contemplative but grows and shows Paul Long's vocal skills in a brilliant manner. Written by Paul, it is definitely my favourite track. Matt’s solo, set against Paul’s keys – piano and organ – is simply superb, uplifting and deeply emotive.
One of two numbers built from the ground up, from demos on Matt’s computer, ‘Sick Of It All’ is another dark blaster of a number. Heavy, portentous, chords and massive drums and bass.
Matt had another side to him as well. ‘Forever More And Again’ is a love song to a partner who is dying (!) that was found on Matt’s phone. Matt’s acoustic guitar is simple and the lyrics – sung by his father Paul – will bring a tear to the eye of the hardest nut in the bunch.
Paul wrote the song ‘Lost In Autumn’ around a solo that Matt had contributed to another artist. The solo fits perfectly.
The final track, ‘Say The Word’ is the other demo found on Matt’s computer. Matt was too unwell to rehearse this one with the band but they built it around Matt’s demo and a stunning solo. At over 10 minutes it is a huge piece and shows many of Matt’s talents to their fullest.

This album could have been a bit of a mess, the sweepings of the dust of Matt Long’s unused material, but it is anything but.
The whole project has been treated with care for Matt’s legacy and for the music. Every track shows just how special Matt Long and Catfish were.
The album holds together and stands as an album in its own right, a crucial part of the Catfish canon and a really good listen.