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Then I kind of found my own way into different kinds of music like different kinds of blues and then
into different kinds of music in general, like rock. I found my own way into that and progressed
from that into things like heavy rock and then metal. After that, I just kind of expanded my horizons
and I was like if it's good, then I enjoyed it. If I enjoy it in some way, then I think it's good. I listen

to a bit of everything and anything now. I always believe that in every genre, there's going to be
something that everyone likes, so you've just got to go out and find it. It's a great experiment,
really.

BiTS: By the time you got into playing the guitar, did you start to do a lot of what they call
woodshedding? Playing along with other people's records, that sort of thing.

ML: Yeah, that's how I learned how to play. Get your CD player and picking up your guitar and
kind of learning what they're doing through your ear. I find that learning through the ear gives you
certain characteristics that learning by reading doesn't and then vice versa. Learning through
reading gives you certain things that learning through
your ear doesn't. It's a very different way of learning
Joe Bonamassa
and I always really enjoyed it. I was half self-taught at
the beginning and then like I said, later on, I got

lessons to get the technique down a bit more, but I
was always listening, and I was always recreating
things which I really enjoyed and then eventually I
managed to find a sound that I liked and kind of
started doing more of my own thing or inspired by

other people, finding my own kind of sound.

BiTS: Are there any guitar players that you consider
particularly influential?

ML: A big one for me would be a guy called Joe
Bonamassa. Who I've been listening to for over ten
years now and I remember seeing him when he was,
not first coming over to the UK, but in earlier days

before he kind of made it big. He’s such a nice guy but
also his playing was amazing, and I was just
enraptured by it. Then I got to meet him several times
as well. Like I said, he was a lovely guy, really down to earth and kind of like a nerd, sort of like me,
which was really fun. And then he's always been really good to younger players and encouraging

them no matter how big he's gotten. I knew him from then and he's now a blues superstar, but he
always still finds time to encourage little guys like me and just everyone. He's probably one of my
main influences in the guitar world, certainly.

BiTS: How old were you Matt, when you first started to perform on stage?

ML: My first performance, I guess I was about ten. It was for my parent's wedding anniversary and
my gift to them was me playing [chuckles]. I don't know whether they respected that or not, but I
was young, they couldn't say anything. I got up and played with my dad's friends. All I did was just

a bit of blues. I wasn't soloing or anything. I was terrified. I was just there, kind of plucking one
note. but I loved it and that kind of sparked off a lot of the love for performing that I have. I would
say professionally gigging, I probably started throughout college. I had done gigs before then but
not like on a regular basis like I'm doing it now, or at least I was before everything shut down and