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Matthew ‘Matt’ Long

07/11/94 — 06/10/24

Matt Long, son of Paul and Fiona Long was a prodigiously

talented guitar player who worked principally with the band
run by his father Paul and managed by his mother Fiona.

Not only a talented guitarist, Matt was an outstanding

vocalist; playing and singing blues, rock, metal and
‘whatever’ — he appeared to be unlimited in his capacity to
perform in multiple genres.

Matt went to The Weald, community school

and sixth form and later studied at The
Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM)
Guildford. ACM is a music academy in
Guildford, Surrey. Apart from his
outstanding work with Catfish, Matt was

guitarist and vocalist at Rough House Trio
and with SevenSmith and proudly with his
own band The Revenant Ones.

He won the UK Blues Instrumentalist of the
Year in 2020 and again in 2021.

When Matt was unexpectedly diagnosed

with a particularly virulent form of bowel
cancer, and it was publicly announced, the
blues music world in the UK joined together
to support him.

His mother was a whirlwind of activity,
particularly when it became clear that there
exists a form of therapy in the USA. Fiona
(and her family) organised a GoFundMe Page

which gathered over £92,000 to say nothing
of the huge sums of money that were
donated in other forms.

Across the country, artists took part in many benefit gigs and large numbers of people
organised and attended them. Auctions of music memorabilia were arranged and
music venues donated finds from their entry fees at gigs.

During his illness, Matt married ‘the love of his life’ Samantha Leese.

Go easy, Matt.

Ian K McKenzie