About Sunflies | Frontman | Guitarist | Drummer | Bassist | Additional Vocals
Biographies
Matty "Rocket Boy" Long - Bass
Born into a house of all things rock, with an almost tone-deaf mother and a nostalgic father, Matt was raised on a steady diet of ‘prog’, ‘folk’, ‘glam’, ‘heavy’ and ‘psychedelic’ varieties of the genre. Early experiments in making music with sax and (later) keyboards, proved to be fruitless for Matt, and soon the violin beckoned. Unfortunately, this led to several visits from the RSPCA, who had received reports of the sound of “cats being mistreated” coming from Matt’s house. So after growing tired and embarrassed of explaining it was just his rendition of The Sailor’s Hornpipe, he finally found solace in the deep dark low-end world of “The Bass”.
Working at Greenbank (a local music school and rehearsal facility) the impressionable young Matt‘s musical tastes broadened panoramically, but one band stood out from the rest. So when offered a shot at becoming the bass player in that band, he jumped at the chance. Only to be rejected. But six months later, the planets aligned and Sunflies saw the error of their ways, finally flinging open their arms and inducting him into their twisted cult of lovely gothic indie.
Nowadays, Matt can be found stage left at Sunflies gigs, hiding in the shadows, from where he creates gigantic soundscapes with the help of a small army of pedals, whilst keeping a solid groove pumping, adding colourful melodies to the mix, and muttering random lyrics to himself.
Welcome home son!
Live Gear
Matty is Currently Running:
Spector Legend 5 (in a yummy blackcurrenty burst)...
Through the Chopping Board of Death, containing a Behringer Bass Overdrive, A Boss OC-2 Octaver, Boss PH-3, a Danelectro Fab Chorus, Danelectro Flange, Morley Power Wah, Volume Pedal, and a Danelectro Echo...
All goes into a Mark Bass LmmkII, with a Korg Bassworks unit “in the loop”, and then gets blasted out through an Andy Ewen Custom 2x12 cab, in rather spiffing white vinyl.
Favourite Bands/Artists
Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Dredg, Tool, Jeff Buckley, Dream Theater (spelt Theater, trust me :0P), The Cure, Muse, Sack Trick, Nirvana, Portishead, Porcupine Tree.
Guilty pleasures: Faithless, Feeder, KT Tunstall, American pop punk…
Favourite Films
Spinal Tap, Still Crazy, Wayne’s World, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Pirates of the Caribbean, Serenity, Sleepy Hollow.
Guilty Pleasure: Shrek
Favourite TV
The Mighty Boosh, Family Guy, Futurama, The Fast Show, The Young Ones, Harry Enfield, Not the Nine O’Clock News.