The European Perspective #108 – Matt Stevens ‘Unprogged’

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The ‘Unplugged’ series on MTV has become legendary, offering established rock bands the opportunity to present their music in a different, stripped-back fashion, often revealing new facets of their musical identity. In this week’s European Perspective I’m featuring the first in what I hope will become a series of ‘Unprogged’ sessions, both in homage to the idea, and also, perhaps, to present the music we all know and love in a different light.

My guest in this first session is the guitarist Matt Stevens, who produced the excellent Ghost album last year, and who as well as opening shows for the likes of Barclay James Harvest and Panic Room also features in the latest edition of Classic Rock Presents Prog as a ‘breakthrough’ artist. As well as recording live versions of some of his instrumentals – including two heard here for the first time – Matt and I also had a chat about music in general, and also played some of his favourite songs, a sort of virtual mixtape, if you will.

Matt’s web site has details of upcoming gigs, and you can also order Ghost and his first album, Echo, as well as information about his band project, The Fierce And The Dead.

Elsewhere in the show, new albums from The Watch, Radiohead and Elbow, and lots of other proggy goodness.

View the full playlist for this show.