By Cédric Vernet 
Still unknown just a few months ago, Matt Pascale surprised the blues scene with a remarkable album, simply titled Home, released on Dixiefrog. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Fabrizio “Fab” Grossi, the record brings together twelve tracks shaped by the heritage of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, Derek Trucks or Eric Gale. Surrounded by his band The Stomps, Matt Pascale pursues a search for meaning in a restless world, as suggested by the title of this feature. Home marks the rising affirmation of an artist we’ll clearly be talking about for a long time on Blues Actu, and who opens up candidly in this exclusive interview.
🎙️ Matt Pascale in interview with Cédric Vernet
Hi Matt! To begin with, can you tell us where you come from and how you first discovered music?
Hi Cédric, and thanks for this interview. I’m Matt Pascale, I’m Italian, Sicilian, and partly adopted “Ticinese” (Swiss). I discovered music because in my house we’ve always listened to music all the time, so let’s just say I was lucky.
What have your roots left in your playing or in the way you write?
Well, the Blues had a big influence, my father always listened to it, but I’m 25 and hip hop, R&B, and soul were fundamental to my growth, obviously always in my own way, the matrix is always rock. Actually, when I write, I don’t set myself many limits, I just write, and if I like what comes out, then that’s fine.
How did the Home project come to life?
Home is nothing more than different life experiences told in music, so I would say that everything you hear on that record is mine and the story of the guys in my band.
You recorded in Los Angeles with Fabrizio Fab Grossi. Tell us about that experience and what it brought to the sound of the album.
Yes, we decided to track the album in person in Fabrizio’s studio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Going to Los Angeles was a crazy experience, we played shows there, including one at the Viper Room, attended the NAMM show, and met a lot of famous musicians like Kenny Haronoff and Sammy Hager. The biggest difference tho was being able to stay all together in the same room with Fabrizio and brainstorm and try out all kinds of different ideas and parts very effortlessly and spontaneously. That made the album arrangements and sound much more organic than what we would have done if we recorded remotely.
You’ve said that Home was “born from a search for meaning in a chaotic world.” Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Home is the constant search for oneself and it’s also the search for oneself in the world. Today we live in a world where we’re basically just numbers, we have to produce, we have to work as hard as possible, otherwise we’re useless and we’d be replaced. Today we don’t live, we survive, and for those of us who work in the art world, it’s becoming increasingly complicated. I’ve started asking myself some questions, which I’ll probably answer on my second album.
“Mixing styles is as natural as mixing flavours.”
The album moves between almost lounge-like atmospheres and tracks that lean more toward blues rock. How do you handle that duality?
Everyone in the band listens to a lot of different stuff, and none is really a blues purist or a rock purist. Everyone is also actually quite into different kinds of jazz music, so that’s where the lounge-like parts are probably coming from. To us mixing different kinds of genres and styles is as normal as mixing different flavours and spices while cooking, and we ultimately believe that the only kinds of music are good music and not-so-good music.
Among your influences, you mention Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, Derek Trucks and Eric Gale. What is it in their playing that still shapes your own today?
Well, everything. They are pillars, they are always a point of inspiration, I unconsciously carry them with me always, and in my way of playing, even if I am exploring other territories such as jazz, neo soul and other guitar styles that I really like.
One striking element on the album is the importance you give to melody which, to me, echoes another musician… Devon Allman. Do you share that idea that melody should always come first?
Of course, melody is very important, Marcus King and Gary Clark Jr are masters at this.
Could you tell us about your band, The Stomps? How did you meet them?
I travel around a lot, and I met them at different times and places. I met Matteo in Bologna while I was living there, he became my staple bass player and he has been for a long time. I also met Rishi at a jam session in Oslo, where I have lived a year, and lastly I met Elia spending some months in Ticino, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. To me it has always been hard to find bandmates because I care deeply about having talented musicians with me, but also people I resonate with. It’s very hard to keep peace sometimes when stress and hard times hit, but we try to make it work.
What specific contributions do Matteo Magnaterra, Rishi Yildiz and Elia Squartini bring to the writing or the arrangements?
Matteo has been my co-writer and co-producer for this album, most of the songs we wrote together and later brought them to the rest of the band. He also helped Fabrizio engineer part of the sounds that you hear on record. Elia and Rishi then added their sound and personality in their parts and performance, turning our very simple and bare-bone demos into songs with a lot of personality and finesse.
“A very large pool of ideas and influences”
The band has an international dimension. How does that enrich your music?
Every musician is inspired by the musicians he sees and listens to growing up, so having everyone come from different cities and countries gives us a very large pool of ideas and influences. Elia having studied in Milano, Rishi growing up in the Netherlands, Matteo has been living in Bologna for a long time… I don’t count much because I travel around a lot.
What’s the story behind Home, the track that gave the album its name?
The story behind Home is that of a boy who looks out the window and is afraid, he is afraid because he doesn’t really see himself reflected in the world he lives in, and he continues to wander around, changing cities, changing countries, travelling continuously, playing music, experiencing everything, taking it to the extreme, and then once he comes back he continues to feel empty, a hole in his soul.
What guided the artistic direction of the Sugar Mama video?
A well-known Swiss director, Roberto Gianocca, decided the story and directed the music video for Sugar Mama. I knew he would do a great job, also thanks to the help of his collaborators Shondel and Sofia.
And on stage, what can we expect? Do you have any tours coming up?
We have a tour in Spain in February, we just had some concerts in Norway, of course you will find us around Italy and Switzerland, and we have some big festivals coming in the summer 2026. Just stay tuned to our social media channels for all the news! We hope to bring a very energetic and fun performance for audiences all around Europe to enjoy.
Are you already thinking about what comes after Home?
After touring and playing live and selling as many CDs and vinyls and merch as possible, we have some demos already for what is probably going to be our second album. Not enough of those for a full record yet, but we hope to release another one in the not-so-distant future.
It’s clear that you like to innovate and push boundaries. Are there musical territories you’d like to explore next?
Yes, Matteo and I are so curious, we also produce other artists together, we write music together, and we always like to discover new things. I don’t know exactly what to answer you, we are working on the pre-release of the second album, but we definitely try to explore more what we like and what comes naturally to us.