Perfect Circle

By Matt Cafissi

Mike, first of all, your surname is Italian …

Well, my Dad was born in Calabria, Italy, and came to the US when he was 4 years old. I do have relatives in Italy who I never get to see, Hopefully someday ill get a chance to go there and see them.

Tell me about your latest cd called “Full Circle” and other stuff.

My First Solo album is “Total Freedom” which is only available on cassette on my website right now. But “Full Circle” my Latest CD is over 74 minutes long, With a variety of styles of music. There’s a mixture of Rock, Jazz, and Blues with Mostly Instrumentals, there are also some Vocal tracks as well. The Cd contains Acoustic and Electric guitar pieces. A lot of songs on the Cd that I play most of the instruments And recorded half of it in my home studio, I think this has helped me grow as a Musician. This is all mixed together like a soup, Which I call “just Music”

Your musical influences (guitarists and others)?

My first musical Influence was Black Sabbath, I was totally Obsessed. I was into Van Halen, Ozzy with Randy Rhoads, and Led Zepplin. Jimi Hendrix is also a big influence on me. My brother turned me on to AL Di Meola, Santana, and Stevie Ray Vaughan when I was a Kid. Yngwie Malmsteen Became a big Influence, also Paganini and Holdsworth. In my High school Days, I was a speed freak. These days I listen to a Variety of Music Classical, Fusion, etc. I like Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, and Scott Henderson, Also, I’m very open-minded. It makes me more versatile as a player.

What do you think about the famous GIT Institute? Tell me about your experience.

I think GIT is a great school. It’s probably one of the best years of my life. There are so many amazing players at that school it made me aware of many other styles of music. I had some great teachers I really learned a lot, I can’t say enough about it. A lot of Great Memories.

A personal site web is very important for underground musicians like you.

These days I think a website is necessary. Because Anyone in the world can come to your site. Listen to your Music, buy your CDs, and find where you are playing. Record labels can easily check you out. It’s a whole nother world, It is the way of the future………. So Don’t forget to check out my site