“Sunset Cruise” is the brand-new single by Australian guitarist Joe Matera, with European family roots. Composed and performed by Matera, the instrumental harks back to the pre-Beatles early 1960s when surf, sun and guitars were order of the day, paying homage to one of the most influential instrumental British bands of all time, The Shadows. With early 1960s No.1 hits such as “Apache,” “Wonderful Land” and “Foot Tapper” to name but a few, the group’s two guitarists, lead guitarist Hank Marvin and rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch, influenced an entire generation of British guitarists that followed from Brian May, Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore to David Gilmour, Tony Iommi and George Harrison and countless others.

“Sunset Cruise” perfectly sums up, and gets to the heart of what made The Shadows such an influential force upon the evolution of the guitar, but don’t take our word for it, The Shadows themselves fully agree.

“The sound Joe Matera achieves on ‘Sunset Cruise’ takes me back to our early Shadows sound at Abbey Road Studio 2. It conjures up an image of Bruce sitting a few feet away from me playing his Gibson J 200, his sound being the perfect complement to my echoing Strat, Jet’s bass guitar and Tony’s drums driving the band. With ‘Sunset Cruise’ Joe has managed to encapsulate the essence of The Shadows early recordings, I love it!” - Hank Marvin (The Shadows)

“‘Sunset Cruise’ captures the spirit of the early Shadows sound for me, with Hank starting a worldwide craze with the Strat, his echo box and trusty Vox AC 30, and me with my Gibson J 200, making a perfect combination. Joe captures that sound on his record, with a catchy melody, lovely lead sound and big rhythm guitars which I love!" - Bruce Welch OBE (The Shadows)

Joe Matera’s instrumental single “Sunset Cruise” will be released via Mercury Fire Music on all digital platforms on March 22. The recording will appeal to fans of The Shadows, The Ventures, and all the electric guitar driven instrumental bands inspired by that early 1960s surf-guitar sound.