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Artist of the moment: Martyn. An Essay in…
Written by Jimmy
At this moment, we are featuring Martyn. And we’ll take a different tack for this ‘feature.’ More of a free wheeling, random discussion of all that is … well… free wheeling and random about our musical guide, our inspiration, our crusty muse; a bit of Joe, a bit of Wilson, some pinches of Dash and Dorie and a spoonful of Yoda…
This is an essay in four parts, as we try to capture the very essence of ‘the Martyn.’ This will not be easy for the essence of Martyn is illusive. So this is more like powder thrown at an invisible man – we’ll glimpse shapes and patters, but alas the man himself will remain invisible.
Part One: It all starts with the music. And at his heart, the music of Martyn is a collision of Wilson Picket and Joe Pass. From Wilson, he gets his love of the pounding rhythm sections and brass, brass everywhere. Girls in black, boys in suits.
This Martyn stands on the stage with his guitar and mostly just directs the music, caught in the middle, enjoying the chaos and occassionally providing a stab of a guitar. This Martyn would die and go to heaven if he could be Glen Hansard in this video.
But he secretely is Joe Pass, and would love nothing more than to have his big ol’ ears be backin’ up Elle on this track, a track which we used as inspiration for No Bells.
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So, that is the first pinch o’ powder thrown on the invisible Martyn – a guitarist caught between the cheer leading stabs of Wilson Picket and the elegant plucks and picks of Joe Pass. Nice shape. Nice pattern.
Part Two. Actually, it is still all about the music. You see, with Martyn, he just loves music. He’s Dash in the Incredibles and just wants to use his superpowers all the time. He loves the studio, loves performing and doesn’t care if he’s on every song or just helping others. So he’ll listen away as the band does twenty takes of a song. And each time, Jimmy will ask if he wants in, and Martyn says no. Just listened and playing along. Then he’ll turn over to Ed and suggest two chords. Or he’ll lean over to Gus and suggest he end the song on a different word. And he’s just happy to be in the big sand box of the studio, happy to play along, happy to being recorded every once in a while. Just happy.
And every once in a while, he’ll lean forward and do the question, ‘Do you want in, Martyn?’, he’ll reply, ‘Yeah, go on then.’ And he’ll deliver the guitar solos of Major Matt Mason or The Only Thing that’s Missing.
The Only Thing That’s Missing by AbubillaMusic
Major Matt Mason by AbubillaMusic
Or, he’ll claim, ‘I have a song’ and play 9 notes and shout BIG BIG BIG BIG.
He’s our Yoda. You just have to listen hard, work thru the sentence construction and there’s often something there. Wisdom for Gus, for Ed. He’s kind of our inspiration for greatness. In the great Yoda’s, ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’
Part Three: He’s Sort of Not, well… all…. There: The great thing about Finding Nemo, was it taught you about the fact that some fish don’t really have any short term memory. Martyn is sort of like Dorie:
We think most of his brain has flowed to his fast guitar pickin’ fingers. He’s brilliant, funny and imaginative, but can’t really be all three at once. He can finish sentences as long as they don’t have clauses contained within. Clauses cause problems. So a typical conversation, in fact a recent conversation with Martyn, goes something like this:
Ed: I think one thing we can do for the website is create an exclusive site for our members. So if Tamilia Simpson signs in, for example, and she’s already registered, she will be taken to a ‘members areas.’
Martyn: That is cool. I’ve got a great idea that I’ve seen elsewhere. So if Tamilia, and let’s say her friend…
Jimmy: no Martyn, don’t think of Tamilia’s friend, that’s not the important bit…
Martyn, giggling: …and let’s say her friend Bibly Swatch also looks in, well then…[pauses]
Ed: Oh no.
Martyn: well then Tamilia and Bibly what’s see, could..[pause]
Jimmy: He’s lost it.
Martyn: What were we talking about?
And we all have to wait for another idea, and work very very hard to keep him from using a dreaded comma in a sentence. We get worried sometime that Martyn will forget how to sit down.
Part Four: Yoda Sure Loves to Laugh: And so we’ve got Dorie the forgetful fish, forgetting how to sit down, occassionally asking to ‘go in’ to a song, pod wankin’ a way in the studio. But our little Yoda sure loves to laugh. Martyn just laughs a lot. He laughs when we call him Helen while he plays Mexican Train Dominoes. He laughs when he forgets the rules again to Vodka Pong. He laughs when he tells another story of being dragged to another ‘do’ somewhere. He just laughs. And we love Martyn for the laughter above all. Yes, we love the laughter more than the pod. We don’t like his foot pedal pod thing. But we like the laughter. Oodles of laughter.
So, that’s four little poofs of powder thrown on our Martyn. You see a shape. A bit of Joe Pass. A bit of Wilson Picket. A bit of Dash and Dorie. But very much all Martyn.
Jimmy