BIOG
Since recently stepping down from organising events at music venue The Processed Pea – Martin has discovered time to pick up his own guitar –and pen again. Some years back he wrote for bands he was involved with (Diggory Venn/Jump the Gun) as well as for his own solo activities. Quite by accident a handful of years ago he found himself playing live at local gigs alongside Henry Priestman (ex Christians) – which rekindled a love of performance – albeit purely ‘as and when’ – and for fun.
With new self written songs in his head- he decided to record them before they got forgotten-which led to a recording project with friend and musical partner Peter Robinson at his Beverley home studio. A taster 3 track single ‘IN YOUR DREAMS’ was released ahead of the full album which came to light in 2017. An accompanying video for the single, plus another ‘LOOKING FOR LONDON’ from Lost Boy Productions can be found on You tube. The single has had local radio airplay including twice-daily airings on Beverley FM when Martin was chosen as Artist of the Week. His collection of self written ‘quirky’ songs cover a range of subjects reflecting the sort of things that go through our minds in order to survive in this busy world we live in.
For live performances Martin is usually solo- but occasionally joined by fellow musician friends to make a ‘scratch band’ that simply enjoy making music together. THE RUNAWAY TRAIN is a loose collective description of singers and musicians that contributed to the ‘Shadows & Candlelight’ album – and can include Peter Robinson, Hugh Whitaker, Dez Allenby, Cathy Allenby , Tony Underwood, Rob Peirson, and singers ‘Well Met’ : Sue Murray, Sue Dyson, Jo Binnington and Alison Hodgson.
As well as his own musical activities, Martin continues to be involved with live shows with Henry Priestman – he and Peter Robinson have become known as The Men of a Certain Age – playing with Les Glover as Henry’s backing band whenever possible.
Martin is also an occasional musician (banjo!) for sword-dance team The Goathland Plough Stots – where standing alongside the likes of Eliza Carthy, Jim Eldon, Steve Peirson and Dez Allenby is a real treat-providing tunes for the dancers at festivals and events. In particular, the traditional ‘day of dance’ that takes place in the North Yorkshire village of Goathland every January has become a regular fixture in his diary. Martin also occasionally does similar for the Flamborough Sword Dance team- where their traditional Boxing Day pub to pub crawl is also a ‘not to be missed’ event.
Other ‘occasional’ collaborations with Dez & Cathy Allenby and Steve Peirson are always enjoyed – and another excuse to play different material.
