Take five with Martin

Martin is a songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist of Taurus Trakker in Ladbroke Grove. Right now he’s rehearsing Stickin Boy — a musical play he wrote, set around punk and the vice trade in 1977 — with a double vinyl album to accompany the production.

What does your working week actually look like right now?

At the moment it’s mainly rehearsals for the play, tweaking the script, musically directing, making content, and posting for publicity.

How do you find the people you work with?

Taurus Trakker is now a family band — Allison on drums is my partner, and Zac on bass is my son.

The cast of the play came together organically through mutual contacts in music and long-term friendships.

What’s one thing about the music business you had to learn the hard way — and what do you do now when you hit that wall?

It’s hard to get attention. There are so many bands, and most venues — the ones that are still open, anyway — couldn’t care less about the bands. They want bums on seats and to sell lots of beer.

Give every gig 100%, whether the audience is 30,000 or 3.

Yes, it can be a head trip feeling undervalued, but in the end it’s all about the value you attach to what you do. That’s where the freedom is.

If you hit the wall, write another album.

What does the work look like when it’s going well?

The songs usually start with a lyric. I carry a pad in my bag and write down anything I hear or see that could be useful. Then I jam with Alli — just guitar and drums — and try to find a mood for the lyric. We record that idea on an iPhone. Sometimes I’ll make a rough demo on a 4-track.

After a few days we play through it again and work out an arrangement. When we’re happy, we record it, using Logic like a tape machine just to track it.

Zac is the mix master — he has a good pair of ears.

‍

What are you trying to figure out right now?

Writing and performing the play is a huge departure from our usual three-piece rock ’n’ roll format. The cast includes six other vocalists —three singers and three punks, haha — and the songs were written in character for each of them.

Stickin Boy is our eighth album, so we wanted to create something different. This year is also the band’s 20th anniversary.

Stickin Boy play is opening in May at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden and the album is out now on Bandcamp. In September they’ll make their annual trip to Vienna to play a couple of festivals, with maybe three London gigs before that.