John Martyn

And interestingly enough, I always felt Joanie was one of those artists whose work is very seasonal for me, because obviously there's some obvious track albums she does where you think that's definitely The Hissing of Summer, Long Summertime, Caught in Spark is kind of, you know, a bit more summer.

But Blue is definitely a bit like John Martin and Al Stewart.

I always think these are, and Jethro Tull, I get all these.

Yeah, Sandy

Really

good records.

Only 10 years after they had been released, but you got to get there one day, haven't you? So it was that kind of period of discovery and people like Al Stewart's You're the Cat and Time Passages and John Martin.

It was kind of, you know, it was lovely to be able to sort of go back and sort of be able to access all that kind of moment.

Um, but, but maybe that's just because I've been sitting on this album for quite a while 'cause I went back to college.

And in, in the interim of sitting on the, the, the album for so long that I just Had a little bit of a go to get back to basics and just get back to the, the joy of the sound of people like Nick Drake or John Martyn, and they're, they're my roots, you know? The simplicity of that.

But whether that happens or not, now I don't know.

But there's, there's, like, almost two albums [laughs] worth of material there which will eventually see the light of day.

Anyway, Glenn and Frames and all of Damien Rice's band, except Damien Rice, were all hanging out in the Scratcher.

I was playing at the old living room remember on Ludlow Street the next night and he Glenn was telling everybody like you know you gotta go see this guy he sounds like Nick Drake and John Martin and I remember just thinking like well I don't but I'd like to well but maybe maybe that album did a bit but anyway and like he was so even in that moment like he's just done this big gig and he's telling people you gotta go see this guy and I think some of those people did come because he had that like he had that influence even back then, you know, and, uh, I was kind of like, I could, I could use up the whole rest of our time just talking about little things like that, that he did for me.

I remember like asking him one time, like, I just, I, I needed just a bit of mentorship.

And I said, can I give you a call? He said, yeah, call me, you know, give me, give me 20 minutes, call me 20 minutes.

Fantastic.

And Hanson was right.

That's when he gave the quote about the John, the John Martin thing.

Okay.

John Lennon's example, who was a kind of violent guy in his youth, in his teens and early 20s, who ended up being kind of peace and love.

And you go back and forth, I think, and who was the real Lennon? John Martin.

Joe Martin is someone else who, you know, I say, you know, the Socky Hall thug or the Kings Road hippie.

That's a little bit of John in that song there as well.

So that's what I was trying to write about.

I mean, it's a beautiful song.

And I mean, John is a perfect example of somebody who, John Martin, just some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking, sensitive things come out of him.

And then you read the book or you learn deeper about his life and you just realize that there's also profound anger and resentment and rage kind of bubbling and just difficulty, difficult to work with, difficult to, all this different stuff.

Uh, Charlie Nordower.

He's like a singer-songwriter, Ben Howard, John Martin vibe.

Brilliant.

He's fantastic.

... who was running this label.

And I actually discovered that...

I remember being in secondary school thinking, "What do I wanna do? And if I don't make it as an artist, maybe this is something." And looking into the history of Island Records in particular, and artists like Nick Drake and John Martin that some family friends had put me onto-

Yeah

Incredible.

I'm gonna go straight into some John Martyn.

We opened with some John Martyn, and we're having a double whammy of John Martyn now.

This track is called Bless the Weather.

And wherever you are, I do hope you enjoy.

But I'd love to talk about how, um, you know, the average guitar player, which I'd probably put myself in that category for sure I think, um, can, like, aspire to add anything of a John Gomm or an Andy McKee or anything of that, um, more advanced yet very melodic kinda style.

And, and that's why, um, I literally go back to, um, John Martin, as I mentioned before.

As soon as I've gone-

Yeah

He was a very sensitive individual and, uh, that's the only way he could do it.

And I think we've lost a lot of that because all the, uh, all the people that make it these days are a bit more savvy and they're, um, they know how to put, get the, get a similar effect, but also put it on socials.

And I don't think, you know, Peter Green or, or John Martin could've, could've done that.

But that, that's the thing we, all, going back 20 or 30 years or 50 years even, you do get those people that were-

No, he's fantastic.

He, he, I was just reading what he had to say about Bless the Weather, the John Martyn record, which he-

Yeah

... engineered or produced, or I can't, can't remember.

Uh-

He produced it

... and he says, "It's the best John Martyn record," 'cause on all the other John Martyn records, he wanted to be somebody else.

You know what I mean?

... a history of all their gigs from the 60s up till, I don't know, sort of six years ago.

And again, it was quite interesting seeing all the bands in the 70s, and then the ones who vaguely started, kept appearing in the 80s, like John Martyn.

But you obviously-

Right

... realize it was sl- going down at that point.

We love John Martyn.

Yes, I know.

I love him.

Underneath me, the sounds of Richie Havens with Old Friends from a beautiful live album, couple recorded at Woodstock and a couple elsewhere.

And then before, the sounds of John Martyn from the album Solid Air.

That was I Don't Want To Know

[singing] It must be long ago.