The Interview: Martin Newnham
Written by WTR // March 31, 2010 // The Interview // 1 Comment
It was a chilly winter night in Southampton when I was
first introduced to the musical styling of Martin Newnham. Life can be
undeniably tough for a support act, but Martin made it seem effortless
with his immense talent and easy-going charm. The anticipation to see
the legendary Nik Kershaw perform on his solo acoustic tour "No Frills"
was in the air. Martin managed to capture the audience within the first
song – despite his lack of guitar strings! Upon realizing he'd broken a
couple he declared honestly, "It sounds better with all the strings!"
and with that the crowd was on side.
Wight, Martin now lives in Hanwell West London where he has made it his
home for the past ten years to pursue his talent. A graduate from The
Guitar Institute of London he continues to teach others how to master a
guitar when not on-stage himself. A gifted singer and songwriter, he
spent many years recording and performing in the band 'The Goondocks'
before venturing out on his own in 2004 with 'Going Home'. In 2009 the
critically acclaimed 'City Folk' was released amidst raving reviews.
Having now shared the stage with Nerina Pallot, Newton Faulkner and Nik
Kershaw it is hard to understand why he is still London's best kept
secret. A real live treat and the answer to modern folk.
When I
approached Martin about an interview he graciously offered his own home
as the venue. Upon arrival I was offered a nice cup of tea along with
the insistence to sit down and relax. It is rare to find someone as
lovely a person as they are an artist but Mr. Newnham is a shining
example. I am happy to present to you an insightful interview with
Martin Newnham that I laughed and smiled all the way through. I hope
you have as much fun reading it as I did conducting it.
An obvious but essential question – who are your musical influences?
My
Dad as he is a musician himself and got me into playing. The Counting
Crows made me want to start writing songs. When I was 15 and 16 that
was what I listened to, The Counting Crows, The Red Hot Chili Peppers,
things like that. As a little kid my parents really impacted me
musically. My Dad listened to a lot of Jazz, folksy stuff and everything from The Band to AC/DC, my Mum listened to things like
Steel. [Laughs] I mean Sting and Seal.
That's good, I'll have to steal that now. Steel!
Yes
- the love child of Sting and Seal! Just things like Fairport
Convention, Nik Drake, The Stones and Phil Collins. I visited America
several times over the course of a couple of years, after I'd moved to
London – mainly because of a girl. I really got into Phish,
the whole jam band scene and things like The Dave Matthews Band. It was
all about a vibe and I met some really amazing people. I really love
James Taylor, Ben Folds Five, The Beach Boys. Someone I've really
gotten into lately is Bob Dylan, love Bob Dylan. When I was younger I
really struggled with only enjoying listening to singers that can sing. [Laughs]
But you know what I mean, like Alison Krauss – always perfect pitch
and tone. But now I'm allowing myself to enjoy the emotions and the
lyrics and not just the perfect singing voice.
Coming from the Isle of Wight to London must have been a big step for you – how did you cope?
Well
my
first year I didn't actually get into the College of my choice, so I
spent a year at Falmouth Art College and did a lot of busking. It was
an experience. It sort of prepared me for the leap, but yeah definitely
coming from that environment to here is a shock. I've lived here so
long now some of my mates will introduce me as "My mate Martin from
London." and I'm like what? No I'm not, I'm from the Isle of Wight! I
have three band members from the Isle of Wight including myself. The
newbie Thomas Day on double bass and long serving fiddler Andy Parkin.
Andy recently moved back to the island as he had a littlen.
Aww!
Yeah,
aww bless! But yeah he made the leap back and just comes across for
gigs. I'm not entirely ready to make that step and commit to that – but
I do go back a lot. Maybe one day, we'll see!
What was your main inspiration behind 'City Folk'?
I
was coming from a rootsy all-acoustic scene of duos and trios as I
left the island. I moved to London and started listening to all this
new stuff, jammed with many different people, and performed in a number
of combinations with different instrumentation. I guess the goal of the
album was to put a bit of a twist on folk – hip-hoppy beats, horn
sections and other things you wouldn't expect on a traditional folk
album.as a sort of reflection of the way all these other genres have
affected my music. The album was produced by Rupert Brown and I see why
he took the songs where he did and what he was doing with it and I'm
really proud of it, it's out there. It's really great and also really
scary, when it's out on iTunes and all these other places and it's out
there forever.
It's a great album. I have to say my favorite is "As Night Falls". It's a dark, beautiful song.
Yeah,
I have to say I get a lot of feedback about it, I hear that often. I am
very proud of "As Night Falls". The inspiration for the song came from
a song my Mum used to sing to me as a baby. It's called "Matty Groves"
by Fairport Convention. It's one of my favorites. I'm sort of aware my
songs and lyric content can be a bit darker but that doesn't mean they
have to be heavy.
Yes, you remind me of Damien Rice when he's in a happy place.
I am definitely not a rainbows and kittens songwriter! [Laughs]
But that doesn't mean the music has to be depressing all of the time. I
tend to write and sing through things, the toils and troubles of life,
relationship issues, things we can all relate to. I like to tell a
story, too.
You, drummer, "Vinny" Haapanen, and fiddler Andy Parkin recently finished up a tour supporting Nik Kershaw! What was that like?
Vinny! [Laughs]
His real name is Vesa, he's from Finland but no one could say it right
so we just started calling him Vinny and it stuck! In March of last
year I was offered the gig to support Nik at the Half Moon in Putney,
which I did with Andy Parkin. It was great but I wasn't sure if
anything else would come from it. Then in November I was asked to
support Nik again at his hometown gig in Ipswich which I did with
Vinny. It was packed – about 400 people all seated. Nik's Mum was
there! We met his wife and we all seemed to hit it off but we just
thought that'd be it. Then just after Christmas we got a phone call
asking us if we'd like to do the whole tour – everything except
Scotland as they'd already booked all the tickets. We were like, "Yes!
Please!" It really couldn't have gone better. He's such a funny and
down-to-earth guy; a really great musician and songwriter and generally
a bloody nice bloke. At our last gig together at the O2 in Islington we
added a few "Nikisms" to a couple of the songs. "Come Back Gracey"
turned into "Wouldn't It Be Good" and a little bit of "The Riddle"
crept into the middle of "As Night Falls". He was smiling as we came
off stage. We only did it the once though, as a tribute to him on the
last night.
A parting question, do you have any upcoming projects? I hope so!
Of
course I'll be performing as and when I can. I have three new singles
that I've been working on and recording. I played some like
"Toothbrush" on the tour with Nik. Phil Gould, the drummer from Level
42 is producing the singles and the next album is in the
pipeline. I feel the songs are a real step up, I've sort of realized
this is who I am. I am a folk artist, but there will be some big
arrangements in there. Hopefully with a bit of luck we'll go for a bit
of radio play with the singles. There will be another album,
definitely.
Martin is a fantastic addition to the folk
scene – or any scene for that matter. Delightful and lovely to the
core, with music that nestles deeply into your heart and will be on
your lips hours later. I simply cannot wait for a new release or an
album – but to hold myself and the adoring public at bay, I would
suggest making sure you see him perform live in abundance!
Mr. Newnham's music is available at HMV, iTunes, and Amazon
- and hopefully a few new singles will be winging their way to us
shortly. You can keep up to date with Martin's progress via his MySpace, or his Website.
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One Comment on "The Interview: Martin Newnham"
Excellent article, it was so enlightening, and well articulated, I now must go get an album from this artist, and it`s solely due to this masterpiece that is a shinning example of photography and journalism !