Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Young Martyrs

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

Growing up in a house literally full of music – Madonna and Erasure in my sisters’ bedrooms and my Mum & Dad playing anything from the Beatles to Scott Walker to Connie Francis. It was never quiet growing up. My Mum & Dad took me to my first ever gig when I was 12, a bunch of still touring acts from the 60s – Peter Noone, Wayne Fontana, Nick Berry. I was hooked from the first note.

How did your passion for creating music begin?
My Dad had this early 60s Rosetti Solid 7 guitar from the early 60s that he’d had since 15 but never learned to play. It looked incredible but was impossible to play. Nevertheless, I took it to lessons with a primary school teacher (everyone else had little spanish guitars and I had this vintage beast, we stuck out a bit) and I can remember writing songs on it before I could actually play anything, just plucking one string at a time. The guitar is still on the wall at my parents’ house.

What’s the story behind your current music project?
I’d been in a band for over a decade – Centrefolds – that had done some pretty awesome things (Glastonbury, some TV and decent radio play) but our friend and bassist Alex got sick and eventually passed away. We never really recovered from it and in 2020 I decided to walk away and start something new. We’d been quite electronic sounding for a rock band and I had this songbook bursting with things we’d never use because it was more folky or tinged with country, that sort of thing. In the midst of lockdown I asked a couple of friends to meet in a huge studio where we wouldn’t be anywhere near each other and we started to work through my songs. By Christmas we had our first album out and we just kept going from there.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Tons of vocal harmonies, big guitars and big drums, but then there’s some delicate folky moments in there too. We’ve been compared to Tom Petty, The Eagles, Nick Cave, Sam Fender, Del Amitri, even Soundgarden. We love all of those artists so there’s hopefully some truth in all those.

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Not to write music to try and please the people you think are your audience. We did a lot of that in our old band (I brought some of the old Centrefolds gang with me into Young Martyrs) and it did work for us but I was never totally happy. We’ve moved so much faster since we just started writing music to please ourselves and I think our fans are more invested in us because they can totally believe we’re behind the songs we’re singing.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
To be honest, if all I had was an acoustic guitar I’d probably get more done, so maybe that’s all I really need! But in truth, as a band we write some big anthemic stuff so being able to demo your ideas is a big deal. A decent Macbook with Logic Pro and some idea how to put drum patterns together has been hugely helpful.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Sam Fender is pretty unbeatable right now for me. He’s the real deal. He writes his own stuff, he can sing, he can play, and his sound can be as tender or as anthemic as he needs a performance to be. I think he’s incredible.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Well aside from things like heartbreak and grief that are pretty obvious in my songs, I’d say the biggest influence from my own personal experience is learning from the artistic mistakes I’ve made. I’ve spent too long trying to follow too many people’s advice and appear studious and a good listener. The truth is I’ve been doing this for long enough now that I’ve started to try to just trust my gut and do things in the way that makes me feel inspired and motivated. It feels so much more authentic and everything just feels easier. Stop trying to please and impress everyone all the time and just make the art!!

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I hope they want to turn it up loud and I hope they can apply the lyrics to stories in their own lives. If people aren’t having a little cry at some point when watching or listening to us then we’ve failed!

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Probably something about connection. Playing music connects you with an audience. Listening to music connects you with an artist and with other people enjoying the same music. Feeling like you’ve connected with a particular song, like it belongs to you in some way. That’s the most special feeling in the world.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
I know it’s a huge cliché but it’s got to be the Pyramid Stage – or frankly any of the big stages – at Glastonbury festival. Glasto is only a few miles from where I live (we can hear it from our back garden). I’ve been to it a bunch of times and we’ve played a load of smaller stages there, it would mean so much to play a big stage there, it’s a part of our Somerset heritage.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I’m not interested in collaborating with anyone who’s been and gone, I’d rather they retain their magic just the way I already know them. There’s a ton of great artists in our circle who we’ve dueted with – Natalie Brice, Broken Dreams Club, Jess Chivers – and that’s really magic. And we keep saying we’ll do something with our regular tour buddies True Foxes but it hasn’t yet come to pass.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
www.youngmartyrs.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4CChjD2ipOwWMY1XED1LkW?si=-JEqqjHGSNySsizqCEnHjQ
https://youtube.com/@youngmartyrs?si=TGEmjeR7OrCWeQfO
https://instagram.com/young_martyrs
https://facebook.com/youngmartyrsband

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We release our third album next year and I just want as many people to hear it as possible. If we can get enough fans to justify a little tour or two outside the UK, that’d be magic.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That there’s depth to our songwriting and to our performance. We work so hard to make everything be the best it can be, it would be awesome for more people to see that we’re not just coasting and that there’s a reason you’d want to watch us rather than someone who’s phoning it in.