Martin Luke Brown
London based Leicester born singer/songwriter Martin Luke Brown is supporting Orla Gartland on her UK and Ireland tour (interview with Orla here). Silent Radio’s Fran Canning caught up with him after his set at Manchester’s Deaf Institute.
For people who don’t know, who are you?
My name’s Martin, which to be fair I hate my name man. I really don’t like my name so just call me a nickname, that’s fine. So yeah, Martin Luke Brown. That’s my full name, my stage name but it actually is my real name. 22, just. I still think I’m 21. From Leicester originally, do you know Leicester?
Yes.
Its home and I love it. I’ve been doing music for a long time, since I was 14 I’ve been doing gigs and stuff. So yeah, it’s good.
How would you describe your music?
That’s always a hard one isn’t it? I guess honest is the word for it. I always write about stuff that has actually happened. Not necessarily personal situations, it’s not necessarily all about me but it’s all real situations. I try to deliver it in a really honest way, even when it’s recorded it’s not pretty sounding, it’s quite rough and ready. Honest I think is the best word for it.
It’s a good word.
It is a good word.
Who are your influences?
Anything really. My parents were 60’s kids, well I guess they were 50’s kids but the 60’s were their teen years and stuff. So lots of stuff like The Beatles and The Kinks, all the Motown stuff so I picked up a lot of that soul stuff I guess. That’s the route I’ve gone down. So a lot of that, a lot of 60’s stuff. My sister, when we were growing up listened to a lot of big voices, like Maria (Carey) and Whitney (Houston) and stuff. So yeah, I would always try to sing like a woman.
Well, you show a good range.
Thanks man.
I wanted to ask you about your look. You kind of look rock and roll.
Thanks mate, I think that’s a good thing. I’m really not rock and roll though, I’m drinking orange juice and I’ve not had a drop of alcohol all tour. I guess like rock and roll is rough is it?
Yes, there’s a bit of an edge to it (Martin’s look).
I like that.
What are your influences when it comes to your image?
I have non man. I’m lazy, look at my hair. I get out of bed and can’t be arsed doing anything. I basically just throw clothes on.
It would take me hours to perfect my hair like that.
No, no it’s not. It will look completely different tomorrow. I don’t know, I just like throwing on stuff. My manager calls it Hobo chic.
Martin Luke Brown
I like it.
It’s kind of like homeless but in a good way, yeah.
How did you get involved in the Orla Gartland tour?
We have quite a lot of people in common. I live in London now. She moved down to London fairly recently, I think it was like September. We were talking about it. I’ve been there for a couple of years, I’ve worked with a lot of people at gigs and stuff. She’s worked with a lot of people that I’ve worked with. I got a booking agent, at the back end of last year. He actually looks after Orla as well. The guy put this whole tour on for Orla, and then was then like ‘how you doing? Do you want to do this thing with Orla?’ We both knew each other already, followed each other on Twitter and talked a bit. It was nice. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the tour I would have probably met her and jammed at some point anyway. We’ve all got on really well which has been really nice. Were all together, it’s not like support guy and the main act. It’s really nice.
At Silent Radio we like to show as much respect to support acts as we do the main act. Supporting is like a breeding ground for the main acts of tomorrow. How important to your development is it doing tours like this?
Great man, I think like I did a lot of gigs when I was starting out and was getting confident, but the last year or so I’ve been in the studio. I’ve demoed about 60 songs, which is a bit mental. That’s kind of been the focus. It’s only been in the last few months that it’s been going out and gigging. I think tours especially for endurance sake, doing 2 weeks of solid gigging and getting into the swing of things is really good. Especially for me as a performer, I’d started to get a bit introverted. It’s nice being able to share it.
The show is starting (Orla Gartland), so last question. Silent radio is a Manchester based website, so what does it mean to you to play Manchester?
It’s great man. Manchester is probably my favourite British city, I’m not just saying that. My sister lives here actually, she moved up because she loves it here. It’s really good. Dead quirky with lots of little bars and weird people, but good weird people. My kind of weird people. Hobo chic (laugh’s). So yeah, it’s nice, I like it. It’s like people appreciate stuff more.
Your set went down very well, we look forward to having you back. Let’s go watch a gig.
Let’s do it man.
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