Page 43 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

Heaven” whilst their second album would bring chart success in America. In the 90s, however, many of us of a certain age will remember the band writing the theme tune for the iconic children’s TV series set in a youth club in Byker.
“I took a really active part in recording that, going in to the studio with them and mixing it all together. It was a really successful show and ran for about 17 years, I think. Every year we got paid. Even now I get reminded every now and again that the Byker Grove theme tune is probably what I’m known for and it’s obviously said in jest, but it doesn’t matter really that it was a kids TV show. I enjoyed doing it.”
It helps that most of the actors were Mackems as well.
“Ha, yeah, all but the biggest two”
Is Martin claiming responsibility for Let’s Get Ready to Rumble? A gruff laugh predicates his answer.
“No, that wasn’t me. I did work with Ant and Dec though on their second album after they had dropped their alter egos. We had a writing session on the day that England were playing Holland in that famous win. Tim Laws was in their too, he had worked with Gabrielle on Dreams and had worked with The Lighthouse Family too. We finished off in the studio and then headed to the pub to watch the match. Ant and Dec were on a white wine diet or something
“Take James Morrison for example. It was
so difficult with him because whatever you gave him he could absolutely nail it. He could do anything. It then becomes difficult as a songwriter to find out what it is that’s personal to him. On the other hand, I worked with Olly Murs who’s this happy pop idol. That was a bit easier in a way because you would get these songs straight away and say, that’s going to work for his personality. Some of my biggest hits came off that Olly Murs album.”
Martin has worked with a host of big names in the music business in Mark Owen, Beverley Knight, Sheena Easton and James Bay; perhaps the biggest on his list though is Tina Turner.
“The Tina Turner one is an interesting story. I was writing with my friend Ben for ages and we just had this relentless run where nothing was happening for us. Nothing was getting picked up and we thought we were writing good stuff. You need a thick skin in this business. You can have a song and think it’s amazing and then it just falls flat everywhere. You’ve got to just bin it and move on to the next one. It’s not an industry for you if you can’t handle gut wrenching disappointment.
at the time. We asked them what they wanted and they said two white wines. We just looked at them. “White wine, are you sure?”. They looked at each other and sheepishly said “Na two lagers please””
How does it feel to write something and see someone else take it forward?
“I love song writing. It’s that creative outlet. You can be just working away and then suddenly you have this one moment and it all comes together. You’ve got nothing for ages and then suddenly you’ve got a song. I prepare myself for writing by listening
to a lot of music. I was due to write for someone the other day so before I did I jumped in the car and went for a drive with Nina Simone playing just to shake some ideas out. The artist I was working with is nothing like Nina Simone but there might be something in there that works. All of that helps somebody express who they are.”
ALOVESUPREME ISSUE257 43
BY MICHEAL CONROY