About this Event

Martin Luke Brown

plus Alice Jemima



FREE BEFORE 9PM // £3 AFTER



Blessed with a voice that's equally adept at delivering gritty soul as it is with his folk-infused falsetto, Martin's songwriting represents the pure essence of his classic influences. It's a trait that's particularly evident in his first single, Nostalgia – a song that reflected the experiences of his friends who were finishing university or leaving home, but which possesses a universal theme that reflects the experiences that almost everyone shares.



"I think it did so well because it resonated with a lot of people," he states. "Artists that I really admire like Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles or The Beatles – not that I'm comparing myself to them – they're obviously legendary musicians and great songwriters, but they often wrote really unifying songs. There was something much deeper to their songs than just the music, whether that be a political message or a theme that wasn't so commonly explored."



As a child, Martin would absorb the sounds of his parents' record collection: The Kinks, ELO, Simon & Garfunkel and their contemporaries – "My parents were Sixties kids and that really rubbed off on me" – and he'd often be found playing the family's piano rather than listening to music himself. He acknowledges the likes of Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, Adele and Sam Smith as contemporary artists that he admires for their honesty, but he's more likely to spin some Motown or Northern Soul if he has a quiet Sunday afternoon. "Even now, I prefer to sit down and play music myself rather than listen to other people," he admits.



Martin grew up in Leicester spending his early teen years at the family piano and started playing small gigs at the age of fourteen – his fondness for the city is clearly evident as he laments the loss of famed venue The Charlotte and praises current local artists Leo Stannard and By The Rivers. He soon discovered that his confidence grew the more often he played, until performing became second nature: "It's interesting really, it just affirmed the ideology for me that you can be anything you want to be if you just push yourself a bit," he says.



The Boileroom

13 Stoke Fields

Guildford

GU1 4LS

01483 440022

www.theboileroom.net