Having first guested on Hawkwind’s 2017 album Into The Woods, Magnus Martin has gone on to become a key member of the band as both a player and songwriter, helping to diversify the space rockers’ sound. In parallel he’s continued to play and record with Tarantism, the band he formed with his wife, Mel Rogers, in 1993, and is a regular presence on the underground festival circuit.
After much encouragement from Dave Brock, he’s released his debut solo album Everything Is Singing To Me. Recorded and produced with his son Silas, and featuring every member of Hawkwind, it’s a kaleidoscopic journey through Martin’s musical landscape, from the grungy alt pop of the album’s title track and its dub reggae-infused reprise, to the full-on prog odyssey of its second half, a suite of songs retelling the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone.
What were the early years of Tarantism like, co-existing in both the underground festival and free party scenes?
It was a funny time to get a band together, because we refused to use any technology in those days – we wouldn’t even consider having a drum machine or a click track, despite dance music being everywhere.
But there was an amazing scene where we lived in North Wales – it was like, you started on Thursday and finished on Wednesday! We’d go on between DJs, everyone would be gurning their faces off, and we learned to play this kind of really high-energy acoustic dance music.
We followed this DIY/punk/Hawkwind ethos. From a very young age I looked up to those bands who’d done it themselves. When you listen to the lyrics of, say, Days Of The Underground, it seemed like the coolest thing in the world.
There were other bands like RDF [Radical Dance Faction], Culture Shock and Cardiacs – a big, big love of mine – who all seemed to be pretty much working outside of the music business. And that was the thing that made me think, “Well, anyone can do it.”
Everything Is Singing To Me is musically really varied. Aas that a deliberate choice?
My remit was to try and make the most cohesive record I’ve ever made, and get a lot of the prog stuff out of my system. I had all these long pieces and shorter pocket bits, and I didn’t know how to arrange the track order.
But when I had the idea of putting it into two parts, it all came together. I had Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush in my head when I did that, because side one has this wonderful art pop and side two is this proper proggy concept.
What was the inspiration behind the title track?
When it goes completely silent you hear all the crap that’s in your head. It reminds you that silence is never silence. That was written during lockdown in west Wales, when everything was just unbelievably quiet. I remember saying to my wife, “The boiler sounds like a spaceship!” Then I recorded it, and it didn’t sound like a spaceship at all… But yeah, any noise was really exaggerated because it was just so quiet.
How did the Ceyx And Alcyone suite come about?
I got two weird chords from John Coltrane. When you transfer them to a heavy metal guitar you’ve got this King Crimson-esque doom jazz
I wrote this song about not being able to sleep [Unsomnia] and then Dave Brock said, “Why don’t we do a whole album on the subject of sleep?” [Hawkwind’s 2021 record Somnia.] Then he said, “You should look up the legend of Morpheus.”
But it turns out the epic poem that Morpheus appears in is essentially the story of Ceyx and Alcyone, and I found myself fascinated by that story. It’s about isolation and grief and transformation; lots of things I was personally going through resonated in that story, so that’s why I carried on with it.
The excellent Storm Brewing features most of Hawkwind.
Dave’s been really encouraging, and I’m blown away by the fact that he’s on the album. I really like what he’s played as well. And Richard Chadwick’s drum track on that is really unusual; it’s jazzy and out of his comfort zone.
I got these two weird chords from listening to John Coltrane, and when you transfer them to a heavy metal guitar you’ve got this King Crimson-esque doom jazz. Shipwreck is also really proggy – it’s in 11/4!
How did you originally hook up with Hawkwind?
Tarantism’s sound engineer ended up being Hawkwind’s engineer, so we got to know them through him and started working at the Hawkfests. Mel would be in charge of the main stage and I’d do the second stage. We then supported Hawkwind, and in 2004 we played the Astoria with them.
I bumped into Kris [Hawkwind manager and Brock’s wife] again about 10 years ago, and she said, “Do you know anybody who plays keyboards?” I lied and said, “Yeah – me!” So I did a few sessions for Into The Woods, but the most successful thing I did was a little acoustic guitar piece. Dave noticed and moved me across.
It was never, “Right, now you’re in the band.” I just kept relentlessly turning up! At first it was a bit hard not to be overwhelmed. But the first time we played the Roundhouse, I just took a deep breath and thought, “I’m good at this; I know what I’m doing.”
You launched your album with a show on a boat in Notting Hill. Do you have plans to continue playing the record live and produce more solo work?
Yeah, absolutely. The band we got together to initially just promote the album is developing its own personality – it’s a band in itself now and I’m really enjoying playing with them. We’ve got a fantastic new drummer who’s just turned 18, and it won’t be long before I can’t afford him! I think I’ve got a few years left in me, and Silas certainly has, so this is going to bubble along into the future, definitely.
Everything Is Singing To Me and 30 Years Of Tarantism are out now via Bandcamp.
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