Peggy Chats With: MarthaGunn

Your weekly go-to new music guide brought to you by our London music journo Peggy, as she uncovers the latest ‘bands and artists to watch’ in the post-punk, new wave, jazz and indie communities. This week she discusses relationships of the 20 something years, running a marathon and the 'Caught Up & Confused' EP release with Brighton hailing indie rock five-piece, MarthaGunn.  

@peggyfromearth  

Crossing the borders between indie, pop and alt-rock, how did the five of you come to start playing together and, in turn, honing your style? 

We had all moved to Brighton and wanted to start a band, we met at the rehearsal studio Brighton Electric, it felt so good playing together. We met as musicians but we stay together through our friendship, that is what binds us. We've all grown so much musically since we met and our style comes directly from that, the 5 of our personalities go into the music. 

We thoroughly enjoyed your powerhouse cover of Lizzo’s ‘Cuz I Love You’. Which other artists have shaped your sound over the years? 

Thanks! That was a lot of fun. Some important ones have been Prince, Tame Impala, Fleetwood Mac.

We can’t wait to sink our ears into your sophomore EP ‘Caught Up & Confused’. What themes and emotions can we expect to explore on each track? 

We are buzzing to release it! The lyrics centre around relationship experiences in your 20's, realising your self worth, navigating uncomfortable feelings and taking power from your mistakes. 

How did you go about the DIY making of the music video for the EP’s title track? 

We worked with a great Director, Edwin Burdis. We shot it all on our iphones with the DOP on a video call to us while we filmed making sure we got the lighting etc right. We all had to make DIY a film studio, it was very fun to do.

Then they edited what we had filmed - they are wizards. It is a great testament to what is possible on an iphone!

We’re rooting for your October UK live tour to go ahead! Which cities do you plan to visit? Any new venues on the list? 

Well, we can't say for certain if it will even happen! But we can't wait to tour again, we miss it so much. When it is safe to do so we plan to visit as many new places as we possibly can!

During lockdown we noticed that, Abi, you set up a ‘Songwriter’s Circle’ event. We hope it went well in these abnormal lockdown circumstances! Can you tell us more about the event and who was involved? Any other events on the horizon?  

We wanted to do something exciting at a time where we had no idea how we would function as a band all being apart and events being cancelled. The idea is about bringing together songwriters we love and hearing a bare version of a song they are working on at its rawest. It's such a rare thing for anyone to witness, normally you don't hear a song until it has been released and by that point is much surer of itself. It feels special to let fans into the early stages of the creative process. 

We definitely plan on doing more stuff like this. We'll announce soon.

What were the first and last records that you bought, be it on cassette, CD, vinyl, streaming or otherwise? 

We were away last month in a studio recording something and while we were there The Japanese house released a new song 'Dionne' (which is awesome) but the reference to Dionne Warick 'Walk On By' reignited a love for that record. So that would be the last, and first, hmmmmm maybe S Club 7?

Frank’s ‘How to Make the Perfect Meat Free, Dairy Free’ Lasagne video provided us with much needed lockdown inspiration. Any other talents up your sleeves? 

Glad you enjoyed. Humph, Frank and Max all ran a marathon last year!

@marthagunn

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vqIe82b6TY

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Rt63oQJifMiMbQEcmeqK8?si=cAyg5uUOTXarczUbCwOZeQ