The most controversial UK indie punk band, exclusively on Tangra Mega Rock

an interview conducted by Nasso Ruskov

HEY MARTIN, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
I'm in the gutter, but I'm definitely attempting to look at the stars...the right stars you know.

ARE YOU IN THE REAL GUTTER OR IS THAT A METAPHOR?
Oh, I'm in the real gutter, I'm up to my neck, I'm up to my neck in the shit. It's London, that's London, so, you know...

SELFISH CUNT JUST GOT BACK FROM A EUROPEAN TOUR. HOW WAS EUROPE TO YOU?
Europe's brilliant. I think with Europe, the more East we go, the more Eastern European we go, the better it gets. It was a great tour. I think the more weirder things get, the better. The further East we go, like for example Hungary or Romania, that's where it gets more exciting. England and France are a little bit safe, so the weirder it gets, the better.

GOING BACK TO YOUR FIRST ALBUM - IT WAS JUST YOU, PATRICK AND A DRUM MACHINE. WAS THIS IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A MORE STRIPPED DOWN SOUND OR PURELY BECAUSE GETTING HOLD OF OTHER GOOD MUSICIANS IN LONDON WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY IS RATHER HARD?
Yeah, getting the drum machine was just necessity. It was very not thought about. It was more like "well, here's a drum machine". I mean Patrick's a very great guitarist. This drum machine was because we didn't have a drummer. It was kinda working with what you've got, working on your feet, without thinking about it too much, just going out there and getting on with it, you know, not sitting at home and tinkering too much, just going out and doing it live, being raw.

ASIDE FROM THE MUSIC, YOUR STAGE ANTICA ARE THE OBVIOUS EYE-CATCHER. YOU'RE AGGRESSIVE BUT YOU ALSO DO A LOT OF THEATRICAL AND BALLET MOVES - WERE INVOLVED IN THOSE SORT OF ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO BECOMING A SINGER IN A BAND?
Yes, primarily...I mean, before anything I'm probably a dancer. Being a dancer was pretty much what I probably started out as, so movement is pretty much an integral part of me. I am quite dramatic, so it's definitely a part of what I do. And, you know, you put on a show, it's a performance, it's an illusion, well - to a degree.

TELL US ABOUT THE TIME YOU SMASHED UP SNOW PATROL'S EQUIPMENT.
Well, you know, you don't
go out intending to destroy people's equipment, cause equipment is expensive, but I think sometimes, creatively, if you're an artist, at times you have a fever, a fever comes over you, it's like a possession, you can get possessed a little bit. And Snow Patrol got in the way...Don't get in the way.

THEN THERE WAS THE INCIDENT WHERE YOU THREW HORSE MANURE AT PETE DOHERTY, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THAT?
Well, Pete Doherty is...he's someone that...it's hard for me to talk about that, because he always brings about bad memories. I have no sense of humour anymore when it comes to certain people. But anyway, horseshit is hot and it's fresh, so...Basically he broke my heart and he stood all over it, so... I'm a broken man. When someone stands on your heart it's a very vicious thing to do, so...

BROKE YOUR HEART HOW - AS A MUSICIAN OR ON A PERSONAL LEVEL?
No, more as a human being. Pete Doherty is a man, he's no different than anybody else, but people come along and they can do wrong. People can break your heart, but then they also rip it out of your chest and they stand on it and that's just terrible. He's a junkie, a junkie, you know, he's embarrassing, what more can you say!

WHO ARE SOME OF THE FRONTMEN THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU AND HELPED FORM YOUR OWN STAGE ACT?
Yes, I think there probably quite a few people that inspire me, but I'm terrible because I feel that I have to keep that a little bit of a secret, cause if I tell who my inspiration is, I'd probably sound really stupid...I'm actually not too clever. I'm more into female performers.

OH YES YOU ARE, YOU'RE REALLY CLEVER, DON'T PULL THE WOOL OVER OUR EYES!
Well, you know...I grew up on people like Tina Turner...there's not a great deal of deep culture, I'm a bit of a drive-thru.

WHAT MUSIC HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO RECENTLY?
Strangely enough, I'm listening to a lot of Greek music - old and modern. Also, I really love the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album. I just think that's a beautiful record.

YOU'RE QUITE OUTSPOKEN, DOES IT OFTEN GET YOU IN TROUBLE?
Well, I think that if you kind of nod your head, you're always going to be let into the party. But if you see the writing on the wall, you pay for it, but at the same time I'd rather you just stand up and say what you believe in than just melt into the background. I mean, what would be the point with just agreeing, you have to own your own mind.

But also you don't have to just be a bastard for no reason. You have to speak up, the world is undergoing troubled times and even when it's not, you have to be a man and stand up and not just be part of the crowd, because there's no point in that.

YOUR NEW ALBUM STARTS WITH A MAN RECITING A POEM, ONE LINE OF WHICH GOES "THE ENGLISH CAN BE BRITISH WHEN THEY WANT TO", PLEASE ELABORATE...
I didn't write that, it was written by a poet called Jimmy C, who is an older poet friend of mine and he wrote that. He's an East End poet who was born and bred in the East End of London - not Old Street, but the more darker side of the East and he's seen the changes to what England was 40-50 years ago.

He's kind of patriotic, but he looks back to that period of London, the period of the Kray Twins. Britain in the 1950s was quite a piece of work. There's the modern world that is growing in London, but there's also the echoes of the past, of history.

I think he's talking about the history, which is in London. London's full of very young beautiful people, but at the same time there are people who are not young and not beautiful and who are the history of what makes London what it is.

WE'RE GONNA PLAY THE ENTIRE NEW ALBUM ON THE SHOW NOW...
Wow! Well then, pour yourself a really strong drink, pour yourself a double and enjoy.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK BY THE WAY?
At the moment I need a dark rum and coke, for my nerves.

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