|
|
Martyn Joseph interview
Interview first published in Ship of Fools and fish.co.uk, consisting of questions sent in by readers, mostly written by me.
It's 25 minutes before Martyn Joseph and chums start the
second show of their Faith Folk and Anarchy tour in West
Chiltington. (Here's
my review of the concert.)
West Chiltington is a beautiful place in the daylight, I'm told. But it's a long way from anywhere else, and in the dark its almost impossible to find. Today the road through it is closed, so to reach the Footlights Folk Club from the north you have to go away and and come back from another direction. Which is why I was already appallingly late before I three-point-turned into a ditch.
An hour and a half late for the interview, I stagger backstage groaning apologies and suggest we do the interview by phone another time.
Martyn is graciousness itself, and - not unlike (forgive me if in my emotional turmoil I get carried away) the father in The Prodigal Son - welcomes me in before I can finish my prepared grovel. He finds a couple of chairs and rattles expansively through an hour's worth of questions in 25 minutes.
Thanks be to God, Martyn Joseph really can talk rather fast.
The last question answered, and the fatted calf spared on this occasion, I slink out to find a seat in the packed hall, and the stunningly good show begins.
Do you get embarrassed when people remind you of the fervently Christian songs you wrote when you were first starting out?
Or do you just claim they were written by someone else with a similar name?
sarkycow
Yes, I do a bit. 'Do you just claim they were written by someone else with a similar name?' [Laughs] No, I accept full responsibility. Though I can't help but hope that some of them aren't on sale anymore.
It's a bit like essays you wrote as a youngster. It's OK to look back at them and have a laugh - but imagine if they were on sale in high street shops.
Are you going to record Chimes of Freedom? (Go on.)
Jan van Leyden
Probably. I'm thinking of doing an album at some point in the future, of cover songs called 'Not Mine'. And 'Chimes of Freedom' [by Bob Dylan] is one I've been doing live.
It's a great song. It's so inclusive, it's everything that sometimes the church isn't. It says 'For every hung up person in the whole wild universe'. So inclusive, which the gospel should be, which Jesus was.
Who would win in a fight between you and Jerry Falwell?
Urban Gorilla
The guy would fall in one. He wouldn't stand a chance.
Is there a song which at the time was a struggle to write but that now folks especially connect with?
Janet Roe
'The Ballad of Richard Lewis' took me 18 months to write. I was trying to tell a particular story and I wanted to get it just right. I would do it in stages, and find out if people were getting whole thing. So that was a struggle, in a sense, but only because it was a difficult subject, and a long story to try and convey in a song.
I think that all songs are a struggle if you're going to talk about serious issues, because you're taking on a big responsibility. It's an easy and rather frivolous thing to say 'I love you' in a song. It doesn't take much effort. But to try and describe one's doubt, or an injustice, takes a little bit more work. So you have to dig deep, but I think the best things come when you have something to say, and when you're being honest. That connects with people.
I think any decent song involves a certain amount of struggle.
Although a bit tongue in cheek, 'Liberal Backslider' is also pretty defiant - but is there a part of you that's hurt by the criticism and wants to be accepted even by your detractors?
Steffan James
Well, that's a song that was no struggle to write. 'Liberal Backslider' was written in 5 minutes. It came that quick.
It was just a joke, and yet it's become kind of anthemic for some people.
Am I hurt by the criticism? Well, it depends what the criticism is. If it's unjustified - or at least if it doesn't line up with how I see life - then it doesn't hurt because we have a different world view.
But yeah, sure, everyone wants to be accepted, so it hurts to some extent. I don't mind fair criticism, but it makes you angry when people criticise from a very narrow point of view.
Is that a mullet on the cover of Ballads? Confess and repent!
Graham Barr
Yes, definitely! I've been doing this a long time, Graham. I'm bound to have had some dodgy haircuts.
What do you think of Anne Robinson?
Den Alilah
Pass....
As a person she seems rather isolated, and not particularly attractive - in a human sense, I mean, not physically.
I think she's a bit silly, to be honest, and I don't like her programme.
The night after she did that [slagged off the Welsh people] I went on stage and sang 'So here's to you Mrs Robinson...' [Martyn raises his middle finger heavenwards].
Is it true that 'Thunder and Rainbows' is being covered by Cliff?
Andelli Morgan
No, it's not true. But he did like it, and it got down to about the last three songs for his album, but he chose others.
Where on earth did that D#7 come from in 'An Aching And A Longing'? Nice chord!
The Magic Pixie
Thank you for telling what the chord was called, because I had no idea. I just place my fingers on the strings and hope for the best. I actually failed music O Level in school, so it was sheer luck that I came up with it. But now I know it's a D#7.
Are you a post-evangelical?
Janey Walters
I wouldn't describe myself as an evangelical, any more. So I guess I am.
I don't know what I am. I'm not even sure what an evangelical is, anyway. In fact, I think if we were real evangelicals, then I'd be happy to be one.
Have you seen the Life of Brian?
Gill Allison
Yes, it's hysterical.
What do your kids think about all the lovey dovey things you sing about them?
maddie wright
They don't care. It goes right over their heads.
Maybe one day when they're older they'll think, "Oh, that was nice of Dad". Maybe they think something of them they haven't told me. They just get embarrassed.
My daughter Harriet says her daddy is 'a sinner' - she can't say the 'g'. She's got it right there.
Did you ever record the song you sang about the lovely (not) Morris Cerullo? I remember you singing that at Spring Harvest donkey's years ago, and laughed till I cried. Priceless.
LouiseF
It was a song called 'Sad Little Man'. No, I haven't recorded it, but it's still there, and I might do.
Have you heard 'Only Wanna Be With You' by Hootie and the Blowfish? 'I'm such a baby 'cause the Dolphins make me cry'. Are you by any chance related?
Marty Mac
No, we're not. But I did send them a letter when they were playing in Bristol, because this was pointed out to me by Simon Mayo. I sent them a copy of 'Dolphins Make Me Cry' and asked if it was just sheer coincidence, and I never got a reply.
Why were your first two albums so bad?
starbelly
[Laughs] Because I hadn't grown up.
Are you fed up of people asking you what the lyrics mean to 'Have an Angel walk with her'?
LouiseF
No, because it means people are interested in what I do.
I've forgotten what it's about because people have told me what it's about so many times, and it bears no relation to my original intention for the song.
Which is great, because songs have their own lives. Most of my songs are fairly up-front in what they say, but that one's kind of ambiguous.
How would you describe your faith?
Other
Shoddy. Hard to figure out. Something that's in place, but with very loose screws. [Laughs.]
Do you feel that evangelical churches don't 'treasure the questions'?
mezzaninedoor
No they don't. They want answers, and they want them in black and white, and they are unwilling to be vulnerable and to admit that they don't have the whole thing sewn up.
What's the one song you didn't write that you wish you had?
ChrisT
'One of Us', sung by Joan Osborne, and written by Eric Brazilian (of The Hooters).
And what's the one song you have written that you wish you hadn't?
ChrisT
It's a song called 'Do It', on an album called Nobody's Fool, and it's about that name it and claim it stuff. Not my best - my worst song ever.
What is an SM 58? (On "Far from Silent" track 4 "Another Chance")
Ian Howse
It's a microphone: Shaw Microphone Number 58. And I figured it was about time I wrote a song about one.
I thought about how many microphones I'd sung into, and they represent for me another chance to get up and do what I do. But 'another chance' is also a metaphor for grace. Hence the song: 'Another night, another date, another SM 58.'
Faith, Folk and Anarchy - which one's you?
Jezza
Apparently I'm faith - but that's the one that's with the loose screws.
What's it like being a married Christian on the road?
Cath R
It's fine.
Many of us who remember your earlier stuff have moved on from their with you - but still have fond memories of the likes of 'What Can I Do?'
LouiseF
Sure, I've got no problem with that at all. Songs are great, they're like pictures: you look back at them and they tell a story.
And I don't mind some of that stuff, it's just that some of the songs have a little bit dodgy theology - they're slightly too easy, too black and white. They're the ones that I kind of grimace at, but there are still one or two that I wouldn't have a problem with. Though I probably wouldn't sing them any more.
Do you still play the guitar using your bare hands (not a plectrum) - and does it take skin off the tips of your fingers?
Alison Beck
I use both. I use a plectrum occasionally, and I pick.
Yes, at the end of a tour my fingers get a little rough and ragged. But the main problem is that about half an inch under the skin little bruises form, and they hurt when you hold the strings down.
And I have to put a false nail on my first finger as well by the end of a tour.
So there you are, those are my little hand secrets.
What's Bernhard Langer like? Could you come and do a speaking and singing tour with him around the major golf course towns of Scotland?
David and Pauline Pitkeathly
No. Because he wouldn't want to. Or at least he hasn't got the time. I think it would be kinda good fun.
But what's he like? He's delightful. He's a great guy, a wonderful, humble inspiration. There's not many people I would actually want to be. But he's such a contented and clever man who's done so well in what he does that he's probably one of the few people who I wouldn't mind stepping into their shoes. Just because I love golf so much.
Have you got any secret unpublished songs you only sing in private?
Holy Joe
No! If they're any good, I'd be publishing them.
How do you feel about the song "Liberal Backslider" becoming an anthem for disaffected Christians who can more readily identify with these lyrics than they can with much of the Bible?
Quizmaster
I'm not so sure that they don't identify with the Bible, I think they don't identify with much of the Christianity they see around them. That's the problem. And I'm very happy that a simple little song like that helps people feel that they're not the only ones. Because you're not. So it's great that something can unite people a little bit, and also be a bit of fun.
IN 1999 I was a Steward at Spring Harvest. (I was the guy who thanked you for finishing on time so I could go to bed.) Anyway, I witnessed the reaction in the audience to the song 'Liberal Backslider'. Is that why you won't be going there again?
Or what?
Wood
I can't remember what reaction there was. I've never had a real negative reaction to the song. One or two people have written letters.
I sometimes pop into Spring Harvest nowadays, though I haven't been for two or three years. It's not my cup of tea totally, but people are people and I'm happy to go and do the odd gig there occasionally.
It's not like Greenbelt, a place I feel I belong to. I love Greenbelt. Greenbelt feeds my soul, Spring Harvest is a place where people go and I occasionally go and sing to them.
What's your favourite bit of the bible and why? Diolch
Tim Neale
I kinda like Joshua 1:9, because it's just about the only verse I can remember, and it's about God being with us wherever we go.
And I do love the beatitudes - that's actually my favourite bit, the beatitudes.
Do you need a spare backing singer who knows all the harmonies?
Gill H
Possibly.... Please send a full resumé to PO Box number [mumbles].
Any signs of a new album?
Monkey
Working on some new songs. Hope to have one out for a tour towards the end of the year. It's time I brought out some new stuff.
A straight choice - Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen?
Iain Chirnside
Bruce Springsteen.
What difference do you hope your songs will make in the lives of the ordinary people who hear them, and does this include the hope that some of your songs might lead some people closer to God and accepting Christ as Saviour?
Hope you don't mind me asking the second part of the question.
Karin McDonald
I don't mind you asking, but I don't really have an answer.
I write songs in the hope that they will mean something to people. I don't suppose that any song can do what you say. It can play a part, be a little piece in the jigsaw, but God does what God does, and I just write songs.
