Martha - Gretna Green

    

  Durham DIY pop punks Martha (https://www.facebook.com/marthadiy) return today with a song from a new compilation album they've just released.

  They've featured numerous times previously on here so I suppose no introductions are necessary so let me just tell you that the album is titled Standing Where It All Began - Singles and B-Sides: 2012-2025. A self explanatory title describing exactly what you're going to get. 20 tracks, (re)mastered by Dave Williams, roughly half of which are original compositions with the remainder being covers of songs by the likes of Jimmy Eat World, Marked Men, Lemonheads etc. 

  You can find it on vinyl and digital here : 

https://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/album/standing-where-it-all-began-singles-and-b-sides-2012-2025

  This song first featured on the band's 2012 Self Titled ep and the band had this to say about it :

  The Quintinshill Rail Disaster happened in Scotland on 22nd May 1915. It remains the worst rail crash in UK history in terms of death toll, killing 226 people and involving five separate trains. It having occurred just a couple of miles from Gretna Green, a place symbolic of young love and recklessness, lends another layer of bittersweet tragedy to the disaster. This song is about a couple ripped apart by the crash, and deals with the idea of enduring love. In that sense, if no other, it’s a love song.

  It's called Gretna Green...

I said “I don’t believe in marriage,
It’s a Patriarchal scam”.
You said “meet me at the station,
Train departs at 6am”,
I packed my bags and left my politics in bed,
And I waited on the platform,
With your smile stuck in my head.

So we went through the rain to the place where we found our hearts.
They were buried under shit and old debris.
And I swear that I had something,
And I know you felt it too,
But that commute at Quintinshill defeated me.

In spite of everything I’ve done,
I’ll knuckle down, I’ll carry on,
In spite of everything that’s wrong,
I’ll try to write a hopeful song,
No matter where I go,
No matter what I do,
My heart will always be at Gretna Green,
Waiting there for you.

At Gretna, I wait for you.

Martha - Ice Cream and Sunscreen

  One of the undoubted highlights of the summer of 2016 is the new album, Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart (out now on Fortuna Pop and Dirtnap Records), from Durham indie pop punkers Martha. Is it even better than much loved debut album Counting Strong? Well if you wanted to argue that it is, I wouldn't put up much of a rebuttal. Either way they're 2 for 2 and will definitely be in the running when it's time to draw up those best of the year lists.

  Featuring Nathan Stephens Griffin, Jonathan Cairns, Daniel Ellis and Naomi Griffin (who is also a member of the equally wonderful No Ditching), Martha prove that pop punk doesn't have to be vapid and cliched, it can be uplifting, intelligent and (insert your own superlatives here).

  The new album is a more mature effort than the debut but certainly no less fun. There's 11 catchy gems dealing with not only their own experiences but name checking some of the people who've inspired them (anarchist Emma Goldman, Replacements singer Paul Westerberg and even Coronation Street's Curly & Raquel....). You can check it out here : https://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/album/blisters-in-the-pit-of-my-heart

  It's not easy to pick a favourite so on the next Just Some Punk Songs show I'll play a different song to what you'll find below (the next show is Tuesday 9th Aug at 8pm UK time : http://mixlr.com/mick-fletcher/). As far as the blog goes, this is Ice Cream And Sunscreen and it's delightful.....


The autumn forecast’s looking dismal again, 
This year I’ll spend November in the house, 
August sort of stifled your potential didn’t it? 
It’s coyness boy that caught you out, 

I know you wish for fireworks to light your July sky, 
I was the dampest box of matches you could ever hope to find, 

I’m sorry what? I hear you yeah, 
I was watching the skin peeling of your sunburnt shoulders, I know, 
I know you only melt in the middle like ice cream and sunscreen, 
Blisters in the pit of my heart, blisters in the pit of my heart, 

Our birthdays came and went unnoticed again, 
You said you knew my star sign from the start, 
That late September sunshine leaves me pining for June, 
December boy you got it wrong.

Martha - 1967, I Miss You, I'm Lonely

Living life adhering to the principles of "anarchy, veganism and Irn Bru", Martha are the latest band from the north east of England to feature in this blog and they also share members with ONSIND and No Ditching who have been previous entries within these pages. From Durham, they play socially concious and highly infectious pop punk and have been compared to the everyone from The Buzzcocks through to Tullycraft though their dual lead vocals leave the listener in no doubt as to their origins. Their debut album, Counting Strong (listen here : http://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/album/courting-strong ), was recently released on Fortuna Pop and from it, this is the really rather excellent 1967, I Miss You, I'm Lonely......