Artist: Martin Peirson

by on 22nd January 2019
 

Years Active

1970s – Present

About

With a collection of quirky self-written songs under his belt and an ongoing love of performing, Martin Peirson keeps a foot in the door of the music world that has always surrounded him.  A recent CD Shadows & Candlelight has given him a perfect excuse to get ‘out and about’ either solo, or with some of the musicians that played on the recorded tracks. A taster single “In Your Dreams” was released to garner some interest for the finished album, which got much local radio airplay – including twice daily airings on Beverley FM when Martin was chosen as Artist Of The Week – twice. The album itself has been getting positive reviews from the likes of R2 and Maverick, and airplay across the country, not least due to its ‘outstanding production’ and impressive list of guest musicians.

Martin has also been included on two other recent albums celebrating 50 years of Fairview Studios. A  Perfect Combination included an archive Diggory Venn track and Fairview @ 50 includes a brand new Martin Peirson track recorded at the legendary studio.  Diggory Venn was a Beverley based band that included Martin that recorded at Fairview regularly throughout the seventies. The band evolved into Jump The Gun, though Martin left that line up before any recordings were made. He has worked with many other musicians over the years but essentially solo-and for fun. Most of his time was spent setting up gigs for others, as organiser of the Processed Pea venue for some 25 years. He recently returned to writing and more performing after handing over the booking baton at the Pea.

With Beverley-based musician Peter Robinson, Martin has recorded the new material at Robinson’s Setter Studio allowing Peter a free hand with his production skills. Initially just the two of them provided instrumentation, but as new songs came to light that hinted at a bigger sound they began to enlist help from other singers and musicians that Martin knows.  These were either done at the studio itself, or via the internet. Contributions from further afield  included trumpet parts from Paul Liddell in Sunderland, foot percussion from Le Vent du Nord in Quebec, and pedal steel guitar from BJ Cole in London. BJ has played the instrument on many hit records including Andy Fairweather-Low’s “Wide Eyed and Legless” and Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer”. Other contributions came from locally connected singers and musicians including Henry Priestman, Katie Spencer, Hugh Whitaker, Tony Underwood, Dez Allenby, Nick Rooke, Keith ‘Ched’ Cheeseman and many more.

Martin’s ‘solo’ album is available from Minster Records in Beverley, or via the website www.martinpeirson.co.uk

It is also downloadable from usual outlets (itunes / Amazon / Bandcamp) and is on Spotify.

For live performances Martin is usually solo – but occasionally joined by fellow musician friends to make a ‘scratch band’ that simply enjoy making music together, whether his own compositions, or a few well-known covers. Loosely referred to as The Runaway Train – its varying line up has performed at Beverley Folk Festival, Burton Agnes Jazz Festival, Kardomah 94 and Goodmanham Folk Festival. Line-ups can include Peter Robinson (bass), Dez Allenby (harmonica), Hugh Whitaker (drums), Tony Underwood (guitar) Cathy Allenby (backing vocals) and Rob Peirson (bass / guitar).

Martin also performs as part of “The Men Of A Certain Age” – the backing band for Henry Priestman for his local gigs – and as an occasional musician for the Goathland Plough Stots and the Flamborough Longsword teams.

(Martin Peirson, 2019)

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