Martyn Joseph: From Dolphins to Prostitutes, the Welsh songsmith looks for inspiration

Thursday 1st October 1992

"Dolphins Make Me Cry" was called lachrymose (given to weeping) by an unimpressed Q magazine but at least now they're noticing MARTYN JOSEPH. Gavin Drake reports.



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Has any pressure been put on you by the record company to keep your faith hidden in the songs that you now write?

"I haven't had one word of 'no you can't say that'. It's strange when people say 'he's been on a secular album and his lyrics have changed'. Because if you look at the lyrics on the last two albums they're just the same. I was signed on the basis of songs like 'Dolphins' and the songs on 'An Aching And A Longing. The people heard them and said 'my, I really like his lyrics'. I don't think these people would complain if I was signed to Word Records. I haven't actually changed, I've not watered down anything."

You don't find many Top Forty megastars doing £2-50 concerts in church halls. Are these going to disappear now?

"First of all, I don't think I'm a megastar. But to answer your question, no they haven't disappeared. I'm off this afternoon to Exeter to play a gig that I've played for the last seven or eight years. I see people as people and I don't see any dividing line. Sadly, as Christians we often like to divide our time up into the sacred and the non-sacred. I think that's unbiblical. At the moment I'm obviously trying to broaden my horizons and to sing to a wider group of people than I did before. And that will involve taking on projects and concerts that are different to what I've done in the past. But I've always done odd off-the-wall things, all sorts of things. I'm not going to turn my back on anything and that's going to include the odd church hall. But at the moment I have to be sensible and promote the album to my best abilities and take the best chances to do that."

The latest batch of concerts that you have done have had a slightly bigger budget than your average church hall gig. What's that been like?

"Well, it's been very nice (laughs). The main thing is that it doesn't change; you go out before people who sit down or stand up and listen while you sing songs to them. So the main ingredient is still the same. The things that have changed for me is that I don't have so long to sing to them because playing support I only get about 30 minutes. The only other real difference is that where I stayed in folks' homes before I now stay in hotels. That is the major difference. The people are the same really. When I did the first few concerts I thought this is a 'non Christian audience'. How are they going to react? Then after a few concerts, I began to realise that people are hungry for songs that say something and they react to the music That's a wonderfully liberating feeling. It was something that I wanted to do for so long, just get out there and play to a non-Christian audience in a non-church situation."

The Independent newspaper review of the Marc Cohn concert made special mention of you as support and had a lot of good things to say. Did that encourage you?

"I guess it did to a degree. But it's only one man's opinion. You have to pick yourself up when you get a one star review in a magazine. But again it's the rough with the smooth. I tend to take most things personally, so I'll take one man's opinion and think 'that's if. But it isn't necessarily the truth one way or another, I just need to put my feet back on the ground and carry on. Anyway, it was nice to read that in the Independent because I lack confidence in myself."

You do not seem like a man lacking confidence.

Martyn Joseph: From Dolphins to Prostitutes, the Welsh songsmith looks for inspiration

"Basically, the only time I feel "good" about what I'm doing is when I'm standing there with a guitar playing to people. The rest of the time before that I'm trying to conceal my feelings."

You have worked with some of the top names in the British music scene recently. Who did you especially enjoy working with?

"I wasn't a big Beverly Craven fan. I don't know if I am now! But it was a nice tour to do. I was a big fan of Joan Armatrading. I've been to many of her concerts in the past and that was probably the biggest thrill so far. We got on together really well. I'm beginning to meet these people at the odd dinner and at the odd concert. I did a concert at the Mean Fiddler on National Music Day with ... oh, what's his name? ... oh, ... Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. Julia Fordham came up and was really nice and congratulated me on my success. I was thinking I hadn't been that successful, I'd only managed to penetrate the Top 40. But somebody told me later on that she'd never had a Top 40 hit. She was just pleased that someone who plays her type of music had actually made it. That was really nice."

You are doing a lot of 'special guest' slots. When are we going to see a full-scale tour featuring yourself?

"It depends on the Chris de Burgh thing - whether that comes off for Europe, and I might have to go over to America and do a tour with someone over there. So it could be 12 months before I do my own full-scale tour. I'm really looking forward to that."

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