His latest UK tour brings him to the Brighthelm Church and Community Centre, 53 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1Y on Saturday, April 13 at 7pm.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely
00:06 to speak to Dom Martin. Now, Dom, singer-songwriter from rural Northern Ireland, you are heading
00:11 our way with a date in Brighton in April on the back of an album that you brought out
00:16 last year that you are so pleased with as being a proper representation of what you
00:21 are about as a musician. Tell me about that album. Why has it worked so well for you?
00:27 I guess just the process of it all. The timing was perfect. The songs were the strongest
00:33 songs I think I've ever written. I think the combination of everything that was going on
00:40 at the time, it all just kind of worked so well. And the magic showed up in the studio
00:45 because I had the best team. I had Ben Graham on bass, Johnny McElroy on drums, and we had
00:51 Chris and Brian from the production team. You wrote it in two days and recorded it in
00:58 nine. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, I mean, I think it was just, it was all just there.
01:03 It had all built up over a long, long time, you know, and I think the timing was just
01:08 perfect for it all to just kind of come together in a way that made sense. You know what I
01:14 mean? And it's a feature in the current tour. Yeah, yeah. The songs have been a
01:21 great feature in anything we've done since we released it. Now I'm very proud of that
01:27 album. Very, very proud of that album. What are you singing about on that album?
01:31 What are the key things? Trying to find sanity in insanity, you know, trying to make sense
01:42 of your own interpretation of the world around you and what you see and what you feel and
01:47 how it affects you, you know, and how you can affect other people, you know, with the
01:51 smallest of things. And it's self-awareness, I guess, is a big part of it.
01:56 You were saying that music started out as therapy for you, so it sounds like a more
02:00 positive way that's continuing. Oh, definitely. Definitely. I wouldn't be
02:04 alive if it wasn't for the music, you know, I really wouldn't. It's been a great companion
02:10 to me, like, throughout my entire life. You know, my dad played and when I was born, he
02:14 held me over a guitar and I've been kicking it and scratching it and crying on it my entire
02:18 life, you know, so it's been a whole, it's been a whole lifelong thing. I owe it so much
02:22 and I'm just very, very, very glad to be able to live the life that I do in music, you know.
02:27 It sounds like you're pretty hard working as a musician, saying you're touring relentlessly.
02:33 Yes, you have to be, you have to be, you know, you have to love it. You have to absolutely
02:37 love it, you know what I mean? And even if you don't love it, you have to do it like
02:39 you love doing it, even if you hate it, you know what I mean? It's like this, it's like
02:43 this thing, but I, I, I realize it's a labor of love, you know, there's no, there's no
02:47 visions of grandeur here or bravado or ego or anything like that, you know, I do it because
02:51 I need to do it. It's not necessarily because I want to do it. I need to do it. You know,
02:57 it's a feeling like of, it's necessity for me, you know, and a lot of people don't understand
03:01 that, which is why it gets in the way of relationships, it gets in the way of life, you know, normal
03:06 life, you know, like girlfriends and things like that, you know, nobody's really going
03:11 to understand the amount of time and effort and how crazy you end up because of it. And
03:15 I mean, I live alone, you know, in the middle of nowhere that you can't get to anywhere
03:20 from here, which is brilliant for me, but everybody else is a bit, you know, that's
03:23 a bit weird or strange, but I can make as much noise as I want here. You know, I can
03:27 sing to the top of my capacity and I can, I can really grow and you know, I'm really
03:32 loving it.
03:33 - If it's really coming from you, coming from a need, then at least it's authentic,
03:36 isn't it? It's the real deal.
03:38 - Yeah, living alone and having the freedom and the space to be a musician, like in this
03:43 way is very, very appealing to me, you know, just to be left alone to do it, just leave
03:48 me alone, I'll get it done, you know.
03:51 - And then the upside is to connect with the audiences, clearly.
03:55 - Well, because there's so many people at the gigs and because you're constantly, you
03:59 know, you're talking to, you're constantly being social when you're touring, you know,
04:04 to have that polarity, you know, the complete contrast of coming home and there's nobody
04:07 here and you're alone and nobody's coming to the house or anything like that. It's bliss,
04:13 you know, because you get the best of both worlds there, you know, so you got your whole
04:17 social thing happens all at once over a month.
04:19 - You're painting a very glowing picture of rural isolation here.
04:23 - It's fantastic. I would recommend it for everybody. I really would, you know what I
04:28 mean? This is the best way forward for me. I know that much.
04:31 - Brilliant. Well, that's lovely. Really good to speak to you. Have a great time on
04:35 tour, especially in Brighton. Dom, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you.
04:39 - Fair play. Listen, just keep doing what you're doing, man. I love what you're doing
04:42 for music and for your paper, you know, so fair play to you. Hats off and yeah, just
04:48 you keep on going with that, man. Fair play.
04:50 - That's very kind of you. Thank you very much.
04:51 - Thank you.
04:52 - Thank you.
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