Directed by Matthew Nelson, the video for MAR V is as surreal and chaotic as the world that we’re living in at the moment, reflecting the pulsating energy of the song itself – wall-to-wall with everything from flashes of a latex-clad gas-masked dancer to tour and lockdown antics.
Discussing the video, director Matthew Nelson explains: “The concept behind the video was a glorified tour vlog turned nightmare. I took influences from directors like Darren Aronofsky and the 90s dance track “Killer” by ADAMSKI.”
Some of the footage used in the video was from the last show that the band played just before lockdown, which was in front of a 1,000-strong crowd at MaNo-Musikfestival in Germany. Drummer, Sam Thorne says “I’d say that the video sort of represents our experience over the last 5 months. The craziness of MaNo and those amazing gigs, all the people and parties, and then a different kind of craziness once we crash landed into lockdown straight after.”
Lead singer and guitarist, Peter Marchant continues: “We had all this footage of us on tour, in the studio etc. which is all well and good, but we wanted to throw some kind of bizarre fly in the ointment. So Matthew suggested we film lots of extra footage in our flat, and use whatever bonkers ideas that came into our heads. We had a lot of hilarious moments shooting these ideas all night.”
Consisting of hypnotic synth lines, goosebump-inducing rhythm and a hint of dark and mysterious atmosphere, Phantom Isle’s latest release, ‘MAR V’ sees the band stray from their art-pop roots with great success; highlighting their effortless capability to blend genres and moods for maximum effect – think LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip style indie-house.
Keyboard player, Joshua Pullen who took the lead with writing the music says: “The song started as a remix of our previous single ‘I Am Urs’ but became a very different beast when I was messing about with a new drum machine I bought. I was listening to a lot of Soulwax and Simian Mobile Disco at the time and loved how they would produce songs with a pounding single-note loop throughout.”
Despite its upbeat and energetic feel, there’s a dark side to ‘MAR V’. Lyricist and drummer, Sam Thorne explains: “The lyrics were actually written about feeling anxious and alone” comparing that feeling to an old friend that follows you through life, saying “you almost miss it when you leave it behind”. Singer and guitarist, Peter Marchant adds, “the song pretty much became the soundtrack of MaNo-Musikfestival in Marburg, Germany, where we headlined in March this year”. 2,000 fans jumped and danced frantically to MAR V’s hypnotic pulse at the festival’s closing show, seen in the single’s official video along with a montage of mischievous and surreal footage from the band’s journey so far. The band arrived in Marburg on March 5th (hence the romanised title, ‘MAR V’), they saw and conquered.
Milo Gore, a musician on a mission to make mental health a more widely discussed topic, has released the music video for ‘Noise Gone Dancing’ via Red Van Records (RVR). The single is taken from his upcoming album, How Do You Cope While Grieving For The Living? which will be released in a few short days.
On the album, listeners will be able to find some his known works such as ‘Green Eyes’ and ‘Jerry Can’ (a song filled with tiny easter eggs for the upcoming album). However, there are a few more songs on there that will resonate with everyone. Hot tip: we’ve been specifically instructed to keep our eyes (and ears) open for ‘I Hear You’.
Keen to learn more? Here’s the full tracklisting for the album:
1. Noise Gone Dancing
2. Green Eyes
3. Jade
4. FARE
5. A Collaboration Of Our Grief – feat RMC
6. Jerry Can
7. MEDS
8. I Hear You
9. Homegrown
10. Eyeliner
11. Complete Peace
12.The Endless War
Be prepared: the music video below will take you through the five stages of grief as you’ve never seen them before.
Andy Martin is an Australian indie-rock musician that is currently making waves with his latest single ‘Heat Of It All’, which is now accompanied by an official music video. The single premiered via the renowned CLOUT Magazine. Andy only began his solo career at the beginning of 2020, and has already seen a flood of support from radio station Triple J as well stream rate spiking over 80 000 streams with his previous singles.
Andy adds his thoughts on his latest single release, “Most of the songs I write come together in a matter of hours. ‘Heat of it All’ was not one of those. I actually wrote the hook/chorus for this around 3/4 years ago. I had been playing around with progressions and some of the verse lyrics. That is why I am so proud of this song. It shows how I have evolved as a songwriter of the last few years. If you want to dance, cry, laugh or hold somebody, this ones for you (so everyone!).”
Inspired by a varied range of musicians, including Sam Fender, John Mayer and beloved Australian musician Gretta Ray. Andy provides similar invigorating energy like his inspirations in the new single.
Inspired by the likes of John Mayer and Sam Fender to name a few, rising musical prodigy Andy Martin has just shared his latest single ‘Heat Of It All’. The single premiered via the acclaimed CLOUT Magazine and was recorded at the renowned Airlock Studios owned by rocker Ian Haug (Powderfinger and The Church). Born in Australia, Andy is currently based in Brisbane where he is working on his debut EP via Arts Queensland. His previous single releases have received a jaw-dropping stream count of over 80 000 on Spotify alone.
We find out what makes Martin tick in this exclusive.
Were there specific artists that inspired you when you were working on the chord progressions for your new release?
In regards to the actual chord progressions… I don’t think any artists directly influence my movements of chords. I am definitely influenced by the sounds and melodies of other artists, but in regards to chord progressions I kind of write the chords around the melodies in the voice and instruments that I hear in my head. Sometimes it’s just natural, sometimes there’s a longer thought process that goes into it, but all of the time it is something that reflects/highlights the melodies.
Describe the experience of recording your latest release at Ian Haug’s studio.
I have recorded all of my upcoming tracks out Airlock and the experience is surreal. Not only is the facility state of the art and gear out of this world, but the history embedded in the studio is amazing. Every time I go out there, I see another piece of amazing musical history that has come out of Airlock. To see the artists that have recorded out there and the amazing musical memorabilia on display is just surreal and inspiring in itself. I have been recording with James See and him and I seem to have forged quite a formidable relationship and the process is just getting better and better. I plan to record future releases out at Airlock also.
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
Indie Rock, with a touch of Pop!
Which three albums have influenced you the most creatively?
This one might surprise some people. A lot of the time it is in fact folk/singer-songwriter music that inspires my songwriting. Here are three albums that got the creative juices flowing for my EP. Over the last few years, it has been.
Ben Howard – “I Forget Where We Were”
Sam Fender – “Hypersonic Missles”
John Mayer – “Born & Raised”
Describe the experience of recording your latest release at Ian Haug’s studio.
I have recorded all of my upcoming tracks out of Airlock and the experience is surreal. Not only is the facility state of the art and gear out of this world, but the history embedded in the studio is amazing. Every time I go out there, I see another piece of amazing musical history that has come out of Airlock. To see the artists that have recorded out there and the amazing musical memorabilia on display is just surreal and inspiring in itself. I have been recording with James See, and he and I seem to have forged quite a formidable relationship and the process is just getting better and better. I plan to record future releases out at Airlock also.
Tell us about the key pieces of equipment that you use to define your sound?
Firstly, brass instruments. In every single track on the upcoming EP, I am playing either Trumpet/s or Flugelhorn. This really, well to me, fills out the sound of the chords and adds a touch of sweetness/brightness to the tracks. If you listen hard enough, in most parts of the tracks, you will be able to hear the horns.
Also, the pedals I use/sounds I try and get out of the guitars to add variety to the song. A lot of the time on the upcoming tracks, I am playing multiple guitars with sounds that you wouldn’t expect to work together. Whether it be a tube screamer/chorus/hall reverb combo on one guitar (on the bridge pickup) and then an Overdrive/Delay/Tremelo combo on another guitar (on the neck pickup)… I believe the sounds that are coming out are familiar to the listener, but interesting. I love playing around with different sounds because sometimes it can just add
another element to the music.
Were there specific artists that inspired you when you were working on the chord progressions for your new release?
In regards to the actual chord progressions… I don’t think any artists directly influence my movements of chords. I am definitely influenced by the sounds and melodies of other artists. But in regards to chord progressions, I kind of write the chords around the melodies in the voice and instruments that I hear in my head. Sometimes it’s just natural, sometimes there’s a longer thought process that goes into it, but all of the time it is something that reflects/highlights the melodies.
Is there any “non-musical” ingredient that is essential to crafting your sound?
Inspiration. I never stop getting inspired… I think that is the key ingredient. I listen to a lot of folk music, pop, jazz, fusion, rock, punk, electronic music…. just a whole lot of everything and I appreciate and love them all for so many different reasons. I only hope the listener/creatives will get inspired by my music as I do theirs.
Studio work and music creation, or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?
BOTH! In the studio, as I am working on my own with a producer, it means that I have all creative licensing to try out weird and wonderful sounds, which sometimes stems new ideas to get the wheels in motion.
But… and I think (well I’d hope) this would be the same answer for many artists, but nothing beats playing live on stage, interacting with the audience and just genuinely having a good time. Sometimes you can go to a free gig and have one of the most amazing experiences of your life… you can’t get that out of many (if any) industries in the world. I love music and feel a sense of pride and love performing it to people. That’s why COVID has been so hard on so many artists.
What has been your most memorable performance so far?
Playing a headline shows to a max capacity venue (around 350 people) without even having any music released. That was pretty special.
This was after 3 straight days in a studio and all of us were knackered… but this really capped the recording.
To see that many people at your own personal gig, without any music out in the world, is something that I believe is pretty special.
And which performance would you prefer to forget?
Once we played a gig down the Gold Coast and our guitarist’s amp wasn’t working.
We played out first song (which ended up being more of a stripped down version of the song) and then had to stop to sort it out. Half an hour later, with nearly half the crowd leaving the show, it was because the amp wasn’t switched on. The gig was fine from there on and you’re never gonna have the ‘perfect’ set, but I remember that gig vividly.
Any new or emerging artists on your radar?
Hope D & Sycco out of Brisbane… definitely check them both out. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these two because their latest singles have been on repeat every day for me.
Also, High Tropics from up the Sunshine Coast. Their new tracks rock and I have been listening to ‘Wait For You’ since the day it came out and still can’t stop listening!!
If you could collaborate with, or perform alongside any artist, who would it be? And why?
John Mayer. Since I was about 10/11 he has been my favourite musician.
I am in awe of his songwriting, phrasing, and melodic structure. Every album of his has resonated with me for different reasons and I genuinely don’t think I would’ve picked up a guitar in the first place if it wasn’t for him.
To sit down and pick his brain about music and life would be amazing. To collaborate would be even better. To perform alongside would just be surreal.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
Cafe Owner. I love the hospitality industry and always have. I would love to run my own cafe if this whole music thing doesn’t work out.
However, I am so stubborn and have always known in my head, from a very young age, that I would do great things and it is amazing that the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place!
Tell us about any upcoming shows or releases you have in the pipeline. I have an EP out in November of this year and am planning shows around this. I have been working hard in the studio and can’t wait to share this music with the world.
In regards to live shows, I haven’t announced anything at this stage but there are definitely bookings in place. With COVID-19 it has taken a toll on venues and artists so I just feel blessed that venues are showing interest in having me perform at their venues in these tough times.
