Gig Guide

Marty's Place the Band! with Paul Pakau

Marty has performed at an exclusively private function with John Howard, Australia's last Prime minister, attending. 

Martin Olderied (Symrise) - "Over the past 7 years we have been consistently using Marty"

Classical Gas/Led Zepplyn  
Marty decided to learn classical guitar at that point, as he had heard some-one play Classical Gas at school. He thought if some-one could play so well like that, they would never get asked to leave a band.
So that's where his interest in classical guitar music started and as you can tell ( by the Web page ), it has continued throughout his life. When Marty left school, his life was about learning Led Zeppelin songs, taking guitar lessons from Bruce MacLaren ( a Scottish classical guitar teacher based in Auckland CBD ) and playing 4-5 hours a day. He worked many low paid jobs as you do when you're young.
When he was 18, he placed an add in the local music paper looking to form a band. His girlfriend of the time knew a bass player from a Christchurch band called The Spaces. All they needed now was a drummer and a singer. Martin was starting to write his own songs. Only one drummer replied to the add and it was Mike Cotton from Cambridge. Mike and Marty hit it off straight away and Marty's first band was formed,
" The Actors!"

"The Actors!"
The trouble was, finding a singer. Marty definitely had an idea how the songs should sound. In the end after looking for a few months and having no luck, guess who the singer became! Yes, Marty ( he had to have many singing lessons! ). Being young of course and not being able to listen to people he should have known Mike had the better voice. So " The Actors " ended up being a 3 piece band with Marty singing as well as playing guitar. Then came months of rehearsals in a small room playing songs Marty had written, leading onto support work for the bigger mainline acts. Unlike today, pubs did want to put original acts on and "The Actors" worked most weekends. They even performed at Sweetwater’s, one of New Zealand's biggest outdoor events. Marty was asked to audition for the Citizen Band , which was a Split Enz throw off, as a singer for all things!
Unfortunately "The Actors!" came to an end when Marty's car got stolen at a Pub on the outskirts of Auckland. Musically, that time could never be replaced. Mike Cottons friendship remains till this day.We have vowed to record some of those songs together so people can hear what the vibe was!

Radio-Active
Marty then joined Radio-Active who released a single called "Angela", which was big hit single in Auckland for a few months and got the boys a national Television video release. Wow, that was fun. Marty  decided to leave Radio-Active for Sydney, to make the big time!

Australia
When he arrived, he put together a original 3 piece called "Not Now Tracy" ,which he performed with on Star Search. Original gigs were really hard to get in Sydney so in the end, he sold out and formed a cover band called " Full Quid  ". Full Quid  was a hard working band that performed 1000’s of gigs around N.S.W. They where also asked to form a Doors Concept band which they did as well. Marty worked with some great friends and players like Dr Brain Damage ( Brian Cooke , bass guitar/vocals ), Paul Pound ( Paul Metcalf ,Drums ), Stephen McLoughlin ( trumpet, keyboards and Murray Biondi ( Drums, the Oil Show )
10 years later Full Quid, came to an end. In that time, Marty had jammed with many, many muso’s. One of the most important was Dianne Scibberras. To Marty, Dianne was an amazing singer which great passionand  a unique voice. She was also some-one he could also write songs with. One of their projects was a EP called "Shiver". If you have a chance, please listen to some of their songs in the Jukebox above. Hear how they sounded produced by Peter Blyton. Full Quid came to an end as the Sydney live scene started to become very stilted compared to how it once had been.

Today
Marty took stock of the situation and decided to look for a new challenge. He put in an add in Drum Media looking for Classical/Spanish work & within 2 days, the Ritz Carlton, Sydney  contacted him. This became a 5 year residency playing solo Classical/Flamenco music every Thursday night. How good is that for you're hands! Also Marty started to look for Flamenco teachers who could show him the secrets to this elusive style. His favorite teacher was Bob Oort and he taught authentic Flamenco from Stones Arcade in Dee Why. Marty also decided to teach guitar, not being worried about saving trade secrets. Di worked for Bondi's Ways ( for youth ) and was funnily enough looking for guitar teachers, so he began his teaching career there. Marty also teamed up with Dianne to form 'Now Tracy ',hich became a very successful Duo managed by Southbeat doing many 100's of gigs.

Novatone
 That dissolved to becoming Novatone with Candle Faithful being the lead singer for 2 years, followed by Amie Brownrigg and Dianne Sciberras both taking turns which is how it stands today. When Novatone  performs, there is a lot of history! You have just got to look for it! Marty would like to say, playing music has always been about finding your own magic. There are times when playing makes you feel so alive and you can make such a difference to people. You just have to play your own way!
A beer or two of course, alway's helps!