Big Muff

'I have never been pigeonholed in my life.
I mean, have you seen the size of a pigeon's hole?'
(John live on WFUV radio, New York, 15 June 1998)

The music of John Martyn is highly appreciated by too few people. His melodies and harmonies are haunting, his playing of the guitar is catchy, and the atmosphere on his records is unique. In the course of thirty years he has gathered a loyal cult following who only wants to know two things: when is the new record due, and: when is John touring again in our country.

John Martyn plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Mutron guitar, Moog synthesiser, guitar synthesisers, clavinet, piano and Linn drums. But he is also a remarkable singer, who seems to use his voice in the same way as he treats his intrument. Distortion has always been a normal thing for guitars in rock music, but John also applies it to his vocals. On the newer records, John tends to focus more on singing, unfortunately forcing his guitar to the background.

By coincidence he stumbled upon his famous echoplex-technique, whereby he uses a repeating echo sound as background and counterpoint, both anticipating the decaying sounds and letting himself be surprised by the unexpected. (The multilayer technique was even applied to his singing on Carmine, And. #8.)

Don't be mistaken by the beauty of his chords. Even on acoustic tracks like Head and Heart or The Easy Blues, there is a remarkable force present once you hear him treating his strings. The 'backslap' (hitting the strings in order to emphasize rhythm) was discovered by him and is now rather common among guitarists. John himself says: 'Don't call it folk', and: 'I'm a funkie, not a folkie.' So listening to John Martyn means disclosing 'sweet little mysteries', but also letting him get angry at 'Amsterdam'. It is this emotional intensity and moody pureness that gave him nicknames like 'bad boy of folk' or 'Jack the lad' (Cooltide).