Paul Kelly, the creative force behind The Martial Arts, has been crafting pop music under this moniker since 2003. A former member of BMX Bandits, Kelly recently released the album In There Like Swimwear. This record bridges the adjacent realms of power pop, indie pop, and classic pop, making it a perfect addition to the collections of fans who appreciate the sounds of Daniel Johnston, XTC, Eno, Of Montreal, The Lemon Twigs, or The Apples In Stereo.
You can find ‘Empty Out Here’ showcased on the Best Power Pop of 2024 Spotify Playlist.
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Could you share the journey of bringing this record to life? How did all the pieces come together to create the final product?
In 2006 the Swedish label Groover Recordings released The Martial Arts’ debut album ‘Your Sinclair, which was recorded in Stockholm by Shout Out Louds producer Ronald Bood. It was a fantastic opportunity and I even got to record the drums in a gigantic studio, previously owned by Abba’s Benny & Bjorn. Europe even recorded the drums for ‘The Final Countdown’ in the exact same space. I then had the luxury of finishing it in Ronald’s studio with fantastic gear, his production and engineering expertise to hand. I loved the results, but some misfortune saw me lose a bit of confidence in moving forward with The Martial Arts in the years following its release.
I badly wanted to record a second album – I had the songs – circa 2010, but I didn’t have the same facilities to hand by then. The label had also folded. I really didn’t believe I had the recording skills to make it happen alone – I didn’t want it to sound like a collection of demos. I drifted towards being a musician in others’ projects – How To Swim, Carla J Easton, BMX Bandits, The Primary 5, Raveloe – in the years that followed, but it ate away at me that I’d never made that second album. Many years had passed before I finally began trying to learn how to make ‘proper’ studio recordings above demo level of the songs I had stockpiled since. Many of these ended up on the EPs ‘I Used To Be The Martial Arts’ (2019) and ‘Getting Stranger By The Month’ (2021), while I worked on the actual intended second album, by then containing much newer material, in the background.
I recruited various friends to lend their musical skills, mainly drums and backing vocals, to cover what I couldn’t pull off alone. I deliberately took my time, as I didn’t want to release it until I felt I had recorded something that could easily sit next to the debut in terms of production quality. Also, there was no deadline, plus there were interruptions like returning to college, pandemics and a few other tricky life events. I initially wasted a bit of time hiring others to record my vocals for me, as I felt I needed guided through the process of recording them, until I worked out that I was perfectly capable of doing them at home. It’s important to point out I did not spend 18 years making the second album! But I did spent a lot of that time working out what the heck I needed to do. I’m still learning now, but it’s been very satisfying to finally complete and have released by a label worth being on (Wiaiwya).
Success can take on different meanings as time goes on. When envisioning success for this new record, what does that picture look like now?
I have no idea really, I’m just glad there appears to be some people listening to it. I appeared to pick up a number of new listeners in the years following the debut, as I capitalised in the ‘give your album away free’ craze of that era, which looking back is obviously is a bit of a questionable activity in hindsight, but I do admit it worked and quite a number of blogs helped spread the word. My more recent EPs have done a little groundwork for me and some others have stuck around since the days of the first album. Really I would just like to build on the number of people who like and play my stuff, however many that could be. Beyond that I genuinely don’t know.
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It might be beyond my wildest dreams, but stadium-like success to me would be being interviewed by Nardwuar The Human Serviette. That would be the Queen at Live Aid moment for someone at my level, I imagine.
In a hypothetical scenario where you could tour with two other bands, who would be your ideal companions and what synergies do you envision?
Redd Kross I have believed to be geniuses since I discovered them in 1998. Tragically, that was the year when they essentially downed tools and went on a hiatus for many years afterwards, and so far I’ve only had the chance to see them for an agonisingly brief 45-minute set, when they came to Glasgow in 2017 as openers for The Melvins.
They were such a huge inspiration to me, they also struck me as the most fun people to walk the Earth, and as the internet was new to me then, I read every single interview I could find by them, which very much pushed me in the direction of learning a lot of useful life skills, like listening more to the early album tracks of The Beatles, knowing who The Flaming Groovies even are, and the knowledge of the existence of The Brady Bunch’s cover of ‘American Pie’, which chooses to begin with the “Helter Skelter in a summer swelter” verse. They’ve definitely changed my consciousness for the better. I thinking touring together could only be a positive thing.
Right now, the other band I have to choose are The Chills. Especially it would mean Martin Phillipps would be back with us. I only began listening to them casually last year, and my excuse is that I always had them conflated with The Clean (also from New Zealand) and The Church (Australian), which in hindsight doesn’t seem that confusing, but there you go. Since he passed a few weeks ago I’ve listened to hardly any other music. The documentary ‘The Triumph And Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps’ is heartbreaking to watch, especially in the light of recent events. He seemed like someone I think I would have liked to be around and of course would have loved to watch each night, something I realise I can never do now.
As an artist, the act of baring your emotions to the world is profound. Does this vulnerability come naturally to you, or is it a constant journey of finding comfort?
When I recorded my first album, I was a bit self-conscious that I had overshared a bit and had given away too much, so was nervous about reviews. Of course, in the end, the gist of all those reviews was just “hey, it’s Power Pop time!” so I guess I’d had greatly overestimated how it would be read. Writing a song is a great way to therapeutically deal with an unfortunate life event like a breakup, or a friend turning nasty – if you set it to a nice enough tune, it’s an acceptable and hopefully entertaining way of expressing your feelings without having to bore anyone with your problems when you are in the pub together.
With the resurgence of cassettes, imagine curating your inaugural mixtape. Which five songs would be must-adds and why?
Redd Kross – Mess Around
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To me, this is more or less the perfect song. Released in 1997, it captured the sprit of The Beatles far more succinctly than any of the major bands who were being compared to them at the time. It only has about 4 lines in the entire song – no more were ever necessary. Both verses are just “I don’t want to mess around with anybody else.” I hope someone at their label was given a stern talking to when it didn’t break the top 40.
Kleenex Girl Wonder – Tendency Right Foot Forward
When it comes to writing a book on the criminally overlooked, then Graham Smith deserves at least a few pages. Since he was very young, he’s been prolifically pumping out an impressive number of genius pop albums, and ‘Ponyoak’ was the time he really began to outgrew all those Guided By Voices comparisons he used to get. That (double) album manages the rare feat of containing as many as 25 songs, with all of them being great. Choosing your least favourites would be like trying to say which fingers of toes you’d wave goodbye to. In the years since he’s released a plethora of amazing work – he even tried his hand at rapping for a while. ‘Tendency Right Foot Forward’ is a diamond-hard pop song and should be heard by anyone with an interest in home-recorded pop masterpieces.
Molly Nilsson – Blinded By The Night
I covered this on my ‘Christmas With The Martial Arts’ EP. It otherwise has nothing to do with Christmas. Although released in 2018, it originally appeared on her album ‘2020’, and I recorded my version in that terrible year, having spent most of the year completely alone. It just seemed right for that moment in time. My version is very faithful to the original, which I know some consider a less than worthwhile endeavour, but what can I say… I just wanted a go at singing it myself, and I didn’t want to try and ‘fix’ anything that wasn’t broken.
The dB’s – Moving In Your Sleep
I was aware of Peter Holsapple as the organ guy from REM’s Unplugged show and I knew of The dB’s from being name-dropped in ‘Twisted’ by They Might Be Giants, but I never sought their music out until someone compare my own first album to theirs. ‘Stands For Decibels’ is a masterclass in mixing catchy with frankly quite strange guitar pop. If you want to hear what is essentially Jangle-Prog, then check out the Chris Stamey-written numbers. ‘Moving In Your Sleep’ is the standout for me though, it’s not hard to imagine it being the closing song on Big Star’s ‘Third/Sister Lovers’ album. Ironically, Holsapple briefly worked with Alex Chilton shortly after that album’s recording and they didn’t get on like a house on fire. ‘Nothing Is Wrong’ off the following album is another Big Star-evoking classic.
The Beach Boys – This Whole World
It’s very hard to choose a favourite Beach Boys song, but ‘This Whole World’ I’d say is probably the greatest one that a casual listener has probably not heard. It was never a single, merely a b-side and a track on their classic 1970 album ‘Sunflower’. I think this was probably a mistake – I don’t know if it’s because it doesn’t have a traditional chorus hook, but I believe it could have worked. It’s a rare song written entirely by Brian Wilson, who sings the introduction, before Carl takes over. There isn’t much to say really – it’s easily one of the finest moments of the greatest band of all time.
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