Present yourself to the readers
Tasha D the lead singer for Smoking Martha
Who composes ?...How does it work in the band
Mick the lead guitarist and I started writing together acoustically with the intention of forming a full band. Once we had the right line up which is now Matty on bass and Jordy on drums we started writing collectively, always starting with a guitar riff from Mick or Matty then the melody from vocals and then Bass and drums.
Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
I write all of the lyrics and vocal melodies.
Lyrically all of our songs have some kind of hidden, deeper meaning behind them, sometimes stemming from my own expériences and sometimes they are Just stories.
Writing and singing about my own personal struggles, vulnerabilities and desires is a great way to work through any issues and to get off my chest anything weighing me down
Why the name SMOKING MARTHA ?
When I first started singing I thought I would gain some confidence in front of an audience by singing karaoke. I ended up winning a karaoke competition singing Total Control by The Motels. Martha Davies the lead singer of the band chain smoked on stage, I found that pretty fascinating so that is where the Name Smoking Martha came from.
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
I was brought up on 70s 80s rock but I listen to everything, from 1930s Blues to 1960s French pop.
I am personally heavily inspired by the grittier, ballsy, women in rock. I love raw and husky vocals. Chrissy Amphlett, Gwen Stefani, Stevie Nicks, Melanie Safka, Janis Joplin, All so unique and all such powerful and moving artists.
What's your opinion about the current music scene in Brisbane ?
We have a lot of support in Brisbane, but it’s not without hard work or persistance.
It’s important that we all continue to promote and support indépendant music to keep the live music scene alive.
Great new music venues keep popping up all the time too which is encouraging and exciting !
What's your best live memory ? And why ?
Dead of Winter festival 2017, overall a great show, huge crowd, great energy, top sound, everything you could ask for in a live show. We all just embraced the love, heart and soul from beginning to end !
In studio, what was the ambiance for the album IN DEEP ?...etc.…
It was a pretty chill atmosphere in the studio but a rigorous and challenging process.
Each of us were really pushed to our limits by the Producer, but Just enough to still be able to reflect our emotions into each track while capturing a live recording atmosphere.
The overall experience definitely made us stronger as a band and helped us find new tones and introduce more dynamics within our songs.
How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?
Being our first album we decided to put a picture of the band on the cover as we want the listeners to connect us to our music. We also wanted to include our lyrics in the booklet so that listeners can relate and of course sing along!
The Title “In deep” just made sense to us. The album lyrically focuses on unwanted feelings and circumstances that make us feel sometimes trapped, but more passionate and therefore we get in so deep that it consumes us. So deep that there is no other option than to dig deeper no matter the outcome.
What are your projects ?
We are currently writing our second album and planning our EU and UK tour for Oct/Nov this year.
What do you expect from the future ?
We hope to share our music to a wider audience, gain more fans and grow stronger as musicians.
I guess we will see what opportunities arise within the next years ahead, hopefully it is just the beginning of continuous international touring for us !
It’s so hard to not have high expectations when giving your all, but at the end of the day we do this for the love of it and we have learnt to just enjoy the ride and anything can happen !
What's your motto ?
Do it with passion or not at all.
Website to remember
www.smokingmartha.com
https://www.facebook.com/smokingmartha/
https://www.youtube.com/user/smokingmartha
What would you like to say to the readers ?
We will be touring EU and The UK this Oct/Nov, follow us on social media for updates and further info.
Cheers !!
Thanks for the upkeep
Hugues B.
