 | | Martin Stephenson |
Born in County Durham, MARTIN STEPHENSON is a gifted singer, songwriter and performer. In the '80s, he found considerable fame and critical acclaim with his band, The Daintees. However, when the band split in 1992, Stephenson’s disenchantment with major label politics led him to sever ties with the mainstream industry completely.
Stephenson retreated to the Highlands in the late '90s but remains as industrious and prolific a talent as ever. MARCUS WILSON caught up with him in Tain. |
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The Daintees were together from ’82 to ’92. It was a good journey. We were like brothers, and we came through the ‘80s, which to me was like a difficult time, a selfish time – a time during which musicians were used to experiment with technology, whereas I wanted to keep it really simple. All I can visualise of the ‘80s is this Ford transit van and these four brothers surviving through it, and we came out as friends.
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In terms of the Daintees’ albums [which have just been re-released through Voiceprint distribution], listening to them again you hear some of the production things, and it’s like looking at your old school photographs. But I can sing songs that I wrote when I was nineteen and not be embarrassed. We were always trying to follow a good path. I couldn’t sit in the house and listen to my own albums because I have to sing them all the time. But I’m alright with them.
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I would never write off touring with The Daintees again, but the two brothers in the band, Anthony and Gary Dunn, they’ve got children so it’s hard for them. We got together a couple of years ago to tour and it was great – it was a laugh, you know. It was always good fun, but at this moment in time, I think that they’re developing in areas that would make it a distraction for them.
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My first vague memory of visiting the Highlands is when I came up with the Daintees in ’87 or ‘88 and played the Ice Centre or Eden Court. But my first vivid memory is when I went under apprenticeship with Gypsy Dave Smith [Australian Blues-man and master of the bottleneck guitar – a Celt born from fisher folk who left the Moray coast in the forties for a new life fishing the great barrier reef]. We ended up in the Highlands and I think we played The Phoenix – a little pub in Inverness. I found out then that I’d rather go and play a small folk club with Gypsy Dave than play the Dominion for two nights, and I remember doing all those big gigs during the ‘80s but feeling hollow inside.
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