LINDSAY MARTELL
Lindsay was raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s East Coast,
an island with a rich Celtic and Folk music heritage. There he was introduced to the power of good songs, sung and played with passion at house parties with song circles and acoustic instruments. There was an acoustic piano in most homes, which anyone was invited to play. Lively voices singing in harmony, stories and laughter at gatherings, have always been a common occurrence living in Cape Breton, and they left a lasting impression on Lindsay.
Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, there was also the ever present AM radio providing a pop and country soundtrack to be sung along to, as well as the gospel occurring at the community churches.
After finishing high school in Cape Breton, Lindsay spent two years in university in Ottawa Canada. Having been bitten by the music bug, his time in Ottawa was mostly spent playing guitar, singing songs and trying to get gigs in local coffee houses in Ottawa with a guitar playing university friend in an acoustic duo. He then left Carleton University and headed west to Calgary Albera in the early ’80’s with the intention of finding some kind of band to join. In Calgary his audition video for a local musicians referral service, lead to his first offer to play in an already established working band. in 1984 he was on the road playing country rock covers in local pubs and honky tonks around western Canada. In 1986 he joined “The Walkers,” a pop cover band, as a lead singer and rhythm guitar player, again travelling playing rock and roll, country and blues. Touring constantly around western Canada, the band performed in clubs and pubs on the cover band circuit in the ’80’s, and he’s been on the road, rails, sea or in the air, and entertaining audiences ever since. Lindsay moved to Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island BC, Canada in 1988 to attend VIU (formerly Malaspina College) and studied in the 2 year Jazz Music Diploma program.
In ’88 in Nanaimo, Lindsay along with with some of his college music classmates that jammed together at school, formed a band called Rubber Soul, and started to get local gigs, and practice making music together. Rubber Soul is founding members Lindsay Martell on guitar and vocals, Joel Spillette on keyboards and vocals and Brock Miller on tenor sax and vocals, and with longtime Rubber Souls Colin Perry on baritone sax and vocals, Todd Sacerty on bass and Phil Wipper on drums. Rubber Soul Reunions occasionally still bring the band together to share their music on Vancouver Island BC, another beautiful island, rich in music and the arts. 1996 Lindsay released “Moris” in Nanaimo BC.
Moris is the name of the band and of the one and only cd released by the group. It contained a collection of songs Lindsay written between ’93-’95. Moris is Lindsay Martell guitar and lead vocals, Jason Euringer on guitar and vocals, Todd Sacerty on bass and Bob Wilson on drums. In 1995 they recorded an album with Rick Salt in his basement studio in the Queens Hotel building in Nanaimo BC with 11 of Lindsay’s songs plus one cover of a song written by fellow Canadian singer/songwriter and friend of the band, Sarah Harmer. Sarah made a guest appearance on her song on the Moris album. Canadian Acoustic Slide Guitar Legend Ken Hamm also played on one track, as did Kate Fenner (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir).
Won top awards at radio Q100’s Rocktoria Contest in Victoria, and C-Fox’s Band Search in Vancouver in 1996, was featured on MuchWest Music TV, KISM FM in Bellingham Washington’s Locals Only Program. They played with energy to burn every night they hit the stage ’95-’97, and made many friends in their short 2 year existence, and they left behind a small treasure in the Moris album.
1996 – 1998 Lindsay hosted a weekly evening of live original music at the Queen’s Hotel in Nanaimo which gave a platform for performance and promotion of unsigned original talent from Vancouver Island. The weekly event called Locally Grown ran for almost 3 years and gave the Moris band it’s launch. Lindsay was also a founding member of the disco revival band “Wunderbread,” from Nanaimo, BC, playing guitar and singing with them for 3 years from 1996 – 1999. in colourful bell bottoms and polyester, the disco funk party that is Wunderbread, still rolls on.
Between 1999 and 2005 Lindsay was constantly on the road, the sea or in the air, as his 4 pc band toured the globe. Stages on cruise ships, in major hotels and festivals and corporate parties or local pubs were his home away from home, as he entertained audiences internationally.
In 2005 Lindsay released “revolution” The cd is a collection of some of Lindsay’s heartfelt songs, recorded
in two different studios on stops from his travels between 1999 and 2005. Half of the songs on r_evolution were recorded with Bob Benson in Victoria BC, and the rest were recorded with Chris Aiken in Warsaw Poland. After spending more time in Warsaw than in Vancouver during a two year period from 2005-06, in 2007 Lindsay left Vancouver and moved to Warsaw, Poland. He had been playing Warsaw since 1999 and had established a network in the local music scene there. In 2006 he started playing an acoustic gig at a local pub, Warsaw Tortilla Factory. After moving to Warsaw he undertook a long residency, entertaining the locals with legendary, energetic solo performances, two nights per week for almost 4 years and then weekly or monthly until 2014.
Between 2005-2007 Lindsay recorded another group of his songs with longtime musical collaborator and producer, Chris Aiken, at Chris’ studio in Warsaw. The album was shelved in 2007, but was very recently rescued from the vault, re-mixed and mastered by Chris Aiken and “All This Time” was finally released in September of 2016. The title song “All This Time,” was chosen among almost 30,000 entries in the 2016 International Songwriting Competition from
Nashville USA, as semi-finalist in the Adult Album Alternative category. Lindsay released another collection of his songs titled “Trouble In Paradise” in 2011. These songs were mostly recorded in the living room of his studio apartment, in Warsaw Poland. They were finished and mixed with the help of producer Ferid Lakhdar, another musical friend and collaborator Lindsay worked with often while in Warsaw.While living in Warsaw, along with countless solo performances, Lindsay was also very busy with his bands The Barflys, Dirty Martini and the Lindsay Martell Band. He also worked as a studio session singer and guitar player, guitar instructor, and vocal coach, and collaborated with many local artists, both in the studio and for live performances in clubs, at festivals, and on Polish radio and TV.
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