iSound

Martin Newell is an English singer songwriter and poet. a small village in rural Essex. He fronted several hard rock bands through the Seventies, but his story really begins in 1980 when he decided to eschew traditional record production and do it all himself. He started writing and recording his music at home copying up the tapes, distributing them himself and through a system of fanzines and friends. This is all pretty common stuff these days, and we also have the internet to help us, but twenty years ago there were just a few hardcore hometapers.

Martin produced these tapes under the name 'The Cleaners From Venus'; he and his friend Lol, who played drums on those early tapes, worked in a Colchester restaurant as cleaners. These tapes of jangly, melodic, guitar based tunes and daft humorous interludes, managed to pick up a cult following in Germany and other parts of Europe and at one point Martin even made a profit. Yes one night he managed to go out and fund a whole n...