Face the Music June.qxp_Layout 1 20/05/2016 16:39 Page 1
TIME TO GET ILLUSTRIOUS
Ahead of this month’s Forest of Imagination Hannah Newton talks to musician Martyn Ware, formerly of Heaven 17 and the Human League, the man who is recreating the sounds of a Madagascan rainforest inside Bath Abbey
H
ere’s some wisdom from one who knows how the whole fame/music business works: “Do it for love, do it because you want to do it, do it to get laid, do it because it is creatively fulfilling. But do not do it if you think you will make money – if you do it for that, prepare for disappointment.” Martyn Ware, founding member of two of the most respected music groups of the 1980s, The Human League and Heaven 17, has a clear message for young people today who want to go into the music industry. He has no truck with X-Factor and its ilk. Martyn found fame at the height of the new wave, electronic and synthpop music era at a time when shoulder pads and mobile phones were ridiculously large. He is in Bath this month for the opening of the Forest of Imagination – in which his work will play a major part. Born in 1956 in Sheffield, Martyn grew up with three other siblings in a council house on a large housing estate just outside the city centre. The house was a two-up two-down with an outside toilet. Life was tough, he recalls. Margaret Thatcher was shutting down the steel industry and the area was economically depressed, but he says: ‘‘not the people – the Sheffield people are resourceful and altruistic. It hit the steel workers the hardest of course. There was no money around, so you had to make your own entertainment. We were a doing society and not a consumer based society.” 14 TheBATHMagazine
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Making his own entertainment was exactly what the young Martyn did. Looking for things that didn’t involve money led him to join a council run youth club, where kids from a wide range of backgrounds, including working and middle class families, went. Run by local actors, Chris and Veronica Wilkinson, they encouraged the teenagers to experiment with art, acting, music and creativity. It was, according to Martyn, a real example of ‘socialism in action’. This is where he met Phil Oakey and together they went on to found the Human League. It was the 1970s and he and his peers were obsessed with music. “Our lives revolved around it, we loved so many different forms: electronic, synthesisers, experimental jazz, glam rock, prog rock. We loved the New York Dolls, alternative american groups, alternative german groups, psychedelic, experimental and weird music.” Heavily into glam-rock, they crossdressed, wore lots of make up and when punk turned up they thought it was immensely boring in comparison. His mother thought he was gay because of the way he dressed but soon realised she was wrong as he brought a ‘constant stream of girls back to my bedroom’. For a few years The Human League worked hard and eventually their single, Being Boiled, was picked up by legendary BBC DJ John Peel. It went on to sell 5,000 copies and ultimately led to the band being signed by Virgin. In 1980, a ‘machiavellian’ plan, as he puts it, to oust Martyn led to him leaving
the Human League. He left Sheffield and went to London – where, alongside Ian Craig Marsh co-founder of the Human League, they formed Heaven 17 and B.E.F. Heaven 17 found success with debut album Penthouse and Pavement and Martyn went on to produce a series of successful recording artists including Tina Turner, Terence Trent D’Arby, Chaka Khan, Erasure, Marc Almond and Mavis Staples. During the late 80s, Martyn declares there was ‘an endless torrent of money’, which allowed him to live a playboy lifestyle. He admits he probably ‘overcooked the freedom thing’ and eventually as the 80s gave way to the 90s Martyn realised he was ready to find someone to share his life with. “I also realised I wanted to have kids and decided it was time to find someone to share my life with. I met the love of my life, Landsley, in 1992 on a blind date set up by mutual friends. I proposed within a month and we married within nine months.” He was 36 years old and ready to settle down. The couple have two children, their daughter is almost 21 and their son is turning 18. The mid-90s saw a resurgence of Heaven 17 and Martyn began to do more performing and touring, meanwhile, he noticed that the music scene was becoming more and more marketing led. He was being offered boy bands to work with and decided it was time to look elsewhere – to the future. In 2000, Martyn got together with
SOUND AND VISION: Martyn Ware – who runs Illustrious with Vince Clarke, formerly of Erasure – pictured in County Durham with the travelling beach hut for the What Does the Sea Say? project for the National Trust Picture courtesy of North News Pictures