Martin was recently featured in a radio show. He gave an interesting hour long interview. You can hear it here

The Humdinger of a Spring Newsletter

Merry April,
It's been a long drawn out old winter here in the UK. Don't know what it's been like everywhere else, but there were days over here, back in late March where we felt lucky if we got to even the dizzy heights of 6 centigrade. However, I said there'd be a newsletter and here she now be.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT Spotlight on Burger Records...Yung Sean Bohrman tells me that with a new distro deal, they're going great guns at present. I'll let Sean fill you in, in his own enthusiastic way.
Hey Martin!
THE BROTHERHOOD OF LIZARDS - LIZARDLAND
THE BROTHERHOOD OF LIZARDS - S/T
THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS - ENGLISH ELECTRIC
THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS - THE LATE DISTRICT is up for sale digitally at all the places below!!!

YOUR ALBUM IS AVAILABLE DIGITALLY AT...7digital,
Amazon
AMI/Rowe
AT&T
Beatport
BlackBerry Messenger Service
Deezer
eMusic
Google
HD-Tracks
Insound
iheartradio
iTunes
iTunes Digital Booklet Spec Sheet
iTunes Video Spec Sheet
JB Hi-Fi
Medianet
Mix & Burn
MOG
MUVE
Myxer
Nokia
Pandora
PlayNetwork
Rdio
Rhapsody
Simfy
Slacker
Sony’s Music Unlimited
Spotify
Starbucks Coffee
TouchTunes
Turntable Turntable.fm
Vervelife
VEVO
VEVO Spec Sheet
Wimp Music
Xbox Music
YouTube
Nuff said, already?
Captured Tracks of Brooklyn N.Y. meanwhile, will release the second phase of Cleaners from Venus originals on May 15th. A casual search of their site will give you some idea of the incredible amount of work the boys and girls there have put in. There will be copious sleeve notes, generous dollops of extra tracks and loads of other stuff. It really is a terrific package. Be quite excited about this now, won't you?
Ray at Koolkatmusik in Noo Joisey is still there serving up the CDS of the newer stuff and the Brotherhood. All solo stuff is still being done by Cherry Red in Englandshire including The Greatest Living Englishman and The Off White Album.

Two cheers for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, incidentally, for releasing their new album English Electric. I gather their people were notified that the Cleaners had used the name 3 years ago, but decided that this fact wasn't important enough for them to change their own title. (Paul says... To be fair, they were talking about their English Electric back in 2011).
Now, me? Before I go using a title, especially in these days of the World Wide Wibble, I generally find that a quick Google of album titles, will tell me whether anyone else has got there first. Never mind, hey. Good luck, anyway, chaps. I bear you no malice.

EXTRAS! Young and suave Devon Williams did two days filming over here on Planet Newell recently. Work went very well. You may find a rather good little Cleaners mini film surfacing in the near future. There's more. The mini film may well be part (eventually) of a much bigger film about the Cleaners from Venus and the man who they're all calling the new Sir Nartin Mule.

GIGS and LIVE DEPARTMENT Because of ongoing, but rapidly being-solved, health problems ( see MEDICAL DEPARTMENT) I have been beating off offers of gigs like you wouldn't believe.
So firstly, some of the stuff which I'm not doing. I'm not doing the Bowiefest at Latitude, which I was asked to do by my mate Tom at the ICA. He asked whether I would sing with the yet-to-be-named all star Bowie band.
I rather regretfully turned it down. I didn't feel quite up to that one.
Also, sorry to my friends in the US. I really did waver for a while about coming there later this year, but again, thought that the venture might do me more harm than good. They even – God bless 'em – offered to bring me out on a boat, I kid you not. Never...though, say 'never'. It gets harder to say no each time, but I am prey to a lot of stress, whenever travel rears its pointy old head.
For those of you who've heard that I'm doing the London Palladium, with Johhny Clarke, Luke Wright and Phill Jupitus, (intake of breath) it's true, that it's been offered...I'm even on some of the early promo literature. But..I don't know if I'm doing it yet, or not. So don't book quite yet.
Finally, sorry to my old friends in Germany for the same reasons.
Gigs which I am doing are Latitude Fri 19th July...3.30 t0 3.50pm...spoken word in the Poetry Arena, I was asked by (and I was really touched by this) Tania at Latitude herself. She even gave me an afternoon slot. How could I refuse?
Similarly, I'm at Ipswich Waterstones Bookshop in the Buttermarket, (The Mighty Plod's old stomping ground) on Sunday 5th May between 3 and 4 p.m. Reading and talking. On Saturday 25th May I'm at the Hythe, Colchester, doing a promotion of the Hythe itself. I'm also doing the Harwich Festival at the Alma on Weds 26th June. Note that these are all spoken word or poetry gigs. I'm staying away from music gigs at present apart from playing the piano and singing four self-written 'Victorian' songs of a smutty nature, for my friends at the I Hear Voices Theatre Group.
The productions four separate episodes of Lady Breakneck, will be staged at Slackspace Colchester on Saturday 20th April and Saturday 27th April between 6p.m. and 8.p.m. Both gigs will be recorded for podcast in early May.

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT Huge thanks to all the medical professionals who've been running tests on me this past few months. They include doctors – GPs and surgeons – opthalmic people of all types, nurses and others at several different clinics and hospitals. It is thanks to them
that I now know what I haven't got. If anyone ever tells you the NHS isn't working, I'm here to tell you that it blimming well, is. So there.
It's not quite over yet but it nearly is, I think. It's now down to an issue with the eyesight in one eye. But I only have two eyes in total so, I've been taking it a bit slower in the meantime,while they've been conducting more tests. Abnormal service will be resumed as soon as is probable. It's looking better everyday. Through one of my eyes at least).

LASTLY I've been working on new songs and have started new recordings. Not only that but the newly rebuilt old Cleaners from Venus 1961 Hofner V3 is working better than it ever has. Good luck to Steve Dix, who's back in contact after a bit of an absence and to Paul's eldest, 13 year old Lewis, who's just been commended for his comic book skills.

Back to you all very soon.

Martin

1) Me, J.C. C and Jeanette at my birthday bash 2) Lady Breakneck poster
3) Hilary Lazell's illustration commemorating 150 years of Wivenhoe Railway Station.

The Late Winterblues Letter

Late hellos to everyone and huge pology-apps for the scantness of action on this site of late. Paul, Steve and I have, as you may have surmised, all been going through our various mills, ills and wills. However, as we begin to haul ourselves gradually, out of what seems to be a fairly long winter, it looks like the new year is shaping up quite lively.

RECORDED WARES: I don't think that the Cleaners from Venus and my solo stuff has ever been as widely available as it is at present and it's about to become even more so.
Optic Nerve through Picadilly Records, have just released a very limited viny edition LP
(500 copies) of Living With Victoria Grey – The Very Best of the Cleaners from Venus (the vinyl years, that is). Previously only available as a CD from Cherry Red, this is 18 tracks of the best of the mid period studio stuff including the slow version of Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me . This is a somewhat de-luxe edition, I'm told. I am also currently in early talks with Ian Allcock at Optic Nerve, to bring out( wait for it) a vinyl edition of The Late District.
I was so fired up about The Late District sessions, by the way, that in spring I intend to begin work a companion volume with a working title of The Pique District. Ha haaa
Meanwhile...Over in Brooklyn at Captured Tracks records, the release of the second 3 volumes of the cassette years looms ever closer, we're talking only a few weeks now...mid March –April. On it, I warrant you, are tracks from that time three decades ago which many will never have heard before. I ain't talking broken biscuits here, but genuine buried treasure.
In Californ I. A. The Burger Boys at Burger Records now have Lizardland, The Late District and
English Electric all available as cassettes and soon, I hear, on download.
Please don't forget Ray at Koolkat in New Jersey, who's got all the stuff on CD, like English Electric,The Stopping Train, The Late District and Lizardland which is not covered by the aformentioned labels. He's waiting for your calls!
Probably nice to mention that good old Cherry Red Records are still vending most of my solo albums on CD and downloads from the period 1999 to 2007.
Don't forget, that you can still order downloads from our wn online shoppe. There's a link somewhere nearby, I think.
That pretty much covers everything I've ever done, now, doesn't it? So I'll shut up and get on with some new stuff, shall I?

BOOKS AND LITRITCHUR MATTURS: I continue my role as Poet in Res for the Sunday Express and Essex columnist at large for the East Anglian Daily Times. Young Luke Wright and his Nasty Little Press will be publishing my next poetry collection, which we haven't finalised a title for yet, but which I've started making selections for. I haven't had a new collection of poems out for what..4 or 5 years? So there's a lot to choose from. Anyway that will be coming out at some point this year, we think.

GIGS? Yep! Pencils and papers ready?
14th February The Soundhouse Crouch Street, Colchester. Music. Solo spot Guitar and piano songs probably. Think I'm first on. It's what I arksed for.

20th February, Norwich Arts Centre. (a sort of centre for the arts in Norwich) Poetry / Spoken Word.

8th March The Lock Tearoom, Basin Rd / Heybridge / Maldon Essex. This my poetry gig for the Essex Book Festival. I love doing tea rooms and libraries. It's the age I am.

In conclusion... Things are ticking over on Planet Newell here. I'm told that I 'rather overdid it' last year, so I'm trying to work in a calmer sort of fashion for the time being. The place is gradually waking up, however. Steve's running over the office carpet with the J Edgar and Paul's put the kettle on and is playing a bit of Jobim, while we all study the electricty bill. Wish us all well. In the meantime we'll be pottering around the site doing this and yes, some of that. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that I've been posting various items up on the blog space. Shall I carry on? Then, I hope that spring will soon come mincing into the fields and the message board will be buzzing with theories and offers.

1) Sir Nartin (pictured recently)
3) A recent gig in Wivenhoe
2) Newell's This Year's Roses No 1 Jean Marsh

Poodle tip!

MARtin the Newell

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