Martin Grech

Martin Grech
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Background information
Born	1982
Origin	Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
Genres	Experimental rock Progressive metal Industrial rock Alternative rock Dark ambient
Occupation(s)	Musician, vocalist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, drums
Years active	2002 – present
Labels	Island Records
Associated acts	Zealey, Ophelia Torah, Meatsuit, TesseracT
Website	[1]

Martin Grech (born 1982) is a Maltese-English singer, songwriter and musician from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Career

He first achieved critical acclaim after his falsetto track, "Open Heart Zoo" (written when he was 15 years old) was featured on a Lexus advert on British television in 2002. A debut album of the same name (produced by Andy Ross) quickly achieved cult status, with the record being compared, in places, to the work of The Cure, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Jeff Buckley. The accompanying UK tour saw Grech gain a larger following and further critical support.

2005 saw the arrival of Grech's second album, Unholy. It dealt with much darker, and more disturbing themes than his debut record, including such lyrical topics as insanity, heresy and death. As before, reviews were positive and his fan base expanded. The Unholy art work created by Stephen Kasner was hung as a backdrop to his concerts.

Grech split with Island Records shortly after the release of Unholy, but Grech's MySpace page announced the arrival of the new album, March of the lonely. The first single from the album, "The Heritage", was released as a CD single on 30 March 2007 on Grech's own record label, 'Martin Grech Songs' via the online label, Burning Shed. March of the Lonely took a completely different approach from his previous CDs, and was much more acoustic, more guitar-based, with a thinner texture and softer atmosphere. March of the Lonely was released on 4 June 2007 in the UK via Genepool Records.

After moving to California, Grech began working on new material under the name 'Meatsuit'. Demos on MySpace revealed a development of a heavier gothic sound, but in December 2008 Grech announced that his Meatsuit project had been terminated.

In April 2011, Grech released a collection of demos under the title 'Meta'. Also on his BandCamp page, Grech announced his fourth album would be titled "The Watcher".

February to May 2015 - Grech is currently working in the studio on his 4th album, with producer Peter Miles (record producer). The album working title is "Hush Mortal Core".

Other work

In 2003 Grech was invited to play at the Jeff Buckley tribute concert by Buckley's mother Mary Guibert, at the Garage, Highbury alongside Ed Harcourt and Jamie Cullum. In 2005, Adam White sampled "Open Heart Zoo" for his trance track "Ballerina". In 2008 Grech created the film score to the Adam Mason film, Blood River.

As well as his solo releases, Grech has performed vocals on the album First Chance I Get I'm Out of Here (2005) by fellow Aylesbury musician, Zealey. He drummed for the four-piece rock band Ophelia Torah between early 2006 and April 2007.

Grech has also been involved in a collaboration project, organised by yourcodenameis:milo, called 'Print is Dead'. Along with Bloc Party, Graham Coxon, Tom Vek, Reuben and Biffy Clyro, he worked with yourcodenameis:milo, in their recording studio, to write a song in one day. The track was called "We Hope You Are What You Think You Are".

On september 18th 2015, Grech was featured on the song 'Hexes' by the British progressive metal band TesseracT on their newest album 'Polaris'.

Touring personnel

Musicians known to have toured with Martin include:

• Alistair Hamer – Drums (Open Heart Zoo era) (Sweet Billy Pilgrim)
• Anthony Bishop – Bass (Open Heart Zoo era) (Sweet Billy Pilgrim)
• Pete Miles – Guitars & Keys (Open Heart Zoo & Unholy era)
• Keith Lambert – Bass Guitar (Unholy era) (Vex Red)
• Robin Guy – Drums (Unholy era) (Rachel Stamp, Bruce Dickinson, Sack Trick, Faith No More)
• Tim Elsenburg – Guitars (Open Heart Zoo & Unholy era) (Sweet Billy Pilgrim)

Discography

Albums

• Open Heart Zoo (2002) – UK No. 54
• Unholy (2005)
• March of the lonely (2007)
• Meta (2010)
• Meta: Volume 2 (2011)

EPs and Singles

• Dali (2002)

1 – Dali (5:40)
2 – Catch Up (3:47)

• Open Heart Zoo (Promo) (2002)

1 – Open Heart Zoo (Circus) (Radio Edit) (4:41)
2 – Open Heart Zoo (Album Version) (5:23)

• Open Heart Zoo (2002)

1 – Open Heart Zoo (Album Version) (5:21)
2 – Storm (5:09)

• Push (Promo) (2002)

1 – Push (Radio Edit) (3:56)

• Push (2003)

1 – Push (5:01)
2 – Bliss (1:38)
3 – Head Sty (5:25)

• I am Chromosome (Promo) (2004)

1 – I Am Chromosome

• Rest In Peace EP (2004)

1 – Mighty Hands (4:15)
2 – Gratefully Punished (4:26)
3 – Father And Mother Figure (2:48)
4 – Freedom, Warmth And Security (2:53)

• Guiltless (Promo) (2005)

1 – Guiltless (Album Version) (7:47)
2 – Guiltless (Radio Edit) (4:00)

• Guiltless (2005)

1 – Guiltless (7:41)
2 – Seed Of A Seed (3:29)
3 – Worthy (2:59)

• The Heritage (2007)

1 – The Heritage (3:32)
2 – Ashes Over Embers (5:39)

External links

• Official Myspace
• Official Fan Page and 'Guiltless' Forum