Artist description A natty Cincinnati pop combo who released one album before metamorphizing into multiple projects and bands.

Music Style Alternative Pop

Musical Influences Big Star, Beatles, Flaming Lips

Similar Artists Big Star, Beatles, Flaming Lips

Artist History Life on Mars? ___________________________________ Local band Martian Electric learns and lives to tell about it ___________________________________ INTERVIEW BY MIKE BREEN ___________________________________ Founded out of the "puddle of Snowblind," Cincinnati musician Steve Libbey's current band, Martian Electric, is a four-piece outfit with intentions a little less galactic than overthrowing the world. ___________________________________ With a new CD, Sky-Fi, the band - and particularly guitarist/singer/songwriter Libbey - finds itself in a position to work at a suitable pace on its own terms. Libbey says he is refreshed with finally finding suitable people to perform his songs, an experience he had all but given up on before now. ___________________________________ "I had just gotten sick of trying to cooperate with other people and compromise with their musical approaches," Libbey says, referring to his previous bands Snowblind, Shrieking Violets and Shocklogic. "I had gotten tired of the whole democratic band situation, and I thought that the best way to deal with this was to not make any pretense of being democratic and basically just go solo. That way anyone who played with me, coming in to the project, would know what they were in for: 'This is my project, I welcome your input, but don't put any emotional weight in what you are doing.' That actually worked well for a while." ___________________________________ Originally, Libbey had the idea to work on a studio project with the intent of releasing a CD. Working a full-time day job, as opposed to "flexible" jobs to make ends meet and play gigs and practice as often as possible, allowed him the freedom and money to frequently work in the studio at night. By this time drummer Eric Davis - not the Red but "a heck of a ballplayer in his own right," says Libbey - was working the skins for the studio work. Bassist John Stanton, a longtime friend of Libbey's, was called in to see what the songs sounded like with a bottom end. ___________________________________ It was then that Libbey found a chemistry he hadn't felt before, and the so-called "band" quickly worked as an actual three-input democratic group. More recently came the addition of Mark Shepherd, an ex-member of Minneapolis up-and-comers the Vandalias who bonded musically with Libbey over their affinity for Alex Chilton's raw and direct guitar technique. ___________________________________ "The myth about me is that I was a tyrant in all my other bands," Libbey says, attempting to explain why this line-up worked where others didn't. "That's not entirely false, but it's exaggerated. I was a bit tyrannical in some of my early bands, but so were some of the other people I worked with. It was constantly us fighting and trying to guide the band together. I would be very open with my opinions - you say what you think and you don't worry about other people's feelings, and you leave the emotional baggage when you walk out the door." ___________________________________ Musically, Martian Electric is more informed on unique song structuring, a far cry from the artful noise of Libbey's previous work. Sky-Fi is a dynamic work brought to cohesion by a Pop sensibility, but Martian Electric still hones in on a non-indulgent textural aesthetic. ___________________________________ With the trio intact, Libbey began to accept the other players' ideas, realizing that their input frequently enhanced his songs. He began to start thinking about taking Martian Electric to the stage, adapting the songs - largely written without concern on their ability to be performed in a live context - for concert consumption. But, after a few gigs, the Martian men found themselves disgusted with the whole process of putting together a show. ___________________________________ "It was the typical Cincinnati audience thing," Libbey says. "I'm used to Cincinnati audiences being, like that Cramps song, 'At the Zombie dance, nobody moves. They tap their toes and wiggle their hips a bit.' If a Cincinnati audience likes you, they drink their beer a little more often and nod their head. Then you know that everyone's rockin'." ___________________________________ Shepherd, who's spent more time living in Detroit and Minneapolis than Cincinnati, says he's baffled by this city's massive apathy toward live music. "I've never seen such a lack of energy," he says. "Nobody seems to know how to have fun. People just stand there and stare, like they're not even hearing any music. It's almost like they're too cool to even move." ___________________________________ To avoid further frustration, Martian Electric has turned its attention on promoting the CD to press and trying less conventional forms of exposure, including using the cyber-press. Band members are vehement in their dedication to not taking the traditional touring route, driving around the region and playing for "table scraps" in front of 15 people. ___________________________________ The group hopes the CD - being distributed nationally through various channels and locally on Starfish Records - will speak for itself and gain attention through word of mouth. And they plan to build a discography which Libbey thinks will, by sheer quantity, build interest in the group, as it did for Guided By Voices. ___________________________________ "It's like making band T-shirts," Libbey says of his desire to build a substantial Martian Electric catalog. "Half the reason anybody joins a band is so they can have band T-shirts. There's nothing more exciting than seeing somebody with your T-shirt. CD's are like that too. It's a great feeling to have something solid that you can hold up and go, 'Look, this is me!' That means so much more to me than having people shake my hand at the end of a show." ---1996, Cincinnati CityBeat

Group Members Steve Libbey, Eric Davis, John Stanton, Mark Shepherd

Albums Sky-Fi, on Starfish Records

Location Atlanta, GA - USA

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