It’s February 29th, meaning it’s a leap day, and Durham indie punks Martha are celebrating it by paying tribute to one of emo bands ever – Jimmy Eat World. The quartet’s new 7″, ‘Tomorrow Just a Day Like All The Rest?’ (taken from ‘Goodbye Sky Harbour’), sees Martha putting their own spin on two classic Jimmy Eat World tracks with one of them being ‘A Praise Chorus’.
Originally appearing on 2001’s classic ‘Bleed American’ record, Martha‘s take on the track captures the same feel-good energy of the original, adding a subtle hint of gritty indie punk to the mix. “We first covered A Praise Chorus at one of the first ever Martha shows way back in 2012, so it was really nice to come back to that song and finally get a version of it recorded more than a decade later,” comments Martha drummer Nathan Stephens-Griffin. “We recorded that one with Chris McManus at Blank Studios in Newcastle. Chris is a legendary local producer and we’ve been sharing bills with his bands for years so it was lush to finally get to work with him on something in the studio. It also features guest vocals by the amazing Laura Kovic from Fortitude Valley”
Martha‘s brand of powerpop-infused indie punk may not entirely be stylistically aligned with Jimmy Eat Worlds. However, their knack for producing big choruses with riveting solos certainly leans into an influence from the Arizona emo legends.
“Jimmy Eat World will always inhabit a very special place in all of our hearts. It’s music we grew up with but unlike so much other stuff from that era, theirs is music which we’ve never really stopped listening to.” says Stephens-Griffin. “We might not sound much like them, but on some level they are inevitably there in the DNA of what we do.”
The other half of ‘Tomorrow Just a Day Like All The Rest?’ is a cover of ‘Crush’ from the equally important ‘Clarity’ album.
‘Tomorrow Just a Day Like All The Rest?’ by Martha is available as a limited (to 366) eco mix 7” vinyl through Big Scary Monsters.
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