The Martians are an

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

based

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, consisting of brothers John, Gerry and James Kielty. Their

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

The Sundowe ''The Sundowe'' is a musical written by Edinburgh-based writers and performers John, James and Gerry Kielty and featuring their band The Martians. ''The Sundowe'' was entered into the "Highland Quest For A New Musical" competition in early 2006 a ...

'' won the Scottish "Highland Quest For A New Musical" competition in July 2006. It was then produced by

Cameron Mackintosh Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "th ...

as a full stage musical, with the world premiere in November 2007 at the new Eden Court theatre

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, Scotland. Following a three-week run at Eden Court it toured the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

in January and February 2008. ''The Sundowe'' is a musical set in Edinburgh about the rising dead, written by

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

based writers and performers John, James and Gerry Kielty, and featuring their band, The Martians.

Band members and origins

* John Henry Micheal Maximillian Kielty Head Martian and actor, writer and musician. John Kielty had a lead role in ''One Life Stand'' film, and performed on the stage in Edinburgh. He writes musicals and also co-wrote

David Sneddon David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music. He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow. In 2002, h ...

’s album ''Seven Years Ten Weeks''. Kielty developed his love of music at St Andrews school in Clydebank near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, where he learned all his instruments guitar, drums, keyboards, and bass. He acted in Youth theatre, and after leaving school he attended Drama college. He has performed in plays, radio, film and TV work in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He made his acting debut in Iain Heggie's play ''A Wholly Healthy Glasgow''. In 2000 John had a lead role in the critically acclaimed independent and award winning film ''One Life Stand'', which was released on DVD in February 2006. He has acted in plays and musicals at the Lyceum theatre in

, and additionally played the title role in ''The Dream Dealer'' (Edinburgh Fringe 2006). In 2001 he played Arthur in Merlin the Magnificent, the Prince in Cinderella, Charlie in Guys and Dolls, plus a part in the TV show ''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 September 19 ...

''. John met

while performing in ''Romeo and Juliet''. He was acting Juliet's father and David was acting Romeo. After playing some acoustic gigs together at the Tron in Glasgow in 2001, they decided to start a band and called themselves The Martians. * Gerry Kielty John's younger brother, vocalist, performer and lyricist. Gerry frequently adopts an unusual "mouse" style singing voice. His main interest is in writing lyrics and scripts for Martian's shows. * Houston Banjo player, guitarist and vocalist. Generally known as "Houston". He frequently adopts a country and western style, as is well shown in "Mulch The Undead Cowboy". He co-writes much of the traditional Edinburgh Festival shows, along with the brothers Kielty. * Harry Ward Guitarist and vocalist. As a long-serving Martian musician Harry played himself during ''The Sundowe'' performances during the Highland Quest competition. *

Crawford Logan Crawford Logan is a British actor best known for his work in radio. In 2006 he became the latest actor to play the eponymous hero Paul Temple in a revival of the long-running mystery series on BBC radio. In 2009 he narrated the BBC Radio 4 Book of ...

A time-served actor well advanced in years compared to the rest of the band, Crawford supplies much of the voice-over work, in a style reminiscent of Richard Burton's work in Jeff Wayne's "

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

" and Vincent Price in Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Recent examples include "The Journalist" in The Martians own version of H.G. Wells' ''War of the Worlds'', and as "Roothby", an old and decrepit

Scottish parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

minister in "The Sundowe".

Folklore/Marketing

The Martians claim to be survivors of a disastrous invasion attempt in "last years of the nineteenth Century" who have adopted the guise of a band to fit in whilst they regain their strength for a final destruction of the "Puny Humans". Their music and website contain multiple direct and backhanded references to

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

'' and

Jeff Wayne Jeffry Wayne (born 1 July 1943) is an American-British composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of ...

's musical of the same name. Their website also includes a complete copy of the H. G. Wells "War of the Worlds" text under a Gutenberg licence. They are keen supporters of open source software and free music, and as such have several complete songs available for free download, the only stipulation being that credits are upheld.

Achievements

John Kielty and

continued song writing, performing and working on their individual projects. In 2004 they wrote and performed with the rock band 'The Sham'. In 2006, Sneddon began writing and recording for a new solo album, and described his new album as 'acoustic indie pop'. David and John did several acoustic gigs in both

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

in 2006 which were widely acclaimed. Sneddon won a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

UK reality television talent show with over three million votes in December 2002. He subsequently had four UK

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

in 2003, including a No. 1, and a No. 5 album in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Sneddon signed a publishing deal with

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

UK in October 2003. In 2009, Sneddon signed with major publisher

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

as a

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

''The Sundowe''

The Martians' musical ''The Sundowe'' got down to the final five stage of The Highland Quest for a new Scottish Musical competition from over 150 entrants. Written by brothers John, James and Gerry Kielty, the Sundowe is, "set in present day Edinburgh with the city in terror. People begin vanishing and vampires stalk the streets". The Quest was run in partnership with

Eden Court Theatre Eden Court Theatre (Scottish Gaelic: Cùirt an Easbaig) is a large theatre, cinema and arts venue situated in Inverness, Scotland close to the banks of the River Ness. The theatre has recently undergone a complete refurbishment and major exten ...

, The Scottish Executive and The Mackintosh Foundation, in a search to find a new musical to premiere in the

Highlands of Scotland The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

. In July 2006, highlights from these five finalists musicals were performed in

Ullapool Ullapool (; gd, Ulapul ) is a village and port located in Northern Scotland. Ullapool has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. It is located around northwest of Inverness in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. Despite its modest size, ...

, Scotland and the Sundowe won the competition. ''The Sundowe'' was then one of the opening events in the newly constructed

in November 2007, before it embarked on a Scottish tour. it toured the

, who produced the musicals ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

'' and ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'', was producing.

''Greyfriars Twisted Tales''

Produced by The Bridewell Theatre Company and City of the Dead Walking Tours, ''Greyfriars Twisted Tales'' premiered at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2008. Written by The Martians and with supporting roles from Derek Elsby and Marianne Sellars, it ran through a brief history of

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

, a graveyard in central

. It received positive reviews from ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', ''OnstageScotland'' and ''Three Weeks''. Following an appearance on 'Mervyn Stutter's Pick Of The Fringe' they were presented the 'Spirit Of The Fringe' award. On 27 October 2008, ''Greyfriars Twisted Tales'' transferred to London for one performance at the

Etcetera Theatre The Etcetera Theatre is a fringe venue for theatre and comedy. It was founded in 1986 and is situated above The Oxford Arms pub in Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. The Theatre won the ''1996 Guinness Ingenuity Award for Pub Theatr ...

. Produced by Cassie Wadsworth and Frazer Brown in association with The Rival Theatre Company.

References

External links

The Martians: Official site

The Martians Fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martians, The Scottish rock music groups