The Martians Band

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The Martians are a rock band based in Edinburgh, Scotland, comprised of John, Gerry and James Kielty. The band won the Highland Quest for their musical "The Sundowe," a musical set in Edinburgh about the rising dead.

The Martians

1 Origins
2 Folklore/Marketing
3 Achievements
4 External links

[edit] Origins

John Kielty – Head Martian and actor, writer and musician. John 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’s album 'Seven Years Ten Weeks.' John developed his love of music at St Andrews school in Clydebank near Glasgow, 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. 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 Feb 2006. He has acted in plays and musicals at the Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh. 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.

John met David Sneddon 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. In October 2003 David started working with Universal Music as a songwriter.

[edit] 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 HG Wells "War Of The Worlds" and Jeff Wayne's musical of the same name. Their website also includes a complete copy of the HG 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.

[edit] Achievements

They continued song writing, performing and working on their individual projects. In 2004 they wrote and performed with rock band The Sham. In 2006 David Sneddon has been writing and recording a new solo album, and he describes his new album as 'acoustic indie pop'. David and John did several acoustic gigs in both London and Glasgow.

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 is run in partnership with Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, The Scottish Executive and The Mackintosh Foundation, in a quest to find a new musical to premiere in the Highlands of Scotland.

In July 2006, highlights from these five finalists musicals were performed in Ullapool, Scotland and the Sundowe won the competition. The Sundowe will be one of the opening events in the newly constructed theatre at Eden Court, Inverness in 2007, before embarking on a Scottish tour. Cameron Mackintosh, who has produced the musicals Cats and Les Miserables, will be producing.