Martha's JC Cairns on Love Keeps Kicking

"I guess we’re just surrounded by people who don’t seem to know anything. It is a weird time." That’s JC Cairns’ take on the current socio-political situation unfolding on these fair isles, and it’s pretty on the nose. Luckily for us, Cairns and his bandmates in County Durham indie-punks Martha have crafted a new record that’s all about finding your way through the gloom.

Away from the mess unfolding outside, it’s also a time of upheaval for the band themselves. Third album Love Keeps Kicking is another excellent collection laced with humour and pathos, but it’s also the band’s first album since the demise of the much-loved Fortuna Pop! label. Martha have since joined the ranks at Big Scary Monsters, alongside the likes of American Football and We Were Promised Jetpacks.

"It’s new territory for us," Cairns tells us, "working with a completely different team of people [and] a label that does things completely differently to labels we’ve worked with in the past. It’s exciting. I mean, I’m confident in this record and the people we’re working with that it is going to be alright but it’s big, and it’s a big change for us."

That new album is a kaleidoscopic take on the break-up record, an approach informed by the band’s shared duties when it comes to lyrics and songwriting. It’s a record that touches on loss, love and sorrow, but does so via (among other things) demonic possession, pro wrestling and ill-advised attempts at starting mosh pits at weddings.

"I think what we try to articulate as best we can are our own experiences but in a universal way," Cairns says. "I think everyone’s been lucky enough to have had a break-up at some point, and there are a lot of murky feelings that come with that. I guess when we all have a hand in the editorial process it’s generally more universal in that respect, but being deeply personal at the same time."

Despite notable past billing as "The World's Best Straight-Edge, Vegan, Anarchist Rock Band", Cairns rejects the idea of Martha as an overtly political band, stating that "the songs themselves are just generally more about the mundane and everyday. But," he adds, "I guess when you’re writing about the everyday you can’t really separate it from what’s going on."

One of the highlights of Love Keeps Kicking is the storytelling punch of Mini Was a Preteen Arsonist, based on the true story of Michael ‘Mini’ Cooper. It’s a bouncy three-minute pop song that stealthily drops some extremely incisive lyrics – 'Something dies every day / Something precious died when he got locked away' is an early contender for bleakest-yet-catchiest hook of 2019.

"That song is about a kid called Michael ‘Mini’ Cooper who was featured in a documentary that was made by [Quadrophenia director] Franc Roddam," Cairns tells us. "It’s based in County Durham in a not-quite Young Offenders Institute where this young lad, Mini, was caught basically throughout his life… and that song, basically, is his story.

"A lot of the lines are taken from this 11-year-old’s words; he was incredibly articulate, but he just was into starting fires. He lit his dad’s house on fire when he was ten years old, just because he liked fire. That’s his story – that documentary is quite an interesting look at how kids who don’t necessarily fit the mould are treated and kind of put away, essentially, rather than being supported; just hidden away and left to their own devices."

Then there’s the local aspect to Mini’s story: "He was a kid who grew up in County Durham, who’s the same age as my parents. It’s very real, and it’s easier to write about things that are real to you. I’m not saying that we had the same experience as Mini or whatever, but that is the part of the world that we grew up in, that our parents grew up in, and so on.

"It’s kind of based on experience and the oral history we grew up around; it’s just the obvious thing for us to write about and talk about, things we know about and can relate to, to some extent."

Martha’s Durham roots have long been central to their sound, and their down-to-earth lyricism remains even as the band have moved up a notch in the music industry. "DIY is what we’ve always known," says Cairns. "When you look at it as a practice or an ideology it’s something we’ve always subscribed to, to varying extents. But when you’re trying to keep the wolf from the door, there's only so much you can do.

"I feel like recently we’ve been a little bit less strictly DIY – BSM isn’t a DIY label, it’s their job, which is great. They’re doing a job they love. It’s more realistic to think of [DIY] as a constant negotiation. I think us being informed by DIY culture or politics informs how we negotiate our real lives and how we operate as a band."

Things never stay the same for too long, but the relatable, homespun core of Martha’s appeal remains fully intact. Cairns describes Love Keeps Kicking as "a record about keeping on keeping on in the face of everything" – for times like these, that seems as good a message as any.

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Love Keeps Kicking is out now via Big Scary Monsters
Martha play Mono, Glasgow, 3 May