Meet the Artist: Dunedin's Chris 'Stick' Martin Plays Clearwater Beach Bar

Name:  Chris “Stick” Martin 

Band:  The Stick Martin Show

Since:  2003

Keys to Awesomeness:  Martin is the front man of The Stick Martin Show, a Dunedin-based three-piece, hip-hop and rock act. Martin won two awards — best singer-songwriter and best hip-hop group — at Creative Loafing’s 2010 Best of the Bay awards. Martin and the Stick Martin Show  is signed to New York City’s Crafty Records. Martin is a staple of the Dunedin music scene, and recently played at . Martin plays the Clearwater Beach Bar this Sunday, April 3, and hosts an open mic Monday at the Orbit 19 Lounge. 

How did you get started in music?

When I was really young I started writing hip-hop lyrics and messing around with drum machines. I would make little remixes using two tape decks.  Eventually I started singing, and playing drums and guitar.

Where can people hear your music?

All four of our albums are available for free on our website. There's also a ton of remixes, live stuff, side projects and demos.

What keeps you doing it?

Honesty, what else am I going to do? I have no job skills, and I'm kind of a smart alec, which doesn’t go over too well with companies.

Who or what are some of your inspirations? Is your music open to interpretation?

I’m big into Beck and Ween, but I like Frank Zappa a lot, too. I really dig people who do their own thing like Bob Log III or Daniel Johnston. As a kid all I listened to was Public Enemy, Run DMC, Beastie Boys and early “gansta” rap.

Is your music open to interpretation?

A lot of times, lyrically, I'm just joking around or trying to be funny. I'm just doing my best to express who I am. Sometimes you hit the mark and sometimes you are way, way off. I deliberately try to let people know what I'm talking about in my lyrics. I grew up listening to a lot of '90s music. I dug a lot of it, but much of the lyrics were very ambiguous. 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out with music?

If you're going to make a career out of playing music, get used to being poor. It takes a few years before you can make much money. It can be done, but you better have some hustle the first five years. Also, spend as much as you can on good used gear. Go used!

How has social media played a part with your music career?

It’s pretty much taken the place of fliers for me. There's a limit, however, to what social networking can do, since everyone knows like 500 bands on Facebook. Word of mouth is still the best way to go.