Durham DIY punks Martha have today announced a collection of hard-to-find songs spanning their whole career to date.
They have built up a loyal following since forming in 2012, and many of their early releases are long since sold out and fetch silly money on the second-hand market.
Standing Where It All Began: Singles and B-Sides 2012-2025 is a collection of 20 deep cuts and rarities, which will be released by Specialist Subject Records on 11 July.
The band said: “It’s been cool going back to these recordings and reflecting on the journey we’ve had together as a band.
“There are simply loads of songs on this record – our first double LP, including old favourites from the early days, various B-sides, and other stuff too (including a previously unreleased Lemonheads cover).
“It’s almost all material that is out of print on vinyl, as well as a couple of songs that have never been released on vinyl before. The collection has been lovingly re-mastered by the brilliant Dave Williams (Eight Floors Above, Ottawa, Canada).
“We felt it would be fitting to use the remastered version of the first song we ever recorded and released, 1978, Smiling Politely as the de-facto ‘single’ to promote this collection.
“It’s a song inspired by Audre Lorde, that we still love, but it’s one that has never been available on streaming platforms before.
“We hope these recordings offer something interesting for the newer Marthaheads to get stuck into, and will be an enjoyable trip down memory lane for the people who were there standing with us when it all began.”
Standing Where It All Began is available digitally or as a 2LP release from Martha’s Bandcamp page HERE.
