46. Martin Rev

Portrait by Nathan Berko-Gibson

Keyboard wizard and punk pioneer Martin Rev, (born Martin Reverby) grew up in New York where he still lives today. In his youth, he was a fan of doo wop music, and then became engrossed in the emerging jazz world that was happening around him, brushing shoulders with the likes of Thelonious Monk, Archie Shepp and Eric Dolphy, and playing in a combo called Reverend B in the late 1960s. It was in those days that he befriended a visual artist called Alan Vega, with whom he would soon form a band named Suicide. They were likely the first group to advertise their performance as “Punk Music,” back in 1971, and their influence is far-reaching. Artists who have reworked their songs include Henry Rollins, Bruce Springsteen, Neneh Cherry, M.I.A and R.E.M., among countless others. Martin Rev has also been a solo artist in his own right since, well, forever really. He joins this program to speak with Markly Morrison and Madison Nadine to talk about his formative years, expound on his creative process, wax philosophical on art in general, and set the record straight on a handful things that the well-meaning citizens of the internet got twisted.

(There is a link to the raw unedited version of this phone interview at patreon.com/lowprofile)