Martin began his career as a busker aged 15 and soon got swept away by the excitement of Punk through 76 & 77, ended up a shoe gazing new waver in 78 inspired by early Cure and the Brighton scene, all set to be a guitarist he joined The Cosmic Outbursts with his cousin Jamie in 78 and soon teamed up with members of the Disturbed to form Strange Relations, who were influenced by Monochrome Set, Wha Heat, early Velvets of course and Lenny Kaye's Nuggets album, his new wave shoe gazing came to an abrupt and painful end when he was fired from SR though overuse of a flanger and being too giddy as the other boys were a tad older, Martin fell into songwriting by developing a jack of all master of none approach to guitar, he would get a Spanish book and learn a few licks then do the same with Jazz, Blues, Country, Skiffle, Reggae and eventually this would become his trademark on his debut album Boat to Bolivia... which had no formula and the range was insane.... one distinguishing factor of the Daintees is the range, they have covered so much even within four songs that many formulated bands never even think of...

The Daintees signed to Kitchenware in 1982 along with Hurrah and Prefab Sprout, they toured early on with The Bluebells who Martin is still mates with, also Aztec Camera and Microdisney, in 85 they became Roy Buchanans backing band touring for 4 weeks in Europe, the following year joining John Martyn for his 'Piece by Piece tour.. other artists Martin has toured with are The Hothouse Flowers and Jancie Ian

The first members of The Daintees were Martin Stephenson, Graham Anderson, Steve Minto, Jamie Harwood, Adam Linam, Christopher Mordey, Anth Dunn, John Steel, Gary Dunn, Marty Yule, Paul Smith, Mickey Watson, Malcolm Dick, Andrea Mackie, Kate Stephenson, Shayne Fontayne, Neil James Morrison, Gordon Larkman (RIP) Dave Ruffy and many other good friends along the way

Boat to Bolivia was produced by Gil Norton (Pixies/Gomez/James)

Gladsome humour and Blue was produced by Paul Samwell Smith (Cat Stevens, All About Eve, Carly Simon)

Salutation Road was produced by Pete Andersosn (Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked)

The Boys Heart was produced by Lenny Kaye (Suzanne Vega, James)

Western Eagle was produced by Martin and Stuart Macleod, who also did Airdrie and Gladsome 30

California Star was produced by Martin, as was Collective Force, Yogi in my house, Lilac tree and Wheel of fortune along with old pal Isaac Sutherland 

Many more albums available

Check out daintees.bandcamp.com