the mars patrol

Edinburgh Fringe festival 2018

Davina & Ross are pleased to be performing a one-off intimate acoustic show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Tickets are on sale now (link below)...not to be missed!

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/mars-patrol-acoustic

BBC Castle Tent Show (Fringe)

This Friday 5th August Davina & Ross from the band will be playing a set at the new BBC Village at George Heriot's at 9:30pm. This is a non-ticketed event: http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/egqv2m/acts/axv6gw

Edinburgh Festival Show Tickets

Tickets for this show are available from two places, the Fringe website itself where they are almost gone and ADM Events (promoter's own website) which has just opened up the rest of the tickets for the show. So we recommend getting them from there: http://www.admevents.co.uk/act/the-mars-patrol/

Davina and Ross, Edinburgh Festival intimate acoustic show.

Davina and Ross, Edinburgh Festival intimate acoustic show.

Live at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

We are delighted to announce that The Mars Patrol will be making their Edinburgh Fringe debut this year with a one-off intimate acoustic show by Davina and Ross at the stunning Merchants Hall on Hanover Street, right in the centre of the city.

Tickets were released today and are available to buy now online at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/mars-patrol-acoustic as well as from The Merchants Hall Box Office.

The Mars Patrol Live at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The Mars Patrol Live at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Amazing Radio plays new single

As well as being on Jim Gellatly's new music playlist of favourite tunes for the month of May at the Scottish Sun, he once again plays new single 'Not About You' on his Amazing Radio show at 2pm today...

The show broadcasts via methods listed below as well as DAB in Dublin:

http://amazingradio.co.uk/jimgellatly via their website
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazingradio/id476404037?ls=1 on your Apple device...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazingmedia.radio1 ...on your Android device (these apps are both free)
http://www.amazingradio.com on their radio player
http://tunein.com/radio/Amazing-Radio-s105824 and via TuneIn.

If you miss the show, you can listen again via the Jim Gellatly show page immediately after the first broadcast, via http://www.amazingradio.com/jimgellatly.

BBC Introducing London to play new single

The Mars Patrol BBC Introducing London

The Mars Patrol BBC Introducing London

This Saturday 30th April, new single, 'Not About You' will be played on BBC Introducing London with Gary Crowley. Live on your radio, TV or mobile from 8pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiolondon

Human Condition Album Out Now

Human Condition by The Mars Patrol

Human Condition by The Mars Patrol

Human Condition is now officially released and available at the following stores. More stores to be added imminently...

iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/human-condition/id1090063276
Apple Music
https://itun.es/gb/SUq-ab
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/47jBg4gTw0595O3tQYOAeJ
Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CM0FD1G


Check the full album samples below...

New Music Video for 'Not About You' released

Check out the brand new video for the band's latest single, Not About You, directed by John Hardwick. The single is available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and all others...

Making of 'Girl I Used To Know' (video)

Hey everyone!

Stephen here. My turn to write a blog! Want to say, firstly, how excited and proud I am for us to actually have an ‘album’ coming out into the World. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in everything else in life that we forget to celebrate our achievements. Recording and releasing an album is definitely a childhood dream of mine. So yeah. #proud. Hope you all like it!

Since I directed the music video for ‘Girl I Used To Know’, I thought it’d be fun to talk a bit about the concept for the video and what went in to making it.

Girl I Used To Know is one of my favourite songs to play live. I love the energy and the fresh, summer-vibes. It immediately transports me somewhere else – I love that music has the power to do that. It’s funny, when you’re so close to a song – knowing it inside out – it’s actually kinda difficult to distance yourself from it enough to generate a coherent visual to accompany it. That’s not always the case, of course. Sometimes a song immediately generates an image in your head and other times, you have to search for it.

To be honest, we went through so many different ideas for this video that I’ve forgotten how we arrived at this one! I remember that Davina had this idea about someone who is weighed down by regrets. That got us thinking about a literal representation of having ‘the world on your shoulders’… and ‘Globehead’ was born! We loved the idea of this character who carries this ever growing backpack of regrets around with him and it affects his mood, his self-esteem and his relationships. The video is sorta a metaphor for moving forward and staying positive. Harbouring regrets will drag you down and in the end only burning them will set you free to appreciate what you do have.

What you might not know is that the ‘regrets’ on the pieces of paper were actually real-life regrets submitted by our friends and followers via our website. So when we burn them at the end, it’s actually really personal. I love that about the video. The burning of the bag was a real challenge as we had to creep about deep in the woods where we could actually set it on fire and not to cause any alarm! 

My gorgeous friend Maya plays Globehead’s partner in the video and Globehead himself is played by the wonderful Adam Mroz. He actually can’t see anything with that Globe on his head, so scenes that should have been really easy were a real challenge for him to navigate. He had so much energy all day, despite the challenges and I think he does a fantastic job of portraying a character whilst not being able to use facial expression at all!

Furthermore, for Maya to be able to play serious scenes opposite a man with a papier-mâché globe on his head is no small feat! I think she does an incredible job in this video and we’re super grateful to both Maya and Adam for being such great sports in bringing to life our crazy ideas! Shout out also to our Art Director Christoff for helping us pull this one together.

I've just put together a few outtakes from the video below followed by the behind the scenes video from the band performance shoot...

And here is the final video, hope you like...

Talk soon,

S x

New single to air on Jim Gellatly's radio show

Our new single 'Not About You' will be played this Sunday from 2pm on Jim Gellatly's Amazing Radio show.

The show broadcasts via DAB in Dublin, or any of the methods listed below:

http://amazingradio.co.uk/jimgellatly via their website
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazingradio/id476404037?ls=1 on your Apple device...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazingmedia.radio1 ...on your Android device (these apps are both free)
http://www.amazingradio.com on their radio player
http://tunein.com/radio/Amazing-Radio-s105824 and via TuneIn.

If you miss the show, you can listen again via the Jim Gellatly show page immediately after the first broadcast, via http://www.amazingradio.com/jimgellatly.

I Wonder Lyrics & Artwork

Hey folks, Ross here.

I hope you are enjoying our video for I Wonder. I thought I'd come on and post the lyrics as well as the story behind the artwork (below), so here you go...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hanging in the side wings waiting on my cue from you
So scared in case I miss it, that’s my chance to get in the spotlight with you
I waited for so long, I didn’t see it coming, today I could be someone
Going through the motions, fueled by the memory of those who’ve gone before me

And I wonder what you’re doing right now
I know you’re not a face in the crowd

People looking on now, taking my first steps to you
You make it look easy dancing all around me so smooth
But all I see is blurry as you dance there before me
Lead me through ‘cause I don’t want to fall
And just so you know this, if I can through this
it’s everything I’ve ever wanted

And I wonder what you’re doing right now
I know you’re not a face in the crowd

The pressure’s on to get it right just got to let it go
The hardest thing’s not to fall apart and not in front of you
You made me realise what I could be

And I wonder what you’re doing right now
I know you’re not a face in the crowd

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I really wanted the artwork for 'I Wonder' to represent the song and the album that it comes from. The song, in a nutshell, is about a theatre performer/dancer from the past (you can read Davina's full article about that here) so I wanted to use a graceful dancer from the 1930s.

I managed to source a great photograph which was a good start. I then wanted the photo to tie in well with the rest of our current designs so I mixed the beautiful dancer's pose with the artwork from the actual album which tied it together. If you look closely on her body you can see that the texture is taken from the Human Condition artwork although I tweaked the colour a bit.

After working on the design for a couple of days I started to notice as I walked away from it that I could also see the dancer's shape as a bit like a flying dove. At this point I just left it and knew it was finished.

I really hope you like it,

Cheers,
Ross.

Write here...

Write here...

The story of I Wonder + behind the scenes

Hey everyone,

Davina here. I hope you are all doing well :)

As our album release is fast approaching I thought I'd write a blog about our song and latest online video, 'I Wonder'. The song was never actually meant as a single (over 5 minutes long...not exactly radio friendly these days!!) but from the moment it was born it was definitely a fan favourite and captured a mood and something special. So we thought we'd do a simple but beautiful video to represent it. We also wanted to do it after the loss of arguably our biggest fan, Scott Watson who sadly passed away last year. Although the song wasn't written about him, it's lyrical content, "And i wonder what you're doing right now" fits. 'Scotty Boy' as he was known was at every Edinburgh show we ever did from very early on in our musical ventures and was always first to buy a ticket for a show and the first person to post a picture of a new song, tshirt or poster.

The song itself came from a fictional story Ross and I made up. We imagined the film of the song before we actually wrote the song. The 'imaginary' scene opens with an old man looking at a photograph and reflecting back on his early days in the theatre waiting for his big break and falling for the female lead that he hoped to perform with. He was the understudy of the male lead and looked on every night hoping to get his chance...not only at being the male lead but to act and dance with the girl he secretly loved. Sometimes its good to feel a different sense in songwriting and to become an actor so to speak and see things through someone else's eyes.

The song goes on to tell the story of the intense night where his dream becomes a reality which explains the verse lyrics, "Hanging in the side wings, waiting on my cue from you" and "just so you know this, if I can get through this, it's everything I've ever wanted". I'm sure we have all had that kind of nervous adrenaline emotion when something or someone means that much to you and you want to do your best. When you listen to the song now, try imagine it. (There's another blog post coming soon with the full lyrics)

We recorded the song in Cambridgeshire, a couple of hours outside London where we rented a country house for two weeks. Below is some footage of Ross recording the haunting guitar part for the intro of the song. I have no idea who is in the creepy portrait painting behind him btw. The eyes did watch us everyday! We also had to often dodge bats in the studio as they seemed to be drawn to the melodies. Maybe we were making some echolocation sounds without knowing it. There's a pic in the gallery below of the wee dude that spent the night with us curled up in a candle. So cute! We released him the next day at dusk and he circled round a couple of times and disappeared into the night.

One day we might have the budget to make 'I Wonder - The Movie' but in the meantime here is our music video for the song which we shot late one night when we were in London. We sure did cover some ground that night! Some of the locations include Embankment, Hampstead and Camden Town. I've included some behind the scenes below pics too that were taken by my friend Nadia who helped us out through the shoot...

Thanks for reading this, hope you enjoy the video. Will do another blog soon. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like me to feature or talk about. You can get me on twitter @davinamars or on Facebook. I Wonder is actually already available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music etc if you want to get a hold of it.

DD.x

Album Release 29th April 2016

The band's album, 'Human Condition' will be released on April 29th 2016. The album was fan funded through two successful Pledge Music campaigns and is now available to pre-order:

iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id1090063276?app=itunes

Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CM0FD1G

Watch new video for I Wonder here.

Music Video for Girl I Used To Know

The Mars Patrol's new music video for Girl I Used To Know is out now along with the single! The band's fans submitted their own personal regrets to be burned in the video and that's exactly what happened! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96C25-cC6RI

BBC Introducing London

The band's new single, 'Girl I Used To Know' will be featured on BBC Radio London tonight with Gary Crowley from 8pm! Listen here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025tszp.

Stay tuned for the music video for the single, coming very soon.