Glenn A Baker
There seems to be one in every musical generation of Australian music -a deft player of energy and adaptability able to fill a hole in a range of bands who might have folded otherwise or who need to give themselves a new market presence.
Though sometimes even his skills are not enough to save a classic entity from grinding to a halt. To wit his position in Mental As Anything, replacing Martin Plaza. Once Greedy Smith died it was plain that the Mentals had reached the end of their run.
However, Martin Cilia’s role in The Atlantics allowed that legendary outfit to have a new breath of life. He not only looked just right but he sounded just right. All of a sudden they became a forceful new act, with a string of new albums that he wrote for, produced and shaped.
At age 14, Cilia became a professional musician. He played in various bands in and around Perth before spending a year in London in 1979. In 1982 Cilia joined Invasion Force where he met locals Alf Demasi and Lloyd Allanson. Together they formed the Perth band The Flying Fonzarellis which released several recordings and toured Sydney in 1984. The band released the studio album Having a Party, which peaked at number 58 in Australia in 1984. Singles Honey Bee and Stay peaked inside the Australian top 100 in 1985.
After the Fonzarellis, Martin went on to play with Midget & the Farrellys who were extremely popular in Fremantle throughout the America’s Cup. Already his passion for that stinging surf music guitar sound was obvious. He then went on to tour and record with Dave Warner’s From The Suburbs. Cilia moved to Sydney in 1989. He played & recorded with The Brookes then toured W.A. in 1993 with the Big Land – Big Heart tour. That band contained Dobe Newton of the Bushwackers, Ernie Dingo, Dave Warner, Greg Macainish (Skyhooks), Paul Hitchins (Sports) Dave Clarke and Cilia. They toured Vietnam with a similar concept in January 1994.
Martin is now generally billed as The King of the Surf Guitar. He has been phenomenally prolific with a series albums under his own name, many released on his Surfersaurus label (not unlike Kevin Borich, he has found a way to cut out the middle man and control his own destiny on record).
It all began with Revenge Of The Surf Guitar in 2007 and went on to include:
The Odd One Out (2009)
Surfersaurus (2011)
Going to Kaleponi (2013)
Electric Christmas (2015)
SleepWalk EP (2017)
Espresso Martino (2018)
Shadowman (2019)
another 6 Track EP (2022)
Dawn Of The Surf Guitar (2023)
The last one included a track that featured writing and drums by the late Peter Hood, the Atlantics founder who was such a driving force on Bombora.
He was included on the third volume of Steve Flack’s Guitar Heroes, a sign of his rise into the upper ranks of Australia’s string benders. I introduced him on stage when Steve and a number of ace axemen performed at A Drum Roll For Colin Burgess tribute concert a couple of month’s back.
In 2021 Martin joined The Radiators and continues to tour with them. You can’t keep a good man down …. And believe me Martin Cilia is a helluva good man!