About The Martells

Gary 'Guitar' Nunn

I started learning to play guitar when I was about 10 years old. My father played the guitar and was always sitting the front room playing Shadows songs and I thought I can do that. I borrowed an Acoustic guitar from my friend and sat in my bedroom all day until I could play Apache by The Shadows. After that I started learning everything I listened to, even adverts on the tv.

Over the next few I years I played in a couple of bands, whilst learning how to play other instruments. I learnt how to play the piano, some of the brass instruments and a little bit of drums.

In about 1984 I was in a local band called Stratus when I had to switch to bass guitar as our bass player couldn't make a gig and we didn't know any others but we knew a guitarist. That was me a bass player for the next few years playing in several bands including Mod Cons ( a popular local band in the 80's).

I gave up music for a few years from the late 80's to the mid 90's but it called me back. I went back onto guitar and started playing in local bands again. I was mainly into rock then and played in a band called Twist Of Fate. During this time I got to play with people like Phil Hilborne, some of the guys from Iron Maiden and Whitesnake. This was also about the time I did some gigs with The Martells up until they split up.

While The Martells were apart I played in various parts of the world with Adam Faiths band The Roulettes, The Andre de Moller Band, Eclipse and more recently Just Blues.

Sandy 'The Hitman' Sutherland

I started playing the drums at the age of 15 when we formed a band with school friends. As time went on from the age of 17 to 21 I played with several very good local bands before taking the big step of turning professional. My pro career lasted over 13 to 14 years during this time not only touring in several countries but getting to play with some of the best bands from the UK and America, gaining loads of experience working in backing bands as well as touring as part of established units. Some of the venues I have played in include  The 2i’s coffee bar,  lots of the 60’s stars were discovered there as well as The Top Ten and Star Clubs in Hamburg, also toured Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Italy, and Spain,as well as the length and width of Great Britain plus two stints on the cruise ships.

After the pro years I joined The Martells and played with them for 16 years until we all went our separate ways. Then after working as a stand in for a while joined up with The Andre De Moller blues band this lasted for about three years. Then came Just Blues, the last band I worked with until the reforming of The Martells. It’s been quite a ride and it is not over yet.

Charles 'The Duke' Rickards

Basses: Musicman Stingray 5 String; Dean Rhapsody 12 String; Rickards Fretless, also occasionally use JayDee Mark King Model 4 String and 1982 Rickenbacker 4001 4 string battered and old, but still great!

Amp: Mesa Boogie Buster Combo 200w into 15" Speaker plus Extension 15" Speaker Cab.

Effects: Boss on the rare occasions that I use them. I have Chorus, phaser, delay, compressor, octaver and parametric eq.

Favorite Bass Players: Jeff Berlin; Marcus Miller; Geddy Lee; Jaco (of course!); Gene Simmons; Paul Gray (Ex Damned and Eddie & the Hot Rods- It's because of him that I bought the Rickenbacker!) in fact I like listening to most bass players, you can learn from them all.

First Gig was at the Mulberry Tree in Ipswich with Lacey Street Blues Band in the early 1980s. I have covered some ground since then.

Past Bands: Lacey Street Blues Band; Parks Dept; Bobbit Lane Blues Band; Squealing Peachey; Jug City, Jabba, Lightbody, loads of dep gigs as well.