Martin Atkins Splash Master

Splash Stories Ben Steadman & Diamond Dave caught up with Artist, Educator, Label Owner, Storyteller Producer Drummer and Museum of Post Punk & Industrial Music Founder Martin Atkins at his base in the Bridgeport neighbourhood of Chicago, IL. 

Martin describes himself as an Entrepreneur in Cultural Arts Endeavours...He auditioned for and subsequently joined Johnny Rotten’s Public Image Limited in 1979 at only 19 years old and cowrote and performed on the song “Bad Baby” for the Metal Box LP & toured all over the world. 

Atkins left formed Brian Brain and had an indie chart hit in 1980 with"They've Got Me in the Bottle" (#39), and club hits with the singles "Jive Jive" (1981) and "Funky Zoo" (1982). and then rejoined Public Image Ltd to perform on the album The Flowers of Romance and earlier this year he recreated the album live to celebrate its 45th-anniversary with a “murderers’ row” of talent, including Chris Connelly, Robert Byrne, Leyla Royale, Orville Kline, Alicia Gaines, and Alan Lake.

In the mid 80's he played with Killing Joke recording Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions, toured with Ministry, formed his own band, Pigface and worked with Nine Inch Nails, performing on the Grammy award winning “Wish” and appeared in the “Head like a Hole” video. 

in 1988 he formed Invisible Records which has released over 350 albums and then Mattress Factory Studios in 1996. He wrote his book Tour:Smart in 2007, & has spoken around the world at major industry conferences, universities, and nonprofit organizations and is the Founder of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music and teaches at Millikin University in Decatur.  

When it comes to Martin Atkins : Expect the Unexpected.