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Four hundred enraptured Parisian eyes are transfixed as lead singer Jim Marson surveys the scene, set finale ‘Self Portrait’ teetering on the edge. White noise staccato flies over the audience below and reaches high up to expectant faces in the balcony. A pause, a breath. The musical juggernaut crashes into action – band and audience united as one sprawling, euphoric mass of unadulterated, visceral joy. This is Martial Arts.

Our songs punch from the gut but our words are personal, and we deliver them with feeling which causes a more sensory response… Martial’s meaning ‘to fight’ aligns with our music’s tough side, but the artistic part of our name is important to our emotive side too.

explains Marson.

Alongside Matthew Pearce (guitar & vocals), Tom Dunnell (drums), Jude Collins (bass) and Jack Brown (guitar), Manchester’s Martial Arts are an emergent movement as much as a band. A true northern powerhouse that grapple life’s expectations into lyrical chokeholds whilst frustration lives in their head rent free.

Blistering live outings lead to high profile shows (SPEEDY WUNDERGROUND / SO YOUNG / PARIS SUPERSONIC / NOW WAVE / PLASTIC FACTORY), whilst Martial Arts’ debut tracks ‘Warsaw’, then ‘Defector’, were unleashed in the first half of 2024 via legendary underground label Akoustik Anarkhy onto the wider, unsuspecting public.

Championed amongst many others by Radio X (John Kennedy X-posure playlist), BBC Introducing and So Young Magazine, Martial Arts are only getting started.

We’re trying to build ourselves a platform to be heard with an emphasis on positive change instead of self-indulgence, despite the world itself feeling selfish. This encapsulates the motive behind not only our lyrics but also us as a collective.”