exploremusic

When Ontario College of Art student Mark Gane wrote “Echo Beach” for Martha and the Muffins back in 1978, he had no idea if such a place existed. Two years later, the song became a worldwide hit while the album, Metro Music, sold by the truckload. “Echo Beach” went on to become a New
Wave classic.

Fast-forward three decades to a reunion of the Muffins in February 2010. Amongst all the favourites was a new song called “Big Day.” Audience reaction was good enough for the band to record the song and stick it up on iTunes. Along with the new track is a re-recorded
version of “Echo Beach” to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the song’s ascent to global glory. (A link
here.)

The band has also launched a contest. They will write a song about a “big day” in the life of one of their fans. This is from the press release:

CONTEST: MARTHA AND THE MUFFINS MAKE YOUR “BIG DAY” EVEN BIGGER!

To celebrate 30 years of Echo Beach becoming an international hit, Martha and the Muffins will write and record a song about a big day in the life of one lucky fan.

“Celebrating 30 years of Echo Beach is a big day for us. We wanted to create a contest that would help us celebrate this achievement and give one of our fans a big day to look back on 30 years from now” – Mark Gane

To enter the contest, fans must submit a 200 word story describing a big day in their life to echobeach30@gmail.com. All entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges, including Mark Gane and Martha Johnson, and four (4) entries will be selected for the final round of the contest. The
four (4) selected entries will then be voted on by fans at
www.marthaandthemuffins.com – the entry that receives the most votes by 11:59pm ET on August 31, 2010 wins the grand prize.

Submission deadline: Friday August 27 at 11:59pm ET. Voting Commences September 1st. Voting closes at 11:59pm ET Monday September 13th.

Grand Prize: Mark Gane and Martha Johnson of Martha and the Muffins will write and record a song based on the winning entry submitted for the 30 Years of Echo Beach contest.

For more detailed contest information please contact Jeremie Poirier at jeremie@popguru.ca.