Songs in Progress

Songwriters generally have to wait until after their songs are recorded and released to get much feedback from peers and fans.

Even in the quick turnaround world of grass-roots alternative rock, that’s too long for Mike Martt. That’s why Martt, a fixture on the Southern California music scene as a member of Tex & the Horseheads, Thelonious Monster and his current band, the Low & Sweet Orchestra, has organized a platform for songwriters to try out, refine--and maybe even create--new material in public.

He calls it Song Shop, a round-table that begins Monday night at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach. This first installment features Martt plus David Baerwald (David & David), producer Bill Bottrell (Michael Jackson, Sheryl Crow, Linda Perry) and local session musician and producer Johnny Jones. Martt plans to continue the sessions once a month.

It’s similar in concept to the In Their Own Words touring shows of a few years back that started at the Bottom Line club in New York. The idea was to take the spotlight off staging, performance and arrangements and put it squarely on the song.

Martt came upon the idea after doing a songwriter showcase in August at the now-defunct Ash Grove in Santa Monica. Martt joined ex-Plimsouls singer-songwriter Peter Case, the driving force behind that series, and two others in a spontaneous exchange of music and ideas.

“It was exciting and kinda forced me to put a new twist on some of my songs,” Martt said during a recent interview over breakfast at a downtown Long Beach cafe.

“I asked Pete if I could steal his idea. He said, ‘Sure, it’s not mine.’

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Martt asked veteran concert promoter Steve Zepeda to come up with a venue. Zepeda, who books talent at both the Blue Cafe and the Foothill in Signal Hill, liked the concept and agreed to hold the series at the Blue Cafe if Martt booked the songwriters.

Martt anticipates no problems there.

“I told everyone that they’d have to work on new songs in front of people,” he said. “because it’s a song shop, right? Now whether or not that will actually happen . . . I don’t know. [But] the idea is to work on a song as you would a car . . . like a work-in-progress.”

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While the round-table is designed primarily to benefit its participants, audience members will--ideally--have a chance to observe the creative process.

“If you’re seeing someone you know or have heard before, you might hear them in a different light,” suggested Martt, who will moonlight as a guitarist in a revamped T.S.O.L. for a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on March 28. “Maybe they’ll play a song the way they would have done it solo instead of as part of a band. And hell, we might all learn and play together a protest song that we all like.

“Then again, some people don’t go in for that unplugged [stuff] we’ll be doing. There will always be noisy people at the bar who are just there to drink. But that’s OK--we’ll just add a little verse that makes fun of ‘em.”

Martt’s niche as a songwriter has been as a storyteller of life’s gritty, everyday realities. A stoic perseverance has marked his most memorable work, from the romantic turbulence of “A Nail Won’t Fix a Broken Heart” to the melancholy “I Had to Leave a Friend Behind,” his farewell to Thelonious Monster leader Bob Forrest when he left that group.

Martt, 39, has lived an edgy existence laced with hard times and disappointment. He’s spent time in jail, lived on the streets and was strung out on booze and drugs. His nearly 15 years spent in Los Angeles and Hollywood were loaded with struggles--many of those, he admits, self-imposed.

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Before those wearisome days, Martt had grown up in Sunset Beach, attended Huntington Beach High School and played in an ‘80s-era punk band called Funeral. Today, he speaks quite happily about the Long Beach neighborhood he’s lived in for the past year, following the breakup of a relationship.

“There’s a guy with his Bible who preaches every day, right over there,” said Martt, pointing to the post office across the street. “He’s yelling and screaming, but I’ll stop, sit on the steps and listen to him sometimes . . . to see if he’s got any direction. This town has a lot to take in. There are both artists and street people here--and I like that.

“Writing can be hard, and sometimes you need a catalyst to get you going in the right direction. I’m always looking for a creative spark, whether it’s going down to the docks at midnight or listening to a Van Morrison record.”

Martt hopes the Song Shop series will be that kind of spark, as well as a confidence builder, for all who take part--himself included.

“Songwriting isn’t really a lost art, but it’s certainly gone underground, especially in pop music,” he said. “Well, maybe not for somebody like Sophie B. Hawkins . . . but for the rest of us, good songwriting is buried in deep places where we have to work to uncover it.

“With this workshop, the pressure of being a solo performer--someone who has to play all of his songs in a row--is completely alleviated. Here, you play one song, and it’s on to the next guy. So the audience doesn’t have to watch just one songwriter who’s bellyaching about his relationship or whatever.”

The informal atmosphere is ripe for the unexpected.

“The round-table tends to provide a more personal and immediate experience. . . . It’s almost like a therapy group,” Zepeda said in a phone interview. “And it’s unpredictable, which is something you don’t find at too many shows.”

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Martt said he’s interested in booking ex-bandmate Forrest and Beth Carmellini of the modern rock band Red Five. He said he’d also like to keep the definition of “songwriter” loose.

“Do you call Ry Cooder a songwriter, even though there are no lyrics to his music?” Martt asked. “Yes, you do. He doesn’t sing, but his instrumentals say a lot. So at some point, I’d like to include an instrumentalist . . . like maybe Zander [Schloss, the guitar and banjo player of Low & Sweet Orchestra].

“What’s important, I think, is . . . to experiment a bit. That’s what it’s all about . . . keeping yourself excited about music, particularly your own. Otherwise, it can get boring--just like any other job.”

* Song Shop, featuring Mike Martt, David Baerwald, Bill Bottrell and Johnny Jones, plays Monday at the Blue Cafe, 210 Promenade, Long Beach. 9 p.m. $5. (562) 983-7111.