Songs and stories with Toby Martin and Mick Daley

Toby Martin and Mick Daley are singer songwriters with parallel interests but divergent musical lives.

Both are fascinated by Australian character and place and have made careers out of writing and singing about them. Grand Days curator Tom Hespe saw an intersection between their work and thought exploring the characters and situations that make up their songs would constitute a fine show. Accordingly, the proponents will blaze away at selected songs and afterwards discuss the inspirations behind them.

Grand Days has previously hosted fine contemporary Australian songwriters including Dan Kelly, Leah Flanagan and JP Shilo. It’s an intimate venue where the audience is surrounded by the kind of books and art that inspire such musical pursuits. 

Toby Martin famously fronts the indie rock outfit Youth Group, which tours Australia, the US, Canada and UK. Releasing five albums thus far, in 2006 they hit number one on the Australian charts with the song Forever Young, while their 2019 album Australian Halloween was a Double J feature album.

Mick Daley fronts country rock and roll band The Re-Mains, which for two decades has toured extensively through the Australian outback, Canada and Europe, releasing eight albums. Last year they toured through West Australian Indigenous desert communities with Tjuntjuntjara rock band the Desert Stars, about whom Mick has previously written for the Sun Herald.

On a break from touring, Toby lived in a post-industrial, pre-Brexit village in northern England, while lecturing at the University of Huddersfield. After returning to Australia he began lecturing in Contemporary Music at the University of Sydney. 

He published a Phd at Sydney University in 2015 on the history of Australian country music, which became a book, Yodelling Boundary Riders. His knowledge of Australian country music lead him to be consulted as a part of the 2020 documentary about Slim Dusty, Slim & I.

Mick studied journalism at the University of Canberra with Honours at Southern Cross Uni in Lismore. Having worked as a European based travel writer, in Australia he’s a freelance journalist writing for the likes of the Saturday Paper, Newtown’s sadly defunct Neighbourhood Paper and the Sydney Morning Herald. He’s written several unpublished novels, with another currently under construction.

Toby has released two solo albums, Love's Shadow in 2012 and Songs from Northam Avenue in 2017. The album was written in Bankstown, and features musical accompaniment by several locals of varying ethnicities. He performs solo across Australia and the UK.

Mick tours with Melbourne rock band the Corporate Raiders, with whom he’s released Courage and Shuffle the Cards (2012). He’s also released a solo album, Tiny Violins (2015). He plays around Australia, solo or with a variety of other outfits and individuals.

This event is supported by City of Sydney.