Joe Martek 1959–2007

>> Remembering the seminal influence of one of Montreal’s first punk promoters

CULTURE WARRIOR: Martek

by CHRIS BARRY

Joe Martek, a pioneering punk rock promoter whose contribution to the development of Montreal’s post-1977 cultural scene cannot be underestimated, died of a heart attack on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the age of 48.

In late 1978, Martek, along with Boris Shedov and Pierre Tremblay, founded Bambi Concert Productions, the first concert promoters in town to actively book both local and international alternative/punk bands on a regular basis. Not surprisingly perhaps, they never made any money. But, armed with a borderline-insane enthusiasm and quixotic belief that punk rock could change the world for the better, Martek, an otherwise savvy businessman still in his early 20s, thought nothing of risking the little cash he and his partners earned through their low-paying day jobs to enlighten us all by bringing acts like the Stranglers, Pere Ubu, Madness and Iggy Pop to the city.

There was a reason the major Montreal music promoters rarely took chances by booking punk bands, and it was a good one: the city simply didn’t have the audience to make it profitable. But for Bambi, profit was almost a secondary concern, and on those rare occasions when they did walk away from a gig with a few extra dollars, those monies were inevitably lost on their next few financially risky bookings. They didn’t seem to care all that much, and so long as Montrealers got to witness, say, the Exploited or John Cooper Clarke or Wayne Kramer’s Air Raid, Martek and the Bambi crew were happy.

It was never easy for them. Their very first gig, billed as the First Montreal Punk Rock Festival at the McGill University Ballroom on Jan. 13, 1979, ended up in a riot as my band, the 222s, hit the stage amid a hail of beer bottles hurled our way courtesy of the restless, drunken frat boys who’d shown up solely to jeer the punk rock freaks. As a result of the damage to the university and surrounding area, for close to a year, virtually every venue in the city shied away from booking anything remotely resembling “punk,” making life that much more difficult for the young entrepreneurs at Bambi.

But they persevered nevertheless, and in so doing helped build a local alternative music scene that simply didn’t exist before them. In November 1980, Bambi sponsored Montreal’s first and last Anti-CHOM rally, a gig whose sole purpose was to pressure the city’s only rock radio station into playing something other than Chris de Burgh for a change. The rally was a success, but effectively alienated Martek et al from the one major station in town that actually played the bands they were booking, if only for a few hours on Sunday nights. It was classic Bambi, forsaking profit for principle.

After a financially devastated Bambi Concerts finally closed shop in the early ’80s, Martek would import his experience with money-losing cultural organizations to the newly-spawned Montreal Mirror, where, in his role as business manager, he succeeded in bringing the struggling arts weekly a little cred in the local business community, reining in some of the key advertisers and business players that would enable the paper to continue publishing to this day. He would later perform similar miracles for the Piggery Theatre in the Eastern Townships.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Joe Martek was a truly lovely guy, and I, along with the countless Montrealers who’ve benefited, knowingly or not, through his tireless efforts to enrich this city’s cultural life, will miss him very much. Joe Martek, 1959–2007, RIP. Thanks, dude.