The Gardening Club - The Insubstantial Pageant (2026)

Martin SPRINGETT was born in the UK but moved with his family to Canada in 1965. In 1969 in Vancouver he recorded an album of settings of Tolkien's poems from Lord Of The Rings and the Hobbit but alas, Christopher Tolkien did not allow the record to be released. Martin played in bands and toured in Canada and the US, but returned to England in 1971 to seek a record deal. He toured in Europe with a band called GATEWAY DRIVER, based in Hanover, who played with SOFT MACHINE. Upon returning to Canada, a move to Toronto meant entering a new musical landscape and a Vancouver pal, Don GEPPERT, now a respected engineer in the Toronto music scene, worked with Martin on his LP "The Gardening Club". Originally released in 1983, this record was "the right album at the wrong time". Reissued in 2017 by Gonzo Multimedia with an additional five studio tracks complementing the original twelve tracks, Martin said, "I am thrilled that my music is finally seeing the light of day. I felt at the time that it was special, the perfect marriage of my art and music, influenced as I was by all the classic Prog music of my youth, and the wonderfully over the top and imaginative packaging. I have been in Canada for many years now, but as many listeners have told me, I have retained my English sound."

After the rerelease of "The Gardening Club" as an expanded CD, there was new interest in Martin's music. Things slowed down somewhat as Martin had a heart operation and six months of rehab, but this close call fired up his desire to create new music. Reconnecting with guitarist/producer Norm MACPHERSON, a pal from his young years in Victoria BC, the pair started work on "The Riddle", the rather late follow up to the original album. Originally just a "home recording", for their own enjoyment, the album grew in depth and complexity as Norm and Martin discovered a musical synergy that surprised them both, and led to many a joyful day in the studio. Local players were brought in to add more intriguing sounds, and Martin was convinced it should be released. Norm's brilliant production/engineering and arrangement skills, were a revelation to Martin, and this partnership has resulted in the release of four subsequent THE GARDENING CLUB albums.

During the pandemic, Martin's good friends, Kevin LALIBERTE and Drew BIRSTON, guitarist and bassist for SULTANS OF STRING were, like so many musicians at that time, out of work with no touring or recording going on. As Martin had longed to work with these two amazing players, he took this opportunity to ask them if they would like to work on a project tentatively called "The Blue Door" with him. The very first song they worked on, "Forever Leaving Home", was again a revelation to Martin as his compositional ideas and Kevin and Drew's sounds meshed in a startling way, harmonically and emotionally. This musical trio has now produced three albums, the latest being "Mr. October and the Moon of Madness". With Norm MACPHERSON on the West Coast as producer, and Kevin LALIBERTE producing and arranging in Eastern Canada in Toronto, there are now two versions of THE GARDENING CLUB. The two complement each other beautifully; Martin loves to add new intriguing voices to his music, and so THE GARDENING CLUB has become something of a collective, with some being released by A GARDENING CLUB PROJECT.

Martin creates all the art for THE GARDENING CLUB releases, and has also provided the covers for Kev Rowland's books, "The Progressive Underground".