Martin Christie started the all Electronic Music Open Mic (EMOM) tour in early 2017. The approach came out of attending open mics which were dominated by acoustic guitarists and a feeling that there was no proper place for electronic musicians to meet and play music.
The EMOM nights were also intended to have a strong community based and supportive set of values, so that no-one should feel their creative endeavours were in any way less valuable than the next persons.
The initial tour has since inspired regular nights in Bristol, Hull, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, York, London and Norwich amongst others. There are also EMOM nights now taking place in Sydney and Berlin.
Many collaborations and friendships have emerged from the EMOM meetings.
Martin has also written a number of books including Open Mic Travels which describes the experience of travelling around various open mic nights up and down the country. These events often provide an insight into what is happening at a local level in a town or city, as well as the experience of being a musician playing in these different contexts.
Martin is currently writing Data Trials which describes the joys and pitfalls of electronic music making and many of the EMOM events he has attended and also hosted.
The future shape of the EMOM movement is very much down to those who are involved and want to take a part. A music sharing app is being developed and various festivals are being planned that EMOM will be part of.
The first EMOM event is also taking place in Amsterdam at OT301 in November.
