French new wave act Martin Dupont return live after splitting up in 1987

(Photo by Michel Bresson / Martin Dupont) Martin Dupont, a French new wave band from Marseille disbanded in 1987. But they are now making a come back with a concert on January 21st 2023 in Marseille’s Espace Julien together with Corpus Delicti. Tickets are available here.

Martin Dupont was formed in 1982 and (re)released material on the following labels: Facteurs d’Ambiance, Minimal Wave and Infrastition. The band consisted of Alain Seghir, Brigitte Balian, Catherine Loy and Beverley Jane Crew, the latter joined the band after the first album “Just because” released in 1984.

After Martin Dupont split up in 1987, the members started their own projects. Brigitte Balian collaborated with the composer Patrick Portella, Beverley Jane Crew became producer of the Contemporary music network in London, and Alain Seghir composed for the choreographer Josette Baïz and the stylists Geneviève Delrieux and Patrick Murru, before devoting herself to his career as a surgeon (ENT surgery). He also created – together with Dan Armandy – the Supermax card for the Yamaha DX7 which was considered the invention of the year by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Although the band laid dormant for decades, the interest never really faded. A music video for the song “It’s so” was produced in 2005 by the American label Minimal Wave, followed by a limited edition vinyl in 2008 namely the compilation “Lost & Late”. The material included songs published on the unreleased cassette “81-83” from 1985. Another compilation followed the same year, “Des jeunes gens mödernes”. In 2009 the albums were re-released as a 4CD boxset by the French label Infrastition. Included in this set were previously unreleased tracks.

In 2017 the French electropop label BOREDOMproduct released the tribute album “Broken memory”.

In December 2018 the New York based label Minimal Wave released a new boxset, “The complete collection 1980-1988” holding 5 vinyls with artwork by Peter Miles. A previously unreleased track, “Nice boy”, appeared on the compilation “Des jeunes gens modernes volume 3”.

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