JOHN KIELTY, HEAD MARTIAN and overlord. Be Afraid...

Accomplished actor, versatile musician, gifted singer songwriter, prolific writer and genuine down-to-earth guy. Revise that - often out in outer space! Actor, One Life Stand; Writer of Musicals; Co-Composer, David Sneddon 'Seven Years Ten Weeks.'
John is a poet playwright and describes the Martian’s music as 'rock with folk elements', but ‘mostly I just like to get people nodding.’ His writing is greatly influenced by sci-fi stories. A huge Dr Who & sci-fi fan, John has ambitions to one day play the Doctor. He is tailor made for Dr Who's colourful scarves, long coats and surprised expressions!

He has performed in many plays, radio, film and TV work in Scotland.
Theatre includes: Miseryguts, Romeo and Juliet, The Hypochonriak, Victory, Cinderella, Guys and Dolls,
A View from the Bridge, Merlin the Magnificent (Royal Lyceum), Caledonia Dreaming (7:84), The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Possible Worlds (Tron), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Citizens’ Theatre), Come on Feel the Noise (Brunton), Three Steps to Heaven (First Base), Pinocchio, The Pied Piper, Snow White (Cumbernauld Theatre).
Film and television includes: One Life Stand (Elemental Films), Taggart (SMG), Donovan Quick (BBC) and Drifting (Channel 4). John has worked extensively for BBC Radio Drama and took part in their Writers Lab for new talent last year.

His horror musical "The Sundowe" co-written with brothers Gerry and James, won the Highland Quest, a competition run in association with Eden Court, the Scottish Executive and the Cameron Mackintosh Foundation, and was performed in Eden Court Inverness in November 2007.

ORIGINS
1978 - 2003
John developed his love of music in fourth year at St Andrews school in Clydebank near Glasgow.
 The music department was a haven from the playground madness, and he learned all his instruments there, guitar, drums, keys, bass - ‘ it was very useful’.

ACTING
As a young alien John acted in Youth theatre. After leaving school he went to do an acting course and got work off the back of that. He has performed in many plays, radio, film and TV work in Scotland. He’s a born performer and thrives on it!
He made his acting debut in Iain Heggie's play ‘A Wholly Healthy Glasgow’.
 In 2000 John had a lead role in a critically acclaimed independent & award winning film 'One Life Stand', which was released on DVD in Feb 2006.
In 2001 he played Arthur in Merlin the Magnificent, the Prince in Cinderella, Charlie in Guys and Dolls. He has acted in plays and musicals at the Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh. John has worked as an actor for the Citizens, the Tron, The Kings theatre Glasgow, the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, and the National Theatre of Scotland. He has also been in many plays for BBC Radio Four. He has had parts on TV and was once shot in the chest by a high velocity rifle in the TV crime series 'Taggart'.
All this time John was dreaming up his fantasy world of ghosts, daleks, vampires, and more!

MUSIC - DAVID SNEDDON & 'the MARTIANS band.
John met David Sneddon while doing a play, John was acting Juliet’s father and David was Romeo. ‘David got my daughter killed so I thought I’d be his mate’! After playing some acoustic gigs at the Tron in Glasgow early 2002, they enjoyed the gigs so much they decided to start a band together and called themselves The Martians. 'I learned some of David’s songs on piano, I wrote some songs. We were going to be called the Ponchos’… Gerry’s idea!’ 

John wanted to perform an unplugged version of "War do the Worlds " so he brought in Harry (lead guitar) Gibby (bass) and Kate who made interesting noises. This went down pretty well. 
In June John got them all in the Studio to record the first 4-track Martian Cd in one day. They recorded 'Long Time Coming', 'Flowers and Butterflies', 'Roll Along' and 'Convince Me'. The CD got a good response and sold well. The Martians performed at the Edinburgh Festival in August, and that’s when things were starting to happen for them in 2002.
In October 2002 David entered the BBCs first Fame Academy, a combination of a talent quest and a reality television show. which he won with over 3m votes in December 2002.
John joined David in London in 2003 to write and perform with his band. "It was great to get the chance to concentrate more on music. I had been working at the Lyceum (theatre in Edinburgh) for a year and a half and that was great, but I'd had a good kick at that ball and it was time to move on." John co-wrote 4 of the songs on David’s debut album, which charted at #5, and the last track is John’s soulful ‘Long Time Coming.’ John was on Top of the Pops several times with David’s band. They played Uni gigs and also supported Elton John & Bryan Adams. While the "the pop, dazzle and fizz of showbiz" wasn't exactly what he expected they "got to work with some really good recording studios, some amazing musicians, and did a lot of good recording. David's album sold really well so we made a shit-load of money. It was a very, very interesting glimpse into the music world, and we're still there - we go down and work with artists all the time and write songs for them." 

2004 - In the first few months of 2004 John was songwriting with David. They visited music producers in the States and on the back of that decided to start an indie rock band in May.
The Sham included Ed Carlile(drums), Si Jones(guitar), Jake Goslin(keys), John Kielty(guitar) & Jay Mein(bass). The Sham did gigs in England and Scotland, and headlined at Aberdeen's hogmanay.
In 2005 John and David did an acoustic set at Colne Music festival. They headed up to the seclusion of a cottage in the remote Scottish highlands to write and that July. David's focus is on strong melodies while John has a creative way with lyrics. He and David still write together, and gig whenever they feel like it. In August 2007, John peformed 3 sold out gigs at the Jazz Bar Edinburgh with David.
(Sneddon has had chart hits worldwide for other artists and is signed to Universal Music as a songwriter, and describes his music as 'melody-driven indie pop'. In 2006 David started writing and recording for a new solo album. He released a 5-track EP called "White Noise" in January 2007, which is No 1 Indiestore charts in 2008. He plays occasional acoustic gigs in London and Scotland.) 

WRITING MUSICALS
The Martians performed many shows of 'Evil Face' at the Edinburgh Festival 2005.
Based in Edinburgh John has been writing Musicals alongside brothers Gerry and James, that have fantastical light and dark elements from vampyres to subtle satire.
John's musical titles are: 'The Rise of the Martians!' 'Beneath the Stars!' (about a girl who falls for a popstar) and his favourite ‘The Sundowe’ a medi-evil War of the Worlds!' John is fascinated by the undead, and thin places, he’s one spooked guy!

*John's BIG break came in July 2006 when his musical (or actical), written with his two brothers Gerry and James, the 'Sundowe', won the Highland Quest for a new Scottish musical July 2006. Originally written as a Radio script. In 2006 John also performed several acoustic gigs with David Sneddon in both Scotland and London.
In January 2007 John moved to San Francisco, the hometown of his long time girlfriend Liana. The 'SUNDOWE' is being recorded in the US and John will continue writing over there. The Sundowe went into rehearsals in October, and was performed in Eden Court theatre Inverness in November 2007. It was produced by Eden Court and the Cameron Mackintosh foundation.

In 2008 the Martians premiered their new musical 'Greyfriars Twisted Tales,' for a 3 week run at the Edinburgh festival at Musical theatre George Sq, produced by Carol Metcalfe of the Bridewell Theatre Company and the City of the Deads tours.
It runs through a brief history of Greyfriars Kirkyard, and received positive reviews from The Scotsman, OnstageScotland and Three Weeks. Following an appearance on 'Mervyn Stutter's Pick Of The Fringe' they were presented the "Spirit Of The Fringe" award 2008!  
2008 - John did a UK tour with the reduced Shakespeare company in ‘The complete Word of God’ In 2009 his musical 'Mercy Madonna of Malawi' played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival .
 
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 ‘We’d like to be like the Monkees, but more real, do comedy sketches and perform songs.
‘I’m interested in musical theatre, the performance and engaging people from the stage.’

John’s Music
John’s songs are optimistic yet dark, sincere, true and lyrical. He likes honest songs that have good melodies. John has a unique and strong musical focus and he’s influenced by the likes of Francis Dunnerry ( he sang with ‘ It Bytes’ in the 80s) ‘His melodies are fantastic and he sings from the heart’. While ‘songs are always dancing around his head’ he wants his songs to tell stories like his musical heroes the Beatles and Crowded House, who’s songs capture vividly remembered stories and images.
‘Lyrics are most important’ John likes his lyrics to lead his music, but also tunes and riffs come to him and then he matches the lyrics to them. He doesn’t like to listen to others, he wants to have his own voice. He first became interested in music after finding his mother’s black notebook of Lyrics that she’d written before having a family, and he always has one the exact same as hers, but without the flowers drawn on the cover! He used some of her lyrics for a song.
John’s songs use clear lyrical imagery. His songs have a lightness of touch, an enigmatic, dreamlike quality, he uses playful rhythm and engaging storylines. John is honest, genuine, enthusiastic, funny, insightful, optimistic, a poet.