Noctorum is a musical collaboration between singer/guitarist Marty Willson-Piper and producer and multi-instrumentalist, Dare Mason. Marty and Dare grew up on the Wirral, near Liverpool, in the 1970’s, listening to prog, glam rock, heavy metal, space rock, Tamla and all genres in between. Taking weekend trips into the city to see their heroes at the iconic Liverpool Stadium, they would read all about them in the Melody Maker or the NME the next week. The transformation from music fans to musicians took place when Nigel, Marty’s older brother, joined a local covers band and began to pass on his knowledge of guitar chords to the two teenagers. Through their schooldays and beyond, the pair stayed in touch, writing songs and playing in bands on Merseyside and later, in London.
It was while living in the capital, that Marty’s girlfriend, Lucy, persuaded them to try their luck in Australia. So in the spring of 1980, Marty and Dare found themselves in Bondi, a beach suburb of Sydney, wondering what their next move should be. At the time, a promising band called The Church were looking for a second guitarist and when they saw and heard Marty play, they immediately offered him the job. Thus began his long association with the band that lasted till he left in the early noughties. Meanwhile, Dare formed his own band but had limited success. Wishing to stay involved with music, he took a course in sound engineering, moved back to the UK and was recruited by the Townhouse Studios in London where he worked with artists such as Prince, Paul McCartney, Queen and so on.
Marty and Dare kept in touch during this period, meeting up in New York, London and often in Stockholm, where Marty had taken up residence. They were able to work together on Marty’s solo albums, utilising the studio expertise that both had acquired. The first of these albums, “Art Attack”, was recorded on an 8 track machine in just a week at The Church’s manager’s office in New York. They recorded the second, “Rhyme” in Stockholm on a 16 track and the third, “Spirit Level” on a 24 track, once again in Stockholm. Dare took all the albums back to London to mix at the Townhouse during down time. Steve Kilbey, the main man in The Church, was so impressed with Dare's work on Marty's solo albums that in 1991, he asked Dare flew to Sydney to produce The Church’s “Sometime Anywhere” album.
Recording in the VIP Lounge 2017
By 2001, Dare had relocated to Penzance in the far south west of England, where he still resides. Within a month of moving there, he had set up the VIP Lounge studio in the basement of a town centre building. Marty was by now a member of the English goth rock band, All About Eve. When the band were booked to play at the Acorn Theatre in Penzance, here was an opportunity for the pair to collaborate once more. This time, however, they decided to co-write all the material and to call it “Noctorum”, the name of a village near where they grew up on the Wirral.
Playing live 2004
Between 2001 and 2020, the band released four albums, all recorded at the VIP Lounge in Penzance. You can read about them in detail in the Sleeve Notes. They were in the midst of recording a fifth album when a series of events intervened. Firstly, Marty and his new German wife, Olivia, had residency problems due to Brexit. Secondly, the new owners of the building where the studio was situated decided that Marty’s huge record collection was a fire hazard and asked us to leave. Thus the Willson-Pipers relocated to Porto in Portugal and the VIP Lounge closed its doors.
Marty and Dare have the files of those unfinished songs so one day they may surface. Marty continues to work on his solo career and collaborations with various musicians across the globe. Dare has retired from the music business and can be mostly found on the golf course where he is working on reducing his handicap.