On 24th July 2005, Martin won 1st prize at the annual 'Riffathon Live' guitar competition. Martin performed at the heats earlier in the year which were held at Sound Control, London and he was one of only ten people who made it through to the final.

The Riffathon Live final was held at The Hammersmith Palais, London where the competitors had to perform in front of a star-studded judging panel which included Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Brian May (Queen) and Dan Hawkins (The Darkness). Martin had aspired to these guitarists since his early interest in music, so was thrilled when he got to meet them all in person, not to mention PLAY in front of them!

Martin was the last competitor to play on the night of the final, bringing the house down with Led Zeppelin's classic track 'Rock And Roll'. A full backing band had been provided by ACM (The Academy of Contemporary Music) and after listening to everyone's performances, the judging panel held a meeting to decide the winners.

After the meeting, the judges made their way to the stage to announce the winners. Dan Hawkins presented 3rd prize to 10 year old Henry Colborne. Stuart Colquhoun was awarded 2nd prize by Brian May, and then came that magic moment, Jimmy Page stepped forward to the microphone to say that it was an unanimous decision among the panel in deciding Martin as the winner, adding "without a doubt, this guy came in and he actually played it (Rock And Roll) better than I could have done". Martin was presented with a Gibson 1957 Goldtop Historic Reissue Les Paul by Jimmy Page, generously donated by the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville USA. Pat Foley from the Gibson Custom Shop was also there in person to hand over this beautiful instrument.

The Riffathon Live competition was designed to encourage players of all ages to get out there and riff! However, the Riffathon is so much more than a guitar competition as it donates a percentage of the money raised to an excellent charity - The ABC Trust.

The ABC Trust was founded by Jimmy Page's wife, Jimena Paratcha and its patrons include Jimmy Page and Brian May. The ABC Trust raises awareness and funds to help disadvantaged children and adolescents in Brazil.




Please click here to visit the Riffathon Live 2005 picture gallery.

My good friend, Jon Carr captured the event on camcorder, click here to view a slideshow of still images that captured my two performances on the night.



You will find two movies of speeches by Jimmy Page and myself on my 'Media' page, click here to take a look!



The main aim of the Riffathon guitar competition was to raise money for the ABC Trust to enable the charity to help more children in Brazil. After winning the Riffathon, I felt the need to give something back - after all, I had the best time of my life! I decided to organise a concert by myself in my hometown to try to raise £1,000 to give to the ABC Trust. I am pleased to say that it was a sell-out night and we far exceeded my initial target! click here to read more!

The following is a statement that I wrote for Riffathon after my win detailing the events that took place.

May I first congratulate the Riffathon Team and its sponsors for putting on a great show on Sunday at the Hammersmith Palais. It was truly a great night that I will never forget. Once in a person's life, a dream may come true, but on Sunday there were many! It still hasn't sunk in yet that I have actually won - I've been on a high ever since! I'd like to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all you lovely people on the Riffathon Team and your sponsors for making my dreams become reality. When I found out about the Riffathon competition, I knew I had to give it a go because there was a chance to meet my idols Brian May and Jimmy Page and do some good at the same time! Little did I know when I went to see an amazing performance by Queen + Paul Rodgers at Birmingham on 6th May that Brian May would be helping in the judging of my performance! I quickly wrote a 2 minute piece using riffs I had built up over the years to create my audition piece entitled 'Small Town Blues'. I performed this in front of a panel of judges in London which to my surprise bought me my ticket to the final. I was ecstatic when I found out that I'd got through! I then had to choose 3 songs from a big list of great tunes which was a very hard decision indeed. I chose 2 Queen songs and of course, a Led Zeppelin track. Both bands have had a great impact on me and my playing and felt it would be an honour to play one of those tracks in front of the guys who actually wrote them! Little did I know at that time the pressure of the task at hand! I set to it once I had been informed that I'd be playing Led Zeppelin's 'Rock And Roll'. It has been my favourite Led Zep track for a long time but I had never really tried to work out how to play it, especially to the standard I knew it should be performed to in front of Jimmy! I listened to the track both day and night and watched a DVD of Led Zeppelin to see how it should be done. After that I felt I needed to approach certain parts in my own way, otherwise the performance would just be an attempt to copy the original! I only felt I had it right the day before the performance and went over it again and again so I could play it right every time - the rest is history! I had a real bad cold the week before and had to dose myself up to the heavens to try to hold off the symptoms but nothing was going to stop me from taking up this great opportunity. I found out on the day that I would be the last to perform and I didn't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing, all I could hope for was that I would hold back the nerves while the other competitors had rocked out! I met the awesome backing band at the sound check a couple of hours before the real performance and that put my fears to rest. Those guys really knew what performing was all about and much credit to them - I knew that in their company the performance would be great! All of the backing bands on Sunday were awesome and much credit is deserved by the ACM for producing such superb and professional musicians. I'd like to say a personal thank you to Sean Leahy - Vocals, Pat Hughes - Bass, and Graham Fox - Drums and I wish them every success in the future!!! Thanks guys for making the experience on stage more enjoyable both for myself and for the crowd!! Then came the actual performance, the crowd was humming by the time I was on and I could feel a lot of energy among the crowd! It is such a big adrenalin rush to have such a great band, a great stage, and a great crowd! These factors really allowed me to pull out all the stops and put on my best performance to date. I wanted to jump from the drummer's podium to end the song after the drum solo and nearly backed out of it as I wondered if it would appear to be showing off but I figured this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and went for it - I enjoyed every second of it! I was amazed at the quality of the other competitors and would like to thank all of them for putting on a real good battle and a great show! They were all worthy winners and I thank them all for their kind congratulations at the end. Congratulations to the other prize winners aswell as the prizes were justly deserved. A special thanks also goes to the judges aswell for doing a great job on the night in deciding the winners. When performing, they gave us all a good hearing and were dedicated to the task at hand. Although Brian May and Jimmy Page are living rock gods well deserving their place in rock royalty, they are also two of the most genuine and nicest guys you could hope to meet and I'll say it again that it was truly an honour to play in front of them. I thank them also for taking the time to give me their autographs as it must be a drag when you are asked all the time but Brian, Jimmy, and Dan all gave me their time. As for the lovely Gibson Les Paul I won, it is in safe hands as I really do look after my guitars and I can't keep my eyes off it. Gibson have been making guitars for years but when I look at this one and examine the attention to detail and quality, it must be the pinnacle of their achievements! Thank you to Pat Foley and Gibson Custom Shop for donating this beautiful instrument. As I said on the night, I have always wanted a real Gibson Les Paul but have never been able to afford one so thank you very much indeed!!! After a night where all of your dreams come true at once, it could be all too easy to forget the real cause for the Riffathon - but I didn't. As I said on the night, I hope that a lot of money was raised to help the ABC trust bring hope to many children of Brazil. It is a very worthy cause and one that I will do anything I can to help in some way. If we really do want a better world in the future then we must start with our children as they are the future of this planet! Thanks again to everyone involved in Sunday's final and at the London audition beforehand. It was a night that I will remember forever! Lots of love and best wishes, God bless,