Martin Cilia

Martin Cilia
Cilia playing surf guitar; 30 April 2013
Background information
Born	1958 Rochford, Essex England, United Kingdom
Origin	Perth, Western Australia
Genres	Rock, surf rock, pop music, garage rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass
Years active	1974 - present
Associated acts	The Atlantics, Dave Warner
Website	MartinCillia.com
Notable instruments
1963 1963 Fender Jaguar 1957 Fender Precision Bass 1965 Fender Jazz Bass

Martin Cilia (born 1958, Rochford, Essex, England) moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family in January 1968. Cilla is best known for his songwriting skills, and his membership in The Atlantics, where he performs on the guitar. Cilia played his first gig in a school hall in Morley High in 1972 with fellow students. He remembered playing songs by The Shadows, The Monkees, The Beatles, and Cat Stevens songs.

At age 14, Cilla became a professional musician. He played in various bands in and around Perth before spending a year in London in 1979. In 1982 Cilia joined Invasion Force where he met locals Alf Demasi and Lloyd Allanson. Together they formed the Perth band The Flying Fonzarellis. The Flying Fonzarellis released several recordings and toured Sydney in 1984. The band had some chart success holding the number one spot in Perth for a few weeks.

After the Fonzarellis, he went on to play in Dave Warner's Sensational Sixties and then with Midget and the Farrellys who were extremely popular in Fremantle throughout the Americas Cup. Already his passion for that stinging surf music guitar sound was obvious.

He went on to tour and record with Dave Warner's band, Dave Warner’s From The Suburbs. Cilia moved to Sydney in 1989. He played & recorded with The Brookes. He toured Western Australia in 1993 with the Big Land - Big Heart tour. That band contained Dobe Newton of the Bushwackers, Ernie Dingo, Dave Warner, Greg Macainish of Skyhooks, Paul Hitchins, (Sports) Dave Clarke and Cilla. They toured Vietnam with a similar concept in January 1994.

In 1998 he recorded some instrumental guitar songs. Bosco Bosanac, the bassist with the Australian surf group The Atlantics heard one of his demo tapes. The band is noted as the "Australia's own surf music maestros".