There aren’t many people who can proudly say they have a Facebook hate page devoted to them, yet alone refer to it as – œa compliment’. There also aren’t many people who can say they front one of the most original and freakishly talented groups to come out of Melbourne.

Well, one man by the name of Martin Martini sure can, and for any of you living under a rock for the past few years, Martin Martini & The Bone Palace Orchestra could best be described as a circus grotesquerie of words, art and music. About to embark on their first international tour through London, it’s been a somewhat hectic 12 months for Martini. In between applying the finishing touches to his second album We’re all Just Monkeys, the charismatic frontman recently escaped near death in a head on collision with another car and has been plagued by nightmares of Roy Orbison turning into a gorilla. Yes, this one of our country’s most unique talents.

“I’ve had these really vivid dreams of Roy Orbison playing a show in a jungle and all of a sudden he starts growing hair out of his back”, says Martini. “Then he starts punching his chest and screaming in this wild jungle. That’s where the sound ideas came for this album. You know just kind of – œ50s primal gorilla music.”

Indeed, songs like Lonely Girl and Dancing Up The Walls have a very – œ50s rock n’ roll vibe and the album’s tonal quality certainly lends itself to that era thanks to Melbourne engineer Stephen Shram. “We hunted down Steven because he’s the best guy at doing that kind of – œ50s sound. Not that we’re a – œ50s band but we have this really weird sound between the – œ50s and today’s music,” adds Martini. “The title track signifies that no matter what we achieve in our lives, it’s just not good enough in the grand scheme of things. At the best moments in my life when I’ve just written a great song or had a great idea, I just go, fuck I’m going to die soon. It doesn’t feel like I’m really doing anything important for the world and I can’t help but feel like we’re not achieving the right things. It’s the continual question I keep asking myself.”

Martini’s first album with the Bone Palace Orchestra, Dream until You Die was an extravagant circus cacophony of squalling tuba, violin, clarinet and trombone which earned the band the deservingly – œgypsy’ tag amongst their peers. Martini has since decided to ditch the gypsy image by enlisting the freakishly talented Natasha Lee on electric guitar and old time friend Jules Pascoe on bass, giving their once circus gypsy swing vibe, a somewhat harder, edgier undercurrent.

“I’m a bit over being judged or people say – œoh they’re a gypsy band’. I’m a bit over people coming to see us and knowing what to expect. We’ll never make the same album twice. I’ll never do that. And I don’t want to write the same song twice, I don’t even want to play it the same way twice. I want to keep evolving and do that for the next 20 records”, says Martini. “I really want to shake it up a bit.”

Not only is Martini shaking things up with the line-up but he’s also notably singing a lot more these day, which is something he attributes back to his childhood days. “I used to tap dance when I was growing up. Then for some reason, I started tap dancing to rage against the machine. Then I found myself tapping and rapping and the same time”, says Martini. “But I was also studying Opera. Then I rejected it. And now I’m kind of going back there again. I’ve leaned a lot more towards singing that way on this album but the next album will be even more so.

“Actually we’re kind of heading into ballad land a bit I think. The next album is going to be a triple album. We’re going to do a CD of pop music. So we’ve set a goal to write all the songs in under 10 minutes. And they’re going to be really bad pop songs with bad lyrics. Kind of like Bone Palace does Britney Spears. And then we’re going to record an avant-garde album which will be really hard to listen to. And then we’re going to do an album with the most beautiful heartbreaking songs you’ve ever heard. And we’re going to release it all together as a triple album.

“The writing process is actually starting to change,” adds Martini. “Because the Bone Palace is starting to have more control over the songs, whereas it used to predominantly be myself. The sound we’re actually going for now, it’s just so weird. Kind epic classical rock. It’s still us but just a lot more gentle, it very romantic.”

About to embark on their first international tour to London, Martini can’t refuse discussing his plans for the coming months. “I want to open up a world-wide market. I don’t want to just be playing in Melbourne forever. I think I’m going to go to live in Serbia of a month and learn the accordion up in the hills.”

“I find I’m more attracted to women who enjoy shouting over shopping,” says Martini. Sensing my confusion, Martini goes on to explain. “If a women trying to impress me and she’s got new clothes on and she shops regularly, there’s nothing worse. But if a women shouts at me, she’ll get my attention very quickly. I actually, I think I’ll never come back from Serbia. You probably won’t see me again. It’s going to be amazing.”

I can only hope he does come back, as I get the sense the best of Martini is still to come.

We’re All Just Monkeys is out now.