*The Martin that I know bears no resemblance to the Martin that the press has come to know. I knew him as a pretty shy kid who would suddenly start talking about science and get really wrapped up in it. When he would talk about the things he wanted to do, there was a lot of lofty talk: “We’re going to cure this and we’re going to do this because big companies don’t care, all they care about it profit so we’re gonna do this.” There was a certain idealism that I believed, and a lot of people told me I must be the most naive man on the face of the Earth. But I just think you couldn’t have met him and thought anything else other than this is like a pretty awkward kid who somehow managed to take that world by storm. *

We would talk about bands. He brought me the Hotelier. I didn’t know them, they were sort of a buzzy band already. But he was super into them. He was always like you’re not signing enough bands. For me, the situation was so good that I didn’t want to lose it. I probably should have pressured him to put more money into each band.

I thought there was a chance that he could start to be too much. I sort of had an exit plan. I had some graphs and metrics that said in like three years we were going to start to make a profit and go into millions of dollars a year by five years. I could get out by then, pay him back everything I owe him, have it be a good relationship but be my own company.

When the Collect thing happened, I had so many jobs doing so many things. I was so drained all the time that I felt like I really wasn’t getting anything done. So when the opportunity came to start Collect, how could I say no? I could focus all of my energy on younger bands and in my spare time do my art. That was just like a no brainer for me at the time. I was at such a desperate moment to sell my guitar because I needed to make rent. I wasn’t in any position to turn down anything, let alone a great offer.

*I found out what happened with Martin when I got off a plane in Germany, *the week the No Devotion record came out. I was standing in line at Customs, and the third story down on the news was about Martin. I thought, “We are so fucked.” Even if nobody found out that Collect was a part of what he was doing, I knew that I knew and all our artists knew. I also knew that we were so deep in debt with him that if he pulled out, it wasn’t even a question of whether we could pay him back. It was a question of whether we could even keep going. He always put forward just enough money for the next quarter. That’s the funny thing. I had like $25,000 of personal debt with Collect, because there was always something I couldn’t afford, even with all the money he had.

*He’s a busy guy, and during this he was obviously very busy. His sister works for one of his companies and is pretty dependable. So I called her and was like, “You gotta get him off social media, you gotta do it, trust me, this could blow over or be the worst thing to happen to your family.” By the time I talked to him, it had gotten so bad that he was like, “You need to cut ties with me, you need to throw me under the bus.” Really strongly worded. *