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Mike Martt (b. 1955 or 1956 – d. 2023) was a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Southern California. He was best known known as a guitarist and songwriter from Tex & the Horseheads and Thelonious Monster. Martt was also a co-host of the Don't Die sobriety podcast with Bob Forrest.
Martt fronted the punk band Funeral in the early 1980s. He became a resident of Disgraceland, which was a shared housing unit in Hollywood described as a "punk flophouse" for "creative rebel" musicians. Here Martt lived with contemporaries such as Pleasant Gehman, Stevo Jensen, Steve Olson, and Bob Forrest.
Martt joined The Gun Club as a guitarist in 1995. Because of the failing health and ultimate death of frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierce, he only played in three shows. In the 1990s, Martt joined the Joe Wood-led T.S.O.L. Martt also formed The Low & Sweet Orchestra alongside Zander Schloss, James Fearnley of The Pogues, and actor Dermot Mulroney. In 1998, the Los Angeles Times quoted Martt on his approach to songwriting. He stated that he was "always looking for a creative spark, whether it's going down to the docks at midnight or listening to a Van Morrison record."
Martt released his only solo album, Tomorrow Shines Bright, in 2003 through Superscope Records. Upon his death in 2023, the album was rereleased on Vinyl records by Org Music at the behest of Josh Klinghoffer.
In 2009, Martt joined a reunited Thelonious Monster for dates on the Warped Tour. As late as 2019, Martt alongside bandmate Gregory Boaz performed Tex & the Horseheads material as "The Horseheads".
Martt died at the age of 67 in November 2023. He had been battling with undisclosed health problems.
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