THE next time you’re watching an advert for Coca-Cola, or Apple, the music you’re listening to in the background may well have been written by Colchester’s Martin Jackson.

Martin, who is a Level 2 music tutor at Colchester Institute, has been writing for a library music company for the last four years with some of his pieces being used in adverts for the two giant American brands.

He says: “I found the company through a colleague at the college. He does a lot of electric rock stuff but they needed someone to write some indie pop stuff and he thought of me.

“I didn’t expect much from it but I’ve had a few bits and pieces used.

“There’s been a few things on MTV, mainly just background music, but one of my pieces was on America’s Next Top Model, which was pretty cool.

“They usually tell you what they’re after. For example they might say we’re looking for something that sounds a little like the Arctic Monkeys or Kings of Leon.

“It’s mainly instrumental ,but occasionally I add the odd ooh or ahh when it’s required.

“The really good thing about it is taking back that experience into college and showing the students different ways you can make money from music.”

Since his teens, Martin has been a familiar figure on the Colchester music scene, first in the Purple Lowtones and then Heroes of a Ghost Town to most recently surf-rock band the Q-Trons with fellow college tutor Aodhan Phipps and former Lowtones drummer Jim Read.

He says: “Heroes of a Ghost Town was a bit annoying, because we disbanded just as I felt we were getting going.

“It was a pop punk indie band and we did quite a few gigs in London, one of which was at the Brixton Academy in front of 7,000 people.”

Although that was the gig that put paid to the band.

Martin says: “We were supporting a DJ that was a key figure in the hardcore dance scene and the crowd really wanted that, not guitars.

“That was tough because it wasn’t really what we were into. A really hard gig to play but at least I can say I played the Brixton Academy.”

These days Martin can be seen playing a lot closer to home with the Q-Trons.

He says: “I’ve always liked that Fifties/Sixties retro sound.

“The whole idea originally was just me in a room writing material for the internet and seeing what happened.

“But I asked the others to see if they wanted to give it a go and it really just went from there.”

Since then the trio have done a number of live gigs, including several vintage fairs, the Jamboree in London, and even a gig with German surf rock band the Razorblades.

Martin says: “I wanted to see what modern-day surf bands were doing and that’s when I discovered the Razorblades.

“We started chatting on Facebook and eventually got a gig together at the Hole in the Wall last October.”

With plans in the pipeline for another summer of surf, keep up to date with the band at www.facebook.com/theqtrons