MusicsWeek: How did you get started in music?
Steve: I used to sing to my mom as a child and it made her really happy. I have a daughter now and see it from my mom’s perspective. I was in choir in high school to but I only joined it because all the pretty girls were in choir. I saw one of my classmates play and sing with a guitar and the girls reactions…so signed up for guitar lessons when I was 17.
Today it’s not about impressing anyone. Music for me is expressing the way I feel and my life experiences.
MusicsWeek: What genre of music do you identify with, and why?
Steve: I wish I had a tenor voice. I think voices are like hair for people. People with straight hair want curly hair. People with curly hair want straight hair. Voices are the same and getting used to your own voice is terrifying but also liberating later on. It takes me 2-3 weeks per song for me to get used to my own voice so I have to trust my audio engineer. Kind of like you’d trust a lawyer or a doctor handling your legal or medical stuff.
MusicsWeek: Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
Steve: I write as fast as I can saying exactly the way I feel right off the bat. When I start second guessing it gets bad and I get lost. I don’t think music comes from us in our brains. I believe everything is connected and when we express ourselves in a genuine manner no matter how good or bad those emotions are you can’t stop a good song from being made. We all can hear the melody instantly-I believe all of us have this built into us. Being able to capture it right away while humming, whistling or making any other melodic noise is essential before you forget it…I forgotten so much of what I’ve written-I don’t want to do that anymore. So get the rough down with a sound recorder no matter how bad the recording is, then get rough instruments in logic or whatever sound package. The massage melody. After instruments are dialed in-copyright asap!
MusicsWeek: How do you know when a song is truly finished?
Steve: It’s simple for me. When I can listen to my song non stop and never get tired of hearing it. I’ve noticed that for music I’ve always enjoyed I can listen to the song repeatedly and never get tired of it.
MusicsWeek: Do you write music on the road or only in a dedicated space?
Steve: You can hum a melody in any audio recorder at anytime. Don’t expect perfection on these it’s like a rough sketch and starting point. All polish takes time.
MusicsWeek: What was the first song you ever wrote, and what inspired it?
Steve: I had military duties and when my wife missed me I wrote a song to say when I take my bag I leave my heart behind.
MusicsWeek: Have you ever been influenced by a particular era of music (e.g. 80s, 90s)?
Steve: Yes there’s something about recording on tape, Or analog recording. Growing up I only enjoyed music that was recorded using analog. This is ironic coming from a robotics developer. I didn’t realize my ears were only drawn to 1950’s to 1970’s until the last few years. As soon as things got digital and robotic in the 80’s I felt like music lost its soul.
MusicsWeek: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your music career?
Steve: Recording my daughter. I have more fun recording her than doing it myself. It brought tears to her grandparents eyes when they heard her. There’s something about a fearlessness in kids that is so magical. She recorded a whole song in one take, her first take. Children learn so fast and can be so fearless. I’m doing the best I can to capture that in her as quickly as possible.
MusicsWeek: Where do you hope to see yourself in five or ten years?
Steve: Making robots that save lives! I love music and will sing my heart out to raise capital for my advanced robotics. We need to have robots making stuff in America as I don’t want the American worker to be treated like a robot. Instead we can herniate discs and break robot backs instead of human ones. Americans work so incredibly hard and we need robots to help Americans be more productive and less prone to injury and stress.
MusicsWeek: What are your plans for the near future? Are there any new projects on the horizon?
Steve: I’m writing music for my daughter too. She’ll have her own album soon. I just recorded a duet with her so she could get familiar with the recording process. I’m still raising capital for my robots and singing is my blatant attempt to crowd fund my robotics inventions. If I can raise enough capital I can build the first robot band playing drums, bass, guitar and maybe some sexy robot dancers. It seems like this would be less drama than all the musicians in fighting everyone hears about.
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