Sure we’ve heard about you before, but we think it’s time for Tone Deaf to get to know you a little better. Slip in to something comfortable while we put on some music, pour us a couple of drinks and turn the lights down low.
Who are you and what do you do in your act?
I’m Steve, I play Bass in Summerset Avenue
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
Good question haha… Well have to admit my parents have pretty horrible taste in music, they aren’t exactly very musical people, there was always a lot of crap like Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Spice Girls and general 80’s/90’s pop music playing while I was growing up which I couldn’t stand but I did find myself steeling my Mum’s ‘John Farnham’ record collection from time to time haha…
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Right now I’m listening to The Getaway Plan pretty solidly aswell as Kisschasy, Trial Kennedy, Tonight Alive, Gyroscope all the way through to some old school Killing Heidi, Silverchair, 28 Days and The Superjesus. I’m a big fan of Aussie Rock bands and always have them on high rotation
‘Home taping is killing the music business ‘was the catch-cry of the record industry in the 1970s, but it managed to survive until now. What do you think is the difference between mates taping copies of friend’s records back in the 80s and 90s and file sharing now?
The only real difference I would say is Convenience and Quality… It’s so easy to obtain a song or album you want in such good quality these days, back in the 70’s and 80’s you had to find someone with the record and equipment to copy it to tape before you could obtain the song or album, in many cases it was probably easier to just buy the record… Now type in what you want into Google and there are 10 different places you can download it from on the first page of your search results
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What was the first gig you went to.?Where was it and what was the venue?
There used to be this local place called ‘The Venue’ behind the pools in Noble Park back when I was a kid, the first Friday night of every month they would host a ‘Jam Night’ where local and regional bands could come down, sign up and play a few songs. I remember Mum reading about it in the local paper and she dropped me and a friend off there when we were like 11 years old. It was a tiny place and the bands I had never heard of before, it was amazing at the time, I spent the next few years going there either to hang out with friends or perform in various bands… A lot of muso’s playing in Big Australian Bands out of Melbourne or even Victoria these days grew up playing or had played their first handful of shows at ‘The Venue’
What’s your favourite site to download music from and do you ever pay for it? Can we find any of your releases there?
Personally I am an iTunes man, I think it’s a great way to obtain and sell music. Our EP ‘Nowhere Near Home’ is available on there aswell as CD Baby which I think is another great site
What artist made you want to pick up an instrument and/or sing?
Silverchair!!! I remember hearing and seeing ‘Freak’ for the first time on ‘Recovery’ when I was like 10 or 11 years old and was like ‘WTF is this?’ The guitar tone was so… angry, the overall sound was so raw and I guess the lyrics connected with me on some level too. I also thought Daniel Johns guitar in the video (Randy Rhoads Signature Model) and the video clip itself was pretty awesome too
Have you ever been arrested?
Let’s just say I grew up playing in bands and going out to a lot of parties in and around the S.E Suburbs of Melbourne as a teenager, especially the Dandenong area haha… Some nights ended with cop cars surrounding the local parks, parties and we didn’t always get away lol…
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Can’t say I do… I just like hanging out with my band members Leeanne, Carlos and Darren backstage, they’re a lot of fun and we always put each other in a good mood before we jump on-stage. Leeanne and Carlos will often warm up by doing the set acoustically somewhere quiet like in the Car Park or something, Darren spends most of his time setting up his drums and playing games on his iPhone but other than that we just hang out and have a good time
What’s been your most outrageous rider request?
Well a lot of the time we don’t get a say in our rider, we just get what we’re given lol but if we had the choice I’m sure Nando’s and Jagermeister would be on the cards haha
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
As a band I think Ella Hooper from Killing Heidi/The Verses would be amazing, just to hear her and Leeanne sing together would be unbelievable. I think Leeanne and Ella’s voices, as far as female voices go in this country are very similar and are both great melodist’s. Other than Ella, I would say Jenna from Tonight Alive, Matt from the Getaway Plan or Darren from Kisschasy would be awesome
Right, let’s get really intimate. Tell us what releases you have that we can listen to with the lights down low, or even better, where we can see you play in person next.
Well with the lights down, would have to say a song of ours called ‘Disappear’ which is kind of a ballad for us but still edgy at the same time, you can find it on our EP ‘Nowhere Near Home’ or any of our Social Network sites, Facebook, Myspace, Youtube etc… You catch us playing in Melbourne with ‘Red Ink’ May 14th @ The Village Green Hotel, ‘Headlining’ POW! @ Mynt Lounge on May 20th and Supporting ‘Trial Kennedy’ @ The Ferntree Gully Hotel on June 12th
