 Being
touted as the ‘next big thing’ means having to do lots and lots of promo and
gigs all around the world. For newcomer
Paul Steel things are no different. He's already released a mini album April
& I, but now the Brighton based singer songwriter
is preparing for the release of his debut single, Your Loss.
“I’m sure it’s gonna get a lot worse. I’m enjoying everything and everything’s been
exciting so it’s great,” says Paul. “I
think there’s a lot of things I wouldn’t expect I’d have to do. Obviously, when
you’re new you see the glamorous side. I love recording, producing and writing
first and everything else has come as an interesting ride”.
For the
20 year old, the biggest gigs so far have included playing the Fuji Rocks festival
in Japan and supporting and tabloid favourite Amy Winehouse.
“It was really, really awesome. It was a brilliant crowd. We felt very
privileged to play there,” says Paul of Fuji Rocks. “It was a very magical place, a lot of respect, very polite. The bassist in my live band, Mak, is Japanese
as well so he just could sort lead the way for us. We just had a really
exciting time, and the people are just so nice and we hope to go back soon”.
Playing
with Winehouse though was certainly experience as the Rehab singer had
cancelled the original date in Liverpool.
“Yeah, she didn’t turn up, which was a bit
upsetting, but, she turned up the next time. She was really good,” he asserts. “I’m not terribly familiar with her stuff, but I thought her and her
band were really on it. I think she won people over when the performance was
really good”.
Paul
is originally from Worthing and like many his
first taste of music was his dad’s record collection.
“I think my dad always played stuff in the
car and stuff like that, so I was always intrigued but not so passionate about
it until later He played a lot of Steely Dan, Beach Boys, XTC and all these
sort of bands that I didn’t like at the time, but in the last three years or so
I’ve kinda really warmed to,” he says. “Then
I got into the Beastie boys, who are my favourite band in the world and then
Radiohead so it was like a progression”.
During
his teens Paul fronted a band that was ‘like Radiohead but terrible’. Seeing Ex-Beach Boy Brian Wilson play his long awaited album Smile at the Royal Festival Hall in 2004, however, was the pivotal
moment.
“I wasn’t really into the Beach Boys a whole
load but there was a huge rush when I saw it and it just changed everything,”
he recalls. “I thought ‘right, I know what I want to do now. I want to do something
like that’. That was the changing point
for me”.
So
deciding to branch out on his lonesome, Paul wrote tunes. Your Loss, a song he describes as a ‘bit of a
middle finger song’. He came up with the
song whilset working in Sainsburys ‘stacking bananas or something’
“Back in those days when I was not really
songwriting, I was writing riffs and then I’d write bits and put all the bits
together and sort of thought of it as a song,” he explains. “But that one I just kind of worked
out. Supergrass
were one of my favourite bands at the time as well and I think it shows in that
song”.
Not
wanting to be stuck in Worthing, Paul decamped to Brighton
where he attended The Brighton Institute of Music.
Brighton’s nearby and I used to go there at
weekends occasionally and good … everyone’s got a guitar on their backs, and
just a bit of culture,” says Paul. “Not
that Worthing isn’t the cultural centre of the
universe it’s got a bowling alley and everything”.
Although London
might seem the more obvious place to go, it’s not for Paul.
“I think London’s an acquired taste really,” he states.
“I think it’s too big for me. I
don’t really like bumping into people.
Brighton’s its own world really and near enough to London so you can pop up for meetings and
stuff, but it’s away from all the madness”.
Eager
fans can expect an album from Paul January 2008. Titled Moon rock it was recorded in his
bedroom and in LA with Tony Hoffer, who has also produced The Fratellis,
Supergrass,The Kooks, and so many more.
“Mostly we did orchestra and stuff in LA with
Tony Hoffer. It was definitely trying to
keep control of things, it gave me freedom to try out stuff, so it was good,”
Paul explains. “I have a song called Moon Rock which is about taking recreational drugs
on the moon, and also it’s a new genre that I’m planning on setting up. Nu-rave but with more keyboards I think!”
Your loss
is released on 3rd September.
For more
info: www.paulsteelmusic.com or
www.myspace.com/paulsteel
Words: Helen Duong
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