Meet the band 3 – Steve
What instrument(s) do you play? Saxes, Misery Stick… and bassoon for non-party situations. Piano in times of desperation.
Do you have any other role in the band? Nagging Mark to use a cowbell at every opportunity. Insisting that Frank should be referred to as ‘The Doctor’. Trying to insert quotes from the Rite of Spring into every gig (not that anyone ever notices!).
Do you have a favourite tune in the Skamonics repertoire? Dr Who – it defines ‘sexy slow groove’ !
What’s the best gig you’ve ever played with the Skamonics? with other bands? Erm, probably the one in the barn because the local ale and cider was grand! And I felt like I was on form.
Hard to pick best gigs, so many to choose, but I guess you could say that playing at Buckingham Palace for Princess Anne was a particularly nice one.
How did you learn to play? Very carefully.
What else do you do musically? eg other bands. Musical Director of The Blue Flamingo Big Band, created by my company Blue Flamingo Entertainments which I co-own with fellow Skamonista Leah! I really enjoy my new funk outfit, Last of the Blue Flamingos. Founder member of reed trio, W3. Have been lucky enough to enjoy playing with a wide array of groups and organisations really… for example I had some experience with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which was great.
Who are your musical influences on your instrument – and more generally? This list could be endless, so I’ll keep it to two! Tubby Hayes on Sax, definitely. More generally, I owe a lot of my soul to Tord Gustavsen.
As well as ska, what other types of music do you like, and who are some of your favourite bands or musicians? All kinds. I mostly listen to jazz, but I trained classically. Erm, avoiding the ones I’ve already mentioned, some of my current ‘most played’ list are: The Mingus Big Band, Jake Goss’ Banyan, Stanton Moore, Don Byron, Curious, Arturo Sandoval, Gwilym Simcock, Quantic and his Combo Barbaro, Gergiev and the LSO, Avishai Cohen….
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to (where you weren’t playing?) Can I have two?! Seeing Tord Gustavsen was stunning. And the other would be the Ronnie Scott’s Big Band, doing a night of Dizzy Gillespie stuff – the guest trumpeter wasn’t on form, but the band were incredible that night – especially Dave O’Higgins!
What do you do when you are not playing music? Arrange it instead. Or teach it. Or travel somewhere, inevitably en route to play more of it. Or listen to it! I also run my businesses obviously, which is pretty full time – I do a lot of promo stuff daily for that. I guess my other big interest is my motorbike which I blast about on (it’s a bright green Ninja for those who care!).
What about you would surprise other members of the band? The contents of the shoebox in the bottom of my wardrobe.
Think of a question that has an interesting answer (and preferably answer it?) I guess the inevitable question will now be ‘What is in the shoebox in the bottom of your wardrobe?!’