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Steve McNaughton
28/2/2010 parttimerockers.com interview
Aussie part time rocker, Steve McNaughton draws inspiration from great plains storm chasers and dreams big for a future as a full time rocker. Small world.
PTR: What do you do when you're not making music? Do you have a family? If so, is it difficult to schedule music activities around?
SM: When I am not making music I am mainly working on promoting my music through all the new internet music sites that I am discovering, as well as submitting to SonicBids, BroadJam and other licensers and direct to radio stations etc. I have a lot of properties to manage and am a partner with one of my sons in a small ecommerce business. I am married with three boys but only the youngest is still at home and studying at university. My biggest problem is trying to strike the right balance between, song writing and recording, music promotion, and performing.
PTR: What is your background in music?
SM: I was a drummer and singer in a band back in my university days but then got right out of music whilst I had a family and built up my own business in personnel recruitment. I started writing songs in the late 1980s and have been doing so on a part time basis until a year ago when I sold my business.
During the last six years or so I have been jamming with different musicians and playing with a few bands whilst trying to improve my guitar playing.
PTR: You're the first artist we’ve featured from outside of the United States. We're curious about the state of the music business in Australia. How would you describe it?
SM: I think the music industry in Australia would be fairly similar to America though way smaller, as being reflected by our population being only 10% that of the U.S. There is intense competition with new bands appearing all the time and a limited number of venues to perform at. Mainstream radio play is very hard to obtain and most of the recently successful artists have gotten the breaks through talent shows such as ‘Australian Idol’ etc
PTR: Has the internet had a net positive or negative effect on Australia's music economy?
SM: I think it has had a positive effect, as it has empowered artists to some extent and allowed them to gain popularity through the various social networks. With the decline in CD sales and corresponding increase in singe track downloads it has reduced the massive control the Record companies had for so long. If file sharing and illegal downloading continue to be tightened up and the collection agencies get more involved in the process, artists should get better rewarded for their creativity and effort.
PTR: In the USA, FM radio stations are largely run by corporations that run a national format rather than cater to any local music. Is that the case in Australia as well or can local bands get radio exposure?
SM: Major FM radio stations are very hard to crack. As you describe in the States, the corporations which own them are driven by their ratings which in turn attracts their advertisers. They are very conservative and reluctant to play music from unknown bands. The indie radio scene is very small here.
There is a huge gap between community radio, which is relatively easy to get airplay on, but hardly anyone listens to, and the major stations. There is no ‘mid-level’ radio scene which I understand your College Radio represents
PTR: Do you have a regular band that you work with? If you'd like, tell us about them and what they do during the day as well.
SM: The band I have worked most with are all very experienced musicians. Three of them work for Fender Guitars in various roles and one is a public defender in the local court system.
PTR: How often do you rehearse? For how long?
SM: We either jam or rehearse about once a month, but more frequently if a gig is coming up.
PTR: How often do you perform?
SM: Whenever we can get a gig, which is not often enough at the moment.
PTR: Any tricks to getting good stage levels when playing in different environments? Do you try to simulate different environments in rehearsals?
SM: I usually leave that to the sound guy.
PTR: What's your ideal set length?
SM: About 40 mins or 8 songs.
PTR: How often do you add new material?
SM: I like to try to add one new song at each new gig.
PTR: Do you like to perform with other acts and do you try to line up multi-act shows?
SM: Yes we have done this quite a lot it is good for sharing crowds and offers a better experience for the audience
PTR: No you perform beyond your local city?
SM: Not very often though, I’d like to do more of it without having to travel too far.
PTR: Listening to your music, I hear some late 70's pop influences. Are you a fan of that era? Who are your influences?
SM: Yes I am a fan of a lot of bands of that era: Rolling Stones, Kinks, Tom Petty, ZZ top, to name just a few but also have been influenced a lot by the West Coast or soft rock style of The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and even John Mellencamp, etc.
PTR: What is currently your most successful method to get exposure and promote your music?
SM: I am trying to build up a fan base and listener base through the internet, keep submitting to song contests and licensing opportunities and will be approaching a lot mire radio stations seeking airplay.
PTR: Do you have any goals set for your music career?
SM: The main ones are to write better songs (I am currently co-writing with other people) and get my music played on mainstream radio!
PTR: Your music tends to lend itself to a rather large band. When you do perform, are there usually six in your group? Does the number of members vary? At what sorts of venues do you play?
SM: Usually there are five members and the membership varies on who is available on the night. We perform whenever we can get a gig and typical venues are RSL ( Returned Servicemen’s League) Clubs , Pubs and private/corporate parties.
PTR: What is your song-writing process when you're working alone? How does it differ when you're collaborating with others? Do you seek out people with similar influences or do you just look for people with talent in writing?
SM: Working alone tends to be a lot slower and is usually based on expansion of an idea for a verse or chorus, maybe a riff, a lyrical phrase or a chord progression, then trying to structure a song from the various parts. When collaborating more options present themselves and depending on what the collaborators bring to the table, and their musical strengths, you are often able to develop the song a lot further in much less time.
At present, I am actively seeking good lyricists to compensate for what I feel is my weakest area. Someone who has good feel for developing ‘the groove’ of a song is most welcome also.
PTR: Your song, "I Did What I Did" was covered by Australian rocker and songwriter, Swanee (John Swan). How did that come about?
SM: At one stage John was working with a band we know called ‘Heroes from Heaven’ and we engaged him as a session singer. I ended up doing a duet with him on that song for the’ hardly softly rock’ album He liked the song and did a version of his own.
PTR: What's next on your list of desired gear?
SM: I am probably going to get a small Roland amp with a lot of effects on it for the studio so as to get a better variety of guitar sounds.
PTR: Storm chasing is a prominent theme on your website and in your video. We're located in a fairly active tornado area (Omaha, Nebraska). How did you get interested in storm chasing and have you had the opportunity to do so in Australia?
SM: I have been interested in storm chasing for some time though I have never done any. It was relatively unheard of in Australia until a few years ago. Our major storms tend to be cyclones which generate above the warmer oceans to the North of Australia in summer, and then proceed inland, wreaking damage to coastal communities. This pattern is similar, I think, to your hurricanes coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t tend to get any twisters or tornados building up on the plains as we have a mountain range up most of the east coast and inland it is very dry. The film footage in my video however was all shot in Nebraska, the Dakotas and other mid-western states.
Click here to download the A & R publication for 2010 Midem Festival
and go to www.midem.com to find out more about the festival itself.
Steve McNaughton launches Storm Chaser Album
27/05/2009 9:26:24 PM (hotsource article)
A great industry night is coming up on Saturday 6th June at the official Album Launch of Steve McNaughton’s new CD ‘Storm Chaser’. The album boasts 11 excellent original tracks by this dedicated musician, and showcases the skills of a host of top Sydney performers whom Steve handpicked to play on the recording.
They include guitarist Martin Cilia, Andrew Challoner on bass, Bill Kezelos on drums, tasty sax player Ralph P White and backing vocalist from heaven, Stewart Peters. And all put together with the exceptional production skills of Jeff Cripps, from A# Sharp Studio.
There have been wonderful things written about Storm Chaser. Gavin Fitzgerald from the Songwriting Society of Australia contributed some juicy accolades –
‘The brass kicks arse in the start of “Crawl Before You Walk” which then breaks into a ska bluebeat feel [with a] superbly hooky chorus. You’ve definitely got the goods here, Steve! Think The Travellin’ Wilburys, when Roy Orbison sang ...the perfect soul pop song. If this is not a hit, or if someone doesn’t cover it, then the world is definitely nuts! ...I’d buy this album just for this song!!!!!!!!!!! Brilliant and stunning, I’m up dancing to it.’
The descriptions roll on, but this sentence from the Songsmith magazine probably puts them in a nutshell:
‘What a killer album...an extreme pleasure to review. This must be one of the best I have reviewed in my fifteen years as editor, if not the best. Most of the material is world class, the production is stunning and overall I suggest that you buy it!’
If you would like to check out the real thing, then come along and hear Steve McNaughton singing at the Launch, supported by Cooking with Gas and vocalist James Stewart Keene opening the show, with an acoustic set.
The CD is out on Regal Records, through MGM/Waterfront Records. It will also be available at the Launch, so put the date in your diary - Saturday 6th June at @ Newtown RSL Club, on Level 1 from 7pm.
In the meantime, listen out for Storm Chaser on FBi Radio!
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