Music
DS caught up Paul to chat about his forthcoming debut album Moon Rock, his experiences of working in a petrol station and how his performance went down at the recent Fuji Rock Festival.
Your music has quite an unusual and diverse sound. How would you describe it to somebody that hasn't heard a Paul Steel record before?
"I'd kind of describe it as psychedelic rock pop. I've thought about that one you can tell. There's not a moment goes by that I don't think about that. Yeah - that's probably the best description."
Your mini-album April and I released earlier this year was a concept album. What are the plans for your first full length release Moon Rock?
"Moon Rock as far as the construction and concept of it, it is more of a straight ahead pop album really, with kind of individual tracks. There's not much of a thread running through it other than the production really. It's just more pop songs and just kind of straight up. But maybe in the future I'll do some more concept albums and stuff."
There's a track on your new album called 'Emo Joe'. What's that about?
"Well I was at college and I had a friend called Joseph who was of emo persuasion, whatever that is. I didn't really know - I still don't really know - what emo really is and it's a big thing. And then I though Emo Joe - it works! It was a song title before it was a song definitely and I sort of thought I'd co-create a tune. It's not trying to be derogatory, it's just a bit of fun really."
There are a lot of big artists that have come out of Brighton in recent years, such as The Kooks and Fatboy Slim. Why do you think the city has been such a musical hotbed?
"Well I think at the moment there's the music school down there as well, so everyone you see in the street has a guitar on their back, so you get lots of bad bands as well. But I don't know, maybe it's something in the sea air, perhaps. I'm not entirely sure. But there are enough decent, half decent venues to play in and everyone is quite creative and open-minded, so it works."
You've been praised by the likes of Van Dyke Parks [Brian Wilson collaborator] and Nelson Braggs [Brian Wilson band member]. How does it feel getting compliments from such prestigious figures?
"Oh it was amazing! I've a huge amount of respect for those people and their involvement with these great records and stuff. I felt very honoured that they had listened to it and checked it out and they were just very sweet. Van Dyke actually sent this huge email, which was so articulate, every single line of the email was quotable. It was really nice of him."
There's a glut of young singer-songwriters around at the moment - Jamie T, Jack Peņate - do you mind being grouped in with those artists?
"Erm... I don't mind really. They're all quite different. I mean the singer-songwriter thing's weird, because I'm not really a singer. Not really. I mean I am a singer but I'm not really a natural singer, it's kind of a struggle. I'm more of just a songwriter and I think singer-songwriters are generally the kind of people who like having a whinge with an acoustic guitar. I use very little acoustic guitar and there's not a whole lot of whinging because I haven't really had enough life experience to justify a good whinge... yet! But I'll work on it. I'll have some kind of horrendous break up or something."
What do you think it is that makes you stand out from those other artists?
"I don't know much about Jamie T or those guys but to me singer-songwriters are more about the song but for me - I'm a lot about the song - but I'm also about the arrangement and the production. It's like a huge deal. I don't think my voice will particularly stand up without that kind of reinforcement really, which I think is what takes it away from Jamie T and that lot. It's got high production values."
You recently played the Fuji Rock festival, how did that go?
"Fuji Rock was amazing! Up until then we had struggled to pull a crowd in a London venue, and we went to Japan and we were very lucky to have got any slot there. We had the 10:20 in the morning slot, so we weren't really expecting a crowd at all and we went out there and the tent was like nearly full and we've never had that. The response was amazing, they were all dancing along, with smiles on their faces. The sort of London and Brighton crowds we are used to were kind of folding their arms, you know. Whether they are enjoying it or not, they don't like to show it. But the Japanese people just love music. They don't care whether it's cool or whether any big magazines have bigged it up or anything like that. It's nothing to do with being trendy. They like music and they love all things western as well. It was really special, it was definitely my favourite gig."
When you were younger you worked at a BP garage and a Next clothes store. Do you think those early jobs had any effect on your music?
"At BP I genuinely quite enjoyed it. If this doesn't work out I might go back to petroleum. It's not a lot of work, you just sell biscuits to stoners - it was alright! Next on the other hand - I'm not going there again. BP was kind of cool, because there's a lot of time when you're just sitting there on the late shifts and I wrote a few songs and melodies just sitting around, which is kind of the best way. So it actually helped me write a few tunes. But Next, I mean that just made me hate clothes shopping. I didn't like it it in the first place. I couldn't stand it there, I had even worse hair than I have now. I looked like a yeti and I was trying to sell clothes to people and it didn't work out I'm afraid. I hated everyone I worked with and I don't mind them knowing that either - the bastards!"
You combined with Paul Hoffer [Air, Beck, Supergrass] as the producer on your new album, how was he to work with?
"He was awesome to work with. It was a huge privilege for me because he was the first person to kind of suggest that I could produce it and he would mix it. And him having that kind of confidence in me made me feel special because he is such a hugely respected guy. I don't think I made things easy for him, I left all sorts of pops and clicks and vocal tracks. He had to put up with lots of homegrown nonsense. It was really special and I hope that at some point we can work together again on something and obviously all the records that he's been doing, they are just amazing. He is kind of 'the' producer at the moment so it's great."
I caught the video for your new single 'Your Loss' on TV last night. It was a bit odd, can you explain what it's about?
"I haven't seen it on any TV actually so that's quite cool. It was pretty much the guy who directed it, he had this idea. The song is about a very cynical relationship and the idea was basically that I'm making some weird poison to put in a drink to get rid of my lady but she figures it out, switches the wine, and I turn into a monkey with a divers helmet. Obviously. That was the deal really, it's just having a bit of psychedelic fun."
On your website there's a story about you nearly losing your thumb when you were a child. Can you tell us a bit about the incident?
"I had these statuettes of lions on my gatepost at my house and I used to climb on them. Then one day when we were about to go on holiday, one of them fell lose and it kind of fell off and took my thumb off. So now I've got this kind of nasty scar, which is alright. I can use it as a kind of nasty mallet tool on the piano. If you hear any bum notes that's what is largely responsible. Not completely though!"
You're playing the V Festival this summer and doing a mini-tour before that. Are you preparing any differently for these gigs?
"I just think we're going to do our normal show. It's still kind of new to people. We've been kind of developing a show, bringing new songs into the set and stuff, which is kind of the same thing we did at Fuji Rock and hopefully we'll get a bit of a crowd and I'm quite looking forward to it. I don't know who's playing it though. I'm quite looking forward to seeing some other music."
Will V be your first major festival appearance in the UK?
"We did O2 Wireless, which wasn't really a major appearance because no one turned up - well my dad did and he clapped, so that was good. So yeh if someone comes it could be our first major big UK festival appearance."
And finally, what are your plans for the rest of the year, will you be doing a full tour soon?
"I think we are potentially going to do a tour in September or October time, to kind of go with the single and stuff, but there's nothing actually confirmed as of yet. So keep an eye out!"
Paul Steel's new single 'Your Loss' is out September 3, followed by his first full length album, Moon Rock, on September 10.
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