Interview Steak
Artiest: Steak
Geïnterviewden: Kippa (zang), Cam (bas), Reece (Gitaar) en Sammy (Drums)
Interview afgenomen in: Trix, Antwerpen
Label: Napalm Records
A couple of hours before hitting the stage, supporting John Garcia, in Trix Antwerp. Festivalblog.be talked with London stoner band Steak. What was meant to be an interview, came out to be a chat about music, touring and friendship which involved a lot of laughter and amusement!
First of all thank you for this interview. Yesterday was November 11th, the day the first world war ended. You guys, being British, does it mean anything to you?
Cam: November 11th, is it then that it started? Is it a big deal in Belgium?
No, November 11th was the day World War I stopped and actually yesterday the whole city of Ypres was flooded with British.
Cam: They still play The Last Post don’t they?
Yeah they do, everyday at 8 o’clock. But now, the region is overflowed by British. So that’s why I wondered if it meant anything to you guys.
Reece: To be honest, when you are away from the media at home, you lose touch. When at home you read the newspapers and stuff but being away from that, that’s just gone. But at home, we would wear Poppies (everybody laughs).
You’ve been on tour for a week now, supporting John Garcia. Before that you also did a tour on your own where you played at Desertfest, also in this venue.
Kippa: That was a really good gig! We were really surprised by the amount of people that came to watch us play. And it’s a cool venue as well.
So now it will be the second time you play in Belgium and at Trix, how was that first gig.
Kippa: We played on Saturday, and on Friday night we were just talking to a few people, who were saying that the crowd wasn’t that lively. No one was going mad, so we were expecting quite a tame crowd. But It all just went off, there were moshpits, people crowdsurfed. We couldn’t have asked for a better gig. We were the second band on stage, so we didn’t expect it to be like that.
Sammy: We had a good time, surprisingly a lot of people knew the songs. It feels good to get that response. Normally people don’t know the lyrics.
Actually, in my opinion you made the stoner album of the year. And I’m pretty critical, so it doesn’t surprise me that the response was that great.
Cam: So you are critical?
I love to think I am. I did a review of the new Brant Bjork record, and I can’t say I’m a fan. But maybe I shouldn’t say this.
(Everybody laughs)
Kippa: Thanks man, that means a lot.
How is the response in other countries?
Kippa: We played a few show in France, where we always seem to get a good response. Spain was similar with the gig we played at Desertfest. We weren’t expecting a lot, but this was before the album came out. There we played really small venues, but people came out and really took the effort. It was really good, especially because we weren’t expecting much at all. So that was a really good tour, which ended with playing with Monster Magnet.
Now you guys will be touring with John Garcia for a month. Is there a difference with touring on your own?
Cam: There’s more pressure, before we were just in a band and turn up.
Sammy: Now we get free Wi-Fi and beers (laughs).
Cam: Now we also have our first proper tourbus!
What’s the most unpleasant about being on tour?
Reece: The other bandmembers are annoying (everybody laughs).
Cam: It’s funny, because Reece doesn’t have any annoying habits. So what’s he’s saying is actually true.
Reece: We got a lack of rest, a lack of wheelpower. Kipp is doing good, because of his voice. But the rest of us, we reach for the beers.
Kippa: You always end up getting one, you’ll always end up with a drink. You just get a habit of doing it and always end up with drinking beers at the end of the evening. It’s funny because we end up sleeping in that van every night and Reece converted it into 4 beds were we could sleep in. We thought it would be uncomfortable but the other day it broke down and we didn’t have for two nights and we already we were missing it. We got really comfortable in there.
Sammy: It’s our little own hotel, our little home on the road.
Cam: We got our own beautiful glasses in there, a little bit of furniture,… (laughter).
How did you guys meet? Did you knew each other before starting STEAK?
Kippa: Reece and I are cousins. And me and Cam, we’re friends.
Cam: We are lovers (laughter).
Kippa: We formed with another drummer, all close friends. We never had any aspiration of doing this as well as we’ve done. It was just about having fun. And gradually a little up, more and more and then Sammy got on board. And that really formed the whole sound of the band.
Reece: We knew each other for a couple of years, we’ve played in different bands in the same circuit.
Cam: We played together in your basement for Halloween, wearing V for Vendetta masks.
Sammy: Their drummer just had left, so It would be a temporary thing at first, but we all got along very well. Laughing, and it seemed to work out well.
So there’s no tension while being on tour together?
Cam: We have quite good fun, we haven’t stopped laughing since we left.
Whose idea was it to do the comic book covers?
Reece: When we recorded the first EP, there was no thought of how the EP would be received. We were just enjoying being in a band. I really like the artwork of comics, and when we created the first EP, the idea evolved from there and turned into the characters on the front. There was no plan to go further than that, but then things began to progress with the band and the comics followed.
Cam: It felt pretty natural, the evolving of the artwork and everything in the story.
There’s no one who has aspiration of drawing comics themselves?
Sammy: Cam!
Cam: I can do pretty basic things, but you Reece did animation stuff at college.
Reece: So you draw them and I’ll make the movies (laughter).
Do you know the indie/alternative band And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead?
Cam: The played the night after us in Berlin, a few months ago.
James Keely, the guitarist, makes his own comics. Every album has a booklet, with parts of his comics.
Sammy: Rob Zombie did the same for their covers.
Beautiful artwork is a way to stand out of the rest, and give people a reason to buy albums instead of downloading them.
Cam: Next time, we will draw our own characters for sure (laughter).
Reece: There’s a plan to release a full comic as well, when we got the time for it.
Talking to you guys, it’s obvious that making fun is part of STEAK. Old Timer D.W., the last track of the album, starts with a funny voice, saying “Come on now, work for your money. Play us another song!”. Whose idea was this?
Cam: It comes from Arthus Saey, Unida guitarist, who co-produced our album. We were out on night drinking and he talked about this gig he played in the UK. There were two girls in front who, before every song, were shouting: “Come on now, work for your money. Play us another song!”, with that Sammye British accent. And we thought; let us put this on the album somewhere.
Are there already plans or ideas for a second album?
Kippa: We have a three album deal with Napalm Records, so we do need to write a second album. But we have not started yet, we do need to end this tour first.
Will there be other influences, like the bluesy sound of Old Timer D.W.?
Sammy: Actually these things just kind of happen in the studio. Not that we have planned that whole song, but it’s cool just to put it on the album.
Kippa: But I like the kind of bluesy feel.
Cam: That’s what I like as well, so who knows.
Reece: We like bands like Left Lane Cruiser, and that song is definitely inspired by that band. It’s nice with an album that you don’t have to conform to anything and can do something like that. So you can do whatever comes naturally. Maybe the next album will be more blues inspired.
Cam: We will be going to Mississippi, 5 years in a shack (laughter). Spearing crocs and eating them.
Which bands do you listen to at home? Stoner, or something completely different?
Sammy: A mixture of stuff. A lot of stoner and regular rock bands, all sorts. But also psychedelic music. Everyone is interested in different styles.
Reece: Especially bands that link the band quite much. Kyuss, I was really into Pink Floyd when I was younger, so you can hear some of that. I was a big Melvins fan. And Cam’s a really big Sadé fan (hilarious laughter).
Cam: I don’t really like Sade, Reece always does that!
Then it gets really hilarious with a short discussion about who’s a ‘fan’ of who. Mentioning one of them was a fan of The Lightning Seeds, a bad British pop band from the nineties –dixit Steak.
John Garcia did guest vocals for Pisser, are there others you would like involve on the next album?
Reece: Sadé?
Kippa: For a band that plays stoner rock, to get John Garcia to sing on your first album, it can’t get any better. So I can’t think of anyone else.
John also did some guest vocals with Arsenal – a really big Belgian pop/rock band – which wasn’t stoner at all. So maybe Sadé is not such a bad choice.
Mentioning John, it seems when I hear a stoner record, it’s hard not to compare with Kyuss. They are like a benchmark of the genre. Does it bother you, when people compare Steak with Kyuss?
Reece: It’s a big compliment. Maybe two years ago, for us to think that John would help with the production and some guest vocals, we wouldn’t. We went to Palm Springs to record the album so it’s definitely a compliment. Sometimes some of the comparisons I don’t hear.
Cam: It seems that comparisons are sometimes due to the laziness of journalists. I can’t imagine how many Monster Magnet comparisons we got, on every single review.
Kippa: Because we do listen to it, and promote ourselves as a stoner band, we're almost giving everyone an easy route. John Garcia singing on the album, recorded it in Palm Springs,… And I don’t think we should get away from that.
Reece: A good song is a good song, regardless what genre it is.
What is your favorite singer/guitarist/drummer?
Sammy: Though one! For me, Jean Paul Gaster from Clutch and Dale Crover from Melvins. They are good technical drummers. But also Ginger Baker (Cream) and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience).
Kippa: For me Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), he is totally the best. And John Garcia, he is really unique, but they both are.
Cam: Jack Bruce from Cream or maybe Nick Olivieri (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age).
Reece: I’ve listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, so definitely David Gilmour for his lead playing. You don’t have to do everything fast, just pick the notes at the right time is the proper thing to do. He keeps it simple. Some guitarists make it a complex thing. You can play fast and hit many notes, but I prefer guitarists who play more natural.
Do you perhaps know the Belgian band Steak Number Eight?
Kippa: They’re a good band, they play good venues in London. I’ve checked a few tracks of them, really good stuff. We have been playing on the same festivals I think.
When on tour, do you have time to do other things apart of the things that need to be done (soundchecking, setting up,…)?
Kippa: We had some time to check the city when we played Desertfest. And we had a day off in Berlin. But the rest went out till 8 in the morning, so they did some sightseeing. And I just stayed in bed.
Reece: When we get a day off, it’s just nice to recover. But it would be good to have a proper day in the city. We tried to just go out and check the town.
Kippa: Gothenburg was nice, and the town yesterday as well (Hertogenbosch, Nl).
Cam: There was a festival going on. Everyone was wearing frogs and had scarves on. We just sat there, it was Tuesday afternoon and had no idea what was going on.
Will we be seeing Steak during the summer on some festivals?
Cam: There are a few in the pipeline. But we still are waiting for some confirmation. But it seems there’s a lot of interest.
Reece: We actually never have played an outdoor festival, so that will be good to do. We are still waiting to do an outdoor festival, so hopefully next summer.
I hope to see you then!
The talk continued a bit longer, while exchanging some bands we need to check. They recommended Moonward, a Belgian psy-stoner band they discovered when Steak was playing on Desertfest. And we had to check some bands from the strong London stonerscene like Gurt, Diesel King, Trippy Wicked, Desertstorm, Sedulus. With a little quiz the guys won a bottle of Chimay Bleu and so this very amusing interview ended.