About Me
Dave Steel is a singer / songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer of twenty years experience. Some people may be familiar with his seven previous solo albums, some with his work as an accompanyist with the likes of Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Rose Bygrave , Marcia Howard, and Tiffany Eckhardt, amongst many others. He is also familiar as the original guitarist with Weddings Parties Anything.Dave is an experienced touring musician, having worked all over the world as a solo act, as an accompanist, and as a band member at all levels from tiny clubs to huge concert stages. He also has extensive studio experience, having produced many recordings (including Peter Baxters two albums) and been a session player on many more, including Archie Roach's "Looking For Butterboy", Kavisha Mazzella's
"Fishermans Daughter" , Tiffany Eckhardt's "Ninos Cafe" and "Barefoot" Rose Bygrave's "White Bird" and Marcia Howard's "Butterfly", Kasey Chambers' "Barricades and Brick Walls", and Rory Ellis' two solo cd's ."Dave Steel is the kind of artist who'll be keeping Australian music honest long after the latest pop sensation is forgotten...."Mike Daly..The Age"One of the truly great Australian songwriters.......his songs capture the harsh beauty of our land with a gentle poetry and understated feel....." Jeff Jenkins InPress magazine.Dave's last album was called "Home is a Hard Thing to Find", a stripped down acoustic opus with a strong blues flavour.It contains eleven new songs including the moving Weary Blues, and Postcard From Brooklyn, a song written during a visit to NYC with Archie Roach in October 2001....with strong performances from Kerryn Tolhurst, Tiffany Eckhardt, Sandy Brady, Rose Bygrave , Marcia Howard and Glen Romanis, the CD also features a startling cover of Lowell George's Sailin' Shoes."....singer-songwriter Dave Steel's finest effort" Mike Daly, The AgeHome Is A Hard Thing To Find was a final nominee in the 2002 ARIA Awards for Best Blues and Roots CD. A song from the CD,' Weary Blues' was awarded Song of the Year by the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society.
Sandy Brady is a graduate of the Gordon Institute's Jazz course. She plays both upright and electric basses and has worked with an impressive array of artists, notably Tiffany Eckhardt, Cyndi Boste, Michael Thomas and the Sure Thing, Enda Kenny, and Broderick Smith. Sandy played bass on Dave Steel's 'Edge of the World' and 'Home is a Hard Thing To Find' CDs and has made numerous appearances with him on the club and festival circuit. She also performs with south coast band The Grizzly Brothers.J.P(John Parry) is known as 'the Charlie Watts of the South Coast' for his backbeat drumming style. He also has worked with many artists including Jeff Lang, Bob Brozman, Chubbie Ray and the Elevators, and The Mongolian Fishmongers. J.P. played on 'Edge of the World and also works with the Grizzly BrothersTogether, Dave, Sandy and J.P. comprise The Welcome Wagon, a simple and basic three piece band playing 'anything they feel like' but mainly Dave's songs and blues-based material. They have just released their new CD 'Been on This Road Too Long' with guesta such as Tony Hargreaves (the Whirling Firphies) on accordeon and piano, Dave 'the bastard' Keellings on harmonica, and Kelly Fleeton-Goldsmith on vocals
