Robert Steel profile picture

Robert Steel

Man up!

About Me

Robert grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and was a typical high school metal head from his long hair and concert shirts to his Lazer flying ‘V’ guitar. Little did anyone know that underneath the surface was a true artist waiting to emerge.Through a life filled with death, teen pregnancy, teen marriage, affairs, divorce, instability and heart break, Robert looked to writing as his outlet.Robert has a way to weave his lyrics into an emotional blanket that will take you dizzily through his life experiences, pains, successes, tragedies in a way that you yourself will feel emotionally drained as if you were there with him during that slice of time. The amount of honesty that he pours into his lyrics is unparalleled by any other lyric writer that you have ever heard.He had always been self-conscious of what he believes are his musical short comings. That ended when he said “F*#k it, I am just going to go up there and do my thing”. When he takes the stage, be prepared for an emotional ride through the whole spectrum of laughter to tears. He is truly an incredible performer to see.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/15/2007
Band Members:
Influences: Richard Thompson, Richard Thompson, Richard Thompson. Yeah I like him that much. I can't play like him, I'm not even in the same galaxy, but I love his music. Bob Schneider, Dayna Kurtz, Kevin Gilbert, Julian Coryell, Ben Folds, Joseph Arthur, Billy Harvey, Matt the Electrician, Ana Egge, Kevin Gilbert, Jeff Buckley, Cake, Counting Crows, Mike Viola, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, anyone pouring out their soul for real in any form or fashion, nothing fake. My musical brothers: Neil Brinks, Doug Duhon, Troy Thibodeaux, & Robbie Wilson, Tom Waits, Bronx Style Bob, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco.I could give you a more wide array of influences, but really I see most artists as inspiring, rather than influences. Bob Schneider inspires me to write without boundaries or rules. Richard Thompson inspires me to look outside of myself and look for deeper water. Ben Folds inspires me to dig through my life for things to write about, Damien Rice inspires me to delve into the dark corners, Matt the Electrician inspires me to find beauty in every day things, South Paw inspires me to find the humor in things, Paul Simon inspires me to find a balance of all of it and so on. I just love music. I could give you music from Slayer, to the Little Mermaid soundtrack that have inspired me, but that would be more of a task than I want to write at this time... okay I am ready to add more. Here's my older school inspirations as well as some new ones mixed in. Early Motley Crue, early Metallica, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queensryche (love me some Queensryche), Fates Warning, Savatage, Power Mad, Tool, Ozzy (up until The Ultimate Sin), Iron Maiden (up until Powerslave). When I say up until it isn't always because they didn't put out good stuff, it might just be as far as I TRULY listened to and then got into some other things. Let's see, Faith No More, Billy Goat, Crimson Glory, Pantera, Don Henley (yeah I mixed Don with Pantera). I recall getting The End of the Innocence CD and my mind was blown! Um... Sanctuary (Especially "Into the Mirror Black), Beck, Dio (what the hell was Ronnie James singing of?), Judas Priest, Bert Jansch, Grand Master Flash, Melle Mel, Fat Boys, Egyptian Lover, Prince, Eddie Rabbit, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride, Ronnie Milsap, Pink Floyd, Quiet Riot (yeah I know. What can I say? It was classic power rock), Odds, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine (f$k you I won't do whatcha tell me!), Wrathchild America ( saw them before they had to add "America" and they were AWESOME live). Led Zeppelin, Dokken, Van Halen, Tori Amos, Johnny Cash, Scott Lindsey, Darren Kobetich, Mike Patton, Alligator Dave, Mark Lanegan, Crash Test Dummies, Newcleus, Randy Newman, Smashing Pumpkins, Maimou, The New Year, BedHead. I have also been trying to delve into jazz. Listening to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ken Burns Glen Hansard, (The song Leave is one of the best songs ever), The Frames, Steve Poltz (a must see live). I'll keep adding! I found a new kick ass artist from Dayna Kurtz friends list. I would strongly encourage you to listen to Keren Ann, www.myspace.com/kerenann
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

It’s offiicial!

I no longer have a teanage daughter. Ashley turned 20 today. That's pretty freaky to me. I recently went out to Phoenix to visit her. I had a good time out there. As soon as I work out all my video ed...
Posted by Robert Steel on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:43:00 PST

2634 miles to go

I hit the road in the morning to head to Phoenix, Arizona to see my daughter. I am really looking forward to it! I'm swinging through Oklahoma to pick up my step dad and we are going together. It will...
Posted by Robert Steel on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:19:00 PST

My Post Office

When I first moved to Austin I needed to mail some things, so I looked online and found the closest post office to me. This is 2.9 miles from my house. This might tell you how on the edge of Austin I ...
Posted by Robert Steel on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:47:00 PST

Man I am getting old!

Now when I see pics like this, the first thing I thought of was how much back trouble they are going to have and how the girl second to the left really needs to buy some pants that aren’t a "c" ...
Posted by Robert Steel on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:55:00 PST

Move to Austin a Success!!

Well the move to Austin has taken place and I have internet now. The move was a beast to say the least. I’ve been here just over 72 hours and I am starting to get some movement back in my body.A...
Posted by Robert Steel on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:45:00 PST

Isolated

Tying into the Todd Aubrey thing. I feel as though everything and everyone in my life in the last couple of years has just exploded out into space and we are all floating out there apart from each oth...
Posted by Robert Steel on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:34:00 PST

Another one

Bought another guitar. I couldn't help myself. It sounded too good for such a small amount of money that I had to do it. It's an old 60's Hofner, with a modified bridge as someone tried very poorly to...
Posted by Robert Steel on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:20:00 PST

Falling in love all over again

A few months ago I bought a freakin' killer acoustic guitar and I ignored my other guitars for a while. I thought they might take a back seat forever, but I recently had the itch for my trusty old Ova...
Posted by Robert Steel on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:43:00 PST

Protest The Stink

Okay don't protest them, go see both of them. I went and saw my friends bands this Saturday at two differnt clubs. One band called "Protest", one called "The Stink". Both awesome bands. If you happen ...
Posted by Robert Steel on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:39:00 PST

Filing cabinet of death!

I have been slacking on my blog lately. I was mainly holding off to post a short story, but I felt like writing tonight and here's why. I have been going through my filing cabinet tonight. If you know...
Posted by Robert Steel on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:44:00 PST