STEYE

Debut CD Steye: ‘I’m just here to make you feel warm’
On his debut cd ’I’m just here to make you feel warm’ Steye moves you while flowing on funk and straightforward simplicity. The musician, theater-, and filmmaker is known as one of the multimedia hooligans connected to Pips:lab, the multidisciplinary performers group that stands for unique, overwhelming shows. On his solo album Steye also shares his own, personal story , using “a mix of techno-blues, country-funk, and singersongwriter hiphop”.
“My music starts with body movement; the base of my songs is always a rhythm.” As a little kid Steye boogies down to Grease, followed by the Rock Steady Crew and A Tribe Called Quest. “So funky, it forces you to move. Not vertically, but from left to right. It’s what I call horizontal funk.” Another major influence is Michael Franks, the relatively unknown seventies jazz singer. “The simple and unpretentious charm of his voice inspired me to start singing to my own beat- and guitar experiments.”
His bachelor in ’Image and Sound’, finished in The Hague in 2001, enables him to combine his two passions. “The combination of music and image is awesome. Music comes with an abstract tension, and when you manage to streamline this tension into a context of image or text, it is such a powerful tool. I want to use that tool to show people how everything in this world has a unique and beautiful aspect to it.” In 2004, while shooting a documentary on kids in the slums of Nairobi, Steye spontaneously decides to produce a CD with the same kids rapping on it. By the end of 2005 a demo of his own songs finds its way to ’rhythm experimentalists’ of Zuco103, Stefan Kruger and Stefan Schmid. Immediately impressed, they invite him to record a CD together. This turns out great: “As producers they lift my own research in music and freaky experiments to a whole new level.” Choosing between disciplines is something Steye still can’t do. His video clips, which are made by himself, reinforce the music. For Steye, image, movement, and sound are almost the same thing. “I want to make people move and get them in sync with a mix of image, sound, and feeling.” Shake it, is the credo. ”Good horizontal funk rocks your booty.”
Line up live: Steye: guitar/vocals, Stefan Kruger: drums, Stefan Schmid: keys, Alex Oele: bass, Alvin Lewis: guitar