Stephen Soul profile picture

Stephen Soul

Time to step out of the dirt, rise above the hurt

About Me

Stephen Soul is a Philadelphia area singer/songwriter and musician who spent much of the 90’s fronting his bands “Civil Beast” and “Ocean of Soul”. He is anything but typical, focusing on the music with melody and lyrics, while blending electronic and acoustic instruments with subtle power, strong percussion and some ear-bending distortion. After a ten year hiatus imposed by grief induced, writers block and the constraints of raising a family, Stephen Soul returned with his band “Ocean of Soul” to play a string of successful shows in New York City in November and December of 2007. The inspiration from these shows has made the new material flow freely and Stephen has just finished recording his independently produced debut entitled “ Rise Above”. It will be available for sale and download June 3, 2008. The title comes from the line in his new song “ Caged Bird”, “Time to step out of the dirt, rise above the hurt”. The songs are both anthemic and metaphysical, searching for truth in life. More info and songs to come in the next couple of weeks!
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/28/2008
Band Website: myspace.com/stephensoul
Band Members:

VISIT
Stephen Soul



Influences: My musical influences could fill this entire page. Everything from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Bob Marley to The Clash, all post-punk bands, Siouxsie, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, Peter Murphy, 80's synth pop, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, classic R&B like Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson and Prince, newer music like NIN, Travis, Coldplay, The Killers, Keane, Snow Patrol and Starsailor, Luka Bloom and always U2. My life influences are simple, my wife and sons, my parents and anyone who works hard, lives honest and gives everyone they deal with half a chance.



Sounds Like: Something familiar that you never heard before.
Record Label: Independent
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Review of "Rise Above" by New Music Sound Forum

Thanks to Mark at New Music Sound Forum for this great review.    This Mark from NewMusicSoundForum with a review of the album "Rise Above" from Philadelphia based recording artis...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:44:00 PST

About the song 106

This is ninth in the series of nine conversations on the songs from Stephen Soul's forthcoming CD, "Rise Above", available June 3rd.  "The song "106" is about the 106th homicide in the city of Ph...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:24:00 PST

About the song "Caged Bird"

This is the eighth of nine conversations about the songs from Stephen Soul's June 3rd release entitled "Rise Above".   The song "Caged Bird" is a serious song that came out of joking around.&n...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:16:00 PST

About the song "Time (wont you stay)"

This is the seventh of nine conversations about the songs from Stephen Soul's June 3rd release entitled "Rise Above".   "The song "Time (won't you stay)" is about not letting all the BS ruin al...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:35:00 PST

About the song "Poets Fire"

This is the sixth of nine conversations about the songs from Stephen Soul's June 3rd release entitled "Rise Above".   "The song "Poet's Fire" is basically a call to activism.  It's about n...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:19:00 PST

About the song "Garden of Mud"

This is the fifth of nine conversations about the songs from Stephen Soul's June 3rd release entitled "Rise Above". The last of the three songs that were written back in the mid-90's is "Garden of Mu...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Wed, 28 May 2008 08:02:00 PST

About the song Live My Life

This is the fourth of nine conversations about the songs from Stephen Soul's June 3rd release entitled "Rise Above".   The song "Live My Life" is another one of the three that I wrote in the mi...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Fri, 23 May 2008 05:35:00 PST

About the song "Partys Over"

This is the 3rd of nine conversations from Stephen Soul' forthcoming  release "Rise Above" available June 3rd. "The song "Party's Over" was inspired by an event in my childhood.  This was to...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Thu, 22 May 2008 05:19:00 PST

About the song "Sugartown"

This is 2nd in the series of nine conversations on the songs from Stephen Soul's forthcoming CD, "Rise Above", available June 3rd.     "The song Sugartown is one of three songs on the albu...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Mon, 12 May 2008 07:32:00 PST

The songs "Found Man" and "City of Lights"

This is first in the series of nine conversations on the songs from Stephen Soul's forthcoming CD, "Rise Above", available June 3rd.   "The first two songs on my album are "Found Man" and "City ...
Posted by Stephen Soul on Sun, 04 May 2008 08:00:00 PST