Stee J

I'm Stee J, Stee being my preferred shortened version of Stephen. There's no 'v' in Stephen, and Ste would rhyme with ehh, hence Stee. So now you know. ;o)
I was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. For those of you not up on your geography, you'll find it on the north-west coast of England, about 50 miles north-west of Manchester and a similar distance north of Liverpool, although closer as the seagull flies.
I lived in the Blackpool area until heading off to immerse myself in music and further my education, studying a degree in Popular Music at Bretton Hall, Leeds Uni. I moved down to London post-uni for a job in IT, which seemed to be the best way to get my project studio off the ground and produce music in my spare time. Work, trips home to Blackpool, a football obsession, and long-term relationships took their toll on my musical output. I didn't push the idea of trying to break into film/tv music, as I'd originally hoped to do after uni, and external forces were cramping my creativity.
The musical urge remained inside of me, and I found myself writing more music again. Ideas were flowing out of me, without needing to force it. I decided it was about time I was back playing in a live band environment, and I began searching for musicians or a band to join up with. Towards the end of 2005, Dear Acetate got in contact with me. They'd tried out a number of vocalists but it hadn't worked out. I'd had an equally fruitless search, there seemed to be little going on other than kids in metal bands, cover bands and peeps too far away to practically get things going. I went down to meet them, liked what I heard and the feeling was mutual. That audition became a first rehearsal, and so it came to be that I was singing in Dear Acetate.
You can find out more about Dear Acetate here or from our myspace profile . We began songwriting and rehearsing back in January 2006, and recorded some early demos in the February. Mk replaced MJ on bass shortly afterwards, and we were finally out gigging in May. We've played mostly in London and Herts, but plan some trips further afield in 2007. Our biggest gig to date was supporting The Wonder Stuff at the Civic in Aylesbury, which was quite a buzz. It was quite a nostalgia trip for me as well, their set bringing back memories of my teenage years, bopping around the dancefloor to 90's indie. Another biggie was being personally asked by Embrace frontman Danny McNamara to play Another Music = Another Kitchen, in Camden for what was his birthday party and the Embrace End of Year celebrations. It was quite surreal him ringing and emailing me, telling me that he loved our stuff! He really enjoyed the set as well, as did we playing it.
As you may have gathered my main vices are music and football. I'm a regular gig goer, have watched Blackpool FC all over the country and England at various stadia across the world. I'm not a huge one for watching tv, and I'm more likely to be found playing with musical ideas, at the computer or reading autobiographies and music magazines than staring at the goggle box.
I now live in Watford, Hertfordshire. For those of you who dont fancy another geography lesson you can skip the next couple of sentences. Watford is just outside London, its not near Watford Gap, thats another 60 miles further north up the M1! It's to the north west of London, not far from Harrow, inside the M25, and on the end of Metropolitan tube line. Having found the London suburbs a bit boring, and central London too pricey I opted for Watford instead. It may have its detractors, but I find it alright, enough greenery to look out at, some decent beer and venues to be found and a shorter trip into London than when I lived in the suburbs. Pretty handy for the day job, plus a touch easier for trips 'home' to the Fylde coast too.