Tuesday, May 17, 2022

DJ Interviews: Steve Conte

 Hey there, DJ Dizzy here, & this is my interview with the one & only Steve Conte for those who are unfamiliar with him he's best known for his work in anime soundtracks such as Ghost in The Shell & Cowboy Bebop & he's also done his own projects as well. So, ladies & gentlemen I give you Steve Conte!

 

How'd you get started in music?

My parents were big music fans and my mom was a professional jazz singer so I heard all kinds of great records in my house growing up. I loved listening to Mod/psychedelic/rock/Pop songs on the AM radio in the car the 60s but when I heard Beatles album, Revolver things got serious - I wanted to be a drummer like Ringo. I started taking drum lessons and soon after, starred in my school production of “the little drummer boy”. I switched to guitar a few years later after discovering that I could write songs on my brother’s guitar and recorded my 1st “album” in the family living room at age 10. The bug bit me and it has never stopped since...


Who are your inspirations or influences?

For rock n roll playing & songwriting it’s The Classics: Chuck Berry, Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Who, Police, XTC, Pretenders, and then jazz/fusion guitarists like Wes Montgomery, John Scofield, Steve Morse, Larry Carlton


What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

Learn to play an instrument, guitar or piano so you can write/record your own songs and not always have to pay & depend on other people to produce/record  your material. Also, it helps to know a bit of music theory so you can convey your ideas to other musicians 


How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

I am not just a lead guitarist, I’m also a lead singer. And I’m not just a lead singer, I’m also a songwriter. 
So while many guys have focused their energies on being ONE thing, I foolishly tried to be all THREE - Haha! But I think I’ve done a decent job at it…


Any new gigs or albums in the future?

 Yes, working on writing a new single and possibly a full album with one of my songwriting heroes (I can’t name them yet) Hopefully it’ll come out early next year on Wicked Cool records, the label I'm on currently, run by Little Steven Van Zandt. Due to the pandemic I haven’t had a real band together in quite awhile but I plan to remedy that ASAP!

Special thanks to him for this interview & I wish him lots of luck in his work so until then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!


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