WHERE FROM, WHERE TO
Steve Steingraeber, Muenster, Germany. This site is the place to find tracks by my one-man-band trocadero . I played bass in the german indiepop band dorian from 1998 to 2006 after i started my first homerecordings in the early 90s. I´m mainly influenced by british postpunk and indie bands. Favourite artists in alphabetical order: air arcade fire aphex twin arctic monkeys beatsteaks billy talent bloc party blur broken social scene chemical brothers depeche mode dorian francis lay gorrillaz happy mondays ian brown john barry joy division julian casablancas keane massive attack morrissey my bloody valentine new order peter, bjorn & john phoenix primal scream radiohead richard ashcroft shout out louds slowdive sonic youth the cure the go team the hives the rolling stones the smiths the stone roses the strokes the verve two door cinema club unkle My tracks are composed, played and recorded by myself, so i own the complete copyrights but please feel free to download (for non commercial purpose only.) So stay tuned, your comments are welcome :-)) I´m still looking for a good singer w/f as well as for other recording musicians ( gtr, kbds, etc.) near Münster, Germany. Just write to [email protected] cheerio, steve INTERVIEW BY VIC DORNBERGER "You played bass with dorian for eight years, in a classic GGBD band cast. As trocadero you are doing everything by yourself, all instruments, writing, producing etc. What is it about, are you a solo artist, or are you planning trocadero as a complete band again?" "Hm, solo artist sounds a little bit pretentious to me. Its definetely not about standing in the focus, because as a musician i am a sidekick. More than a performer, which would feel very uncomfortable to me. In that sense trocadero is not meant to be a solo project, it is more an idea of producing, and the opportunity to write and produce songs completely from scratch with editing very much in depth, what would not be possible as a band, just because the editing and possibilities in your own studio. The big disadvantage of course is that you lose your direction very often without the control of other team members. Because you dont´t have the interaction and the feedback of your band mates. But: playing trocadero live would only possible for me with a complete band cast, myself on bass guitar. That´s what i´m coming from and what i´d enjoy the most." "You are an 80´s child, it´s the blueprint for all of your tracks, i guess - can you identify the initial kick starts from that decade for you?" "Undoubtedly it was "Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me" by the the Cure in 1987. That Album formed my musical genetics as well as some months later "Low" by New Order. Big influences were the whole manchester scene, the Smiths, Joy Division, the Stone Roses, Primal Scream. It´s a pity, but i totally failed trying to play guitar at that time, using standard tunings. Later on i found a way for me using alternative guitar tunings, but at that time i started with my very first synthesizer, just to play at least the keyboard parts of my heroes. The musical basics, for example what is a measure, a harmony etc. i learned from cubase on an 1989er Atari. So the Atari was actually my music teacher. I liked that punk attitude, being a total newbie and being completely ignorant just trying to get out notes and noises from that kind of instruments using only two fingers! At a certain point that approach led to very thrilling results, just putting track on track and forming complex songs and structures from absolutely simple single note lines." |
" What is the trademark, the essence of a typical trocadero piece ?"
" Well, mostly it´s up tempo stuff to dance to or drive your car while listening to it. And you always find some kind of melancholy in it, without being pathetic, to dramatic or even humourless. And you should listen to it being at the seaside, taking a long walk on the beach against an autumn breeze." "Who is your favourite bass player, you would like to replace in case of an accident, if he breaks his fingers?" "Mani of Primal Scream or New Order´s Peter Hook, definitely. But of course they are not replaceable at all!“ "As trocadero you play indie, what electronic acts do you like? "I started with synthesizers and sequencers and still love it, as long as you can play them hands on, using knobs and sliders, not only staring at your laptop´s display. So i am still a devoted fan of Depeche Mode or the Chemical Brothers, who set the benchmark in their league. " " Will you release your tracks as a classic cd or will you publish them solely online?" " I think it will be a small number of cd copies, just for being that kind of retro, putting physical records into a collection shelf. Although, for non-professionals it doesn´t make sense to publish a complete album anymore. The web based platforms and networks offer the opportunities to publish singles or double a side singles on a more or less regular basis, every eight weeks for example. By that you get a chance to promote your songs over a longer period of time, not only at one fixed date. In addition to that, you don´t have the necessity to have all songs in a certain musical or technical context, so that they fit together, as on an album " "What is your approach of guitar playing?" "First of all, i am not a guitarist, i am a bass player, using single note lines most of the time on both instruments. I can play on a guitar using alternative tunings and special strings, so that is a really limited workaround. In best case i can play power chords or some maj7´s. But even then i never use more than two fingers of my left hand, because i am just not sophisticated enough. And: i need a new guitar for every f***ing new tuning and lots of stomp boxes to create a colourful tone. A very good reason to invest in new gear from time to time ;-)" "You are a bedroom producer, what would remain withour your computer?" "It is definitely my essential tool for the last twenty years, not only for composing and writing but also for learning and understanding music, sounds, rhythms, frequencies, the whole stuff. But it is a tool, not an instrument. It can never be as beautiful, inspiring or sexy as a guitar or hardware synthesizer or a fuzz box. I do prefer the haptical approach of hardware more than the virtual interface of software. Maybe my ipad with its extended possibilities of gesture based controlling can come close to becoming a real instrument. But the windows based computer ist just a big multitrack recorder with comfortable editing on a very, very detailed micro level. Today my beats are recorded in realtime via pads, the percussions are real live instruments like tambourines, shaker, bongos, I dont program that stuff anymore step by step as i did in the 90`s, what was very annoying at that time, as well as using unflexible drumloops. So i prefer as much as i can playing instead of editing or programming. Because i work the whole day in front of my office desktop, using the mouse i don´t like to do that in the evening also. But what i am still missing is the atmosphere of a rehearsal room, jamming with my bandmates and the smell of the tube amps :-))" |