Great Barr singer Steve Adey talks about his third album
Few of Steve Adey’s old mates, in Great Barr, would have imagined the life he would lead.
The singer/songwriter launched his solo career more than 10 years ago and remains one of the UK’s most original and credible artists. A man whose beautiful and sparse work can be filed alongside that by Nick Cave, Bonnie Prince Billy, Mark Kozelek and Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis. Like them, he’s refused to compromise his artistic ambition for commercial success.
Steve’s third record, Do Me A Kindness, is out now. It was recorded in a 19th century Edinburgh church, with further tracking and mixing at Steve’s home studio, utilising mostly vintage equipment.
The record features covers of his favourite bands, from David Bowie, PJ Harvey and Morrissey to Nick Cave, Bob Dylan and Portishead.
He recorded it more than two years and though he had the best of intentions to finish it quickly, the process took longer than he anticipated.
“I went back to the old approach of getting friends together and recording in the church. I played a lot more instruments, so it wasn’t so much of a band thing. I spent a year mixing it, so it took a while.”
Steve’s interpretation of such songs as Bob Dylan’s I Want You, David Bowie’s Sense of Doubt and Nick Cave’s God is in the House sound unlike the originals. He has re-imagined them so that they might have been written by himself.
“I think the criteria when I choose the ten songs was that I had to really like the song and the artist. If I felt like I could do something with the track, make it different, I would tackle it. I didn’t want to do a generic version. I found it had to be turned upside down, really. I wanted to change the songs and bring in sections from my own music. Some of the times, even the melodies are different.”
The songs became Steve’s own. “That’s why it took so long. I wanted to inhabit the songs. It took on its own journey. I wanted to make it my own record. It has the signature hallmarks of the last album. The songwriting doesn’t take that long, for me. It might take me a day or two to write a song.”
He remembers his Great Barr roots. He lived in the area until he was 18, before his parents moved to Stafford. A few years later, he moved to New York and New Jersey, before settling in Scotland.
