Musician, January 1984: Difference between revisions
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"You want to interview Steve?" asked Elvis Costello's manager, the feisty pugnacious Jake Riviera. "Well then, you'd better ask him about amplifier settings." He cracked a smile, and explained himself: "Steve's been up all night and we've been kidding him about the guy from ''Musician'' magazine who's going to ask about settings," Riviera laughed. | "You want to interview Steve?" asked Elvis Costello's manager, the feisty pugnacious Jake Riviera. "Well then, you'd better ask him about amplifier settings." He cracked a smile, and explained himself: "Steve's been up all night and we've been kidding him about the guy from ''Musician'' magazine who's going to ask about settings," Riviera laughed. | ||
I followed Rivera to the dressing room. There sat Steve arranger, composer | I followed Rivera to the dressing room. There sat Steve, arranger, composer, orchestrator and keyboard player extraordinaire. Unshaven, dressed all in black, with a black fedora atop his head, slouched on the couch, he looked like a sleazy character out of Orson Welles' ''Touch of Evil''. | ||
With straight face, Riviera introduced us. | With straight face, Riviera introduced us. | ||
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For six years, twenty-five-year-old Steve Nieve has been a lieutenant in Elvis' army. From the Peter Gunn-meets-Jamaica mystery of "Watching The Detectives," the first Elvis track he played on, through the horn-dominated soul revival ''Punch The Clock'', Nieve has helped sculpt the unique pop sound that has made Elvis Costello one of the most respected of modern day rock 'n' rollers. | For six years, twenty-five-year-old Steve Nieve has been a lieutenant in Elvis' army. From the Peter Gunn-meets-Jamaica mystery of "Watching The Detectives," the first Elvis track he played on, through the horn-dominated soul revival ''Punch The Clock'', Nieve has helped sculpt the unique pop sound that has made Elvis Costello one of the most respected of modern day rock 'n' rollers. | ||
Steve Nieve deserves to be respected as well. A classically trained pianist who studied at London's Royal College of Music, he can play garage-trashy a la Question Mark | Steve Nieve deserves to be respected as well. A classically trained pianist who studied at London's Royal College of Music, he can play garage-trashy a la Question Mark & the Mysterians (''This Year's Model''), pump out Nashville honky-tonk (''Almost Blue'') or do a Booker T (''Get Happy!''). Perhaps his most stylistically distinctive work is evident on ''Armed Forces'' and ''Imperial Bedroom'', where he works his classical roots into Elvis' material, giving the tunes a majestic neo-''Sgt. Pepper'' quality. | ||
Those classical roots still remain dear to Nieve who, when he's not recording or touring with Elvis, composes classical music In London. one can sometimes find him playing this music at a small French restaurant, L'Escargot. | Those classical roots still remain dear to Nieve who, when he's not recording or touring with Elvis, composes classical music In London. one can sometimes find him playing this music at a small French restaurant, L'Escargot. | ||
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Recently he recorded an entire album of his own compositions, ''[[Keyboard Jungle]]'' (on Demon Records), The music is not what one expects from a driving force in one of the key modern rock units. Recorded digitally in four hours, ''Keyboard Jungle'', an album of instrumentals, finds Nieve ''and only Nieve'' holding forth on a Steinway grand. | Recently he recorded an entire album of his own compositions, ''[[Keyboard Jungle]]'' (on Demon Records), The music is not what one expects from a driving force in one of the key modern rock units. Recorded digitally in four hours, ''Keyboard Jungle'', an album of instrumentals, finds Nieve ''and only Nieve'' holding forth on a Steinway grand. | ||
"I like the idea of going against the system." said Nieve a soft spoken young man not used to being interviewed (this was only his second interview — ever). "I think someday music won't be so commercialized. There was a time, before record players, when people could make their own music, however terrible it was, to entertain each other at home. It seems to me that the way records are going. a lot of them are sounding the same as the last one I'd like to see a time when it goes back to that thing of people entertaining each other in their houses | "I like the idea of going against the system." said Nieve a soft spoken young man not used to being interviewed (this was only his second interview — ever). "I think someday music won't be so commercialized. There was a time, before record players, when people could make their own music, however terrible it was, to entertain each other at home. It seems to me that the way records are going. a lot of them are sounding the same as the last one I'd like to see a time when it goes back to that thing of people entertaining each other in their houses, rather than buying a record by Styx and they don't even know what the lead singer looks like. It's just a noise, it's just a record company-produced thing. And especially in America, the way the radio is set up, they completely dictate what kind of music those kinds of bands make. That's why my album probably won't get played on the radio. But then it's completely what I wanted to do. | ||
Born in Bishop's Stortford, Nieve grew up in the small English town of Erith, just down the road from a factory where Vox organs were made | Born in Bishop's Stortford, Nieve grew up in the small English town of Erith, just down the road from a factory where Vox organs were made. His parents played classical music around the house and he took piano lessons from a neighbor beginning when he was six years old. It wasn't until Nieve turned fifteen that he got hip to rock 'n' roll "Studying classical music. they'd play you something and then you'd have to write it down by ear." he says "That was part of the training. Of course most of the kids were into pop music So one time the teacher said. 'Let's just listen to pop records' and he put on 'Metal Guru' by T Rex and we were sitting there writing it down;' Nieve laughed at the memory "I thought. "This is great! So I had to go out and buy it. And that's what started it all going." | ||
From there it was less than a year before he had bought his first Vox organ (which he played on Elvis & the Attractions' first American tour) and began playing in local combos including the Albinos ("We never played any gigs we just rehearsed.") and Second Foundation, a ten-piece band with a girl singer that covered the hits of the day. Still, playing pop music was a hobby, until the keyboard player joined the Attractions in 1977. | From there it was less than a year before he had bought his first Vox organ (which he played on Elvis & the Attractions' first American tour) and began playing in local combos including the Albinos ("We never played any gigs we just rehearsed.") and Second Foundation, a ten-piece band with a girl singer that covered the hits of the day. Still, playing pop music was a hobby, until the keyboard player joined the Attractions in 1977. | ||
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Asked about the garage Vox sound that dominates ''This Year's Model'', Nieve said, "That was what we sounded like live at the time. That was the only keyboard I had. When we started out, everything had to be done on an organ. And as time progresses you start moving into bigger studios that have space to fit pianos in and so you say, 'Okay, I'd like to play piano.'" | Asked about the garage Vox sound that dominates ''This Year's Model'', Nieve said, "That was what we sounded like live at the time. That was the only keyboard I had. When we started out, everything had to be done on an organ. And as time progresses you start moving into bigger studios that have space to fit pianos in and so you say, 'Okay, I'd like to play piano.'" | ||
As for the genre-hopping that characterizes the recording career of Elvis Costello & the Attractions | As for the genre-hopping that characterizes the recording career of Elvis Costello & the Attractions — garage rock to psychedelic to soul to country — Elvis and the band are heavily influenced by what they're listening to as they make a record. "Until I started making records, I hadn't really listened to pop music. That's the great thing about working with Elvis. He's got the biggest record collection you've ever seen. In fact, it's so big you can't get in his house now. I think he's going to have to move. It's not that it's something that I've heard and liked, it's something that Elvis has just played for me. It's an instant thing, rather than looking back. It's a new discovery for me. We might have been driving to the studio and Elvis puts some Aretha Franklin on." | ||
Which is how the country album, ''Almost Blue'', came about. "When he first started playing Loretta Lynn, I just got completely involved in Loretta Lynn. Mainly because it was just before my daughter was born and a lot of the songs were about family life. Being on tour and knowing that my wife was about to go into hospital, it really cheered me up. I think that was what steered us into doing that album. Halfway through the tour we went to Nashville and did a couple of takes and said, 'Yeah, we're going to come back and do a whole album.'" | Which is how the country album, ''Almost Blue'', came about. "When he first started playing Loretta Lynn, I just got completely involved in Loretta Lynn. Mainly because it was just before my daughter was born and a lot of the songs were about family life. Being on tour and knowing that my wife was about to go into hospital, it really cheered me up. I think that was what steered us into doing that album. Halfway through the tour we went to Nashville and did a couple of takes and said, 'Yeah, we're going to come back and do a whole album.'" | ||
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There there are six clarinets he used on "Town Cryer" as well. "I was trying to emulate, not copy, the sound of Glenn Miller. I think he achieved that through the use of block clarinets. I might be wrong but that was my idea." | There there are six clarinets he used on "Town Cryer" as well. "I was trying to emulate, not copy, the sound of Glenn Miller. I think he achieved that through the use of block clarinets. I might be wrong but that was my idea." | ||
In addition to an arsenal of keyboards including a Prophet 5, Fender Rhodes, Synclavier, Casio 247, Bosendorfer grand piano, Fairlight CMI and Vox and Hammond organs, Nieve is particularly enchanted by the Emulator. "I've been experimenting programming records into the Emulator. You can get four or five seconds | In addition to an arsenal of keyboards including a Prophet 5, Fender Rhodes, Synclavier, Casio 247, Bosendorfer grand piano, Fairlight CMI and Vox and Hammond organs, Nieve is particularly enchanted by the Emulator. "I've been experimenting programming records into the Emulator. You can get four or five seconds — enough time to get in a whole bar of a song. And then you can loop it and you play one key and the whole track comes out of it. You can do some pretty interesting things with intros of songs. You can loop them on the wrong beat. Or if you get a bar of something, use it as a rhythm track and who's going to know? | ||
"I also found that if you program in something like that, so that you can have the whole track on one note | "I also found that if you program in something like that, so that you can have the whole track on one note — there's a code so you can make all the notes on the emulator play the same note — then you can press down like five notes, but slightly out of time with each other, and get these really amazing phrasing effects. You know those scratch records? I'd like to do that with the Emulator, so that halfway through a track you could program one part into the Emulator and then you could edit the song in the middle of the track, have a really weird phase section, 'cause you can make half the keyboard play the sound backwards. If you had one note playing a bar of music, then you could do scratching just by alternating notes. You wouldn't have to ruin your records," he laughs. | ||
"I met someone in L.A. who has programmed 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' into the Emulator. He's divided the keyboard up into bass, drums, all the instruments except the voice." | "I met someone in L.A. who has programmed 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' into the Emulator. He's divided the keyboard up into bass, drums, all the instruments except the voice." | ||
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'''Musician, No. 63, January 1984 | '''Musician, No. 63, January 1984 | ||
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[[Michael Goldberg]] | [[Michael Goldberg]] interviews [[Steve Nieve]]. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
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[[Category:Musician| Musician 1984-01-00]] | [[Category:Musician| Musician 1984-01-00]] | ||
[[Category:Magazine articles]] | [[Category:Magazine articles]] | ||
[[Category:Interviews]] | |||
[[Category:Steve Nieve interviews]] |
Latest revision as of 18:34, 15 April 2023
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