Seasick Steve for Coachella (and maybe Stagecoach too)

[stinkbutt]

I don't know how I had never heard of this man before, but he is amazing and should play Coachella

[summerkid]

He's pretty big in the UK. I wonder what stage he'd play if he did play Coachella.

[stinkbutt]

I would guess Gobi, since I had never heard of him until watching the ATP movie. My stepdad had never heard of him either, and he listens to a lot of blues music.

[Boourns]

He's pretty big in the UK. I wonder what stage he'd play if he did play Coachella.

I would guess early Gobi or maybe very early on the Outdoor.

I have no idea who he is, but at Glastonbury this year, he played the Pyramid stage between Jackson Browne and The Dead Weather.

[tigermilkboy]

My fave quote of his is:

“ Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three. ”

should be at Coachella

[MissingPerson]

He's awesome.

He's sort of a big deal over here thanks to Jools Holland, I think. I met him at a festival a while back, and that guy could charm the devil hisself. Didn't he know Kurt Cobain for a bit?

[dorkfish]

he played All Points West, one year

[Boourns]

I wish APW happened this year. Being a $60 roundtrip 7 hour bus ride from NYC, I could have actually gone.

[shakermaker113]

I saw part of his set at glastonbury. I like it. I'm pretty baffled how this american blues guy is popular in the uk and unknown here.

[MissingPerson]

Not to be cynical about it - the guy is undeniably extremely talented, and his set is a riot - but I think maybe that's part of his appeal. He's kind of a personification of a very idealised kind of Americana.

[shakermaker113]

are you saying he is completely invisible in america? blends in with the background?

[Thisismyname]

Not to be cynical about it - the guy is undeniably extremely talented, and his set is a riot - but I think maybe that's part of his appeal. He's kind of a personification of a very idealised kind of Americana.

Exactly.

Most american's wouldn't care about him, because we can just have the "real" deal.

Still love the guy though. Would definitely like to see him be on the lineup.

[Duvel]

He's loved down here in Australia.....and to see him at Coachella would be awesome!!!

[MissingPerson]

Steve gave me a bit of a scare on my first day of my first actually important festival job. I've mentioned it before, and it was no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it left an impression. Somebody had shoved a walkie talkie in my hand and put me in charge of getting everybody to and from their respective stages on time, despite the fact that the one-way system had fallen apart and the site itself was disintegrating into flood conditions that kept swallowing up all the buggies and vans.

I hadn't a fucking clue what I was at, and the Irish acts had all completely fucked me over by generally acting like complete fucking tools even though nobody will ever hear of any one of them ever again. My first real act was Steve, who rocks up with his techs well in advance just to have a chat. His "techs", sure enough, are all wearing disintegrating denims and scraggly beards and eyepatches - they look like either hobos or pirates, and any actual technical knowledge they've got is either accidental or incidental. And there are a suspiciously high number of them for the maintenance of two guitars and a stomp-box. But they're awesome.

So Steve goes on stage to a bunch of completely cold hipsters and hippies at like 3 on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and duly tears the place down. He takes a girl up on stage and sings to her, she practically swoons, the crowd goes totally nuts altogether, and he leaves on that note. He waves and starts to walk off stage and at some point in the very tightly controlled fifteen feet of walkway between the stage and the loading ramp, he vanishes off the face of planet earth. My sole job is to stop the talent vanishing off the face of the earth, and you'd think it wouldn't be so hard given that the guy looks a million years old and the place is designed like a kind of flood-sodden Guantanamo, but evidently not.

Mild panic breaks out. There is nowhere he could have gone, short of hopping an enormous climb-proof fence intended to keep young drunk people out, and he doesn't really look like the pole-vaulting type. Gone he is, however, and there's no trace of him. By then, my walkie talkie is screaming at me demanding to know why he's not at his dressing room yet, so I ask one of the entourage pirates where the fuck Seasick Steve has fucking gone. "Gone for a walk, I'll bet", he says. How?, I asked, gesturing to the layers of fencing, walls, hoarding and security. He shrugs. "He does that a lot though." he adds thoughtfully.

To this day, I have no fucking idea how Seasick Steve snuck past us, or why, or how he got back to the artist's area nearly a kilometre away through all the layers of security in between just in time to be having his dinner before I did. Nor did anybody else. I do know, however, that I made sure to head for my break just in time to land somebody else with the task of trying to explain to our boss via radio that "We've uh... we've lost Seasick Steve."

[Boourns]

Magic?

[stinkbutt]

Fuckin Seasick Steve, how does he work?

[JustSteve]

simple. magnets.

[shakermaker113]

...

that was really cool story. thanks. :-)

Fuckin Seasick Steve, how does he work?

STOP THAT

[tigermilkboy]

I saw part of his set at glastonbury. I like it. I'm pretty baffled how this american blues guy is popular in the uk and unknown here.

Talented and innovative Seasick Steve is, but it is easier to become famous in the UK than US. Basically the whole of the UK is a fifth the size of Texas, it is a relative small country with 60 million people. Therefore given the concentrated size of the country and the media, news spreads fast and you can become a celebrity very quickly and massively-see Jade Goody.
In Seasick Steve's case, he got great exposure on Jools Holland-which exposed him to a mass audience for the first time. I guess the UK is more receptive to his music and stories, whereas most Americans would dismiss him as a lazy bum. Also, in the UK, alternative/indie music is more mainstream-look at the number of large music festivals-Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading, V-Hylands and Weston, T in the Park, Isle of Wight, Download etc.

As many big British bands have found, cracking the US is much harder to achieve than the UK. But many US acts have cracked the UK market, without even attempting the US.

[shakermaker113]

But many US acts have cracked the UK market, without even attempting the US.

this occurred to me once before, but I struggled to think of other examples. who? (not trying to argue here)

[JustSteve]

that's where they sent american boy bands to break them in and build up the hype before unleashing them on us. thanks a fuckin' lot, uk.

[MissingPerson]

I'm pretty sure Kings of Leon and the Killers both worked up a bit of momentum in the UK first, if that's any use.

[tigermilkboy]

this occurred to me once before, but I struggled to think of other examples. who? (not trying to argue here)

LOL...no its okay, but The Strokes were headliners after one album in the UK in 2002 they were huge names-they were billed above Pulp and Janes Addiction at Reading 2002. There is still a debate here in the US about them as headliners.

But White Stripes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Kings Of Leon, QOTSA, Garbage, The Killers, Fun Lovin Criminals, Flaming Lips-all those were pretty much subheadliners/headliners a long time before they were even known in the US. I am sure there are many lesser names.

[tigermilkboy]

that's where they sent american boy bands to break them in and build up the hype before unleashing them on us. thanks a fuckin' lot, uk.

Yes but you missed out on getting Steps, Take That, Boyzone and Westlife. So count yourself lucky LOL

[shakermaker113]

But White Stripes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Kings Of Leon, QOTSA, Garbage, The Killers, Fun Lovin Criminals, Flaming Lips-all those were pretty much subheadliners/headliners a long time before they were even known in the US. I am sure there are many lesser names.

ah you are right. though most of those did eventually build up a solid fan base in the US.

Yes but you missed out on getting Steps, Take That, Boyzone and Westlife. So count yourself lucky LOL

ahhaha.

[TickleMeElmo]

THIS is what has always confused me about the UK scene and what it's all about. Is it because they have different tastes? More appreciative? More variety? Or do they just cycle through stuff way faster than us?

[Boourns]

THIS is what has always confused me about the UK scene and what it's all about. Is it because they have different tastes? More appreciative? More variety? Or do they just cycle through stuff way faster than us?

This. My question, in addition to these, is of all our bands, why Kings of Leon and the Killers?

[JustSteve]

THIS is what has always confused me about the UK scene and what it's all about. Is it because they have different tastes? More appreciative? More variety? Or do they just cycle through stuff way faster than us?

don't forget, they made a cartoon frog number 1 on the charts, too. not sure what that says about them.

[MissingPerson]

I think there's a bit of an exchange thing too, like a shiny new American rock band is automatically going to be a little bit cool in the UK, and I think there's probably a touch of it in reverse.

Mr. Brightside was a hit from the Lifestyle sports ad campaign, it was one of those "What is that song?" ones, and I think Hot Fuss got traction off the back of that. Kings of Leon had a couple of singles that took off on the radio, which I think is a big part of it too - the UK is essentially a single radio market.

Much denser festival circuit too.

[tigermilkboy]

I think there's a bit of an exchange thing too, like a shiny new American rock band is automatically going to be a little bit cool in the UK, and I think there's probably a touch of it in reverse.

Mr. Brightside was a hit from the Lifestyle sports ad campaign, it was one of those "What is that song?" ones, and I think Hot Fuss got traction off the back of that. Kings of Leon had a couple of singles that took off on the radio, which I think is a big part of it too - the UK is essentially a single radio market.

Much denser festival circuit too.

I think TV and radio plays a large part. Fair easier to get play on the BBC and get instant national exposure. Here in the US you have to deal with all commercial syndicated TV and radio, which makes it really difficult.
I first heard of The Killers, KOL, The Strokes etc thru John Peel and Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio. There isn't anything like that in the US that garners national exposure.
BBC Radio is the tops for the variety of music and finding new music. The likes of KROQ and 107.5, only play stuff that listeners like and have heard before. NPR is the best we have, but that has to cram everything in.