'Moon Rock' and 'April & I: animated movie' UK release - 20th July

hey hiiii,

finally... it's a pleasure and a f**king huge relief to announce the date for the release of my 'Moon Rock' LP, recorded in various bedrooms, mixed in LA by tony hoffer, featuring some of LAs finest orchestral musicians conducted by david campbell.. and me.. will be released digitally in the UK on JULY 20th 2009 . On the same day the 'April & I: animated movie' will also be available for download.

I'll be uploading each part of the movie, section by section over the next 10 weeks to stream.. with it available to purchase on the 10th week so be sure to check back everyweek.

On July 6th i'll be released 'In A Coma' as a little single which will be accompanied by Matt Anstee's wicked video that we finished earlier this year, starring the super slick Ralph Brown (Withnail & I, Wayne's World 2, Aliens 3 etc etc etc), Aaron King (musical prodigy), Duncan Ladkin (Tech For Lyfe), The Xcerts, Mike Lord (Stars & Sons), skeletal nurses and many other beautiful faces..(and me again.. gutted).



Also I'll be sporadically uploading some little 15 second songs for you to download whilst you wait. I'm sure there'll be some other "content" (as they call it) for you to gobble down also.

At some point in the coming weeks I will start recording my next project so I might do a little diary for music and gear nerds like me who like that sort of thing.

IS THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU GUYS!!???!!!! I'M BUSTING MY BALLS HERE!?!?
May the 11th be with you.. mm.. doesn't work.
phat love
p
x

'Moon Rock' iTunes release in US, Canada and Australia - 26th May

hello
i'm s(th)eriously p(th)syched to announce that my album 'Moon Rock' is going to be available on iTunes in US, Canada and Australia on 26th May 2009.. who'd have thunk'd it? think of it as swine flu vaccination for your ears. Please tell all your friends and family about it.. shout at them if you have to.. hell, if physically threatening them will make a difference then DO IT. what you do in the privacy of your own home is none of my business, frankly.

fellow countrymen mop up your tears with an absorbant cloth cause i haven't forgotten about you. 'Moon Rock' will be out in the UK in July along with the 'In A Coma' single and video AND the 'April & I: animated movie'.. quite a lot isnt it? you'll be sick of the sight of me by august which is handy cause I'll be in a secret bunker working on the next record.

thanks for your patience! your support is appreciated
love
p
x

p.s. just dug my Beatles anthology CDs out and rediscovered this gem

Tokyo photo blog

TOKYO TRIP
Day 1 -

Had a good flight over. i got ill a few days before we were due to set out. got very nervous so before the flight i necked lots of lemsip and throat lozenges. got a bad case of the lemsip burps on the plane. watched 'man on wire' - scary, 'tropic thunder' - meh, 'pineapple express' - hmm and 'wall-E' - wow on the virgin flight entertainment service.. also beat andy at battleships... my tip.. is to cram all the ships in the same corner.. works a treat. food was disgusting. didn't get any sleep.... still had fun though.

arrived at narito airport. definitely felt iller.. mak was there to greet us.. had been about 8 months since we last played with mak so it was good to see him. got driven to our hotel in shibuya. we couldn't check in till later... I WAS DAMN TIRED I TELL YOU. so we all went out to explore a little. this was the first photo i took..



we were all pretty weirded out with the jetlag and being in tokyo so some of the more sensible members of the group went for a pint. i felt much better.

we checked in, had a little micronap and then head out for some food. found the first place that looked nice and got some more beer in. i ate this



yummy?

it was actually. aslong as i closed my eyes and held my nose and pretended it was angel delight.

looks like rach and andy enjoyed it



i got back to the hotel looking a bit fragile




Day 2 -

Got up at 8 for breakfast. was relieved they had toast and jam. i certainly wasn't into the idea of shredded cabbage with soy sauce and a complete hard boiled egg first thing in the morning.. the diva in me wanted coco pops.

we got the metro to our rehearsal studio and set up. geek note: there are only 300 of these marshall amplifiers in the world.. rachael's a lucky girl



and look at her lucky little lucky face when she found out what her spare guitar was



eurgh. it's actually furry.

rehearsal was looonnnggg and tiring but worth it.

everyone came out for dinner at a fish restaurant called 'by the sea'. was a pretty damn fine restaurant if it weren't for all the fish that people were cooking and eating. i am very understanding towards people who eat fish.. i'm sure it tastes good and stuff.. but dont fucking eat it's head.. not infront of of the lanky fish phobia boy.. maybe if those little fish hadn't swum up my boxers as a child on a family holiday in mexico.. i'd be tucking into a good hearty bit of fish.. but i'd never eat it's head... that's exactly what colin "Tour manager 4 lyfe" walker did...



look at his guilty little fish head eating face.

i couldn't handle it.


the mushrooms and rice and beer were nice though. we went back to the hotel and i got into my pyjamas and crashed for the night.

Day 3 (show day) -

After breakfast I went out for a morning stroll to get some tea. It's very strange that in Shibuya even though it's busy and there's cars everywhere and huge amounts of people passing by it's still very quiet and relaxing.. it's not like london where everyone's got the hump and a cork up their arse. it was really nice. Even my hyperactive band seemed pretty chilled



The guy looking after us (Koya) took us down to Club Quattro where were were going to play later in the evening. It was a super nice venue.. pretty big.. all our gear was setup and ready for us the Japanese way. There were lots of lights



The gig was fantastic. The crowd were very warm and friendly and made us feel pretty good. 75 minutes is certainly the longest set we've done as a band and I definitely felt it on the last song. I could've passed out. I need to get into shoegazing. In the middle of the set I did a small solo set on a second makeshift stage at the side of the venue. Apologies for the people who couldn't see. I think it worked really nicely in the set. We got the chance to play lots of Moon Rock and April & I songs that we don't usually play in a standard 30-40minute set.

A few people at the show requested the set list... I'm pretty sure it was this

Oh No! Oh Yeah!
Emojoe
Hole In Your Heart
April
Rust & Dust
Your Loss
The Way You Are

solo:
Worst Day
Seaside Town
Do You Ever Wonder?
Surf's Up

band:
In A Coma
I Gave Her My Number
I will Make You Disappear
Caught By The Fuzz (Supergrass cover)
Cry Away

Honkin'
Ray Gun

There were many candidates for the 'Colin Walker Man of the Match' trophy. Andy had to play 75 minutes of intense drummage (Caught by the fuzz particularly fast and mental), Mak hadn't played with us for 8 months yet still did a stellar job on the bass, I fought through the gig with quite a fierce cold but we all agreed that Rachael Wood of Derbyshire was winner.. For this very disturbing reason (kids look away!)



the week before we went out to Japan, Rachael sliced her finger whilst washing up a wineglass wot broke. She had to go to A&E and everything. We were all quite worried about this but Rachael Wood being the pro she is learnt the entire 75 minute set with just 3 fingers... just to put it into context.. she cut her index finger... probably the most important fretting finger... some rock and metal bands ONLY use this finger.. but woody nailed it with the other 3 and we applaud her!

mak still can't get over it



after the show we did quite a long signing session and got to meet some lovely people.



my myspace friend miyuki made me these April & I dolls which i was pretty delighted with... as you can see with my heroin-addict-like grin



Andy got a nice gift from a superfan



these ladies look like they had a nice time..



we went out for a meal with the label. i have no idea what the hell I was eating but it was delicious. my chopstick skills by this point were sky high. I could've eaten noodles and knitted a jumper simultaneously.. went out to see Shibuya at night.. i feel sorry for the little hamsters on a wheel keeping all the lights on in this city. stressful if anything



found this shop which sells little dogs.. it's as easy as buying a goldfish



we went for a drink with mak's family who had come down to the show. the grown-ups had cocktails that made them feel a bit unwell so we went home and slept. good day

Day 4 -

Andy left for England in the morning. Colin and Rach took a day to do some sightseeing (which actually turned out to be sleeping.. lazy shitmunchers!). Mak and I had a day of promo. The first thing we did was an interview and performance for InterFM with the very lovely Yuriko Okamura (I'm told she is a very popular DJ in Tokyo). Me and Mak played acoustic versions of 'Your Loss' and 'I will make you disapper'. It was fun and chilled. I met with some fans afterwards who gave me lots of peculiar sweeties. It was very kind of them although I did have to turn down the offer of a 'Cheese flavoured worm'.

The rest of the day I spent doing interviews for various publications. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I was still pretty jetlagged and exhausted from the gig and press day.

Got taken out for another meal! This was the best so far.. again. i have no idea what I was eating but it was incredible.. see through potataoes?! wriggling lettuce... tempura pumpkin... allsorts of amazing stuff. The night concluded with a pint of Guiness at a British style pub in Akasaka where we were staying for the rest of the week. Got back to hotel and Liverpool v Sunderland was on.... i went to bed a happy human.

Day 5 -

I had my first co-writing session with a guy named Shusui. He spoke great English so we hit it off pretty quickly and wrote 2 songs in a very short amount of time. He even had a Paul McCartney style Hofner violin bass which I had a lot of fun with. We finished quite early so I took the rest of the day off to do some sightseeing.

I walked to roppongi and went up to the 52nd floor of this monsterous tower. The view was really quite intense. So many tall buildings and signs everywhere. Apparantly I was higher than the highest part of the Tokyo tower.. prettttty high





just incase you dont believe i was there



I then decided to walk to Shibuya and do some record shopping and meet up with Colin and Rach. bad idea. i didn't realise how far it was.. by the time i got to shibuya it was raining.. i forgot that i'd run out of money and my phone's battery was dying. bad times! not only that, but i eventually got so lost that what was supposed to be a 10 minute stroll to meet the guys for dinner ended up taking an hour... i kept taking left turns and eventually found my way back... follow the lights!



I met them in that fish restaurant from Day 2. This time I had tempura vegetables and flowers.. they were incredible... so good they took my mind off of all the fish knocking about.

Later we met 2 very drunk Japanese business men in a smart bar called BYG. We randomly got talking. I introduced Rachael to them..."and this is Rachael who plays guitar in the band"... one of them looked completely confused.. maybe they didn't understand what I said... after a laggy drunken pause one of them raises his finger and said "But... but.. SHE IS A GIRL" and then mimed playing a guitar badly right infront of Rachael. It's taken about 3 years for it to happen but finally I've been able to witness the sexist interaction of my dreams. He'll be so embarassed when he finds out she played a 75 minute set full of inversions and solos with 3 fingers. It was nice to hang out with them anyway. here we are



Day 6 -

This was my last day in Tokyo. Colin and Rach left in the morning.

I did a cowrite with 2 Japanese songwriters called Junkoo and Harada. Again, it was a new experience and very enjoyable. This time there was a definite language barrier but the international language of music helped us squeeze out 2 pop songs. the height difference wasnt a problem either



Later I went back to the hotel to get a bit of rest. Watched CNN which quite frankly made me feel pretty terrible after hearing about the school shootings in Germany and several other horrific things happening around the world. Ignorance is definitely bliss.

I then made my way to The Hub which is a British Music bar in shibuya and met up with The Xcerts who had just flown in for their British Invasion shows. We did a DJ set together.. weirdly about 3 or 4 Elvis Costello songs ended up being played and I accidently pressed the play button on 'Magoo Opening' by Cornelius which turned out to be really loud and freaked everyone out. nelly didn't seem to mind



xcerts take to the decks (/press play on their ipods)



dude with Stars and Sons vinyl! how did he get hold of that?! (didnt have the heart to tell him i didnt play on 'in the ocean' but i signed it anyway)



time to say bye bye to mak and co.



me with LA buddy andrew.. i look like an XL him.






So there it is. I had a killer time in Tokyo. a truly unforgettable trip. very big thankyou to my band, management, EMI, and nichion for looking after me... and a special big thankyou to all the fans that came to the show and the DJ set. It was a pleasure meeting you and hopefully we can come back soon (fingers crossed for Fuji rock). In the meantime I shall write you guys some more music.

love

paul
x

My Joe Raposo sesame street tribute

hi everyone,

my cover of "look around" from sesame street for the Joe Raposo tribute album is now up on the Joe Raposo MySpace. lots of other great covers there aswell chexx it out

p
x

honkin on myspace music homepage

nice bit of unexpected news today. i found my old 'Honkin' on my crack pipe' video linked on the Myspace music homepage courtesey of Empire of the Sun . it's always good to get the exposure.. plus i haven't seen that video in ages.. Empire of the Sun have got 2 killer videos up there too. walking on a dream

all this activity has reminded me to let you know in the coming weeks I will be uploading sections from April & I: an animated movie on a weekly-basis with a full online release of the film on iTunes at week 10. i'll let you know when this kicks off.. also to supplement all this I'm going to try to do a bunch of 15 second songs for your enjoyment.. listening to it will be just like having a scotch egg just before dinner.. you know.. a little snack to tide you over before the banquet.

anybody reading this that wants to hear some of my music without spending a penny will be relieved to know that 'Ray Gun' is still a free download on my ReverbNation page. get it daaaan ya

went to london for a few meetings yesterday. had a great time in the end.. after my first meeting i went to the tate modern which was full of little shits on their half term breaks. mostly 6-10 year olds. when they're at their most annoying.. good height for drop kicking over that humungous spiderlike sculpture on the ground floor. i wanted to take pictures of art and stuff but my camera literally ran out of battery so i decided i was going to walk to oxford circus instead and take it all in.. i had no idea where oxford circus was in relation to the tate modern but i navigated my way back using the underground map as a to-scale reference. mostly right angled turns etc etc. had second meeting. went really well and then got a few drinks on the way home. pretty annoyed my camera was out of battery.. made up for it though by taking pictures of myself with my camera-phone.. doing some action shots of me sitting down after my long "tiring" day.. sitting mostly with the odd stand/lean put in for good measure.. they were pretty good shots but then i remembered i dont have the cable to upload the shots on to my computer.. i hate myself

next few months look like they're going to be a right ickle giggle with the tokyo show, a few london/brighton gigs, release of april & i movie, release of moon rock + 'in a coma' video, etc eTcETFHcJCETTTTCCCCCCC. this is the marketing equivalent to getting punched right between your goolies/ladybits. everything at once

i'm going to bed now. thanks for reading
love
p
x

joe raposo tribute album, 75 minute set, gigs

i spent last week finishing up a track for a Joe Raposo tribute album..

"Joseph Guilherme Raposo Jr., OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie". He also wrote music for television shows such as The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcom Three's Company, including its theme song. In addition to these works, Raposo also composed extensively for the Dr. Seuss productions Halloween Is Grinch Night, Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat."

I chose the song "Look Around" from sesame street to cover and had a great time recording it. It's pretty different to the original yet I think it still preserves the spirit.

Other act's confirmed for the album include Louis Phillipe, The Heavy Blinkers, The Simple Carnival, The Green Fields and many others still being announced. Click here to keep an eye on progress. I'm very happy and honoured to be involved.

...................

Full band rehearsals for our 75 minute set at club quattro in tokyo (march 9th) start next week. I struggle to remember words to songs in a 6 song set let alone an 18 song set. It's mental. I might record myself reading the lyrics out and put them on my ipod.. like a 'learn to speak italian' tape.. or 'Harry Potter and the vampires earlobe' narrated by Stephen Fry. i could just listen to the songs. i haven't thought this through.

...................

There are a few other one-off shows I'll be playing in march either solo or full band. We're hoping to play the 'April & I' animated film at one or a couple of these. Will let you know as they get confirmed.

Right now I'm gonna watch the Milan derby and get an early night. Hoping to do some touristy London bits between meetings tomorrow. Will try and take some photos of me having an OK time on my lonesome.

Have a nice week.
Love
P
x

Well the weather outside is frightful, Popjustice, Ocean with stevie K

This morning was incredible. I woke up to the whitest views imaginable. From my house in Brighton you can see across the whole valley it's amazing. It was so quiet aswell because there weren't many trains running or cars on the road. Was amazing except for the fact that I was supposed to be in London at 12:30 for a meeting. Didn't go obviously. The snow was so deep and fluffy. It pretty much met my Home Alone expectations.



Me and holly went out for a bit of a snow war. I found the lob and drop technique to be quite accurate. I actually slipped on my arse in the road because I lost concentration whilst I was making fun of the police officers slipping in the road. Idiot.

Popjustice were kind enough to put me on their homepage here. trying to make an angel in the snow. looked more like a radiation warning symbol but I think people got the idea.

here is that snow angel



holly's is much better



my lob and drop technique being executed with flawless efficiency



the best snowman of the day.. found it outside of infinity foods



Also my good friend Stevie K noticed that our 'Ocean' collaboration is now available for download on iTunes (and other online mp3 shops i think). I don't have a link yet. Search 'paul steel ocean' in iTunes store and it should come up.

Here is us making the tune..





Hope everyone enjoyed the snow. It was a beautiful day, and great to see people on the streets with smiles on their faces having fun.
Love
p
x

P.S. I've just put 'Crossed The Line' from Moon Rock as a free download on my ReverbNation page . enjoy

video, snow, solo shows

Last week Matt Anstee (see my top friends) finished a cut of his video for 'In A Coma'. It's amazing. My job in it was easy as it was mainly lying down being in a coma (except for some expressive dance and floating in space etc.. etc.. you know that ol' chestnut). Film and TV fans will be delighted to see Ralph Brown in a starring role as The Doctor. Brighton music fans might recognise Aaron King, Mike Lord, Duncan Ladkin, Xcerts and loads and loads of other cameos not to mention the dancers, ambulances, hospitals, taxis and all that. Massive thanks to everyone who took part in making the video It's a really cool ambitious DIY video done on a tiny budget. I think you'll like it.

It's snowing tonight in Brighton. Real nice and thick. It's just like my fantasy Home Alone winter. I have meetings tomorrow so I can't go out and play but i will watch out the window like Macaulay Culkin staring at old man Marley. Made Spagetti Bolognaise and watched I Heart Huckerby's earlier. Was very funny.. Even got me thinking quite philosophically about a unifying energy running through the fabric of our interconnected lives. I'm lying of course but it did get me thinking about something other than music and football for a change.

In March me and the band are doing our first show in Tokyo. We're doing a hefty 75minute set which should be interesting. We're hoping to play lots of songs from April & I and Moon Rock that we've not played together as a band before as well as a cover which will be great fun. Also I'm going to do a small solo set to showcase some more unusual tunes and some new ones. We're going into rehearsals this week so it should be thumping by time we play the show.

Thanks @yukilogue for a beautifully taken picture of the flyer


I've been developing my solo show a little bit. I'm getting to grips with looping technology allowing me to record short phrases and play over them (some call it the 'KT Tunstall'.. i prefer the 'Paul Steel' because I did it first and David Ford, Ed Harcourt, KT Tunstall etc etc have definitely not done this before me.. so.. dont bother looking it up or anything..k?). The results at the Joogleberry show a few weeks ago were catastrophic but fun and I hope to do a few more shows in that format soon. I reckon as soon as I get good at it then I wont enjoy it anymore so I'll practice sparingly.

Ah ok, maybe David Ford is better than me at it after all (cheers @NLittlejohns for sending me this and helping me realise how much work I have left to do):

BASTARD!

I've demoed lots of new material to near completion. It's a lot more rocky and electronic than anything I've done before.. I'm coming close to having an albums worth. Some of the songs are more direct and poppy but the production is definitely a lot weirder (probably a direct result of the incense sticks i've been stabbing myself in the eyes with. Also my alter ego has resumed composing another concept album.. that's all I fucking need.. another ridiculous rock opera for the world to ignore.. NICE ONE ALTER-EGO YOU BELL-END! seriously though it's happening and going alright I think.

Also, we're looking to upload each section of the April & I animated movie in monthly installments until the online release which will be soonish..

I don't know how this blog got so long. Might just watch the Superbowl and go to bed.. although I dont really understand american football so I might just go to bed.
Night
Paul
x

another teaser from april & I animated movie

hey, just had this tweeted at me.

This is Tom Hick's animation for 'Grown Up and Away' which appears near the end of the April & I film. As you can see he's ridiculously talented.. as are all the contributors to the film.


Paul Steel - Grown up and Away from Thomas Hicks on Vimeo.

I've been told he's going to be working with The Xcert's soon... word on the street..shhhhhhhhhhhhh

p
x

p.s. remember you can check out stills for each section of the film in my photos section on myspace.

facebook, brighton gig, poster

Hello t'internet.
I've been a good boy this week getting all my social network stuff sorted out. All of them were easy, except for Facebook. Fucking Facebook. The rules of logic don't apply with facebook. It's got it's own secret language and code. I can't really work it out but I've got it in some kind of shape now.. look.

Thanks to everyone who's already signed up to the mailing list. I've never had one of my own before. Even more thanks to people who have signed up to be street team. To be honest there's very little chance of me utilising you wonderful people but the gesture is enough to make me a happy bunny. Maybe you could make up your own flyers and posters and chuck them about in your local town centre? If Radiohead asked me to do that I'd tell them to get stuffed but they're not as desperate as me.

Thanks to my friend DJ Yuriko Okamura I've gotten hold of this ickle poster for the March 9th Club Quattro Show in Tokyo.. You can't really read it cause it's too small but it looks pretty anyway.



Also, any Brighton folk around on 21st January, I'm doing a solo show at the Latest Music Bar (formerly Joogleberry) with Emma King and the Magic Bullet Band. I'll probably play a few new tunes so pop along if you're interested.

I'm thinking about starting an album writing/recording diary for the next batch of songs. One conflict always is the fact that time spent writing a diary or blog is time spent neglecting your creative responsibility! I will practice a healthy balance.

stills from April & I movie

Hello,
I've just received some stills from the April & I animated movie that I've been harping on about for about a year. Here's a still for each section:

April's Theme



April



Worst Day



Take It Or Leave It



School Bully



I Gave Her My Number



Honkin' (On My Crackpipe)



Grown Up and Away



April & I



Imaginary






all pretty different right? it's great because everyone who I've played it to has a different favourite but they're all equally stunning.

and here's Andy Martin's Honkin' (on my crackpipe) video again

Download Ray Gun for free, and other digital revelations

Hello,
I've spent the last couple of days getting everything ready for the digital uprising of 2009. No more analogue TV. No more CDs. NO MORE CASSETTES.. what?
Now now I'm on Twitter, ReverbNation, YouTube, Blogspot, Facebook, Last.FM, and of course trusty old MySpace. I've been trying my hardest to hook them all up so they all get updated at the same time. So please do sign up to the social networks of your choice and follow what I've got going on at the moment.

It's been a while since I've posted anything new and I know a lot of people have been asking about this track over the last year or so. So I've uploaded Ray Gun, recorded last year at Air Studios. It has only appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese version of Moon Rock. As a thankyou and a little gift for 2009 you can download it for free at ReverbNationin exchange for your email address (just so I can keep you updated on any goings on).

Got a lot planned for 2009 with my gig in Tokyo in March and the eventual release of the Moon Rock album and April & I movie so keep checking back to my pages as I'll update them often.

Also I'm going to get my weird website kicking off again so be sure to head to www.paulsteelmusic.com sometime soon.

Cheers me buddies
P
x

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