INNER SELF: Steve Austin [interview included!]
A journey into the world of singer/songwriters past and present.
Our (ir)regular feature about singer/songwriters returns, with a very special subject this time. In fact, there’s even a neat little segue from the last one, when we talked to the wonderful Kate McCann aka Princess Pine - she was a recommendation from the great Steve Austin, of Today Is The Day, who had recorded her debut EP, and today our focus goes entirely to… the man himself, Steve Austin, that’s right. As anyone who’s ever read an interview or talked to Steve about music knows, he is a massive fan of country, the proper, classic outlaw kind of country, and a couple of weeks ago the great news were finally revealed - Steve has started a new chapter in his musical trajectory, precisely an outlaw country act, with a debut album called ‘Marked Cards And Loaded Dice’ already set to come out soon. His new band includes Dana Flood on pedal steel guitar, a legend of the style who has played with the likes of Johnny Rodriguez, George Jones or Willie Nelson, among others. Because this man does not dally about, he already played a live show a few days after this announcement, and there is already a rehearsal video of one of the songs. So to have some musical basis to this chat, here’s that one straight away:
Awesome, isn’t it? Raw, honest and powerful, which are pretty much Steve’s trademarks no matter what kind of music he’s playing or even producing. The show, which took place in Bangor, Maine for a St Patrick’s Day celebration, marked the very first introduction of these songs on stage, and reportedly it was a blast, as you can see by some of the pics gently granted to us by Steve and photographer Kayla Grindle:
Three more for the category “pictures you can hear”, right? So yeah, for now that’s pretty much all the info we have, and we know it’s not that much, but this is all so exciting that we wanted to give you guys more, so we gave Steve a ring and we had a great, long chat with him about all the aspects of this fantastic new chapter of his career. Check it out right below.
‘Marked Cards And Loaded Dice’ will be coming out in Summer 2024 via SuperNova Records.
You can follow Steve Austin’s outlaw country act on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“Some would think that playing super complicated heavy metal and experimental music would be way harder than the simpler musical structures of country music. It’s actually the other way around.”
- Steve Austin
Anyone who knows you, musically speaking, even remotely, will know of your love for outlaw country. That obvious first question of “where did this come from” pretty much answers itself. I think the real question might be, what took you so long? Or rather more positively, what conditions were reunited now that you decided to advance for this, that might not have been before? What was the spark that led to the decision to go ahead?
Steve Austin: In 2020, when the Covid pandemic was going on, I was holed up at my house like most folks, isolated out here in the woods in Maine, with my band Today Is The Day hundreds of miles away and isolated as well. I turned to my Martin D-28 to sit and jam with myself. A lot of dark and haunting times were going on and I wanted to make some music to work through it all. I was raised on a farm in Lebanon, Tennessee, I’ve always lived in the country and the woods, and all of the music that I grew up with and have loved to this day came to my mind. I thought about how early on, country music was the music of the people, of the working man trying to survive and feed his family. People found comfort in songs by Hank Williams Sr. and others that were singing about life, from the heart. Music that was based on good songwriting and real talent and musicianship. Music that was made with mostly acoustic instruments.
The first song I wrote was “Am I Just Crazy?”. It’s a dark and lonely song that just came to me, while feeling isolated, lonely and questioning if was losing my mind from it all. After I wrote the song and made a demo of it. I played it for my wife Hanna, and when it was through playing we both began to cry. The heaviness of what we were living through seemed to pour out. So I proceeded to continue with my writing and before long I had written fourteen or fifteen songs. I didn’t do it for anyone else or even think of what would come after. It was just something I had to do. Once a full album of material was written, the next step was getting things together to make an album. The instrumentation used on it consists of two acoustic guitars, electric bass, pedal steel, fiddle and drums. I lucked out and met an amazing pedal steel player, named Dana Flood. Dana was part of the 1970s classic and outlaw country scene. He toured with Johnny Rodriguez and has played with George Jones, Willie Nelson, and many others that were the fathers of this music. Dana was close friends with Buddy Emmons. He’s Don Helms (from Hank Sr.’s Band) favorite pedal steel player of all time. His magic touch and amazing musicianship blew me away. Dana is the real deal. We hit off right away. His musical loves include lots of progressive rock, like King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep and all of the late 60s and 70s prog rock. Wild, right?! I think the world of Dana and I’m so thankful to have him as my dear friend. He’s my Randy Rhodes on my album. His authentic pedal steel style comes through so true.
Do you feel you need to be a certain age, having lived a certain kind of life, to interpret music like this with some kind of genuine truth to it? Do you feel you could have done this before, with perhaps a little less maturity, a little less weary of all the years, or even with a little less confidence maybe?
Steve: We all work hard at what we care about. Sometimes, our work becomes our entire identity and we don’t feel comfortable truly expressing all facets of our lives and our artistic lives, because we only identify with the work we have always previously done. Real country music has always been a part of me. A part that represents my home, my family in Tennessee and my father, Tillman Austin. He played in a Hank Williams Sr. style band in the 1950s and toured. He taught me how to play guitar. He and I would sit for hours playing songs by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, The Outlaws and many more. He lived a hard life growing up on the farm in Tennessee and later in the automotive factories in Detroit. Like him, my life has been a pretty wild ride and, at times, filled with pain, struggles and loss. All of the things that hurt you and drag you down temper you like iron though. It creates wear on your soul. But you never give in and you keep going because you gotta live and survive this thing called existence.
This kind of music is obviously inextricably linked to live performing, so I’m happy that you announced the project when the very first show was already taking place after a few days. Do you plan to keep playing this music in this format whenever you can?
Steve: Yes I do. The first show was very important to me. I want to be challenged in my life. I don’t want to just do the same thing over and over and not learn and grow. Playing that first show made my country album a reality. Some would think that playing super complicated heavy metal and experimental music would be way harder than the simpler musical structures of country music. It’s actually the other way around. With country and bluegrass music, that’s true to the art. There is no distortion, no double kick runs, no effects to cover for any mistakes. It’s pure and real. If you play your songs good, they come off well performed. If you make mistakes, they stick out. This was a challenge for me and I’m glad that I was able to get deep into, practice hard and be able to make it work on a natural level. If you can make someone feel something inside, then you’re doing it right.
Is your line-up adjustable? You do have that specific line-up for the album, including Dana, so will this be the fixed band for the outlaw country stuff, or do you envision playing with several people (or even on your own?), maybe doing collaborations with other artists and things like that?
Steve: I do live in remote Maine, so I most likely will ask close musical friends to fill in for different shows in different locations. Thankfully I have some super talented friends who love this music and are willing to lend a hand in delivering it to the people.
I think the influences question is yet another that pretty much answers itself, it’s natural that Hank Williams, Townes, Waylon, Merle or Willie are all over what you’re doing, but is there one that kind of takes a bigger importance? Do you mould yourself more in one particular artist more than the others?
Steve: I would say my most important influence is Hank Williams Senior. He reminds me so much of my Dad, Tillman Austin. The songs that Hank wrote were unfiltered and are audio representations of the human struggle. Hank put his heart on the line and bared it all for everyone to see. The emotion that pours through his songwriting is deeply affecting. I can hear the pain he was going through in his voice and songs. You can tell that Hank was a good man and he was trying to stay positive, though living through heartbreak, loss and the struggling to survive. Hank Williams’ greatest gift was that he was real 100%.
On the other hand, what do you think you bring to this genre that is totally Steve Austin and couldn’t be anyone else’s? As traditional and even a little conservative (not necessarily in a bad way, mind you!) as this stuff is, do you think you can push the envelope a little bit and bring something new to the table?
Steve: Though staying fully true to the genre of early traditional country and bluegrass, it seems that my unconventional songwriting comes through no matter how hard I try. The mindset is traditional bluegrass and country. I don’t mind if my personal songwriting style takes it into a new direction. Because it makes the old classic country and bluegrass feel like something new, rather than this just being role playing or a rehash retro endeavor. My songs are my own and they come from inside me.
“My songs are my own and they come from inside me.”
- Steve Austin
I know the album is still being finished, but what can you tell us about it? Will it all be original songs, for example? (and extra question – do you plan on doing covers, either on record or live?)
Steve: Like with Today Is The Day, I end up writing songs that are different from one another. This makes me happy and it’s honest to the real human experience. I like that all of the songs have their own character and identity. This way the whole album experience is a trip from beginning to end. I do pay tribute to some songs made by other folks that I truly appreciate and yes, I’m including two of them on this album.
You’ve always juggled several activities before, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to adjust this extra thing with your engineer, record label and Today Is The Day activities?
Steve: My daily life includes taking care of my family, Today Is The Day, running SuperNova Records, my country music, and recording records for clients at my studio. There are not enough hours in the day and that bothers me. I wake up at 6am and wind up at midnight being so tired that I just can’t stay awake. I don’t get much sleep, usually four or five hours a day, because I have so much to look after and do. I seem to handle it all well, but it takes being right on it every day so that all of the things I care about get properly attended to.
Do you think this will become a regular part of your artistic output now, just another thing that you’ll keep doing, or are you putting any kind of time frame on it?
Steve: This is my life and my country music is a deeply personal part of it. I’ve worked for four years crafting these songs and I feel the people need them, now more than ever. So, yes, I will be doing this until the day I die.
While we’re at it, are there any exciting Today Is The Day news we might like to know?
Steve: Yes, I have a new double album that is fully recorded except for some vocals. I will be finishing it up over the next few months and it will be released later this year. This new Today Is The Day album is also a very dark ride. Probably the most experimental heavy album I’ve ever made. I can’t wait for all of my friends and fans to be able to experience it.
We can’t wait, already! Thanks for your time, Steve.
Steve: Thank you José, you mean the world to me man and I truly appreciate you asking me to do this interview. Total love to my friends, and fans that follow what I do. I can’t wait to be on the road and come visit everyone!