Funky keytarist Steve Cooke explains why he champions an instrument some see as just a novelty, the inspiration for his political lyrics and being signed to a label that literally does nothing for him.
Steve Cooke
Few musicians can legitimately claim to have been praised by one of Hip-Hop’s true pioneers. Even fewer can from Teeside and whose main instrument is a keytar. But that’s the case for songwriter Steve Cooke, based in Stockton-on-Tees, whose music on Soundcloud has received positive words from Afrika Bambaataa, one of the originators of breakbeat music.
Influential in the early years of Hip-Hop, the Bronx DJ has also spun a few of Steve’s tracks on his radio shows, proclaiming them to be ‘funky’. Luckily, this is how Steve himself describes the music, as combining “sharp-witted lyrics with sleazy funk, geeky electro and spiky new wave influences.” He may have only started working as a solo artist in 2010 but the seeds of Steve’s musical path were sown long before that.
“It evolved from getting into music in my early teens during the early 1980s,” he says. “Being inspired particularly by the electronic/synthpop and new wave movements of the time, and then experimenting with low budget electronic keyboards, drum machines and suchlike.”
“I aspired to write my own material for a long time, but rarely got round to finishing anything until a particularly productive period while a postgraduate student in the early 1990s. The catalyst for that was acquiring my first sequencer (a Yamaha QY10) and a four-track recorder (Amstrad Studio 100), which allowed me to program complete arrangements in a way that hadn’t been technically or financially possible before.”
His assortment of keytars
After performing some of his musical creations in a few different short lived bands, he went through a “creative depression” as the millennium hit. It wasn’t until 2010 that the determination to perform live, this time as a solo artist, came into fruition. A year later Steve purchased his first keytar (or strap-on organ as he calls it) and incorporated it into his live performances.
“I found that standing behind a regular keyboard, always having to remain in the same place, limited my ability to assert a presence on stage and develop a rapport with the audience. The singer-pianist model may work for more intimate, ballad-style performers but it doesn’t work so well for a solo artist with a big sound like mine.”
“It may be regarded as a novelty by many people,” he adds, “but instead of resisting that aspect, I’m happy to go along with it. On the one hand, I try to demonstrate that the keytar is a serious musical instrument by using it show real musicianship; on the other, its novelty makes it interesting simply because it’s different and I play it in a way, and using sounds, that people who identify the keytar with the 1980s might not expect.”
Those who still think its inclusion is just a gimmick may be surprised to find the keytar often proves itself useful offstage as well as on it. “Although the keytar is essentially a regular keyboard with a shoulder strap, I find that the different angle of playing leads me to compose music in a different way too and am increasingly using it for composition and recording.”
Performing with Andy X
The freedom provided by the keytar means audience participation is a big part of the Steve Cooke live experience. Sometimes fellow singer-songwriter Andy X will join him onstage for backing vocals and Bez-style dancing, but when he’s unavailable Steve will invite an audience member or someone from another band playing up onstage.
“If they’ve not heard my stuff before, they’ll be nervous and that in itself creates interest among their friends. But they usually get the hang of the songs pretty quickly and it’s fun seeing that happen.”
Those who prefer to leave the performing to the professionals aren’t safe though. “I use a wireless system with my keytar, which means I’m able to leave the stage if I wish,” he warns. “At some point in a gig I’ll walk into the audience area and invite two or three people to have a go on the keytar during an extended breakdown section of a song. It does at least show that I have actually been playing the instrument, for the benefit of those who imagine electronic music is just a matter of pressing a button. But the element of surprise also causes amusement and most people are happy to join in, whether they know how to play an instrument or not.”
Keytar element aside, Steve is also known as a protest singer, with his lyrics covering mainly political and social topics with a satirical slant. The likes of ‘Job Club’ and ‘Scorpion Farm’ cover unemployment and the circumstances it forces on people, highly relevant to the current situation in the North East.
Key-ping it funky
“I don’t tell people what to think in my lyrics but try to encourage them to look at issues in a different way, to raise questions. I don’t always write alone. I am not the most prolific of lyricists and have worked with several poets and lyricists on material, setting their words to music.”
Collaborations have included Adrian Mitchell, David Bateman, Mike Starkey, Trev Teasdel and Paula Wright. Despite the serious areas touched upon in his music, Steve is quite down to earth regarding the impact it has upon others, admitting it’s unlikely to sway someone’s political beliefs after just one listen.
“Although I write of political issues about which I feel strongly, and would like to influence people’s views, I am not naïve. People don’t change their opinions because of a song. I can only hope to encourage them to look at things slightly differently, to point out absurdities, contradictions and hypocrisies, to increase their scepticism about what our rulers tell us. Where audiences do share my socialist/progressive politics, or agree on a particular cause, I would hope to help promote camaraderie and solidarity.”
Any And All Records
It’s not just getting his views across and aiming to broaden listeners’ minds that makes him strap up and give his fingers a work out. “I do enjoy live performance, probably more than I enjoy writing and recording,” he explains. “I love provoking a reaction through a lyric, even if it’s just a raised eyebrow. That doesn’t involve compromising my art as it would clearly be easier to get applause and cheers playing cover versions. But regurgitating the classics simply doesn’t interest me.”
While it may at first appear that Steve’s signed to a label, Any And All Records, this can be a little deceiving. It’s not a real record label (in the traditional sense) as absolutely anyone can ‘sign’ to them, even your pet goldfish. They allow you to use their name on any promotional material/releases but the catch is they don’t do anything for you. They won’t pressure you to meet deadlines, but neither will they provide funds or advice for recording.
“They encourage artists to think beyond the standard ‘signed versus unsigned’ model, which judges music according to its validation (or not) by capitalist corporations. As a result of the digital revolution, we’re moving into a post-label era, with increasing self-production and self-release of music,” says Steve.
This explains why all his music is only available on Soundcloud so far, even though some songs have had a few thousand plays. He’s hoping to put a CD together in the next year, however. “Even if it only puts a few quid back into the kitty and contributes toward the cost of an expensive hobby, it would be great to have something real to sell to audiences at the end of a gig.”
Keeping his feet firmly on the ground and not professing to be the next Elvis, it’s good to see a musician not intent on resting a lot on mere hope or giving a bog standard answer that they ‘hope to play more gigs in the future’. Which musicians don’t?
“Being realistic, I don’t expect that being an overweight middle-aged Marxist performing satirical songs with a strap-on organ will ever provide me with a viable living. But I would like to perform my music to new and bigger audiences, and use it to support causes that I believe in.”
Check out Steve Cooke on Facebook and Twitter and Soundcloud
Driving The Music 