- Making the words count
Ya gotta love the sort of people you meet in a world of artists. Steve April is clearly a lyricist supreme, he's not the kind of artist whose songs hit you over the head. Moreso he sneaks up on you , you hear a few songs, then you notice he has a huge catalogue of songs that provide great adventure, Steve takes us to so many places. From Ben Franklin to Jesse James, from the Beatles to Jon Benet Ramsey, from Clint Eastwood to Geronimo and Bruce Lee, from Obama to Washington, Jefferson and Thomas Paine. Heroes and victims, Steve is about culture and the heartland of America. Yes he has a song about him and numerous songs about his own ethos and what makes him tick but Steve is kind of the indie version of Charlie Chaplin himself, what a remarkable range this man has. Almost needless to say here to most of the people who will be reading this but he is a tremendous community supporter as well, the kind of guy you want on your team, and has helped bring to IMP the collaborative vibe that makes this site stand out beyond the rest. Steve's stations are some of the best on the site and he's always looking for diamonds in the rough to shine his spotlight on. I should also mention he's gotten 5 Golden Kayaks in 5 different categories, pretty much says it all.
Scott: ok, we'll start with an easy one. Do you remember how you landed at IAC?
Steve April: Yes, Steve Ison recommended the site. Steve I. and I posted music over on garageband.com, a grand indie site in the early 2000s, founded by a Talking Heads person. Steve's music rang a bell with me, we seemed sympatico after a few emails, and with Steve's music stations already on IAC, Steve encouraged me to start my own stations, and I did. Also, we began doing collabros, that went swimmingly, and "Gypsy Annie " won a GK early on, 2005 or 2006. We did 30 collabros or so, and would not have happened but for IAC golden days, great site and continues.
Scott: Tell us about your background in music. Did you play an instrument in school? When did you start to play the instrument you rely upon most these days? Do you remember the first song that ever captured your fancy? Did you sing in choirs? What was the first album you bought with your own money?
Steve April: Played piano for a few years in junior high--highschool, my first piano teacher sported blue hair and blue nails, and put cotton in her ears. My second piano teacher played "Moon River." In college, the Beatles, the Doors, draft lottery & Vietnam going on.
Scott: Do you have any experience playing live or with bands? Got any interesting stories along those lines?
Steve April: I co-managed a music club in upstate New York, with a college friend and owner. We would book bands big in the 60s--70s, John Phillips, Dave Mason, Ritchie Havens, Jerry Jeff Walker, Shawn Colvin later, 15 people attended her show, she hit the jackpot with Lilith Fair, and all. Due to a tight budget, I got opening act many nights, playing songs I'd composed, with Charlies my bandmate, very able lead guitar. Also, played with my friend Stan, a musical guy and childhood friend, in pizza joints and bars around the county in late 80s...
Scott: I know you're involved in poetry. How much does that play a part in your songs? Who are your favorite poets? I also notice that your lyrics are often fairly substantial, about historical events and such. Which one of your songs that are about real stories do you feel you nailed the most?
Steve April: OMG, I feel a continuous wave moving through me, song, music, poetry, literary, like novels, all on a cosmic channel, or frequency, like radio waves, only astral waves, kinda dominates my energies and aspirations, the way I'm built I guess. Fell God-drive in that way, all about "ancient heavenly connection," though well I know there's also determination/craft involved. Favorite poets include William Butler Yeats, John Keats, Rimbaud...."Crazy Jane and the Bishop", "Endymion", "A Season in Hell and "Illuminations" for example...Shakespeare, Dante...Yes, historical figures, they provide elbow room to stretch out and learn about another life...Lincoln maybe, or Tom Paine, or Ben Franklin...
Scott: I'd like to hear about your music dream. Did you ever think you could be a star? If so have you ever given up that idea and when?
Steve April: I came to music, the realized production end, after I wrote my book "Poet In California" that received accolades from U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and two (2) National Award winners. I retired from teaching early, at financial risk, with a strong drive/feeling for music, like a key turning in a lock. I began pumping out songs, with Mark, my band basically, I would perform the complete song and vocal on guitar in the studio. I would determine the "vibe", choice of instrumentaion, Mark was beautiful, his strengths were providing back up tracks, catching the "vibe." Fortunate to have Mark playing the band basically, and recording engineer, and lately my co-producer.
I relate to Ray Charles saying "I wanted to be great, never wanted to be famous," though of course, it wouldn't hurt lol.
Scott: I heard you are writing or wrote a book. Care to tell us what it's about? Is it your first?
Steve April: My novel "Detour" is about Richard, a budding musician, and foster child, who did duty in Iraq who is in a devastating car crash, and needs to undergo surgery, and his recovery, including his gritty girlfriend Kimberly, her doctor father, her nurse mother, and Leroi, his music producer. There's a tough private detective, who makes startling revelations concerning Richard's surgeon. It's a recover-y story. Also, a detective story, with a big reveal towards the end.
Scott: If you had time left in your life to listen to 2 more songs, which songs would you choose?
Steve April: Probably a Bach prelude, and a Beatles song "Let It Be" maybe, or "Mother Nature's Son," or "Band On The Run."
Scott: Do you have any interesting memories around transistor radios or boomboxes?
Steve April: OMG, remember listening to Elvis on transistor radio in 1st grade or so, a kid telling me "Elvis is going into the army." Boomboxes, a fun time playing around with Stan, you could record your garage-band songs onto boomboxes, there was Stan, Jimmy, Evan, lead guitar, and I, recording songs, in Stan's garage, got a few transferred over to mp3s. Great fun! Struck a chord!
Scott: I'd like to hear about your songwriting process, how often you write, how you start, do the songs generally happen all at once?
Steve April: A few I've woken from a dream with the melody, like "Clint Eastwood's Walk," or "Lovesick Trick." Though I have to wrestle it out with production and all. Others may take ears before I feel energy to take it to production, I let it lie, whatever. Others are inspired by decades of experience like "Veronica." Also, there are songs abut relationships, "Doreen", for example. The. crazy bridge makes that song stand out to me. Others require research e.g. Ben Franklin. When I was working full time, I could not do songwriting....
Scott: I like to ask all those I interview if they had any experiences of high strangeness like UFOs, ghosts, or the supernatural. anything that made you feel fate played a role in where your life headed?
Steve April: "15 apparitions have I seen, the worst a coat upon a coat-hanger." --Yeats
Yes, I have experienced synchronicities that blew my socks off, they are like huge bass notes if you will, that seem to...indicate...Lord above...imhv...
"Synchronicity is a meaningful coincidence where an internal thought or feeling perfectly aligns with an external event, despite having
no causal connection. Spiritually, these occurrences are widely viewed as "winks from the universe" indicating you are aligned with your true path
or reminders to pause and reflect on your current journey. " --wiki
Core Spiritual Meanings
Universal Alignment: Frequent synchronicities are largely interpreted as a sign that you are on the right spiritual path and vibrating in harmony with the universe.
A "Mirror" for Self-Reflection: Synchronicities often appear to mirror what you need to learn. They prompt deep, honest self-examination of situations currently at the top of your mind.
Intuitive Guidance: Many spiritual traditions view these events as a homing beacon or a nudge from spirit guides, attempting to direct your attention toward specific people, lessons, or choices.
In 2005, I wrote a lyric called "Identity Thief", in collabro wtih Steve Ison who wrote the melody, produced and performed the song, and posted
on sounclick.com in early May 2005.
A few days later, the Natalee Holloway murder went world-wide, all over the news.
Story in "Identity Thief" ;
A southern girl goes vacationing in "Jamaica, Aruba, Machu Pikku".
She gets stalked and meets her demise at hands of a serial killer, on a beach.
The lyrics mentions "Mac the Knife" and "sharks on the beach."
The lyrics mention "he'll take your most personal treasure girl."
I corresponded with Geraldo Rivera via email. He was interested, when I said I was sure Joran Van der Sloot was the killer,
and told him about the song posting a few days before the crime.
The kicker is; Joran Van der Sloot murdered a second girl a few years later, and was arrested in Peru, a couple hours away from "Machu Pikku", mentioned in the
song.
The song is on Steve Ison's artist page to this day.
Another song connection, our collabro "Peko", about a bird who falls from a tree with a "bloody wing." (my lyrics) It scratched on my friend's screen door, one summer day. His girlfriend gathered it up, and laid it on her breast. We took it outside, by the trees, but it would not revive. I sprinkled a little water on its beak and feet and it woke up, and chirped, and flew away. Never happened before or since, a magical moment.
This catalyzed and nurtured my connection with birds, back in the 90s, and I wrote a book "Birds In America" in 2016 or do. Birds utilize
"quantum processes" to navigate without maps thousands of miles. Bird fly, birds sing, like we do.
One day, while I was working on my book, a bird flew into my living room. It flew up and around the ceiling
and landed on a shelf beside a postcard with a bird my girl-friend sent me on my birthday. A magical moment.
Scott: You're from the San Francisco area. Did you ever have any first hand rock and roll experiences in the time of the summer of love?
Steve April: I missed the summer of love, arrived in S.F. around 1973. (a grad school drop out.). At the cafes, they were selling cocaine, not spreading love lol...My friend bought a bit off a guy one day, and it turned out to be sugar, and a week later he saw the guy on the street with a new pair of cowboy boots, and ran down and got in his face, until he received a refund. Ho ho ho...
Scott: Helpful hints for musicians/artists, based on your long experience here?
Steve April: Collabros are a wonderful stepping stone, and provide a spark for music-makers.
Want to thank my collabro brothers and sisters here on the site over the years, you have enriched and adorned my life.
Steve Ison, an indie music prince. Back in 2005--2010 our collabros gave us a great burst of musical energy, and expanded our
horizons.
Bryon Tosoff, the piano man, our collabros set us off in new directions, Bryon with a grand sensibility.
Squrly Murly, amazing voice and sensibility, really miss her, collabros like "Love Needs Water," and "Ticket To Bliss."