Music Journalist Ray White sits down with electronica artist and record producer Alan Steward for an in-depth interview. Alan talks to Ray about his music, his views on the music industry and what it means being a Global Citizen.
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R.W.: You seem to be somewhat of an Enimga and very little is known about where you really come from. You call yourself a Global Citizen and your residence is listed as the US on one web site, the Caribbean somewhere else and other sources mention that you are European. So, where exactly are you from?
Alan Steward: Well, I can tell you that I don’t mind a little bit of mystery surrounding me at all. After all, my first album had the title “the groove enigma”. One of the things that is happening with the internet I guess is that just about anything about an artist can be found somewhere on the net these days. Where you went to school, what hardware store you worked at during your summer vacation. There are no more secrets. Somebody out there will report what Britney Spears had for lunch today, and I personally don’t really need to know that. I think that kind of exposure just takes a lot of the glamour and mystery that was once associated with an actor, musician or singer away and it’s really a shame that it has come to the point where we feel we need to know where your favourite star went shopping this morning.
As it comes to me, yes, I am a Global citizen. I was born into an international family, part Russian and part American and yes, I did grow up in the Netherlands. In the 1980s, I moved to the Caribbean and I spent a good amount of time in the Bahamas and later in Trinidad, where I now own a recording studio. The US will always be my official headquarters though, that’s where my record label offices are located. However, the reality is that I am always ‘on the road’
I do like the term of a Global Citizen because music is very much a global thing these days. In today’s world, somebody can be a star in Japan without ever having set foot in Japan. This whole thing about showing your birth certificate at every occasion, needing a different set of paperwork for everything you do in every single country is to me total nonsense. Forget about borders, we don’t need them.
The Groove Enigma speaks out
R.W.: You have worked with a good amount of famous artists as a producer. So, why did you yourself never signed with a major label?
Alan Steward: The major labels these days are taking less chances than ever before. They sign what they consider a safe bet, the non threatening rock band with the boy next door looks or the good looking dance act with the 3 chord song and mindless lyrics. And the endless amount of guys with the initials DJ in front of their name making sound-alike music that can be a hit on the dance floor for the next two weeks. You could make the most incredible music but if you don’t fit the majors profile of what they think they can sell, they won’t sign you.
Besides that, there’s the financial dark side of signing with a major. When you sign with such a label, you may not really be set for life at all. On the contrary, your chances that you end up broke are actually quite large. Yes, the labels have the deep pockets to promote you and your music properly but their deep pockets are really your deep pockets and you have to pay most of that promo money back from record sales. Look at the highly successful rap trio TLC. They ended up bankrupt. Even Michael Jackson ended up forced to attempt another moonwalk at age 50 just to satisfy the debtors.
No, thank you. I am quite happy with my own small label and the money I am making from record sales all over the world, from Japan to Germany, from the UK to the US.
I don’t mind working with another small label, signing compilation deals or even signing a distribution deal with a major label but selling your soul outright to a label, no thanks. Just ask Prince about that one…
R.W.: When I listen to your albums, I hear Hindi and Arabic vocals but you are not Arabic or Indian? What made you decide to incorporate those elements into your music?
Alan Steward: (laughs) You are right. I am 100% NOT Indian or Arabic. White boy all the way. But I am a Global citizen and I don’t think you have to be from a certain region of the world to make a certain kind of music.
I admit that I am outright fascinated by the phrasing and delivery of Eastern vocalists. It’s just so different and something that we just can’t duplicate.
To me it’s a little like when I heard Jimi Hendrix play guitar for the first time. To hear an instrument used like you never heard it used before. And the human voice is an instrument. I love those exotic voicings and I realize that my listeners love it too. There was one song with a Hindi vocal on the “Pop Icon” album, that was “Global Warning”. “Licensed to Chill” has six songs with Eastern vocals. You don’t have to understand a word of Hindi or be from India to get into that sound and to feel the magic.
I got turned on to those exotic voicings quite a while back by a fellow musician and producer from the UK called Bally Sagoo. I met him at MIDEM, and he gave me a copy of his album and it simply blew me away. The mix of different styles from rap to dub and electronica mixed with ethnic voices. I was immediately into that.
That was also the same time when I moved my recording studio to Trinidad in the Caribbean. In Trinidad, the population is so mixed up with all the religions and races, you’ll hear Bollywood music from one person’s radio and Beenie Man or Kanye West from the next. That mix is in the air everywhere in Trinidad and living there helped me shape my sound into what it is now.
We get a lot of Indian music videos on TV in Trinidad and I think that Bollywood is very much going in the right direction. The new crop of Indian music videos is great. Well produced, high energy, very easily digested even by Western tastes, no more hokey dance steps and over the top costumes, just a lot of fusion of all kinds of different styles very well and skillfully mixed together. Rap, Rock, Techno, mixed in with the exotic aspect of Asian music. I would not be surprised if the ‘next big thing’ in music may not come from the US or UK this time around but from Bollywood or maybe another Eastern country. The success of “Slumdog Millionaire” and the subsequent #1 song by the Pussycat Dolls and A.R. Rahman point to that already.
R.W.: Do you fell that you are mainly a “studio musician” like Micheal Cretu of Enigma or do you like playing live?
Alan Steward: You may think that I like hiding away in the studio creating my music but the truth is, I love being on stage and being able to do something that totally blows people away.
I was hooked on being on stage since age 13. I played in front of over 25,000 people and I don’t even know what stage fright is.
This is actually another thing that bothers me about today’s music scene. Where are the stage acts that really blow you away these days? Every band I hear at the major festivals is at best mediocre.
When you see Alan Steward on stage, I want you to be blown away. I think one of the major difference with me compared to the hundreds of electronic acts out there is that I am a musician. You’ll see me on stage jamming out a solo on my guitar instead of watching a DJ spinning discs for an hour and waving his hands in the air every once in while. How interesting is that really to watch? I want people to get chills when they’re in the audience or I’m not doing my job. I want them to see and hear something on stage that they’ll be talking about for weeks to come. If it isn’t that good, I may as well stay home. Yes, I love playing live, I love being on stage and you’ll get to see at lot of that happening real soon. My first target is Europe because Europe has always been the place for new music to emerge.
R.W.: You’ve been quoted as saying that there aren’t any rock stars anymore. What do you mean by that?
Alan Steward: Years back you could see Pink Floyd on stage and the lighting and stage design alone would make your jaw drop open, or you could see a group like the Tubes bring an entire theatre production to the stage complete with a dozen costume changes, motorcycles on stage, exploding TVs, dancing Robots and then some. Bruce Springsteen or George Clinton could hit a stage and keep you spellbound for five hours.
Now you see a bunch of guys on headlining major festivals that look and dress like the guy who bags your groceries or pumps your gas. Tell me honestly, who did you see on stage somewhere this year that totally blew your mind? No, there aren’t any rock stars anymore.
R.W.: One final question. What can we expect from Alan Steward in the near future? What are you working on?
Alan Steward: My main focus right now is on my live performances. I’m stepping away from being the “Enigma” and I’ll be right in your face from now on with a live show that will leave you breathless. You may consider my music chillout but if it hits you with 40,000 watts of sound and lights, the thing takes on quite a different dimension.
Wherever I am able to, I will bring my group, the Underdog Corporation with me on stage. The Underdog Corporation is a varied group of vocalists, dancers and performers from all corners of the world. We will show the world where the future of music is heading, trust me.
Also, I hope to have a new album out in 2010, entitled “Black Magic” that will be the ultimate step in the direction I feel my music is heading and should be heading. I don’t think anybody will call it chillout anymore because it will be a lot ‘heavier’ than “Licensed to Chill”. However, what the new album will have still have plenty of is that ‘magic’, that spiritual feel, that global spirit, that mystery, but with a whole new attitude.
People who come to see my live show in the coming months will get a preview of taste of that hew attitude in a song called “Swing of the Pendulum.” The song is also available as a free download for all my fans at www.alansteward.com
I’m coming out in full force with a tour through the UK and the rest of Europe at the end of this year and the plan is to bring a new attitude and musical flavour to the music scene. Shake things up a little, well, a lot.
R.W.: Thank you for taking time out to talk to me today. Do you have any final words for our readers?
Alan Steward: I would love to thank everybody who bought my music over the past two years. It is totally mindblowing that without any major promotion and without much airplay, so many people have found my music somehow and found it worthwhile adding to their collection. It tells me that I am doing something right. I hope that I get to meet some of you in person during my concerts and I’ll always be grateful.
(c)2009 Ray White – You can reprint this article on your web site, blog or magazine provided that proper credit is given to the author.
