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William
Steffey continues to be near the forefront of the "post-modern rock"
movement: effortlessly integrating honest rock, pop sensibility, and edgy
electronica with distant echoes of jazz. Atop the music ride engaging
and intelligent lyrics, tagging the listener at unexpected depths.
2009's apocolyptic Love and Armageddon EP marks release number
eight, and also introduces the public to William Steffey live shows for
the first time ever. While the cd hovers between the worlds of pop-rock
and house, the 4 piece live band- whose repetroire spans almost 20 years
of Steffey's material- eliminates the synths and takes a more stripped
down rock attitude.
Apart
from two locally sold cassettes (1989's Up on the Rock, and 1995's
Letters Never Sent,) William had been hiding in the servant's quarters
of the Chicago music mansion for years- playing hired gun to scene stalwarts
Marathon Man (on drums), brief but potent cool-rockers Spot and Billy
(on guitar), and anonymous production guru to the Blue Meanies (Sick Sick
Six live video, as well as key tracks on the albums "Blue Meanies"
and "Pave the World").
In 2001, Steffey finally struck out on his own on an international level
with the entirely self-produced cd Roadstar, featuring 11 tracks
that brave the no-mans-land between electronica, honest hard rock, and
70s FM songwriting. The cd was added to more than 250 US college stations
as well as a handful of cherry-picked commercial specialty shows. Upon
its debut, Roadstar hit #3 on the CMJ most added chart. The cd
also made its way overseas where it enjoys airplay in the UK, Spain, France,
Croatia, Japan, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
In
2005, Steffey released love song for kyrie snow. With low-key vocals
and new millennium soundscapes, the five song collection melds rock, pop
and electronia, and features a remix of the title track by Chicago legend
Felix Miklik. "Hands down, it's a break-up album," William explains.
With hyperpersonal lyricsim, WS is looking to connect with the rest of
the cast-aside and forlorn. "Sometimes it takes more than love to
make a relationship work." The songs "Stronger Than Love"
and "Brutal" explore these concepts in bold new ways. The EP
was played on numerous college radio stations, as well as key international
stations listed above.
2007 saw the sprawling
full-length Romance of the Spaceways, which spun in commercial
rotation on 11 stations in the US and quickly became a favourite of several
UK college heads of music- resulting in around 15 adds across the pond.
WS also continued to be hot in Central America, where the album played
on an archipelago of 18 stations across Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The
12 song cd, propelled by its ethereal-pop single 'Sanctuary', was serviced
to college stations in the United States in the fall of 07.
The following year,
William released a 'best of' two-cd complilation called Songs for the
Sacred Age which offered up 37 tracks in total, the majority of which
had never before been officially released. The project included one brand
new NC-17 rated track "Inside We're Lovers".
Currently William
is enjoying a little time off from writing and is focusing on the live
shows.
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