John: Grand Union is Firebird’s fifth album. What are your own thoughts on this particular release?
Bill: For me, it’s the best record we have done. I just think that the variety of tunes is the strongest, partly because we just opened up a little, or I did. It wasn’t just my material on this record; there are a few tunes where we collaborated together as a band and obviously the three cover versions. I just think the record is stronger for that, really. Then there is just the actual dynamic of this particular line up. Smok has brought a lot of energy to the band and for the first time it feels like we have “the” line up. Everyone wants to do this, and I couldn’t always say that in the past. I had a lot of different people coming and going in the band - a lot of great musicians - but often people had priorities elsewhere and that can be troublesome sometimes.
John: That was one of the things I noticed. This line up played in Belfast last year and I just thought there’s definitely a whole new energy there and that came over in the first performance I saw and that was emphasized again when you played again June this year. Now to have it captured on album, is it something new for yourselves?
Bill: I would say so, yeah.
John: Where does your inspiration for writing these tunes come from both lyrically and musically?
Bill: The music always comes first, and that’s a difficult one to pin down really, as like any guitar player, I’ll just pick up my guitar and just play. I don’t consciously decide to write something - that just never seems to work for me. So sometimes you begin playing and you find yourself playing a chord sequence that sounds nice, or a new riff pops up, and if it’s exciting you just want to pursue it. That’s kinda how a tune starts. Lyrics, they tend to come at different times. Often a piece of music to me suggests straight away a vocal line, and then I just try and tune into that and often a phrase or some kind of lyric will actually come through. And that kinda takes me in the direction of what the song is about. I never sit down with an agenda and write lyrics according to that; [I] kinda let it happen naturally. Sometimes a lyric will come straight away and other times I will have a piece of music for ages before any words.
John: And maybe would you just sing a rubbish lyric if you have a vocal line in your head?
Bill: There have been cases I have done that and it is one way of finding a lyric, as in the stream of consciousness is often a phrase that makes sense and that becomes the subject of the song. I’m always wary of being too analytical cause I don’t really know what I’m doing and it’s better of that way.
John: Better letting it come from the heart. One of the tunes that really stood out for me on the new album is “Caledonia,” don’t know what it is about it, whether its just one of those classic closing tracks on an album, just something about it hit home strongly with me. So hopefully get to hear that live at some point.
Bill: Yeah we have yet to play it live, could be a tricky one I tell ya.
John: In Belfast you really hit the new album hard, there was probably about eight tunes that you played from it, but I’ve only managed to get the new album a week or so ago and “Caledonia” was one that was really standing out.
Bill: Yeah I kinda agree with you, I think that one does stand out, it might be my favorite too, but even so it does stand separately from the rest of the record. I guess what I tried to do was write a slide guitar number that actually wasn’t particularly bluesy. If you want to get pedantic about it, it’s kinda in a more of a major key for a start. I just wanted to avoid playing some of the more clichéd blues slide licks and just see if I could write a song that had a different angle to that type of guitar playing.
John: Maybe that’s what it is, it’s maybe too cheery, that it stands out a bit more at the end.
Bill: Yeah maybe it’s too cheery but kinda dark as well. I don’t understand the in and outs of music theory behind it but I like the tune and we caught an atmosphere with that one and Berno definitely did a great job of recording and also the mix too.
John: You touched on the co-writes on the album with Smok and Ludwig; what is their input on the song-making process?
Bill: That can be different things. For example with “Blue Flame,” we were in rehearsal two days prior to going into the studio. We were having a break and I turned to my amp to check something and just banged out this riff, and Smok immediately stopped and said “Hey what was that?”, so I played it again and those two (Smok and Ludwig) just loved it. And at the time it was something I really would not have thought twice about as I was just messing around and we kinda built the song of that. It just happened really quickly and all of us were involved with what we did with the rest of the tune. So it started with one of my riffs but it was those guys pushing the tunes in certain directions.
John: So just a lucky moment caught and progressed forward. Grand Union sees a return to a Firebird album having cover versions. Who comes up with the suggestions on what to cover?
Bill: The James Taylor number was something I was really keen to try for years. I’ve always liked his stuff, but the “One Man Dog” album is a real favorite of mine. I just played that thing to death and years ago when my brother was in the band, I got him into the record, but the strange thing was he came back to me after borrowing it and said “I think there is a tune on there that Firebird should do,” so that was kinda the beginning of it all. And then it was just a case of persuading Lugwig, because initially he didn’t hear any potential in that song, so I didn’t manage to get it on to Hot Wings, but this time around we really did try it and I think by the time we went into the studio everyone was convinced.
John: I will have to look up the original version then and see what it sounds like. I take it I’ll be in for a shock, as it miles away from your version.
Bill: Yeah, I think so, as that version is clearly very different from the original. The Duster Bennett tune that we did – “Worried Mind” - for me I just wanted to do a little bit of a tribute to the guy, not that I’m as good a harmonica player or anything, but it was just a way to tip ones hat to somebody who is really overlooked in the history of the blues boom over here (the United Kingdom); he’s a very significant figure and just an amazing songwriter. He could really do it all, he could play several instruments, he wrote great tunes, so yeah, we kinda altered that one heavily as the original version is a one man band tune, he was playing everything simultaneously, guitar, bass, drum, high hat, harmonica and singing. With the Humble Pie tune, of course our version is very close to the original, it’s a modern day interpretation of it. But out of the three cover versions, that’s the one that’s the most faithful to the one people would know.
John: Aye – its nearly like that tune that was written for yourselves you would feel as it fits into the Firebird format so well.
Bill: Yeah I hope so. It was an afterthought to be honest, we had played the song live when we toured with Alabama Thunderpussy, it tended to be the opener every night actually but we didn’t really think we could get away with recording it. Then when we had to put down some bonus tracks, it’s always a good idea to do that - record one or two extras if you can, the Japanese always like one for their release. So we bashed that one out in one take and when we came to mix suddenly it sounded very good and we thought maybe it should be on the album anyway.
John: Are there any other tunes for the Japanese release?
Bill: Yeah, there is one other original called “Rag And Bone,” but anybody that has the special vinyl release of the album will have that song on the bonus 7 inch single.
John: Was “Superstitious” ever recorded, as it featured in the live set for awhile?
Bill: It’s been talked about, I know Ludwig is very keen, we might do it one day. I’m a tad skeptical because the BBA (Beck, Bogart & Appice) version is so good, I’d almost be afraid to get into that kind of territory. We might do it for a bit of a laugh one day.
John: You have returned to Berno Paulsson’s studio’s in Sweden – what’s the reason for this?
Bill: Well because we knew we’d get the job done really. Cause once again we were facing fairly limited album budget and we just wanted to go somewhere were we could be sure it would give us what we wanted. Ludwig and I had worked with Berno before on previous occasions.
John: And he gets a good sound for you?
Bill: Yeah, as an engineer he is just brilliant, I mean he gets just very direct true sounds of all the instruments. He gives us a good framework to operate in.
John: Who provided the keyboards on the Grand Union album, as its uncredited on the cover?
Bill: That’s very true, that was a real oversight. Right, the funny thing is you are the first person to mention it. I’ve actually had interviews were people have said, “Congratulations, so good to hear an album were somebody hasn’t added keyboards.”
John: Oh right! No, there are a couple of songs - I think it’s maybe “Release Me.” I don’t know how you’ll do it live as such as the keyboards really add to it.
Bill: Oh, that will be no problem, I think, as the natural dynamics of the playing that tune live would be somewhat different. No, we needed the keys in the studio just to emphasize the little crescendos. But live we will just do it naturally as we exaggerate the soft bits going into the loud bits. But yeah that was actually Berno. He not really a keyboard player per se, but he can play chords, so that’s what we needed really, somebody playing big swelling Hammond chords behind the tune. We always then keep that stuff low in the mix, to us it’s just there as a thickener; we don’t really want it to be that prominent.
John: Well it works well, I think it was quite prominent in the No. 3 album; keyboards were in the mix there and there was a wee keyboard solo.
Bill: I really threw caution to the wind on that one. I really had no idea if that line up was going to be playing together very long or if there was any future for the band, so when I saw a space for a keyboard solo, I was like “Yeah, come on” and we also had an excellent jazz player with us that day in the studio, so that’s kinda what happened.
John: How did you come to working with the guys from The Quill on No. 3?
Bill: Well I guess I have a lot of friends in Sweden and the rock world there is very closely knit, everybody knows everybody else, so during one of the many occasions when I was having line up problems, Mike Amott suggested the guys from the Quill. Originally it was Jolle, I think as I needed a drummer for a UK tour, so I had already played with him, but Roger, that album was the first occasion we played together. That particular line up only played one show, a festival in Austria.
John: Would you ever consider using a live keyboard player or adding a rhythm guitarist to Firebird?
Bill: A rhythm guitarist, definitely not, cause I like the way there is one of everything in this band, one drum kit, one bass, one guitar or if I’m playing harmonica, one of those. Two guitar players just changes the whole structure, and I’ve done it obviously in certain other bands, and it’s fine but it does tend to be a war of volume between two players and not what this group is about.
John: The power trio format then?
Bill: Yeah, that was the whole idea, I was never looking for a second guitar player, I just wanted something that actually had air in the sound. You don’t tend to get that if you have two guitarists. With the keyboard player, that’s something I wouldn’t rule out, cause I love keyboards. I mean if somebody can play well, it’s just a joy to listen too. But it’s not a likely thing to happen, cause they are so expensive, those guys. I don’t know of any keyboard player who wants to do a show for free or for pocket money you know. They want big payment because they can get it elsewhere. So that’s always been the issue with us and I can’t see it changing.
John: Well you never know, some day you might get somebody that wants to do it for the love of the music or a few beers or whatever.
Bill: It’s very possible in that sense, but the good thing about the way we have it now is we are forced to play to the best of our capabilities. Nobody can really coast in this band because there are only three of us. There is a lot of space in music but at the same time you can’t really slacken off. So I guess if we bring in a fourth guy, that could change that slightly, maybe lose some of the intensity.
John: With you joining Gentleman’s Pistol’s recently, how did that come about?
Bill: Oh, we have known each other for years, I’ve always liked the band, and not just as people but I actually just like the band as a fan. I think they are great, they have got some excellent tunes and live they really can’t be beaten. So one day Chris announced he was leaving and Atco (James Atkinson, singer with the Gentleman’s Pistols) just got in touch and said would I be interested? And of course I was. That’s pretty much it. It could be a tricky one to balance but then they also have other bands as well, so I’m not the only person in that regard.
John: That’s what I was wondering, what would be the impact on Firebird with you being in two bands now, three if you consider the Carcass reunion?
Bill: Yeah, the Carcass thing has very little left on the agenda this year, if not forever. I think we’ve only got three or four shows left, so by the time you hit the middle of September, it will just be dates with Firebird and Gents, and that’s more than enough for me right now.
John: And you don’t see Carcass carrying on or writing again with them maybe?
Bill: I’ve always said it possible, but it’s not that likely, cause in a word – Arch Enemy, the rest of that band wouldn’t be particularly happy if Mike and Daniel took three months off to write, rehearse and record a Carcass album. And then it would open another cans of worms because then we’d have to tour it, so I think they have certain obligations at that end and I can understand that, and for me I’ve got plenty of music that I want to get on with, so it’s a good state of affairs right now.
John: So seems like a good place to leave it. I do need Michael to get back to Spiritual Beggars!
Bill: Well they are working on a record now
John: Oh are they! Ludwig was quiet about it when I asked him in Belfast the other month.
Bill: Well no, this is very recent, it’s since then they just got in touch for the first time in ages and agreed to put some dates in the book for a new album.
John: Ah good stuff! Have you begun writing with Gentleman’s Pistols yourself yet and how do you see this material developing?
Bill: Oh no no, it’s way too early for that. For a start, they really don’t need me to contribute. I mean, they have so much new material and basically so much of it is brilliant, I don’t think they need any help right now. I’m more than happy to just be the lead guitarist in that band cause obviously in Firebird, I’m kinda the guy that runs the band, writes a lot of material, sings, play guitar. I don’t know, its just kinda nice to relax and only have one job, so playing with the Gents is like having a holiday at the moment.
John: Nearly like being in a cover band at the minute?
Bill: Yeah, it’s hard to explain, but it’s so much fun playing other people’s material if you really like it, and I do with their stuff. I feel it’s gonna give me a kick up the arse with my own stuff with Firebird. Yeah the two groups are in a similar genre of music musically but then there are a hell of a lot of differences too. I would say they are a lot more in your face and direct than Firebird is. Firebird has some softer moments, maybe a touch more diversity, but when it comes to just going for the throat, you can’t touch those guys.
John: To me, I would see Firebird as being fiercely independent, with recording under your own control with no record company pressure. This attitude seems to apply to gigs as well – happy enough to go out under your own steam. But if you were to hook up for a big arena or theatre tour with a well known name – who would you like to be out there playing with?
Bill: Oh, that’s tough. Very tough. I don’t really keep in touch that much with contemporary music and especially the larger bands. But I suppose one that springs to mind would be Clutch because the drummer is an old friend of Ludwig’s and he has always been very supportive of Firebird, going back to the first couple of records. So he has actually been in touch and told us he would like us to tour with them. I don’t know if it’s gonna happen this year but perhaps next year is a possibility.
John: I actually thought there you would go for more of the old school bands or old heroes that are still out there playing, if there was anybody like that you would maybe link up with.
Bill: Ah yeah, that’s a good question.
John: You know the way The Answer are quite a young band as such who just happen to be from here (Northern Ireland), you know the way they got the big gig with AC/DC and things like that. Would there be anything in that sort of line, maybe not AC/DC but Paul Rodgers or something?
Bill: Oh yeah we’d be up for doing anything like that but you have to be realistic. There is always a large number of people clamoring for those supports and usually it just comes down to politics, somebody doing somebody else a favor, that kind of thing. I mean just to give you an idea, whenever I can I go and see Terry Reid cause he plays London fairly frequently. And on one occasion I went to see him playing in Camden and he had the most inappropriate support act I’ve ever seen! And my friend and I just came to the same conclusion; this guy must be mates with the promoter. There was no way he was Terry Reid’s choice, nobody in the audience seemed to know what the hell he was trying to do, so I don’t like to think about that stuff too much, I mean if an opportunity arises then great. I mean in the old days when Alan French and my brother were in the band we were very lucky cause in the space of a year we got to do tons of stuff, everything from Fu Manchu to Glenn Hughes, Molly Hatchett, and Monster Magnet. So sometimes you can be lucky and things pop up.
John: You’ve probably answered this next one in regard to the power trio format but would you consider a vocal front man for Firebird?
Bill: Well again that’s another one were people mention it but virtually five albums into your career that doesn’t make any sense. If you make a change like that you either do it early on or just completely rehaul the band and call it something completely different. To me a very good example would be Stray Dog, their first album I think is a stone cold classic then for whatever reason this other guy, a separate lead singer comes into the band on the second record, takes over most of the writing duties and yeah while he is a decent singer I actually think the band lost a lot.
John: Aye that was Snuffy Walden’s band Stray Dog?
Bill: Yeah. I mean I think with this band, a lot of the story of what we are doing is to do with keeping control of things, and one thing I can’t bare is the stand up lead singer. I mean pretty much every lead singer I admire plays an instrument and I’ve never really been a fan of those guys that just stand with the mic stand and kinda end up doing something embarrassing while your are doing an instrumental break.
John: It wasn’t fired in as a criticism or anything, I’m a big fan of your vocals and I think they sit perfectly with the music, particularly in the feel of the recordings.
Bill: Thanks! I mean it has come up quite a bit especially early on, people rather than seeing something for what it is, they kinda look at it for what it isn’t. So we started a three piece purposely, knowing that it was going to be very self-contained, we could get to gigs in a car, all those things were considerations on top of the music and then somebody was like “You know your band would be great if you had a second guitarist, and a singer, and maybe a keyboard player,” and you think, “Well okay, really what you are saying is you should be a different band.” I guess everyone has got their own agenda and we’re just doing what’s right for us.
John: It was more just a thought looking at how Gentlemans Pistols will line up, would you ever consider something similar for Firebird. But to me Firebird is a power trio and I’m just throwing these out there to gauge your thoughts.
Bill: Yeah, I always check myself on things like that, every year or two I review that. Do I still feel the same way about this or that, about how we are doing things here. To quote Joni Mitchell, “Some things lost but some things gained living every day,” you make one decision and it opens one door but closes another. Yeah so I’m kinda happy with how things are.
John: Your stage set up seems pretty basic – one Marshall amp, guitar and blues harp. Any effects in there at all?
Bill: No, I don’t really like effects. I just find them stressful to deal with live when you got extra things plugged in, there’s always that extra potential for something going wrong. Studio work is a different thing, I have used effects here and there on all of the records, but I regard that as very different from live. I just think you have to have little enhancements just to bring sections of the song to life otherwise it’s very one dimensional. Live, it isn’t quite the same because you’ve got the volume and just the dynamics of that particular room at that moment. I guess for a couple of years I used the wah pedal but eventually I even got sick of that. I never really felt comfortable with the thing, I mean other people use them and get really nice sounds, but not so much myself.
John: And what’s the difference for a Carcass show?
Bill: Yeah, some of its just practical stuff because of how that band operates, so like the other guys I would have a noise gate pedal and a tuner. So it’s different to how I am with Firebird.
John: So the Les Paul Junior only works for Firebird then?
Bill: Yeah I did actually use it at a couple of shows with Carcass but I was fine with it, but our sound man was complaining. Yeah, he was being the headphone nerd and listening to it on the phones and he thought it wasn’t saturated enough. He’s probably totally right because in that world everything has got to be cooked, or overcooked if you know what I mean.
John: More gain than you can throw a stick at.
Bill: Yeah, pretty much yeah.
John: You just finished another Irish tour, which is always a welcome annual event for us here. How are crowd reactions compared to the Irish shows when you play elsewhere?
Bill: Well for us, Belfast is really quite exceptional as we don’t quite get that reaction anywhere else. It’s the best town for us, I guess. London has always been good, no complaints there, but then it’s a very big town with a hell of a lot of people, so you would expect decent turn outs, but Belfast is something that really caught us by surprise. It why we love going back there.
John: I believe that you and Smok operate under the name Bluebird on occasions as an acoustic duo. How did that come about and what sort of stuff is played there?
Bill: I think it first came up prior to Smok joining Firebird, he’d been pushing for the pair of us to get together and play in some form or other and then we hit on the idea of doing an acoustic duo. So we just started doing really tiny gigs in little bars in North London and the material tended to be a mix of obscure cover versions and a few originals. When I say covers, that goes all across the board - we’re doing everything from 50’s and 60’s conventional song writing and also blues tunes that we have altered a bit and some folky kinda stuff. It’s a lot of fun and then we kinda got distracted for about a year, but we have got back into it in the last couple of months and I think the only issue now is whether we keep that name. I think it’s already been heavily used.
John: Would you see any Bluebird style material appear on a Firebird record at some point or would you try and get a full Bluebird album out?
Bill: We would like to record together because I think it could be quite interesting and for a start Smok is first and foremost a guitarist. He has only been playing bass since he joined this band, so that’s quite a new thing for him.
John: That doesn’t leak through in the live performances!
Bill: He has just done an excellent job of getting into that mode, cause I’m sure any bass player will tell you it’s so different from playing guitar. It’s a very different mindset. But over the years I have written tons of acoustic stuff for Firebird separately, but so far none of it has seen the light of day. Mainly because of time limitations - you tend to stick with what’s comfortable. We know we can get down a whole batch of tunes as an electric hard rock three piece really quickly. If we are talking about something that is a little more delicate, all of a sudden you could be spending half a day on one song and we don’t usually do that. But next time around, yes something could pop up. So the acoustic duo thing is always something we have got regardless of what happens.
John: Excellent, something different to look forward to then. Just to finish up, how is life in the Bill Steer world these days?
Bill: I feel quite lucky at the moment actually because it’s been a good year or two. Doing that stuff with Carcass has been one hell of an experience and it’s reunited me with a couple of old friends, which is great. Also, a whole load of tunes that meant a lot to me when I was a kid, some of which go way back to my teenage years. So all of that was very positive and somehow alongside that Firebird has become a lot busier, and I am not really sure if it was directly because of the Carcass activity or a coincidence. But it means I’ve been really focused on music all the time as opposed to a several years there it was more a part time thing, I was just trying to survive and it meant holding down all kinds of weird jobs, I really wasn’t playing as much as I wanted too.
John: So really turned a corner and in a good place then. Excellent! Well it’s been a pleasure to chat with you. (Source) |
