Seasick Steve – Sonic Soul Surfer
Steven Gene Wold is a phenomenon. The man has brought out his first ever studio record out at the age of 63 in 2004. Now, 11 years later, Seasick Steve – which he is better known as – released with Sonic Soul Surfer his by now 7th album and so far no end seems to be approaching.
Seasick Steve, however, is a veteran in the music scene. Born in Oakland, CA in 1941, he left home at the age of 13 and started to live the life of a hobo, traveling the country on freight trains and by hitchhiking. No one else is maintaining his hobo image more than him (except for Woody Guthrie when he was still alive). He claims to have lived in over 20 places until finally settling down in Norway. In the 1960s, Wold played in various blues bands, he worked as a studio engineer later on and in the 1990s, he produced albums for indie bands such as Modest Mouse. There are few people that know the ins and outs of the music business better than him.
Last summer I finally managed to see Seasick Steve perform live in concert and it was an absolutely overwhelming and outstanding show. An older man full of energy appeared on the stage – dressed up like a farmer with his dungarees, long beard and baseball cap – sat down on a chair and started to roll. When he left after his final of many encores, I was still shaking and felt the adrenaline rushing through my body. I could not wait for his new album to be released and was restless like a kid on Christmas Eve, when it was announced in November that he was about to bring out a new record. The only thing was that I had to wait a lot longer than a kid until I could eventually hold my gift to myself in my hands.
Sonic Soul Surfer is pure Seasick Steve. Together with his yearlong drummer Dan Magnusson, he is sticking to his well-tried formula of teaching the listener how to groove. And his music is highly infectious as only fever can also be. Songs like “Bring it On” “Sonic Sould Boogie” or “Barracuda ‘68” make one unable to resist from moving. It is impossible to fight it, even if you wanted so. The riffs on his sometimes obscurely handcrafted and home-made guitars (one consists only of one string on a broomstick) result in the listener automatically tapping his foot up and down and shaking his head in rhythm. It is obvious once again that the honest, dirty blues is running through Seasick Steve’s veins.
The opening song “Roy’s Gang” is almost psychedelic and when I listen to him sing I wanna get on that stage and give you my very best show, I feel myself being taken back to last June, when he did exactly this. Also “Summertime Boy” – the second single of the album – is very psychedelic, almost grungy with his Jew’s harp intensifying it even more and Wold tells us about his days of being on the road (Well I got me a ticket gonna have some fun / You see I got good to the California run / Well I love driving up Pacific highway one / I got my arm out the window / my face in the sun / Maybe I head up to Santa Cruz / I got loads of time and nothing to lose)
There are also wonderfully touching ballads on his album – such as the movingly beautiful “Right on Time” where he is singing about lost love, “Heart Full of Scars” in which he is telling stories from his hobo life or “Silver Dagger”, the final song on the album, that brings tears to one’s eyes. “In Peaceful Dreams” is dominated by a mountain fiddle and a banjo and it makes one drift away into a lonely, wide prairie. Seasick Steve is drawing a romantic picture of the rural America throughout the whole album and it releases the urge of traveling this country together with him and let him talk about his experiences and tell tales from his life.
Although this time he recorded this album with many other musicians and not only his drummer, Seasick Steve is not sticking to his line. He remains true to himself and is not trying to gather more and new people to his stage. He does not need to and he basically lives up to his 2011 song “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks”. Maybe I should leave well enough alone / I might not be perfect, but I’m me to the bone / I don’t need to change my style / been this way for a long long while. And that is what I like about him!
Rating: 8 out of 10 Grizzlies
Seasick Steve, however, is a veteran in the music scene. Born in Oakland, CA in 1941, he left home at the age of 13 and started to live the life of a hobo, traveling the country on freight trains and by hitchhiking. No one else is maintaining his hobo image more than him (except for Woody Guthrie when he was still alive). He claims to have lived in over 20 places until finally settling down in Norway. In the 1960s, Wold played in various blues bands, he worked as a studio engineer later on and in the 1990s, he produced albums for indie bands such as Modest Mouse. There are few people that know the ins and outs of the music business better than him.
Last summer I finally managed to see Seasick Steve perform live in concert and it was an absolutely overwhelming and outstanding show. An older man full of energy appeared on the stage – dressed up like a farmer with his dungarees, long beard and baseball cap – sat down on a chair and started to roll. When he left after his final of many encores, I was still shaking and felt the adrenaline rushing through my body. I could not wait for his new album to be released and was restless like a kid on Christmas Eve, when it was announced in November that he was about to bring out a new record. The only thing was that I had to wait a lot longer than a kid until I could eventually hold my gift to myself in my hands.
Sonic Soul Surfer is pure Seasick Steve. Together with his yearlong drummer Dan Magnusson, he is sticking to his well-tried formula of teaching the listener how to groove. And his music is highly infectious as only fever can also be. Songs like “Bring it On” “Sonic Sould Boogie” or “Barracuda ‘68” make one unable to resist from moving. It is impossible to fight it, even if you wanted so. The riffs on his sometimes obscurely handcrafted and home-made guitars (one consists only of one string on a broomstick) result in the listener automatically tapping his foot up and down and shaking his head in rhythm. It is obvious once again that the honest, dirty blues is running through Seasick Steve’s veins.
The opening song “Roy’s Gang” is almost psychedelic and when I listen to him sing I wanna get on that stage and give you my very best show, I feel myself being taken back to last June, when he did exactly this. Also “Summertime Boy” – the second single of the album – is very psychedelic, almost grungy with his Jew’s harp intensifying it even more and Wold tells us about his days of being on the road (Well I got me a ticket gonna have some fun / You see I got good to the California run / Well I love driving up Pacific highway one / I got my arm out the window / my face in the sun / Maybe I head up to Santa Cruz / I got loads of time and nothing to lose)
There are also wonderfully touching ballads on his album – such as the movingly beautiful “Right on Time” where he is singing about lost love, “Heart Full of Scars” in which he is telling stories from his hobo life or “Silver Dagger”, the final song on the album, that brings tears to one’s eyes. “In Peaceful Dreams” is dominated by a mountain fiddle and a banjo and it makes one drift away into a lonely, wide prairie. Seasick Steve is drawing a romantic picture of the rural America throughout the whole album and it releases the urge of traveling this country together with him and let him talk about his experiences and tell tales from his life.
Although this time he recorded this album with many other musicians and not only his drummer, Seasick Steve is not sticking to his line. He remains true to himself and is not trying to gather more and new people to his stage. He does not need to and he basically lives up to his 2011 song “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks”. Maybe I should leave well enough alone / I might not be perfect, but I’m me to the bone / I don’t need to change my style / been this way for a long long while. And that is what I like about him!
Rating: 8 out of 10 Grizzlies