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SEASICK STEVE

by

Steve D Parker

 

I went to see Seasick Steve play at the Cockpit in Leeds, it was a sell out crowd, and a good one at that. The only way I could get to see him was by ringing one of my old music biz friends and former road mate Mick Webster, him and Colin Oliver, the owner of the Cockpit, are good friends too, so I was well pleased when Mick got me a plus one on Colin's guest list. I took Mick Rix who works on security for many of the big stars, he had told me that he saw a little bit of Seasick's set at a couple of the summer festivals, I couldn't wait.

 

We muscled our way close to the front, just a nice distance away. When Seasick walked out on to the stage I could sense this was going to be something special, he came to the front and shook hands with a dozen or so of the crowd, he sat down on an old wooden chair in the middle of the stage and picked up his now famous red guitar that has only three strings on it, no bottom E, then the A string followed by a gap to the G string that looks more like the thickness of an A string, then it looks like he has a B string and no top E. He also had a few other old wrecks for guitars, and a Diddley Bo, and an old wooden box with a microphone inside for a bass drum.

 

The set began with ' Thunderbird ', from the very first beat of his foot on the old wooden box to the last slide of the night on his bottle neck guitar, Seasick Steve was awesome, a total showman. In between songs he told us stories about his life as an hobo on the road, how he hitched rides on trains, and how his mate Sherman ripped him off for $75 for the old three string guitar, he had the whole crowed laughing, and I was blown away with his words. Everything he touched he seemed to break, and when he pulled out the microphone lead by accident he had us all singing along.

 

His guitar sound was truly amazing, and what a fat sound for only three strings, his voice is that of a true blues traveller, and his songs were all very catchy. I am still singing one of his songs, he pulled himself a beautiful woman out of the crowd and sat her next to him on the stage, all that was missing was a hobo's camp fire. He sang the sweetest love song I have ever heard, I can't stop singing it and it will be a week tomorrow since his gig. I don't know the song title but he sings, 'my name is Steve and I want to be your walking man, yes I am ', I'm sure this would be a number one over here.

 

Five star entertainment, a must see, if you want a great night out then check his web site out at www.seasicksteve.com and don't forget where you heard about him first and call back here for more great bands and artists.

 

Seasick Steve will be playing at the Leeds Uni on the 31st January 2008.

 

Awesome,

Heart Attack Steve.

 

I first saw Seasick at the Cockpit at the backend of 2007, and he touched my soul, with his boogie style blues. I went away thinking that the blues never sounded that good, and I wanted to be a hobo and sing songs just like Seasick, and play a three string guitar. He blew me away, with his total showmanship.

Since then I have been singing the hook lines from all his songs, this guy should have a stack of number one hits, My Donny, Cut My Wings, Fallen Off A Rock, just to name a few, but my real favourite is his love song My Name Is Steve, this song is the best love song I have ever heard.

So on to the Leeds Met, this hobo is going places, he opened the show with his rendition of Amazing Grace played with the bottleneck that lead him nicely into My Donny, what a way to open a show, and it just got better and bigger from there, with his drummer PM Wold, ( I hope I’ve got that write ) what a fantastic live sound they made together. In fact this drummer is amazing, the way he shuffles around the kit, every beat went into emphasising each song, giving the sound so much light and shade.

Just like the first time I saw him, I didn’t want that show to end. He told us more short tales about his hobo days, he made us laugh and he made us cry, well almost, he told us about his dog dieing and played us a song he had written for the dog.

On a brighter note, he made two young ladies night when he pulled the first girl from the crowd and sang her his love song, My Name Is Steve, and later he sang a new love song to the second girl. The womanising old ‘bo, he still knows how to pull the women, I’m only jealous.
Well the show drove along, at times you would be forgiven for thinking that there were more than two guys on the stage. Seasick has such a back catalogue of songs that he was always going to miss out the odd favourite, such as Cheap, but the other Seasick Steve classics came across brilliantly, Cut My Wings, now I could listen to that song all night.

So I was really excited at meeting him again, this was like a mission, I had brought him copies of some of the pictures I had taken at the cockpit and I really wanted to get them to him and put them in his hand personally, and I did. He remembered me from the cockpit and I managed to get my photograph with him again. He was the first ROCK STAR I wanted to be photographed with, and I have met some big names in the past. Since then he has set my ball rolling and I have been photographed with Nick Hodgson band leader and drummer of the Kaiser Chiefs and Simon Rix the bassist of the Kaiser’s. In fact Ricky Wilson front man of the Kaiser’s was backstage with Seasick before the show.

Well I made Seasick laugh when I put on my Father Christmas beard and JD baseball cap and said I was Seaside Steve and my album’s called Cheaper. The way he laughed out aloud and shouted I remember you, as though deep inside he was thinking ‘ so I don’t have Alzheimer’s after all ‘. He was really grateful for the photographs and artwork, he kept giving me hugs and calling me his ‘ main man ‘.

I hear he will be on television in February on the Culture Show on BBC2 and again later in the year I hear he will be doing a show and it is rumoured that there will be a DVD. I think that Seasick would come across great in a live performance DVD. His two albums, Cheap and Doghouse Music contain some tremendous tracks and some will definitely become classics, I believe that a third album is in the making and that it may include My Name Is Steve.

So watch out for the hobo who is sweeping the country and not with a broom. You all.

I will leave you all with these  words.

What do you call a tramp with an email address ?
A hobo that's going places.

How do you know when a hobo is out ?
He doesn't answer his mobile,

How many hobos does it take to play the blues ?
Just the one, and his name is Seasick Steve. You all.

Steve D Parker
February 1st 2008.

PS
MORE SEASICK STEVE PICTURES, POSTERS, and WALLPAPERS HERE SOON.

THIS SITE IS UPDATED REGULAR. THANX FOR VIEWING.

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