The Beat Surrender

A few years ago we reviewed a mini album from a very talented singer / songwriter called Paul Steel, the tracks suggested that he could have an amazingly bright future ahead of him, something that at the time Polydor agreed with and quickly snapped him up.

Things still looked to be rosy when he released the Your Loss single, which looked like it was going to be the first track from his debut album proper.

That album (Moon Rock) though never saw the light of day, at least not in the way Polydor intended it to be released and they parted company with each, something you can read more about in the interview below.

It seems though where that could have seen a disappointed and disallusioned artist turning their back on the industry, it’s now resulted in Paul Steel coming back fired up, releasing the album on his own terms, recorded how he wanted it to sound and put out through his own label.

Moon Rock is releasesd on the 20th July and April & I has also been animated into a short film, so exciting times for a great artist who deserved far more than he got from a major label and the perfect time to catch up with him to talk about things.

April & I came out a while ago to much critical acclaim and since then has been animated as well, did you expect it to take off like it did for you at that point?

Not at all. I wrote and recorded April & I halfway through doing stuff for Moon Rock. It was a statement of my intentions as an artist. I was already growing mildy frustrated with writing 3/4 minute pop songs and wanted to do something more symphonic and it just came out of nowhere. So to get nice reviews and comments from people was very encouraging and reassured me that I was doing the right thing as an artist.

Following on from that (mini) album though you seemed to go for a change in direction with your single release, was your versatility something you wanted to get across to people?

I wanted people to know that I wasn’t just another Beach Boys rip off. I can rip off music from ANY artist, ANY genre, ANY decade. I’m ripping off bands that don’t even exist yet. I’m ripping off the future and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.. other than have a nice polite quiet word.

In answer to your question, I like to genre hop. There wasn’t a particularly conscious effort to get across any versatility, it was just the nature of the music. It was the label’s idea to release Your Loss as the first single. They must be kicking themselves.

You signed for Polydor and have since parted company with them, what happened for the relationship to break down?

The label and I had conflicting opinions. I was like “I want to make stupid amounts of money and become a huge overnight success”, they were like “No, we see you as a career artist. We favour a slow build” and I was like “Fine. Aslong as you promise me you’ll release the least representative song on the album as the first single” and they were like “Ok then, if we have to. grr!” and I was like “Make sure you spend way too much money on a video for it as well, even though my friend Matthew Anstee can make TRULY BRILLIANT videos at a fraction of the price” and they were like “Sure, but we’d rather save the money and spend it on what really matters.. the MUSIC” and I was like “FUCK THE MUSIC… infact let’s keep putting back the album release date so my fans lose interest in it. Why don’t we record that song that I don’t really like that could be a big radio hit?” and they were like “We’re reluctant to do so Paul as we fear it could affect your reputation as a credible songwriter and producer” and so on and so on. I could be paraphrasing… The summer heat has gotten me all confused.

The album Moon Rock is now finally getting a release, has anything changed musically on the album from what would have been the Polydor release?

I replaced all the Trombones of guilt and helplessness with a Sine Wave of freedom and joy. There are now gaps in the music where Polydor’s cold hearted, emotionless machinery once stood.

Does putting out your own records give you greater freedom now to shape your music exactly how you want or does it impact on the time you have to work on your records in a negative way?

It’s not huge extra work for me. It just means I can relax and enjoy making the music that I really want to make which is all I want. Also if I make an awful record, I know it’s nothing to do with any major label pressure. It’s purely down to my own hideous awfulness and I’ll be accountable for it for the rest of my life…

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