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We’re dedicating this months “Just Passing Thru” to Steve Tannen, an artist who’s passing thru indefinitely!
Steve, tell us a little bit about you, the artist?
I’m an indie songwriter. Sometimes I feel like Male Songwriter #8,431,
you know? I’ve written songs since I can remember, it’s an
obsessive-compulsive thing, I sort of do it all the time. I started going
to open mics and playing in dive bars in NYC around 1997 and began
performing with a band starting around 1999. I came out with my first CD
in 2000, but I didn’t really make a living as a performer or recording
artist until 2002. I’m still completely independent, and now I tour about
100 nights a year.
I noticed, surfing around the web, that you’re in 3 different projects?
Tell us a little bit about each one.
At the forefront right now is the Weepies – it’s a joint project with
songwriter Deb Talan. It’s actually fun and it seems sustainable. We
released our debut CD last Christmas, and spent most of 2004 touring
behind it. Deb and I work well together, the response was amazing in
terms of audience support, so we’re going to follow up on that this year.
The second project is the Tannen Brothers, with my brother Greg Tannen;
I’ve been doing the Weepies thing while Greg has his own band back in NYC
and has been busy with that, so the Tannen Brother band sort of defaulted
onto the back burner last year. Over the next while we’d love to finally
release a CD, which we’ve started a couple of times.
The third project is the "solo" stuff -- where I’m the main writer,
arranger and producer. I released a CD called "Stopped at a Green Light"
in late 2003, but the whole Weepies thing happened about five minutes
after I released the solo CD, and so it got sidelined too. There’s more
to come on all those fronts, I hope.
You have a residency coming up at Room 5; tell us a little about that, and
who are some of the artists that are playing on your nights?
I’m psyched -- Room 5 is a laid back listening room over a swanky
restaurant on La Brea called Amalfi. The Weepies are playing there every
Tuesday night at 9 in January, with guests on at 8 and 10. It’s $5 for
the whole night, definitely worth checking out! A songwriter named Jay
Nash books Room 5, and he was kind enough to set it up. There’s
definitely a scene revolving around Room 5 – Jay, Adrienne, Garrison
Starr, Janet Robin, all seem to be prime movers in that scene, but there
are lots of folks in and out, and you can tell something’s happening. A
songwriter I met in NYC, Don Everett Pearce, is playing on Tuesday the
11th, in the slot before us, and the next week, the 18th, Carlos Olmeda is
playing right after us. I covered one of Don’s tunes on my first CD, he’s
a great writer; and Carlos has an excellent latin-folk style -- I met
Carlos a couple of years ago when he was partnered up with Jason Mraz in
San Diego.
For the first time listener, what are some of your own favorite tunes that
you would direct someone towards?
This is a weird area – I have trouble listening to my own stuff. Um, "San
Francisco" is the most popular track, so that’s probably a good starter.
The Weepies tracks that have been most popular are "Keep It There" and
"Somebody Loved." -- they’re easy to listen to, and Deb’s voice is really
amazing. Another co-write with Deb Talan is "Rocks and Water" – I like
the version from Deb Talan’s 2003 CD "A Bird Flies Out." I guess I still
think "Just a Little" and "Sing Me to Sleep" are pretty good songs. (You
can listen to samples online of all this stuff at www.stevetannen.com, or
on any site like Itunes, Rhapsody etc.)
Do you have any favorite local LA artists?
You’re making me look bad – I know almost nobody here! A lot of the
people I’ve run into are from back east – Michelle Lewis, Kyler, Adrienne,
they’re all east coast refugees. Please, email me and tell me who to
check out! The only guy I know about is Colin Hay, (from Men At Work) --
and I think he’s from Australia. Colin, if you’re reading this, I’m a big
fan and I would like to open for you.
What motivated your re-location to Los Angeles?
I wasn’t tied down to a job anymore, so I was literally looking at maps
looking for someplace to try. Growing up I lived in a bunch of places –
Colorado, Northern California, Florida, Australia, Canada, New York.
After NYC I lived for a year in western mass where the temperature didn’t
go over negative 10 for weeks straight. Our average temperature for
February was colder than cold-weather station in Barrow, Alaska. It just
made me not want to go outside for months at a time. When summer came and
it was 98 with 100% humidity, that was it. I also have some family here
in LA, so that pushed it over the top.
You’re in the process of recording a record; tell us a little about the
new record.
I’m recording again with my partner Deb Talan – we met on the road in
2001, and recorded 3 CDs together in 2003. Between us, we have about 30
new tunes going into this next project. We have until March to finish
recording, when we’ll go to SXSW, before touring through May. We’re
recording at a home pro-tools studio, and outsourcing drums. The idea is
to just keep writing and recording relatively quickly, every day, and not
worry things to death. We’ll see where we are mid-March! The first
release will probably be another "Weepies" CD, and hopefully we’ll have
enough to also release a couple of solo CDs after that.
When it comes to the music scene, what are some of the biggest differences
between Los Angeles and New York?
In LA I can *feel* the industry presence. This is an outsider’s first
impression – it seems like the whole town revolves around media – tv,
film, etc, this is where it happens, and you can taste it everywhere. In
New York the "industry" seemed more diluted, and I felt sort of more
camouflaged. I’ll let you know how that affects the writing and
producing, as I’m sure it has to. I’m sure the car culture affects the
music too, and probably the clubs – I know that I personally haven’t been
out to see too many acts, often because of all the driving involved.
Who are some of your influences, the artists that you hear in your own
music and writing?
Well, I don’t know that I hear them in my writing (I wish), but my
favorite writers are Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen (hey, isn’t
he in LA? Bruce, I’d love to open for you too!), Joni Mitchell (isn’t she
in LA too?? Oh man, we should all get together), Sting, Rickie Lee Jones,
Lennon&McCartney, Mark Knopfler and Cole Porter. There are a hundred
other exceptional writers I love too. I’m a fool for songwriters. On
days I feel I’m not writing well, I’ll often just take one of their songs
apart like a radio.
What kinds of things are coming up for you this year now that you’ve
relocated?
I’m finally waking up to this whole movie soundtrack/TV music thing. The
NFL used a song of mine for the 49ers game over the holidays, and I loved
it. I know I’m supposed to feel like TV and film is an unartistic use of
deep-felt music, but somehow I don’t feel that way. It seems kind of
cool. I’d love to do more of it, and we’re writing a couple of songs on
spec for some upcoming movies.
Article by: TLAMS
Submitted: Jan, 2005
Photos: Artist's Website
Artist Website: www.stevetannen.com
Email: info@thelamusicscene.com
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