Bio
‘Four years ago, I wouldn’t have ever dreamed about pursuing music as a Career. I didn’t realise the full potential of my music and my voice until it was pointed out to me. My teachers wanted me to do something more academic, but my parents backed me up 100% and wanted to help me develop and flourish. I studied art and design at college, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do back then. There’s lots of things I like to get stuck into; singing dancing, acting, making music. I’m just a creative individual, a free spirit.’
Introducing the young, independent and enthusiastic Laura Steel, a 24 year old creative marauder, who first embarked and brushed on her musical endeavours as a youngster growing up and listening to her father’s record collection by default. An easy going and laid back type, the singer/songwriter wanted to take her development in her stride, all the while making her susceptible to new and original forms of artistic expression. However, little was known about that back then……
‘I played Piano from about the age of five, up until I was about eighteen, but that’s really my acoustic leaning and training. It’s given me a great ear, and I can tune a guitar from memory, which of course takes years for some to learn. I can always hear when something is out of key’. Born in the sleepy town of Aston, based in the north of England near Sheffield, she became interested in creative production and rejected an academic future. ‘I did art and fashion at St Martins in London after studying at college. When I finished I went into styling. I’m still working freelance, and we do stuff for magazines. But about four months ago I had a party at my house. I was singing along to a song and my friend, MC Angel, who’s big on the spoken word scene and is in with the Kate Nash crowd heard it and loved it.’
‘She heard me sing and asked me to record on one of her tracks. We went to a studio to work with a producer, NSG, and he told me I had a natural talent for song-writing. I was surprised because I never thought I was that great and never took it too serious, so it came as a pleasant surprise. I’d always enjoyed singing and performing anyway…..’
Her music, coupled with her open-ended attitude to art, plus her smouldering good-looks and energetic presence, have led her to engage with more than what she originally expected….
‘I started meeting for sessions with NSG, and I’d spend five hours a week with him. But we were getting the tunes out and producing them, but he then suggested and that I try working with other producers (something I’m really grateful of), one being Nutty P, plus Maya Jane Coles, a friend of mine who knows her stuff at the controls.’
And with such a diverse attitude, Laura likes to convey these different attitudes and responses by hosting a range of differing production talents, and a broad plethora of musical genres.
‘The album I’m working towards is called ‘Time for Change’…I’ve had the title in my head since I started making music, and I think I represent this attitude well through my music. As a singer/songwriter, I get frustrated with people regurgitating the same sound, and the same damn song. I keep it varied. They (the listener) may only like one song, but every track is different, although it’s still pop at its core. It’s alternative to a degree because I’m not afraid to step beyond the box and break conventional rules, and that’s where the alternative flavour comes from. Each track is a different take on pop. I don’t fit into any genre; you could probably take most of my tracks and associate them within other scenes’.
And with two producers on the controls, this Utopian vision of borderless, constraint free music is fully realised as she ducks and dives through genres akin to dubstep, drum ‘n ‘bass, ambient chill-out and tech house, a brave move that surely justifies and cements her bright flamboyance and stylish demeanor.
‘The Stuff with NSG is always rocky and he’s very internet based’ she muses thoughtfully.’ He stays on top of the blogs and experimental scene, from which he brings a dark, metal influenced subculture to my work. The stuff with Maya is very ambient, very soft and song-written, and a little more thoughtful and feminine.
‘My Dad was heavily into music when I was young, and was always willing to jam. My parents like music, although my mum’s tastes are different like Enya and stuff. My Dad and I shared a love of Dire Straits, Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, lots of Punk bands…..those timeless bands and artists who we’ll never forget. I feel lucky to be exposed to loads of cool stuff.’
Compared to the days of yore and relative innocence, that were free of modern issues such as online sales, digitisation and sub-genre how have these tastes morphed and matured over the years? “I still like rocking out to everything, from Eurythmics to the Killers, Nightmares on Wax to Zero 7 …but Ill check out anything’ she admits. “I’m really obsessed with Skream at the moment, he delivers some sick beats. I love wobbling subs! I’m just open minded 100%, about everything, and I live my life to the fullest. I like to represent this on stage; my performances live are really energetic, I guess that’s changed since the days of me singing Karaoke. I love to bounce around and interact with the crowd fully. I enjoy the Frank Sinatra style of walking around and really getting to know the audience, being slightly flirtatious……..”
And Laura’s love for life and her insistence to concentrate on her own career rather than being critical of others, is apparent on her collaborations with various producers. All bringing fresh ideas and their own individual stamp to the sound, does she have a preferred technique when it come to approaching writing and recording?
‘I really love to collaborate with different people and get lots of ideas. I like to take my lyrics and melodies to them, but I often like to write my lyrics to a beat, such as the Flash Brothers from Tel Aviv who recently sent me over a beat to work with. As long as the two match up well. I don’t like to make obvious comparisons and stuff. I like to go on a journey, and create a story.’
And on the journey so far, Laura has been beavering away in the studio for months, honing, perfecting and nursing her fragmented, individual take on pop formulas. Most recently, Laura has been featured on Channel 5’s ‘The Gadget Show’, after the producers stumbled upon her bright, eye-catching myspace page. Her new track ‘Running’, (with its Kosheen-esque sensitivity, and bottom heavy, ambient melodies) is being featured across a fifteen minute section of the popular technology magazine, before gaining a full audio release in February 2009.
‘It was such an ego boost. I couldn’t believe it, they absolutely adored the track. I’m chuffed. But with that said though, I’ve never really wanted be famous’ she shyly states. ‘I’m not media shy, it’s just performing. I love getting up on stage and forgetting about my inhibitions. I’m just happy doing what I’m doing; if something good comes out of it then wicked!!!!! I’m not at my fullest potential yet, so watch this space!’
‘I’m all about creating moods, atmospheres and feelings. I just want people to have a reaction. I don’t care what emotion it evokes, as long as it does something. It’s up to the listener how they interpret it - Laura Steel, 2008
