Seasick Steve - Stream Sessions Showcase, London - 30/5/08
4/5
By: Natasha Arico
There is no way one might compare the young nudge of the fine first act on tonight (our sister label Transressive Records' own Esser) to Seasick Steve - the raw kick of talent that was hatched generations before in California and reared on the tracks of America's freight lines, a career that (until now at least) has been void of corporate pressures and the eyes of the masses, nurtured and developed by the unbridled experiences of a modern nomad.
Seasick Steve is a rare, wonderful and wild talent and perhaps the last true eccentric in music, attired casually in overalls and a soiled trucker cap, Steve sung the modern blues to a room of industry folk, some obviously more interested than others as the relentless hum of self-promotion and business gab proved an annoyance to the tall standing man who snapped in cheeky irony, "I don't even know what this gig is!"
Though any number of careerists and indie-egos might have revelled in the corporate buzz, Steve, with his shoestring strap around his neck and his bare sleeves of skin, would have none of it, and though such muttering might have crippled a lesser professional, Seasick Steve played to his instinctively high standard. Playing 'Cut My Wings' and 'Walking Man', his proficiency in the blues was apparent as each song seemed to synch naturally to the 'choo choo' of a run away train and evoke that animalistic desire to howl out loud.
Indeed, there was a tweak of madness in his eye, but the rest was 100% genius, and though I'm left in no doubt that Steve will acquire hoards of aficionados, his endearing strangeness will set him somewhat apart from every other man to clinch a guitar this decade. And it seems none are more comfortable with his outsider status than Seasick himself, lamenting to us "all my life I've been in the doghouse..." but then, if being in the doghouse means possessing that natural, painfully cool insolence for conventions, then f**k it - I want the doghouse too.
Artists in this article: Seasick Steve
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