You have to wonder if Stee Downes gets dished out the same 24 hours a day as the rest of us. The unassuming Dubliner juggles an exhaustive list of job titles with cheery ease. He’s the main force behind the soul funk and disco Scribble collective, as label manager and A&R man for their label. Their Friday night Scribble session at The Bernard Shaw – which he co-promotes ans DJs – is the longest running clubnight at the Bodytonic boozer.
But mainly at the moment, he’s busy being Ireland’s new blue-eyed soul sensation. His debut solo album on Sonar Kollectiv records, aptly titled All In A Day is out this month. He packed himself off to Croatia in April with musical wingman and cohort Ishtaq to record the album in two weeks, playing all the instruments themselves. The result is a collection of weightless, glossy nu-soul nuggets all coated with Stee’s own easy, jazz-kissed vocals. Sometimes pensive and bittersweet, All In A Day is as defiantly positive as you’d expect from a guy who holds up D’Angelo, Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley as heroes. Chasing the album is a 12″ remix package, a full scale live promotional tour and, you guessed it, he’s already started on his second album. We had a chat with him.
Your album is out this month, what are your hopes for it?
All I can hope for is that people can relate to it and that the songs can give them pleasure and inspiration in their own lives. It’s my debut album so I really see it as the first step in my journey.
Sounded like an intense experience recording a full album in two weeks in a foreign country. Was the pressure on?
This was foremost an amazing experience and real journey. I had little funds which meant I had to do things in a certain time frame. All the songs had been written previously and I was clear in my mind of what I wanted to achieve. We both play various different instruments and produce music so we didn’t really need to involve a lot of people in the project.
The pressure was definitely on, we had a limited amount of time to record the album so our plan was simple – ten songs, recording one song per day and the remaining time to produce the tracks hence the name of the album. The title also represents something else as we vowed to give our heart and soul into the songs and really push ourselves to the limit. We gave our all each day of those two weeks and felt a real sense of satisfaction when it was all over.
Did you feel it was a big breakthrough to get signed to a label?
Yes definitely, having a label like Sonar Kollektiv behind me is a great honour, I have followed them since I was 18 and bought most of the releases. I was a fan before I became an artist and that was a major thing for me. I feel I’m part of something I really believe in and it’s the perfect platform for me to release my music.
You come across as a very determined guy, but did you ever get disillusioned or feel like it wasn’t gonna happen?
Every artist has those feelings at some point. I think to really succeed you have to go through times like this, it makes you stronger and defines whether you really want it enough. But by pushing on and not giving up you learn from that experience. I believe in my music and even if I didn’t get signed I would still be writing music.
There’s a lot of positivity on All In A Day…
Positivity is extremely important in my music, I don’t write music about impending disaster or doom and gloom. There is one track on the album called Destruction of Ourselves, about how we as people live excessively despite the destruction it causes to ourselves and the planet. I know this is a depressing concept but the song develops to show that no matter what, we need to stay positive and deal with the consequences of our actions as individuals but also as a society with social responsibilities.
All In A Day by Stee Downes is out on 17 October on Sonar Kollectiv Records
