Four Very Important Questions with Delicate Steve
By Kim Ware
I blame the beginnings of my Hopscotch Headcold™ for my not being able to hang til 1:30 in the morning and interview Steve Marion, aka Delicate Steve, in person. He was kind enough to answer a few questions via email. Be sure to check out their record Positive Force, out now on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.
Firstly, really great show last night. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really loved your stuff. As a songwriter I’m interested in your songwriting process. Do you typically start with a guitar part and the rest of the band builds their parts around it? Or do you start from scratch and write together?
All the songs so far have been composed during the recording process. Most of the time starting with a chord progression that I am excited by, and then trying to finish the recording while I am still excited about what I am doing.
Are you delicate? 🙂 I’m curious about the story behind the name.
Originally the name of my studio (Delicate Studios), I decided to name the project after that. I am not physically delicate, maybe emotionally…
Your record is on David Byrne’s label, correct? How’d you hook up with him?
Through a good friend and music lover Wills Glasspiegel. He used to work at Luaka Bop and passed the sounds on to the label.
Looks like you’ve been touring quite a bit since June. Any highlights? Funny stories?
It’s been a total highlight, sometimes it’s hard to isolate a whole tour into highlights when it all feels so unreal. Got to play guitar with Built To Spill at a festival. Got to tour Europe. Have played shows with almost all of my favorite bands. Meeting people everywhere.
