I've often laughed at the fact that the bands I've interviewed never come from anywhere near Colorado, where I am. And yet, the music compelled me to interview Scottish artist Life Coach. Life Coach's sound, like the artist behind it, has a down-to-earth breath within it, spreading trails of piano over busy, spacy beats. He can be just as fast and catchy as anyone else in the emerging electro-powerpop scene, but the songs that really stand out are the more subdued, dramatic pieces, the unexpected--like his cover of Enrique Iglesias's "Hero."
Life Coach started as a collaborative between two artists who had never even met each other. The night before I spoke with Steve Anderson, Life Coach become a solo project when Sean Quigley left the band. Steve tells The Overcast what that means for the future of Life Coach.
The Overcast: After Sean left the band, is there any intent to replace him?
Steve: Not just now, nope. The band has always been me, just now it means I don't have to run the songs by him, since I was writing and recording and producing the songs.
So, honestly, was Sean's leaving more his idea, yours, or a mutual thing?
Steve: A bit of all three really. It was frustrating for me because I would write something I loved and Sean might not like it and would want me to change bits, which I felt was unfair as I was writing everything. I guess it was equally frustrating for him as he couldn't have as much input as he wanted to. It largely became me doing everything and last night he decided to let me go it alone. It's a shame though, 'cause we still felt like a band and shared everything. We're still good mates though so it's all good.
How was it working through correspondence? Do you think that had an effect on Sean's leaving, or on the music itself?
Steve: I didn't find it very hard, to be honest, when we were both using the same software. When I decided to buy new software and equipment and Sean didn't, that's when it became hard. I don't think it affected the music at all because it came from me and will continue to do so, but now I have a little more freedom I guess. I'd say it did have an effect on Sean's leaving, though, because if we had been working in the same room he could have had more input.
What made you want to start a band with someone you hadn't met yet?
Steve: It just happened. Sean liked my acoustic stuff and I liked his old band and we became friends through the wonders of MySpace. Sean wrote an instrumental piece of music and I sang on it for fun and he loved it and it went from there. That song was known as "Texture of the Wind" but we stopped using it ages ago. It's not too different from current songs really, but we just decided not to use it anymore because we felt we improved a lot and had better songs that were recorded better.
You do acoustic stuff too?
Steve: Nah, not anymore. I stopped that a few years ago. It was just little acoustic number recorded on a crappy 4-track. I'm still proud of those because they were my first attempts at writing music. The only other thing I do just now is an instrumental project called Paint Yourself A Picture.
Tell us about that.
Steve: It's a mixture of guitar, piano and some synths. No vocals, just music. I'm incredibly proud of those songs too, pretty different from Life Coach. Sometimes music just doesn't need vocals. Explosions in the Sky--amazing band...utterly amazing! They are a classic case of this.
So when did you first get into writing music?
Steve: Around 17 or 18, I started teaching myself guitar, pretty much for the same reason every person does: love of music.
How old are you now?
Steve: I'm 21 years of age. I'm an '80s kid; I wouldn't have it any other way.
So who are some of your major musical influences?
Steve: I like so much stuff but I'll just name some artists I love. Owen, Jimmy Eat World, Mae, Saves The Day, Yiruma, any Drive-Thru records stuff from back in the day and a lot of Deep Elm bands. Lifetime, Braid, Hey Mercedes. God I could go on forever. But like I said my tastes are very wide. And I've gotta mention Journey just 'cause of my dad. They're his favorite band.
Now, what brought about the cover of "Hero?"
Steve: I like the original song and I wanted to test myself to see if I could make it really different. I think I did. It's a good song. I don't have any vendetta against pop music at all. A good song is a good song.
What do you hope to see come out of your music?
Steve: I wanna make people smile. If I do that then I've already won. If something else comes of it, then awesome. If it doesn't, I'll still be writing. I still have a lot that can be improved, so I'll keep working at it!
What's your day job?
Steve:I hate this question! Basically for the past two years I've suffered from depression and anxiety problems that have stopped me from not only working but from living life normally. This is why I spend so much time concentrating on my music.
Apart from Sean, have you met anyone cool online through your music?
Steve: I've met hundreds of interesting and cool people because of my music. I usually get 4 or 5 people a day messaging me telling me how much they love my stuff. It's great and I love talking to the people who listen to my songs. They say the nicest things.
How does it feel having listeners around the world?
Steve: It's as good as you imagine it to be. Flattering, to say the least.
So what's the music scene like over there?
Steve: In Scotland I think it's pretty poor. I mean when US bands who have labels come over they usually get pretty great turnouts. So in that sense it's awesome and there is defo a huge amount of people into this kind of stuff, but in terms of people turning up to see local bands it tends to be quite poor. There's this whole UK indie thing going on over here and I personally am not a fan. Bands like Razorlight, The Libertines. A scene that idolizes a guy called Pete Doherty. Don't get me started, haha.
Don't get me wrong, there are some really cool bands who do things different, but the generic soundalike, lookalike bands are so boring and do nothing for me. There are some awesome young bands around the UK, though, that deserve to have bigger audiences than they have.
A lot of bands are wary of putting up all their songs for download like you have. Any thoughts?
Steve: Personally for a band like us who aren't known I think it's a great way of getting new fans. By allowing people to share your music you increase the amount of people who can hear it. That's why I decided to put all them up for download and it seems to be doing wonders for us. (I keep saying "us." I mean "me" now.) I do understand why bands don't, though, especially if they have a CD out, because if they have put a lot of money into making the CD, it's not fair to them to see nothing back from it.
When do you plan on releasing that EP?
Steve: I've been working on the EP for a while now. It'll be out as soon as the songs are finished. I have so many to choose from though so I don't know what ones are gonna be on it, then I still have to sort out the artwork and a name. So it might be a little while yet.
Will you be selling that EP online? Or any other merch?
Steve: The EP? Yip, I will! It will hopefully be on iTunes, just need to wait and see!
Other merch...not sure. I can't afford it right now, and I really don't know if anyone would buy it. I'd like to though.
Would you ever do a Life Coach show live?
Steve: Well I'm on my own now so I'm unsure of what the live setup will be. I'll think about it later. Right now I don't have the confidence to play live. Hopefully that comes soon though 'cause I really want to.
This may be another "I'll think about it later," but out of curiosity, would you want to get signed someday?
Steve: Yeah definitely! Label support makes a huge difference. My EP is gonna be out on Struck Dum Records, just a little local indie label run by my friend Mitch. I owe him because I wouldn't have the money to do so without him. But yeah, of course I'd like to be signed to an established indie or major label. Ideally someone like...The Militia Group, Drive-Thru or Fueled By Ramen, but I don't see that happening anytime soon, haha.
Tell us about the new compilation you're appearing on.
Steve: It's a tribute to Fat Wreck's Short Music For Short People. It's basically 99 UK bands each with one 30 second song each. I wrote one especially for it. It will be out all over the UK so I'm really looking forward to being part of that. The song's called "One Line."
Is there anything else you want to say?
Steve: Thanks to everyone for the support, things are really picking up and I hope it continues!