For all those reasons we loved the great Liverpool bands of the past will be one of the reasons you'll probably fall for Mojo Revival on first listen, using those influences & much more they've just put a collection of tunes together like "Bound to Collide" that you cant help taken too- Tony Steele possessing one of those voices most singers would kill for and lyrics everyone will identify with Mojo Revival are surely on to a winner...
Tony talks to Music-News.com about the roots of the band & why he cant wait to get out & play these songs...
The Band sound great, really like your voice and that richness in the melodies like past classic Liverpool bands, is that where you're coming from with Mojo Revival?
I'm not sure ya know, we all have got our own influences, and Merseyside bands have got to come into that...being a young band in Liverpool is like having 10 really successful older brothers looking down on you, I have grown up having the Beatles, the La's, Echo and the Bunnymen, Cast, The Coral, and alot more all entering my ears and influencing my song writing, but we don't go out to create a Liverpool sound every time we write a song, we just do our thing and how it comes out is how it comes out.
"Bound To Collide" was the first thing I heard and was knocked out by your voice....but this isn't your first band is it Tony? You fronted The Monkey Steps, supporting Pete Doherty and others, so you've been here before really haven't you?
Yeah but The Monkey Steps isn't a totally different band to Mojo Revival, I was fronting The Monkey Steps for three years and we were making good progress building a fan base up and getting good support slots from the likes of Pete Doherty and Alabama 3, but our guitarist and drummer both had to leave the band, so I took a year off and wrote a load of songs, I've kept the best of the old tunes and added the new tunes to the picture along with a fantastic drummer (Mal Peet) who was Casts drum tech, and a new guitarist in (Sam Grovesnor) and I realised it was totally different sound, so a change of name and a fresh new start was the way forward, it helps that me and bassist (Pete Macparland) have the experience of the tours from the past, we've kept the good basis that The Monkey Steps was built on.
On the new album, "Therapy in Sound", I can hear the classics like The Small Faces but also more recent groups like The Verve in tunes such as "The Man I Wanna Be", are these tunes you've had some time?
Well to say that you can hear the Small Faces and the Verve in my music is a great complement, I love them bands and the sound they have, they will live forever. My own songs don't sit there for long though before I record them, as soon as I write them I'm camping outside the studio door waiting to record them...! there is nothing better than getting your ideas down from an acoustic guitar to the whole band and record it while its fresh, I don't like to let them sit in my brain and go stale for too long.
As well as the group your releasing your material on your own new label aren't you "Red Beat Records", it sounds like you've been real busy fronting the band, writing and putting a label together...would you say your winning Tony?
I don't look at it like a fight ya know!! its not a case of beating the system to me, or winning! I feel like I'm winning every time I strap the guitar on and sing the songs with band wrapped round me, even if its just in the practise room in front of me mates cat! It sounds like a cliche to say I'm doing it for the music, but believe me, I really am doing it for the music, if I have any ambitions, its to have as many ppl hear the music and appreciate what were trying to say and do, if that happens to be millions of ppl and were thought of like the Verve or the Small Faces as you mentioned before, then that's fantastic, but if it ends up just us and my mates cat then I wont complain either!! We're still part of the best band in the country right now.
So would you say this is the band you always wanted, especially after the sudden success of The Monkey Steps for it come to a halt, is Mojo Revival the result of taking notes from that time and coming back with everything you want...
As Ian Brown once said: "for everything a reason!!!" the way things have worked out is special, as the band as it stands right now is special, the early days in The Monkey Steps will always be special memories though, it was great playing round the country with me best mates and getting good reviews, it was an experience!
What are the roots of Mojo Revival, have you played in the same bands in the past?
We had never played before no, Mal had been around our practise studios in Liverpool a lot, as he was a drummer in other bands and Cast's guitar tech, so that's how he ended up jumping in the band, it was great signing getting him, a bit like Liverpool signing Lionel Messi to be honest, he is a top top top drummer, and Sam ended up joining by chance, he was my mates flat mate, I didn't realise my mate was sharing a flat with one of the best lead guitarists in Liverpool!!
Plus the band have that link to one of the most loved Mersey-Side bands with Barry Sutton, former La's lead guitarist, hows that happened...and hows that sounding having Barry play on these songs?
The man is a genius! he is out there, an eccentric, mad crazy man, who does things on a guitar that blow your mind, I never realised this, I'm a big fan of the La's so I think I asked him to record with us out of the fact I love the la's, but when he got in the studio, we all just stood there mouths open, he has actually done things on the songs that our present guitarist and our ex guitarist could not re create! he is a top lad, and I'm proud to say he played a big part on the album, he plays on "ironic book of charms" and "fake love", I can how working with Lee Mavers influenced his style though, Barry is a perfectest, he will play a part 200 times over, he will dissect a riff and play it 300 more times then still wont be happy!! i can see why Lee Mavers only ever got one album out and he still isn't happy with the aversion!!!
Dates have been booked for a tour in January, the albums recorded and you've even put a video together for "Bound To Collide", after all the work's been done I guess your just waiting to get out there and play these tunes now?
There is no better feeling than getting out there and playing the songs to ppl and showing them what you've got, I cant wait, really cant wait, itching to get back on the road!!. We start in Camden on January the 6th, on a night called Flashbax at Bar Solo supporting Chris Helme of The Seahorses, then we cover Manchester Coventry, Sunderland, and Liverpool,
When is the new single out and where can we see you play?
The single "bound to collide" is released on January the 16th, on all major download site's, the album will be out in early and March with a full tour, dates will be on our site on www.mojorevival.co.uk plus we've just had some great news as were playing with bands like The Coral and some really big acts, just waiting for confirmation on them...
The time is right for a band like Mojo Revival right now wouldn't you say, there's a whiff of Mod in the air and the groups sound and look fits it all brilliantly...
I think there always has been a whiff of Mod in the air, its not a new concept, its been around a while, it just depends on which way the wind is blowing to get a good sniff!!!
