The Steves
Jerk
Iron Lung Records
When The Steves’ two extremely limited (maybe 100-200 of each??) EPs were released back in 1980 and ’81 respectively, the squares around Harvard’s newsroom were aghast at the audacity of this group. Having the stones to release such crudely-rhythmic, near mechanical and downright terse tunes in the day’s often long winded prog rockin’ ballad heavy radio reality that were too robotic to be “punk” and too unruly to be anything but was, to say the least, a bold move. Sure to cause an uproar in the halls, protests in the classroom and uninvited dancing in the streets!
In the annals of New England’s rock journalism, there is not a mountain of coverage on The Steves, certainly not as much as the Alan Parsons Project or Aerosmith, but the fact remains that they were a fully charged powder keg of raw energy and new musical direction that seemed to elude most of the world back then. Not to say they didn’t get any light shone on them, they did get a fair amount of airplay on the college stations around Boston and even appeared on the cover of Boston Rock magazine.
It is Iron Lung Records’ distinct pleasure to offer the modern world a new chance to discover the ever vital and effervescent music of The Steves’ initial EPs along with a third EP of songs never released on vinyl until now that were recorded at the time or shortly after the initial sessions. A true synth-punk/KBD treasure. Obscurity is for suckers. Let’s get shakin’!
niallhope
