Reviews of Popular Music in Theory by Steveless.

Dan Newman’s Steveless was one of the last acts to be championed by John Peel; a one man punk/blues band who made mad, screaming bedroom recordings which were often played to the nation on Peel’s Radio 1 show, giving Newman quite a large fan-base for an unsigned act. He was even one of the acts to play at the Keep It Peel day on Radio 1 last December.

Despite all this, Steveless remained unsigned. That is until student radio DJ Rachael Neiman, out of frustration at seeing so many wonderful UK acts without labels, decided to start her own Cherryade Records. Steveless’s debut album, 'Popular Music in Theory', is also the label’s first release.

The album’s title comes from the fact that Steveless has evolved from a one man band to four-piece, giving Newman’s songs a more conventional sound, while still keeping the Steveless flare. Newman himself has called the songs “noise-pop”. The new line-up features members of Big Joan, White Trash Ambition and Team Brick.

While solo Steveless was very blues influenced, the full band’s sound is like the Fall mixed with Ballboy, seasoned with noise-blues bands like Fatal Flying Guilloteens. The album opener, 'Bored', is by far the longest track on the record, coming in at just under 4 minutes, while the majority of the tracks average at around a minute and a half. The song is laced with screeching feedback and stop-start moments, but has an underlying melody which further helps to explain the album’s title.

Other standout tracks on the album are 'Scream', with its dirty, Arab on Radar-style bass-line and manic guitar solo, and 'Didn’t Like It', which shows off the band’s new drummer to great effect and boasts an incredibly simple but effective and likeable chorus. 'Pa Fodd' almost seems like a demented children’s TV theme, with its simple lyrics and sing-along versus (it also has a great synth part). The last track on the album almost acts as a bookend to the first, with the title 'To Hell with Boredom.' It has the kind of simple, stomping beat you might find in a White Stripes song, which is almost overwhelmed by Newman’s crazed screaming and the wild synth playing of Rhys Herman. There is also a real treat for those who got to know Steveless through Peel’s shows, as a bonus track cover of Lonnie Donnegan’s 'Frankie and Johnnie' gives new life to one of the late DJ’s favourite songs.

Steveless’s debut album is a real treat for the ears; a fun, fast, frolicking piece of punk/blues/noise. If you loved Steveless as a solo act, you’ll love this. If you’re not a fan already, you will be by the end of the first track.

Jamie Rowland for Pennyblack Music.

The last band to be championed by the late, great John Peel...

N: I really like this.

T: Heheh. Me too. Unavoidable comparisons with The Fall so lets get them out of the way straight away. You needn't claim I've nicked your reference this time by the way, because I reckon if you took this down to the nearest maternity ward and played it to any newborn baby they'd say "Fucking 'ell, it's Mark E Smith". Anyway, they've pulled it off marvellously and it's tremendously exciting. In fact, it's far and away the best thing I've heard all day thus far. It would be great to blast this out in your car to someone who doesn't appreciate good music - a James Blunt fan perhaps, for example.

N: Noise. Bloody noise. Vocals sung from the toilet and very little sense of what the vocalist is screaming, yet I find this draw exciting; a sound that would otherwise by filed alongside "shit" . An unstructured mess of sound reminiscent of a four year old's temper tantrums, but still this is infectious. It's easy to hear what the trained ear of Mr. Peel heard.

T: In a nutshell, this is exhilarating. 10/10

Nick and Tone E for Atomic Duster.

It wasn’t much of a surprise for us to learn that the music of Bristol’s Dan Newman was ‘John Peel’s last great love’. This one man maelstrom who trades under the moniker of Steveless (cos there ain’t no Steve’s in the band) has drafted in a few Bristol contemporaries to produce a full band debut which almost sounds like a soundtrack to John’s late night shows. After the sheer white noise subsides there are elements of Fall irreverence, Jesus and Marychain feedback, 80s Matchbox Psychobilly, techno bleeps and sleazy/breezy manic pop thrill blues. In fact Dan himself comments on the sleeve notes that the record would not only have not existed without the great man but he wouldn’t even have bothered making music in the first place. Fitting then that this should come out on the week of the nations Peel commemoration and to also be the first release for Cherryade, a label set up by student radio DJ Rachel Neiman to champion the many great unsigned acts in the country.

The tracks on ‘Popular Music in Theory’ are on the whole short and sharp, one minute noise mutations to shake, shudder and explode that underused mind of ours, and it is glorious stuff indeed, I have been waiting for my brain to bleed for too damn long.
Opener ‘Bored’ is one of the two anomalies, it’s a four minute kaleidoscope which starts with a shriek of feedback (lovely) and is punctuated with disco bleeps while rollicking like a good un in between intermittent almost complete stops, rather like a ferocious Grand Prix lap sprinkled with first gear corners. ‘Waiting’ is a ‘what the fuck moment’, 53 seconds of Gothic Psychobilly on E, fast furious and utterly disturbing. Yee Ha! Most of the album is so mind splatteringly loud, noisy and chaotic, (but uncannily melodic rather like that first Marychain album) the lyrics do not pop out, but on ‘Glad (for John Tyndall)’ the sentiments are clear on the founder of the BNP who ‘tragically’ was found dead in July. It sounds like the Datblygu beatbox then a rush and a push and ‘I’m glad the Nazi’s dead’ reverberates verbatim and the tune descends into JOYFUL chaos and splat it’s gone. That is what I love about Steveless, for a person who gets distracted half way through a shag, they have me focused throughout, there is no room for diversions.

Then before we know it we come to a halt, ‘To hell with boredom’ with megaphone distorted histrionics  brings us full circle, bored and disillusioned feels and looks good, it is still even cool but energy and ideas are where it’s at. Get off your arse to the sound of Steveless.  Stay tuned at the end for the hidden Lonnie Donnegan cover of ‘Frankie and Johnnie’ the old man will be dancin’ up above.

Joey Sandinista for Damn Pest.

Despite this being the first full band effort, rather than just product of one man’s hands, there remains precious little in the way of Steve. All above board on the trade descriptions therefore, it be merely Dan Newman and cronies sans a Stephen. What they have in place is a set of largely short numbers full of visceral thrills. ‘Bored’ pins Devant n’ Wife keys within the bar-room rumble of Dirtbombs and focus on the same vanishing point as Mark E. Smith’s stubborn vision. ‘Waiting’ leaps like a goth mountain goat into a particularly vigorous, hairy mosh. Elbows fly maniacally then, without at any stage being heavy. Nonetheless ‘Popular Music In Theory’ will run through walls for you. ‘10 Years’ rarely relents in it’s scattergun pace, an epitomic lo-fi blues punk whirlwind. Hidden away at the end, a genius scarred hardcore spin on ‘Frankie & Johnny’, a song recorded by Elvis and Sam Cooke but this effort springs from the spirit of Lonnie Donegan’s approximation, which warms this writer’s skiffle heart.

Skif for Vanity Project.

Obviously someone’s been telling people about the site, as this popped through my letterbox last week. Originally a one-man band in the form of Dan Newman, Steveless has since grown, and as a four-piece their debut is set for release on October 10th through Cherryade Records. Perhaps for this reason, included with the CD were two rather delightful cherry flavour gummies, which immediately gave me a feeling of warmth towards the band. Something for anyone thinking about sending me a demo to remember: a really good review can always be bought with some sweets, preferably ones that best represent you as a musical outfit (liquorice all sorts will not be accepted.)

Another thing: if you’re going to start your record with feedback, give me some advanced warning. This is how Steveless kick off Popular Music In Theory, something I regretfully learned while listening to the band on maximum volume through headphones. Happy, I was not. But when my hearing returned I was rewarded with tracks like opener “Bored”, all scratchy, crunchy guitars and dinky electronic noises. Channelling sounds into catchy songs is the aim of the game on this album, and while the songs are full of hooks that you could be humming for days afterwards, they get shattered beyond recognition. Dan’s voice is remarkably appropriate for these songs, moving from a stoner drawl to strangled screams and atonal humming. It comes out sounding like Iggy Pop fronting Minor Threat. But with synths. And if that sounds ridiculous, listen to “Waiting” and tell me that doesn’t sound like the riff to “Straight Edge.”

Every song here follows a similar pattern, with crushing guitars and madman drumming leading the way. The band start and stop, holding a single off-key note forever, before throwing themselves headlong back into the fray. If they sound this frightening on record, their live shows must be a wonderful endurance test for all involved.

Technically, this is supposed to be Steveless’ “pop” record, but there’s very little similarity between this and anything you’ll hear on daytime radio. The masses will not want anything that sounds this violent. Let their loss be your gain, and pick up this little riot on plastic or vinyl when it comes out next week.

Conor Duffy for Angry Left Wing Mofo.

It's noisy, it's difficult and it sounds a lot like The Fall; you can see why the late John Peel was a fan of Steveless.

Popular Music In Theory is a distinctly punky effort, 13 songs lasting 31 minutes exactly - and that's including a decent gap between the final listed track and a hidden one. Tunes are generally there, but buried underneath rants, squeals and charged, prickly guitar.

Bored, with its runaway keyboard line, is possibly the most exhilirating song ever about being, er, bored. At four minutes long, it's the closest this album gets to an epic, and is one of the few tracks that's allowed to develop in the traditional verse-chorus-verse manner. One could - shockingly - even imagine it making a cracking single. Never mind: it's followed by waiting, which is like being spun round very fast by the school bully for 54 seconds.

Words are delivered in yelps and screams. By comparison, Mark E Smith has the clear tones of a newsreader. Well, almost. More often than not, Dan Newman (who was Steveless himself, until three other members joined) is near impossible to decipher. "I'm glad the nazi's dead" is perhaps the most notable lyric, appearing in glad (for john tyndall), about the BNP founder. At the other end of the spectrum is pa todd, a sort of nonsensical babble which sounds like it would have gone down a storm in an indie disco circa 1991.

Loud and uncompromising, it goes without saying that Steveless are an acquired taste. They're an act to seperate the men from the boys. If you could listen to Peel's Radio 1 show for more than fifteen minutes without turning off, Popular Music In Theory may be something to savour.

John Donnelly for CD Times.

I’m a slut and their brybola, that’s a combination of bribe and payola for those of you who don’t work in ‘the business’, of cherry chews tasted of Bakewell Tarts, which made it slightly easier for me to say… Steveless are feckin’ ace and acelessly reckless in a cool rock n roll way that employs feedback as a hatstand, chops catchy melody into wilful chaos and offers red, bakewell testicles as bribes. Stuff yer cbgb-heebies, Steveless are “Bored” so they’re jacking a fairground Cockney Rebel riff up and away with feedback, old Eno screech vox and downhill drumming and destroying rock n roll.  I know, they’re spoiling us, but they do level out into a kind of Lightning Bolt (UK) unpleasantness, that neatly and astutely avoids the use of the word ‘cunt’ that so hampered the career of the Anal Cunts, but still gets to abuse popular music forms with a violence (“Didn’t Like It”) that makes Mark E Smith seem drugged, what? Oh yeah. Anyway, we are, like, totally loving this, not in a Beach Boys ‘surf’s up’ way, but in the “Ooooh, Poland, I’ll have that” kind of way. Steveless is / are an act on the edge, on the edge of what is anyone’s guess, but for the terminally indecisive, think Fall / Frank Black / Black Death / John Otway and then do what you think is best.

Unpeeled.

Popular music in their freakish dreams. A nail in the head. Popular music in that evil parallel universe off Star Trek where evil Mr Spock had a beard to show he was evil. Popular music in hell.  

This is 12 tracks of the sounds they played out of helicopters to scare the Vietcong, the sounds they used to torture Al Qaeda prisoners, and in fact the sound of some people from Bristol twatting around and shouting.

Bash bash bash nnnng SHOUT SHOUT beep beep and begin again. And this, the press release informs, is their new tuneful indie-rock direction.  

I can add little to a previous GIITTV review of this band that featured a sense of black, helpless despair not seen since Kelly Jones: Live and Acoustic left some cities in ruins at the turn of the millennium. So let us take this threat seriously: anyone likely to attain pleasure from this band must be destroyed before they can reproduce.

Thomas for God is in the TV.

Wow, not every album has my head thumping in the first five seconds, so job done Steveless! Track opener “Bored” instantly thrashes into a scuzzy scatter gun guitar mess which is followed by Dan Newman’s distorted vocals, sounding incredibly like the fall’s frontman Mark E. Smith. This is followed by “Waiting” which is over in under a minute, but who cares because when you hear a song so messy and shambolic like this one, you wouldn’t mind if the whole album was like it!  

What’s also impressive is the fact that they don’t follow the normal ‘call and respond’ output of the bass and guitar, they go a step further by throwing in the synth and drums then mix it together and spit it out piece by piece, not caring how tight they can be but how fuzzy and spontaneous they are! 

This Guitar fuelled album is a joy to listen to, mainly because of the devilish sounding synth and metal bashing drumming, that will make all the DIY bands out there go back to the drawing board! What bands shouldn’t be afraid of these days is feedback! Which doesn’t scare Steveless at all! It’s the most heavy debut I’ve heard in ages and I’m glad finally this band have proven it can be done. 

This is popular music in theory according to Steveless, it gives me hope that if as many people will listen then others might follow and do something even more impressive than this album.

Simon Hambrook for Tasty Fanzine.

Steveless was one of the last acts championed by John Peel, whose successors at OneMusic have continued to play his noisecore.
Ramming his way between Alec Empire's brutal humour and the incessant drilling of Squarepusher, as far as neighbourhood-scaring noise terrorism goesm, it beats pimped-up gangsta for class.
Mood music - in so far as undying rage counts as mood - its leavened with a spiky indie sensibility and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

John Earls for The Void [Channel 4 Teletext]

Steveless was apparently the “last great love of John Peel”. He creates brutal blues that’s unrelenting but surprisingly poppy. This debut album for Cherryade recordings finds Dan Newman AKA Steveless being backed up by various musicians from the likes of Bristols Big Joan.

Steveless sound like The Fall, Jon Spencer and Neils Children meeting in a blender set to maximum grind and its exhilarating stuff.

Bored opens the album with an ear lacerating, high pitched note, if you can call it a note, and then it assaults your ears with a barrage of mashed up guitar riffs, feedback, crushed beats and bleeps. Dans vocal delivery is disdainful in an off-set Mark E Smith kind of way and it suits the bold but nonchalant nature of the music.

There seems to be a running theme of boredom and dissatisfaction throughout this album, typified in the military stomp of a song Found Nothing, “I wanted to find something I could do but, oh no, I found nothing” . Steveless isn’t one to sink into his own boredom though, like the dreary BRMC do, oh no, Steveless turns this boredom into sharp aggression.

Popular Music in Theory is vital listening and destroys the saccharine likes of The Subways and 22-20s. This is a limited release so go and get yourself a slice now before they all run out. Come on! What are you waiting for? Christmas?

Neil W for Sounds XP.

Sited by The Guardian as “John Peel’s last great love,” Steveless is the prolific, frenetic musical vision of one man, Dan Newman of Bristol.

The much celebrated Newman, along with other local favourites Big Joan, has finally released this; a much anticipated debut album on Cherryade records...and boy, it doesn’t disappoint.

The label ‘distortion-laden indie pop’ does not do the album’s catchy and curiously addictive ability any justice. Although it’s ridiculously short (the twelve tracks last for an impressive 20-odd minutes) the sound here is inciting, stylish and downright filthy.

The electronic tinge is a lovely quality to have on top of the distorted chaos of grimy guitars and out-of-control fuzzy synth. Lyrics are quirky and delivered in an edgy yet endearing way. Its electro meets blues, disco versus punk.

Ultimately, these one minute-something songs are real songs and they all contribute to this; one hell of a real debut album.

Jake Richards for High Voltage.

It's a commonly held view that if god doesn't exist it would be neccessary for the human race to invent him/ her/it. The same could be said in the case of a certain strain of indie rock with regard to the Fall. This wickedly noisy album is very much indebted to the early (and in fact most recent) work of Mark E Smith. It consists largely of cheap ass keyboards, rockabillyesque drumming, distorted bass and guitar that sounds like it's cheese grating everyone in the rooms ears with it's treble. All topped off with slapback echoed shouting about Nazi's (Steveless are glad that bloke from the BNP died). Nice. There's a track by this band on the noise annoys comp' that Kunal reviewed here a couple of months ago, and this is a logical extension of that track if you've heard it. This is very much my sort of thing, it reminds of the glory days of the late 80's/ early 90's when every third record John Peel played sounded like this (cf Bogshed, gag, etc). This is like the dirty, amped up, younger cousin of Montana Pete, or a brain damaged Bilge Pump. SWEET.

Ian Scanlon for Collective-Zine.

Finally, Mark E Smith's legacy to the world has made itself clear. Whereas bands have paid lip service to the Fall previously when they've been a good name to drop, Steveless is loud and proud about being their bastard offspring.

Fittingly while there is much to love about this album, there are many irritants. It proves quite a challenge to stay tuned in to the Steveless way throughout the entire album. It works better on headphones, when you immerse yourself into their world and shut out the mundanity outside.

So for every glimpse of greatness like the short sharp rant of 'Didn't Like It' with its mind melting jackhammer ending, there's something bizarre like 'Glad (For John Tyndall)' where he appears to be yelping aimlessly about Nazis.

There's plenty here to make you stick with it though, especially the heavy dark bass and racing lyrics of 'Scream' and the album highlight 'Bored' which has all the muffled vocals, clattering drums and buzz guitar of a vintage Fall.

One for the anti-fashionista in your household.

Russell Barker for Russell's Reviews.

As musical endoresements go I think it's fair to say that none came higher than John Peel's. And the highly privileged STEVELESS (AKA Dan Newman of Bristol) had the great honour of being the late Peely's last great discovery apparently. His new album 'POPULAR MUSIC IN THEORY' is a full-on, brutal assault on the senses and exactly the kind of thing that went down well with the former Mr. Ravencroft. Fresh, exciting and chock full of spiky energy this music is for people who find the White Stripes, John Spenser or Yeah Yeah Yeahs too polished and genteel.

For a minute - let's just forget about 'Teenage Kicks' - how many more time do you need to hear that (and do you know what folks?? - shock, horror but The Undertones have more than ONE great song)? Peel rightfully mistrusted nostalgia and I have no doubt he would have been quite ambivalent to the Diana-esque tributes and releases appearing in his memory of late. What I'm saying is - instead of buying a compilation of somewhat left of field indie songs you have heard a million times already go out and buy rhis instead. He will thanks you for it should you meet him in musical Valhalla. Mentioning great dead rock gurus - Lester Bangs would also approve of this one I think.

Right, enough about them - lets go to the music. As I said STEVELESS is loud and fast - now, this isn't always a good thing. Noise, or as Lester preferred to call it, 'skronk' can be joyfully cathartic. However, many bands equate passion with speed and force of attack exclusively, but in my book you can only express anger, excitement, frustration etc. effectively in accelerated 4/4 time for a very short period. Otherwise it becomes boring very quickly and you defeat the object of the whole thing if rage becomes a formula.

Luckily tho' STEVELESS avoids this trap due to his musical inventiveness and unmistakable flair for doing the wrong thing at the right time. I have no doubt that many may find this an unlistenable mess but to mine ears its manna from the gods and fills me with the same feeling as when my ears were first opened to music. High praise eh? The first song BORED is one of the the best Rn'R songs I have heard in ages - angular, irrational, and razorsharp with a devastating climax. Boredom is of course one of the great garage-rock subject matters and this song joins The Buzzcocks and others in the upper echelons. Nice keyboards too.

Other highlights - WAITING brings to mind an amphetamine-wired Suicide and at 54 seconds is a perfect length. An earthquake inducing bass line makes SCREAM a dancefloor sure-shot (in my house anyway) and DIDN'T LIKE IT keeps things rolling along nicely until GLAD, a midrecord high and anti-Nazi rant. Listen to the guitar kick in at around 2:10 - it rams you to the wall like a jackboot in fury.

Indeed one should mention here that Steveless' guitar playing thoughout is something to behold. His style - a tornado of twisted electrical madness and piledriving rhythm brings to mind Bob Quine and Arto Lindsay. Who needs scales anyhow? Give me this above Clapton any day.

After GLAD there follows 6 songs all clocking in at under 2 minutes that keep the level of quality and intensity very high until the closer TO HELL WITH BOREDOM (back to that again, but how bad) a three minute epic which brings to mind a more ragged Gang of Four, who also had a similar song title to one of their tunes I seem to remember. And if all that isn't enough we get a hidden bonus track - a genius interpretation of the ancient folk/blues 'Frankie and Johnny'. This one is as good as Mississippi John Hurt's version and that's as good as it gets. Whereas MJH's one was a deftly picked story-song here we get some mind bogglingly primal 'UG!-music' at it's most visceral. Brilliant stuff.

So I will repeat myself - vaguely dissatisfied with the current crop of disaffected guitar bands? Slightly suspicious that something else wonderful may be out there hiding under a bushel? Well, it is. Get STEVELESS in your life ASAP. I did and I feel ten times better already. If a bit deafer. And if you don't like it... well, it's only around 26 minutes long anyway so it won't eat into your day too much.

Michael Daly for Whisperin and Hollerin.