Steve Baker talks about his latest release....

Steve baker (Steve Sma5h) kindly took time out to discuss his latest project and other music collaborations...

Can you tell us about your musical background, who's in the band and describe your sound?

I have been creating and producing music for over 30 years, working on many projects (listed below), often juggling some projects at the same time. I’ve worked with artists as diverse as Robert Miles through to Uncle Frank from the Fun Loving Criminals, as well as creating commercial music (that pays the bills)! The commercial stuff may not always the best for creativity, but it’s great for discipline, working to a tight time schedule and being able to work in different styles. Hillary’s Blinds was one of mine!

The Project…

The Sonic Science Revolution was formed in 2018 by producer / musician Steve Baker, bringing together other artists and musicians (when needed) to create a dark cinematic sound with strong beats and elements of dance, with influences from Leftfield, Goldfrapp, and Cinematic Orchestra to name a few.

Transition Code (Album) https://www.corejamrecords.co.uk/thesonicsciencerevolution

The album as put together over two weeks from start to finish in Nov 2020. The concept tries to take a fresh perspective of our lives and where we are as humans in the bigger universe. I’m not sure what actually influenced me for this, I think it must be subconscious but I think what started it off was hearing a NASA recording of the sound that the sun makes - that got me thinking - so there are elements of ‘universal sounds’ throughout the album.

https://open.spotify.com/album/56mJXg3lcRVdj8XXoVoOE3?si=qxId_5o2S1SoZs_QXeEq2A

https://youtu.be/2zW00Vwo0Ws

This is the first project for a long time where I’ve created an album on my own. I usually collaborate with other artists so you have to take a different approach, and sometimes have to compromise on some aspects of the project, but you also gain in other aspects. In some ways working on your own can be better - because you have more freedom - but it can be more difficult. You can’t bounce ideas off anybody, so that can be difficult. Plus you have to watch your mental state, being locked away in a studio for long periods of time isn’t healthy!

Do you follow the current music scene and who are you listening to?

I don’t really follow a music scene as such, but I do co-present a radio show every week, so I get to hear new releases and hear some more obscure music that I haven’t heard before. I think I record and experiment with music more than I listen to it!

How has lockdown affected your creativity?

I have been very lucky as lockdown hasn’t really affected me, I have a good studio set-up

at home, so have been able to carry on as usual. To be honest I have kind of always worked like this, sometimes locked away for days in the studio so in some ways it’s quite similar. As someone once said to me I’m the most unsocial sociable person they know!

But I do feel for a lot of people at the moment – it’s tough.