BIOGRAPHY
"so strange how people can be
each passerby has his head in the clouds
nobody truly notices me
accept for the little boy on the street
he's got his mouth wide open, so that he can better see"
'DISCONNECTED'
Bastian Steven raises his glass to life and the experience of adventures with his new single: 'Say Cheers To The People You Love.'
The new single is released on the 26th of January 2024.
Looking ahead, 2024 holds promising prospects for Bastian Steven with his new album. Collaborating with producer Jasper Zuidervaart (known for his work with Chef Special, Jeangu Macrooy, Kris Berry), Bastian brings together a stellar group of musicians during the album's creation, including Maarten Kooymans (Komodo), Sven Figee (Hammond), Timothy Banchet (Benjamin Herman), Lorijn von Pickarts (Maan), and Marie-Lousie de Jong (Dudok Quartet Amsterdam).
January '24 has already delivered more good news. After playing a Penguin Showcase during ESNS, it was announced that Bastian will participate in the Grote Prijs van Nederland this year, where a beautiful live recording will be made at Wisseloord.
Arnhem-based Soul-Pop Singer-Songwriter Bastian Steven is set to release a new album in 2024. The start is on January 26 with the release of his new single, "Say Cheers To The People You Love." The song is available for online streaming, but Bastian has also created a 'stop-motion' video to better tell the story of this song.
The inspiration for "Say Cheers" comes from reading children's stories and watching movies with his 5-year-old son, Morris. "In books and children's movies, the biggest adventures and wonders always happen. There are flying carpets, dragons, monsters in the woods, and you can travel around the world in 80 days! This song is about holding onto your inner motivation to experience adventures and sharing it with the people who love you."
The video for "Say Cheers To The People You Love" became a time-consuming family project in itself. Each line in the song describes a different adventure. The idea emerged to create a stop-motion video using 100% hand-drawn scenes. From the drawings, created by his newlywed wife Selma and with motivation and inspiration from son Morris, Bastian took about 1000 photos that, processed in a stop-motion, tell the story.
Lets go back to the start:
"I live in the small but beautiful city of Arnhem, in the Netherlands.
Music has always played the biggest role in my life. Growing up I have always made music with my family. My father is a guitar player and guitar-builder and my sister is a jazz singer.
When I was old enough to drink I started working in the coolest bar in town; ‘Dollars LIVE’. A bar with live-music every night. I first started working there as a bartender but quickly made my way up the stage. I have played there, every Saturday night, for years. Through Dollars I submerged into the music scene and met countless creative people. I started playing in different bands and played in every corner of the Netherlands, at Bars, festivals, at private parties and even weddings.
It was in the year 2010, when I was asked to joint ‘this new project’ and became the lead singer of the ‘New Vintage’ Soul-group: Dear Mr. Man. Being a member of this band I really developed myself as a songwriter. To play with these guys was awesome. We released two albums, played at the coolest venues in the Netherlands as the support act of famous Dutch bands ‘KANE’ and ‘De Dijk’ and our music was used in the 2015 tv-commercial of Hooghoudt Jenever.
For me it was the right time for a solo project. With 100% of my personal thoughts converted into music.
In the time that followed, I wrote a whole lot of songs.
The songs on Disconnected are a reflection of what goes on in my mind. Writing the songs helped me catalogue my memories, and think about the future. The songs made me deal with some of my hardest moments, so it’s the most personal work I have ever written. While for me the songs on Disconnected are about ‘of-the-moment subjects’, the songs actually are timeless and relatable to the listener. ‘Trail Of Happiness’ for example is a song I wrote when my grandmother died. She was the queen of the family. I can remember so many nights with family, talking about all the great memories we had together. I suddenly became aware that I was ‘up a rank’ in the family tree. In those moments I find myself thinking about the future.
We live in a world that seems to be getting smaller with technology. “Everybody is connected”. But is it really true?
Sometimes i think we have moved away from the ‘real world’ and actually really are getting disconnected. We have stopped looking at and after each other and stare into a fake world on a screen all day. I believe the world we now live in screams for music that reconnects people. Next to being a musician, I hold a master’s degree in social science. I have always been interested in human behavior. Why do people do what they do and why do they act like the act. What lies underneath and drives actions. What you can’t see is far more interesting and true.
After a while I recognized that every time a take an organic approach to writing a song, I often come back to this subject.
After the first EP 'WAVE ONE' I decided to release the music differently.
From october 2019 on: A new single every month for a year!
The songs 'All keeps Falling', 'Freedom & Fireworks' , 'Moving on Slowly and 'Disconnected' all where added to the 'New Music Friday' and 'Soul 'N' The city' playlists on Spotify.
In 2019 Bastian played a release tour in de USA (South Bend - Indiana, st Josepth - Michigan) . The tour highlight was a show at the 'South Bend Jazz Festival'. Feb 2020: Bastian did a live recording of the songs on 'Disconnected'. This night was special because Bastian and band where surrounded by the audience. A beautiful show at Luxor Live. The video's are released next to the studio-release. so you can listen to the studio version and experience the live feel of the music!
On April 1, 2022, Bastian released a new single “Biggest Friend”. This song pays tribute to deceased friend Jos Huigsloot who passed away exactly 10 years ago. This song was included in the beautiful 'New Music Friday NL' playlist on Spotify.
Bastian