“Enough”

get the free MP3, click here

“Animal Urges” live on 7/3/09

So here’s the first video from my show a couple of Friday’s ago. Big thanks to Bobby and Garrett from AM Session for putting this night together and also working out a deal to record the whole thing. I got the sound recorded multi-tracked off the board (the above video doesn’t reflect this, fyi) so there are a couple more tunes that are good which I will post as either MP3s or videos on here.

This is an older song of mine. I used to carry around a notebook to write down ideas for years, before I got a phone that let me type in it. One day I was doing whatever I was doing, and I wrote the phrase “Animal Urges” down. Then I wrote a song about them.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen my new live show yet, this is what it’s like. It takes me about 3 minutes here to create the song (so if you get sick of watching me construct it just scroll through to the 3 min. mark). Then I am controlling all the parts with my feet. This is one of the harder ones to do. And this was probably the most error plagued song of the night, so there are better ones with better audio to come in the following days. Hope you enjoy.

And don’t forget, I’m playing Cinespace Friday, July 24th. Don’t miss.

poster for Cinespace show Friday 6/24/09

NEW SONG – “Halfway”

Better than anything Michael Jackson has done in since 1989 (if you ask me:) Click here to hear it/download it for free.

So I spent all day recording on Sunday, then redid the vocals a little bit last night. I was eager to record this song because it’s the one I have been opening my set with the last couple of shows, so I am usually not totally warmed up and firing on all cylinders when I play it live and don’t feel like it’s living up to its potential. Playing live in LA can really suck sometimes – a lot of clubs only give you a 30 minute set and by the time you are totally warmed up and really starting to sound good your set is over.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the tune. The subject matter covers a lot of bases, from romantic rejection to feeling trapped by your day job.  Here are the lyrics:

Well my mind’s a mess, my body’s range of motion

you know it’s hurting me so badly

I can’t stop thinking about those things that you said

you know you almost had me

like a storm that rages late in the night

but never sees the light of day

I had a dream you were yelling at me

I was excited you had something to say

it was a treat to feel halfway to being ok

well I can’t stop thinking no I’m thinking about

it’s like a spell that I’m under

I could lose it at any moment

another time bomb blunder

so I lock myself away in this room

write these songs and I wonder

why you want me to be

the kind of guy that always plays it so cool

pretend I don’t feel this thunder

and I know that I should take it lightly but

it seems so dire some times

the things I used to think were cool have

lost their appeal like nursery ryhmes

in this town unaccountable for so many crimes

you been feeling lies, like a robot on its wedding day

sometimes you wonder why, but the knowledge it ain’t worth the pain

if I wasn’t there, could you pretend that you still don’t care

so I’m gonna hang on…

hating myself and doing the right thing

and going to work every day

spend my free time stable as lighting

think it’s worth it if you like it this way

and the heroes of the masses don’t mean nothing to me

selling things I used to get for free

searching for something that makes a difference for me.

My show last Friday was a good one – the show was filmed with the sound recorded off the board so the video should be pretty killer. I’ll have that up online in a couple of days, and if any of the tracks are really good I’ll make them available.

cheers,

Zach

Friday Before 4th of July

Hey there, its the Friday before 4th of July and I’ve got the day off, going to post a few tidbits here to hopefully entertain some people stuck at work today. I’ve got a show tonight at Molly Malone’s in LA with my good buddies AM Session – come out if you’re in town it should be a big fun one (I play first at 9pm sharp).

A few interesting things I discovered this week – MTV.com has put every music video they’ve ever played (I think) up on their site, streaming with no ads for free. Pretty awesome.

I also came across a list of “100 greatest guitar songs of all time” at Rolling Stone – pretty good for killing 15 minutes.

Funniest article I saw while wasting time at work yesterday is here, mainly due to this line: “”It’s felony stupid, but it’s not a crime.”

Hope to see everyone tonight, and have a safe weekend. Working on a brand new song this weekend to hopefully put up at the end of next week sometime…and I’ll leave you with this classic Zach Steel poster from 2005:

NEW SONG – “Let it Roll”

So, got a new song up. You can hear and download for free here.

I guess it’s a song about the state of the country at the moment – the recession mostly.  Here are the lyrics:

We’re all fucked

and its all cause of money

and I try not to put it down

cause they say its not funny

had it good for too long

now the whole damn thing has lost its charm

slipping between the lines

scared of hard times

cry me a river can we still make it down to Mexico

by the time the SEC pins it on me we’ll be halfway there

I’m afraid I don’t care to own a big piece of this disaster

what do you expect when you only reward bigger and faster

let it roll

new born strangers

worrying the banks in danger

and I try not to put it down

but it’d be better if they weren’t around

if we’re all fucked

and its all cause of money

it ain’t a real thing anyway

change our minds and say

maybe I don’t want to be the only one on top of the mountain

maybe there’s a few things that I could just give away

maybe if I try real hard I can get distracted

put a good time away for a rainy day

if I just let it roll.

So I’m going to start updating this site a couple of times a week with content that I hope you will enjoy. Find me on facebook and myspace to stay in the loop.

GREAT show coming up on this Friday July 3rd at Molly Malone’s – I go on at 9pm followed by my good friends in AM Session – come check it out!