Thursday, March 13   10:00 p.m.
Dirty Dog Bar   (505 E 6th St)

  The Steps - Belle
Download   |  

The Steps
Taking their amps from the garage to suburban rooftops and downtown bridges,
the brash four of The Steps demand to be heard. Invoking the spirit of Brit-pop, their
sound is laden with a rich musical heritage that fuses styles of proto-punksters The
Ramones, The Small Faces, and The Stooges with the new edginess of Jet and The
Strokes. The Steps have burst onto the scene with the swagger of seasoned rockers.
Cousins Will (vocals/guitar) and Sam Thompson’s (guitar) fervor for classic
rhythm and blues styles drew bassist Stephen Ross and drummer Z Lynch into their after
school garage sessions in 2005. The Steps began their aggressive climb to the top,
quickly becoming the dominant band at their high schools. Honing style and stage
presence at house parties across Austin, The Steps’ blend of classic and modern
mesmerized adoring peers. Soon suburbia could not contain their volume, energy, and
loyal masses of fans, so the band launched a series of “guerilla gigs” on the Lamar
Pedestrian Bridge in downtown Austin. After rigging gear in the shadow of night, the
vigilante rockers played with such force that the bridge literally shook from the quake of
hundreds, jumping to the infectious beat. And as the roaring guitars and snare cracks
faded under Johnny law’s disapproving finger, music industry insiders demanded The
Steps amp it back up.
The Steps’ brazen self-promotion and commitment to songwriting has taken them
far. The group’s touring resume includes Austin’s hottest venues, including Stubb’s,
Antone’s, and Emo’s. The Steps are enjoying accolades from their incendiary
performance at the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival, where hundreds sang along
to a “set that throbbed on pure passion,” said the Austin-American Statesman. The
quartet showed such promise during sessions at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in
2006 that they recently recorded an EP with producer Frenchie Smith at his Bubble
Recording studio in Austin. Now gaining international footing with Young and Lost
Club Records out of the UK, The Steps begin their global conquest with a new single and
a slew of performances in London this fall. This winter, The Steps will hit the studio to
finish up their full album to be released in Japan February 2008.