Steve Tyson

Hey, I've been a bit remiss in not adding any blogs for a long time, relying too much on good old social media. So, that's going to change....

The main thing I wanted to let you know is that the making of my new album is well underway. The writing process for me is completely organic, to coin that often over-used phrase, but that really is the case. I go through long periods where I don't write anything, especially when I'm touring, but then ideas just start to bubble up to the surface, I get woken up more often in the middle of the night with lyrics and melodies, and songs will start to flow.

That's been happening this past 12 months or so, and I've been writing and demo-ing in my studio off and on during that time. The thing I am really excited about with this new record, is that it's a band album. As you know, WRONG TRAIN RIGHT STATION was very much a DIY affair, where I was very focused on playing, producing everything myself, including drums (and I'm NOT a drummer, believe me..) But it was something I had to do.

Then I started touring to promote the album, and I put together The Train Rex to help me get things out there. Unlike the GREEN SIDE UP tours, where I had a revolving cast of great players, I really wanted to keep the same band for all the shows I was doing for the WRONG TRAIN tour. And the band was such a beast, that we have kept it together to play all the shows we have been doing since the tour.

So I decided I really wanted to record with the band in the making of the new album. And what a blast it has been. It has been so good to have the guys in the studio, working arrangements out as a band. The stuff we have recorded so far is just awesome, I am so happy. The Train Rex rhythm section is comprised of my longtime sidekick John Barr (JB) on bass -- JB is in Rough Red of course, and has done most of the live stuff for my other albums with me, and is surely one of the finest players in the country --- and another old friend Andy Kirkcaldie on drums. Andy I first played with some thirty plus years ago, and he has since developed a reputation as one of Sydney's hardest-working rock drummers. But the subtlety and passion he brings to these songs is just amazing. He and JB together make a formidable combination.

Rounding out the band is another dear old friend, guitarist Ian Shawsmith (Sal to his mates). Sal has flown under the radar for many years, but in recent times has gone through the roof with his electric and slide playing. He is adding some beautiful stuff to these songs.

We have recorded all the beds to the songs, and Sal and I are in the process of adding guitars, mandolins and whatever else we think works for the particular track. Hopefully by early 2020 we should have the finished product in hand. We have already released a couple of completed tracks as singles this year, with another one to follow very soon.

The band isn't playing any more shows this year, but I have a bunch of solo gigs in and around Byron Bay over the next few months. so I look forward to catching up with you somewhere along the way. The band will be out and about next year with tour dates for the new record. See you then...!

Cheers, Steve

Steve Tyson, Wrong Train, Right Station 
By Noel Mengel - Former Chief Music Writer, Courier-Mail 

Songwriter Steve Tyson does darkness very well with regret-tinged songs of missed chances and jealous-rage murder tales, but he balances these with songs with a twinkle in the eye or tongue in cheek. 

Even when he’s writing about imminent climate catastrophe - see Theatre, one of the key tracks here - he never gets preachy or heavy.  Tyson has not had the same profile as other chroniclers of the Australian experience like Shane Howard or John Schumann, but the tracks on this third solo set reveal a master song craftsman with a nuanced lyrical touch and strong melodies. 

Tyson is best known for his work with Brisbane folk-rock band Rough Red, but his gruff voice and superb guitar work - he plays every note on this album - suit his songwriting style well. There are some songs from the folk ballad tradition like A Short Life and a Merry One, his telling of the story of the Kelly Gang from the point of view of younger brother Dan. Cavvanbah, the Aboriginal name for what we know today as Byron Bay, imagines a historical tale of lover’s vengeance, while Abacus is the kind of up-tempo folk rock tune that would also suit Rough Red. 

The wry and dark humour is never far from the surface, or right there on the surface in If You Die I Swear I’ll Kill You, and the DIY aesthetic gives plenty of room for Tyson’s powerful guitar work. 

There is some lovely dobro on The River My Thief, crunchy riff-rock on the road song Three Hundred Miles, evocative electric slide guitar textures on The Ghost and The Fire, and Devil Come Knocking is a garage blues rave-up of the kind Neil Young and band might have cranked up at about sunrise on “Tonight’s The Night”. The Sailor and the Mistress shows Tyson at his poignant best, but there is always plenty of grit in the musical delivery here. Nothing is over-polished, but these are songs that are built to last.

Hey, I am very excited to announce the imminent release of my new album WRONG TRAIN, RIGHT STATION, which will be available here in the last week of July. I will also have a brand new web site to launch the record, and will be announcing tour dates very soon. I can’t wait to get this one out there…..