Steven Maier, formally of Yorkton, has a new band, and a new CD.
Maier had been in Sexually Attracted to Fire with fellow Yorkton musician Mark Ceaser, but that vehicle came to an end a few months ago, albeit on good terms.
"Sexually Attracted to Fire disbanded because the members were going in opposite musical directions," said Maier. "Mark Ceaser, also from Yorkton, is also still playing his own original music and we are still good friends. Just for fun, the original four members are getting back together for a reunion show in Saskatoon later in September. (Sept 18 at Lydia's)."
Maier went looking for a new outlet for his music, and the band Crestwood was born.
"I had a lot of songs written and ready to be recorded but no band to record them with, so I decided to start my own project," he said. "I asked my friends Christian Kongawi, originally from the Congo who plays with Saskatoon band The Rebellion, to play drums and Finn Day-Wiggins, who is an amazing classical and jazz trained keyboardist from Elrose, SK to play on the album.
"Paul Kuzbik, originally from Prince Albert also played some lead guitar on a few tracks on the album, while Kamila Martel from Big River, SK, who leads the band The Ne'erdowells sang backup vocals on the title track on the album.
"I played the rest of the guitars, bass, and sang the rest of the vocals."
In terms of his music, Maier said he feels his sound has changed over the years,
"I feel like my sound has matured since previous musical efforts leading me more to styles that are reminiscent of contemporary folk and jazz," he said. "In the end though, it's still pretty much a rock record."
While relatively new as a musical unit, Crestwood were able to get their debut CD 'The Movies' out rather quickly because Maier had much of the material written, and the recording was done at home.
"Besides the drums, everything was recorded in my apartment rather than at a studio," he said. "This allowed me to spend more time on the album without spending more money. The rest of the mixing and mastering was done by Josh Palmer at P.M. Studios in Saskatoon."
Maier said the songs really came to him naturally, and were not something he forced.
"Most of the songs were written on acoustic guitar before I started recording," he said. "I prefer not to write with any sort of deadline in mind but rather just let it happen. Having said that, I ended up writing two of the songs that made it to the final cut during recording sessions.
"Sometimes I'll work on a song for months and sometimes I'll have a song start to finish in the same day."Maier said The Movies is something he is definitely proud of because it shows his growth as a musician."I'm very happy with the way the album turned out," he said. "Compared to most records that people hear, the budget was considerably smaller but I still feel like I was able to get the songs to sound close to the way I wanted them to."
Maier said the next step is promoting the disk.
"I'm sending the album to various independent radio stations across Canada and am touring as much as possible to support the record."
Maier, who graduated from Yorkton Regional High School in 1999, said his touring should bring him back to the city in support of 'The Movies'.
"I plan to play Yorkton sometime soon," he said. "I'll be doing a private house concert to start and will be coming back to play again in a few months. No dates are confirmed."
Crestwood's webpage is myspace.com/crestwoodmusic and people can find the disk at CDbaby.com
