Photo Credit. Christine Moore.
Stevie Connor talks to UK-based bluesman, Trevor Babajack Steger, in an exclusive interview about the making of his new album 'Not Far To Go'
Trevor Babajack has veered onto a different musical path. This latest direction highlights his sensitive song writing and musicianship combined with his well-known energy, creating a massive soundscape. Combining the deliciously soaring violin from Jo Chambers and the energetic and driving percussion of Jesse Benns, creating a fresh and unexpected new sound that is now the 'Trevor Babajack Trio' .
You Can Listen To The Entire Interview HERE
His music is influenced by his acquired passion for early rural Blues, mixed with the sounds of rhythmic African roots, in what can only be described as his own genre of original and seemingly improvised music, that makes him a thrilling and unique artist. His travels have taken him the length of the UK, across Europe and Africa, headlining Blues and Roots festivals, from little French cafés to The Royal Albert Hall. Earning himself recognition in The UK Blues Awards and The British Blues Awards as one of Britain's best acoustic Blues artists, harp player and song-writer. Trevor is proud of his brand new collection of self-penned songs reflecting mainly on life, lust and disappointment!
A coincidental theme that runs through the album is the feeling of travelling and movement, nostalgia and melancholia, complimented by the vast soundscape created by the Trio. Except the solo performances of the ballad like tales of the heart, which can only be sung alone but expertly captured by Paul Jones at Mu Mu Audio.
Trevor chatted with Paul about a year before they started recording his third solo album (Not Far To Go). He said that he was looking for a couple of musicians to complement the songs that he was writing for the album…maybe a percussionist and a violin.
As they continued chatting, Trevor said that he would really love the new album to sound a bit more immediate with a minimal use of microphones.Paul agreed that it would be good to capture more of the essence of his live performances but with the control they needed to get quality recordings.
With this in mind Paul thought that it would be worth trying the Soundfield microphone that they use for a lot of classical and solo instrument recording. This is quite a specialized microphone with four separate capsules mounted in a specially designed frame which means that the microphone can be used to record both stereo and surround images. They opted to use it in stereo mode and position it in the room so as to capture both Trevor's vocal and guitars at the same time in much the same way that someone in the front row of his audience might hear him. They were happy with the result and the overall sound provided great separation between vocal and guitars. As a backup they also recorded a separate guitar track when possible using the guitar pickup just in case Paul needed to slightly alter the guitar/vocal balance. The option to overdub both guitar and vocals became a bit limited, as does the ability to edit any mistakes! So the performances had to be up to scratch from the start, which they were. They had the sound close to Trevor's live sound, with the quality of a studio recording.
You Can Listen To The Entire Interview HERE
Website: www.trevorbabajacksteger.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/trevor.babajack
Instagram: www.instagram.com/trevorbabajacksteger