FEATURES TWELVE CAPTIVATING SONGS AND SOME DIVERSE GUEST PERFORMERS
www.stevewickham.ie

“In 2012 I was sitting (being painted) for my friend the painter Nick Miller and I started writing tunes as he was painting. The sittings went on over a couple of weeks by that time I’d recorded several hours of improvised music, thus began the seeds of this album…” (Steve Wickham, March 2017)

Many music fans will know Steve Wickham from his virtuoso violin playing in The Waterboys, with whom he has played for over thirty years.

In addition, Steve’s live and studio performances have made him - if not quite a household name - then certainly a household sound. His recording debut was on U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ in 1982, and his Waterboys cover of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’, demonstrating his ‘fuzz-fiddle’ technique live on BBC R2, left Chris Evans awestruck: “The best cover we’ve ever had in the studio”, he said of the performance. Other artists with whom Steve has played include Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Sinead O’Connor. Band-mate and musical collaborator Mike Scott has described Steve as ‘the world’s greatest rock fiddle player’.

Away from the stage, Steve writes songs and ‘Beekeeper’ is his second solo offering, following 2004’s ‘Geronimo’. It’s a collection of twelve pieces, each carefully rendered and beautifully performed with some intriguing guest appearances:

Beekeeper Track List

1.    And The Band Played On (vocals from Irish singer Katie Kim)

2.    Two Thousand Years

3.    Song of Lost Things (vocals from acclaimed singer Ger Wolfe)

4.    The Hare

5.    Fractured  (features The Lost Brothers and legendary Muscle Shoals bass guitarist David Hood)

6.    The Bohemian

7.    Stopping by Woods (feat. Mike Scott on vocals)

8.    Silence of a Sunday (feat. acclaimed Irish singer / actress Camille)

9.    Cells of the Heart which Nature Built for Joy (duet with Russian violinist Oleg Ponomarev)

10.    Love’s Dark Sisters (Sombres Soeurs de l’amour) (vocals from Bruno Caliciuri)

11.    Song of the River (vocal from legendary Irish producer and song writer Joe Chester)

12.    Cockcrow

Around half of the album was recorded in Sligo MagicRoom Studios, run by Brian McDonagh (Dervish) who produced two of the tracks with Steve (‘The Song of Lost Things’ and ‘The Hare’). There was also a session engineered by respected Donegal producer Ray Duffy at the Model Studios in Sligo, Ireland. The other half was recorded in Dublin’s Cauldron Studios which were produced by Joe Chester (Waterboys guitarist and more recently producer of Hozier) and Steve. Some overdubs were done in France.

Live Dates

11th May              Dublin, Sugar Club (TBC)

12th May               Sligo, Model Arts

18-22 May           Touring Belgium with NoCrows (Oleg Ponomarev)

27th May              Cork, St. Luke’s

For further information www.stevewickham.ie