Steve Lawson

Lovely pic by for of me playing on the booth at NAMM a couple of weeks ago. Today I'm playing the same SLC MkII SE while learning songs for one of my two gigs next week - Friday is a solo gig at in Digbeth and Saturday's is a corporate gig where I finally get to play Believe by Cher - one of the greatest pop songs of the last 30 years. 🥰
For both gigs, I'll also get to play through my lovely Trickfish amps but I can't revisit the lushness of those pedals just yet as they're still being built!
Check the link in the the comments for details of the solo gig 😁

The first night of the Nili Brosh European Tour is LESS THAN THREE WEEKS AWAY! I'm so, so excited to get to play with Nili Brosh and atma anur on these shows.

Our opening night is in Hamburg, Germany - if you're near, or have friends who are, please spread the word and definitely come say hi! We'll be around after all of these shows to chat. Would be great to meet up!

Link to the Hamburg show FB page in the first comment :) xx

Need a break? Time to breathe?

Click the link below.

8 minutes of peace, time to check in with your heart and resist the relentless churn of the algorithm. It's the title track from my album Beauty And Desolation, from 2018. Which in some ways feels a lifetime ago and in others feels like yesterday. ♥️

Links to Bandcamp and Youtube in the first couple of comments.

Peace to you and yours, friends x

Really lovely last minute recording session tonight - great tune, a satisfying balance of clear requirements and creative freedom and a really musical artist/engineer who did a remarkable comp of all the things he wanted from the track in no time.
So so happy with the sound I get with this setup - with strings, into a Starlifter preamp and then the glorious DuoX, recorded through the K-Mix.
If you're interested in having me play on your tracks, drop me a line. Always happy to discuss availability and budgets to work out what's best for the music ❤️❤️❤️

Every time I go past TK Maxx in Birmingham I check for meat-free hooves. These red kicks became favourites of mine about 5 years ago and I've just found my 3rd pair. They go very nicely with my volume pedal and Justin Chancellor Crybaby Fuzz-Wah 😁
👠👟👢👞👡
Right now I've got a recording session and then more work on 's incredible music for our European tour in March. ❤️

Last day in California and the perfect final hang with a friend of over 2 decades, Jimmy Haslip . Throughout the 00s, Jimmy and I would meet up in London or over here and his encouragement and support were priceless. So getting to spend time after several years of not seeing each other was incredible. Stories were told and plans were hatched. Feeling deeply, deeply blessed to live this life.

LA is the town that just keeps on giving. World's longest breakfast hang with the great (shout out to the cafe for not chucking us out 😂), lunch with the incomparable and then the third cherry of today's jackpot was seeing that my BFF/hero/inspiration/collaborator had just landed in LaLaLand. Plots were hatched and a hang was had. Life is amazing and I will never for a moment take for granted the incredible musicians I get to spend time with. These three conversations contained enough inspiration for a year's worth of musical mischief.

No trip to LA is complete without some quality time with . Always such a great hang ❤️

It's taken 25 years but I've finally had my Stevie Wonder at the encounter and it couldn't dvd been more beautiful. In one of the quietest places in the entire convention centre he Sat down at a piano and played Overjoyed. No PA, no mic, just sound coming direct from the mouth of one of the greatest musicians in the history of music to my ears. Unbelievable. Thanks for everything Stevie. Music would be very different without your contribution and influence ❤️

And it's a wrap. day 4, in order:
Last morning with the guys. and are such amazing people, I'd have happily spent a weekend with them if they didn't also make my favourite bass amps. 😊
One of those moments when you remember just how deep some people's talent runs - played some of the most beautiful music I've heard all weekend while trying out my SLC MK II SE.
It was a last minute surprise to discover that my friend Gianfranco from would be at NAMM. We always end up with elaborate and far reaching plans whenever we talk and this was no different. Fun things are afoot.
Last year I got a drive-by hug from , this year we got about 45 minutes to chat. What a wonderful human he is.
Every year at NAMM, I try to assemble a loose group of friends that can meet up periodically to wander together. I met last year and this year and they made for the perfect NAMM posse. Endlessly curious and fascinating people 😊
I've been a fan of playing for quite a while so it was lovely to get an opportunity to chat for a while. Such a great musician.
A last minute encounter with the great and topped off the whole weekend nicely. Both such amazing musicians and a delight to hang with.
And I think my conversation with was the only one of the weekend that ended up deep into PhD territory - so fun to talk to a wickedly smart fellow solo bassist about the context in which we get to do what we do.
One more pic with & .lull? Why not. Lovely, lovely humans ❤️

day 3! Some amazing encounters with beloved friends! In order: was not expecting to see .sklar so that made this hug extra special. Hang time with is one of the true joys of NAMM, with bonus goodness! Catching up with Whitesnake/Bruce Dickinson bassist is always a top priority at NAMM, such a huge bass inspiration! Given just how, beautiful my Elricks are, it takes a lot to impress me with a bass, but the brilliant makes incredible instruments while also being a truly delightful friend. Likewise time with & is food for the soul. What a beautiful surprise it was to see the great ! is one of the most brilliant multi-instrumentalists I know and having taught him bass at college 25 years ago, I can take literally no responsibility for any of it. One of the best things about this NAMM has been time with . Metal is one of Birmingham's greatest exports and with the brilliant joining Mercyful Fate that legacy continues. has been a great friend for well over two decades, and I met at last year's NAMM - friendships that count no matter how long this history.
What a tremendous day. ❤️

day 2! In photo order: seeing & for the first time in way too long, long-time bass BFFs & , the legendary and then a host of amazing bass friends trying out the SLC Mk II SE - , a lovely catchup with fellow bass playing academic and another lovely encounter with the delightful this time with too!
Again, tons of undocumented meet ups with friends and heroes and some exciting new gear encounters to be shared later 😍

day 1, with friends old and new and a hero or two. In slideshow order, it was so lovely to see guitar great and fellow improv adventurer , one of the greatest musicians ever to pick up the bass guitar , to try out these AMAZING new pedals, hang and chat with the brilliant & , spend time with the wonderful , catch up with (last night), be reminded of the utter delight of hanging with .lull & and send this pic with the excellent to .
So many other great friends not pictured, some brilliant new software from , lovely lovely Basses from , and . Oh and breakfast. Always breakfast.
Hoping to catch more lovely friends tomorrow. ❤️

Name our band 😁
It's time which means thousands of pictures of people vampirically draining the symbolic capital from anyone vaguely famous they might walk past via the medium of the selfie. But it also means time with absolutely delightful friends, who also happen to be tremendous bassists - so badge pickup was a total joy in the company of & .
Let the mayhem commence!

Sunday's house concert at Bob's house was amazing. The room was absolutely packed and I had two very special guests - (who only knew he was singing when I started one of his songs without announcing it 😂) and the great on Gravikord and iPad.
I was SOOO happy to get to borrow an identical rig to my one at home from - he sound was impeccable.
Video and the Bandcamp subscriber live album to follow. For now, an absolutely massive thanks to everyone how came to the show.
📸 By

I love checking out new towns when travelling - got to see Livermore, California today and loved it! What a cute town. Plus there was a big group of cyclists hanging out outside a cafe which is always the best sign 🥰🚴🏽
Last call for tonight's house concert in San Jose if you're around and want to come, message me for the address. It's going to be a lot of fun ❤️

Getting set for this weekend's house concert in San Jose. Wearing the checklist:
👕
Basses? ✅
Pedals? ✅
Looper? ✅
Improv? ✅
👕
Plus a v special guest coming to play a little something with me 😊
Get your own t-shirt like this from
direct.app/solobasssteve ❤️

Hi :)

Life is pretty great right now. Rehearsing with Nili Brosh in Vegas this weekend made me feel an intense gratitude for opportunities to play fantastic music with good people. I spend a lot of my time playing music on my own, and in that situation, I'm deeply deeply blessed that the 'good people' I get to make the music with are the audience. Nothing I do is every truly solo.

I really hope those of you who are in the Bay Area can come out to Sunday's show, and that I get to see those of you that are at NAMM the weekend after. And then onwards to Our European tour in March

I'll put the event invite for Sunday's show in the comments. See you soon

Breakfast with the best people in Vegas ❤️❤️❤️

Post-rehearsal happiness with Nili Brosh in Las Vegas! Had a play through all the songs for our European tour in March and it's sounding pretty great. Can not wait to get on stage with Nili and Atma Anur!
Tour Dates:
March 4 - Hamburg, Germany

March 5 - Fürth, Germany

March 7 - Kassel, Germany

March 8 - Rüsselsheim, Germany

March 9 - Waldbronn, Germany

March 10 - Esch-sur-alzette, Luxembourg

March 12 - Nancy, France

March 13 - Tourcoing, France

March 14 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands

March 16 - Larvik, Norway

📸 By .

All set up for teaching here in Southern California for the next few weeks, in between rehearsals with , a house concert in San Jose and then NAMM! So if you want bass lessons via Zoom, drop me a line and we'll work something out.

Bay Area people! I'm coming your way next weekend for a house concert. My first solo gig in The Bay in forever. I can't wait to play for you.
Address/deets available soon - comment if you're coming and I'll send them over.
Please share with friends in the area too. ❤️

Learning these tunes for the tour always takes me back to seeing her live last summer and being absolutely blown away by the breadth and depth of the music and musicianship on show. It's such a privilege to get to play with Nili and , two musicians I've been a fan of for a long time - in Atma's case since buying 's debut album when I was at college over 30 years ago!
Hope to see those of you that are near enough to come enjoy the show in March!
(tour dates on the 3rd slide 🥰)

New hat! As I got precisely zero presents for my birthday yesterday (though a coupla things I'd ordered for myself arrived in the post 😁) I bought myself a new hat today while flapjack and I were out, from the British Heart Foundation charity shop! 🥰
Actually, that's not strictly true cos quite a few people indulged in the traditional Stevemas ritual of subscribing (or renewing a subscription) to me on Bandcamp. Huge thanks to everyone who elected for that particular mode of celebration. Enjoy the music.
Late entries to the Stevemas tradition are still most welcome at stevelawson.bandcamp.com ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hi. Last bit of bass practice as a 50 y/o.
I gotta say, this is not how I imagined my 50th year. For many years I've borrowed a quote from that says "my life's work will happen between the ages of 50 & 60, everything else is practice". I was supposed to finish my PhD just before my 50th and hit this decade with optimism and a wide open future. But as you know, cancer had other plans. Thank God I survived that and have had no reoccurrence in the last 12 months, but everything else got severely battered in the storm. "Been through the wringer but I'm OK" as once sang. OK, but different. Markedly different in mostly good ways.
So we head into both 2024 and my 51st year (or 52nd? How does that work again?) with a sense of purpose and pathos, a desire to live right, to love well and to move through the world one pedal stroke at a time ❤️
Thanks for all, your love, support, encouragement, attention and wisdom this last year. I feel immeasurably blessed despite all the ways in which 2023 was a monstrous headf**k.

It's Stevemas Eve so let's take a look back at all the music that I released this year. I'm absurdly proud of this body of work, the breadth of it and the way it represents a journey through a year that began with the news that my cancer was in remission and featured my first gigs since March 2020.
If you're a subscriber already on Bandcamp I'd love your thoughts on which if these meant something to you - there's a thread over in the app or on the website. And if you're not, I'd invite you to (re)subscribe and check out a year in the life via the medium of sound. It's like an abstract documentary to a complex, difficult, tentative year that featured some incredible highs and pretty intense lows. Being able to explore that in sound is a luxury I'll never take for granted, so a huge, huge thank you to every single person who subscribed to me this year and made this possible ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Bring on the 51st year of the Steveness 😂
You can listen to all the non-subscriber exclusive stuff via the link in my bio too ❤️🎶🙏

I'm Two days from turning the page on my 50th year, wondering what 51 holds. Hopefully a finished PhD, definitely an exciting EU tour with , a load of travel and music making and adventures.
Here's what 2023 looked like from the perspective of the stuff y'all clicked on here - my cancer-free news from January, some new bass news half way through the year and some surprisingly popular videos and gig photos. Who knew??
Every one of those gigs was recorded and released, which brings us nicely to... ..If you want to help celebrate the event of my 51st birthday, the win/win option is to subscribe to me on Bandcamp. Approx 100 albums (yup a HUNDRED) plus everything I release this year. A lifetime's supply of deliciously comforting yet strange music from my exploratory soul to your curious ears 😍❤️
Link, as they say, is in bio.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Stevemas...

I've just released my annual subscriber Christmas album/EP. So if you're already a subscriber, that's there for you now.

If you're not, it behoves me to remind you that it is but 6 days until Stevemas, and the traditional way to celebrate is to gift ones self a Bandcamp subscription (or renew if you've partaken of the festivities in previous years 😁 )

The 25th of December is celebrated the world over as Stevemas Eve Eve Eve. Any time between now and the end of the year would be great to join the celebrations 😉

Here's a pic of me in my lovely new glasses that these Stevemas celebrations will help pay for. It's a wild novelty to be able to actually see stuff again ♥️

Subscription link in the first comment xx