Hi. I’m Steve Lawson – this is me in the picture.I’m a musician. A bassist, to be more precise (electric, not upright).

I play solo quite a lot, but am also fortunate that I get to collaborate with a lot of amazing people, often quite a long way outside the “traditional” role of the electric bass (though I’m not averse to doing bassy things on songs if required. In fact, I quite enjoy it).

A lot of my musical happenings sound on paper like the forfeit to a dare, rather than a career plan – one favourite project involved the release of almost 11 hours of duo improv live recordings, with Daniel Berkman – a multi-instrumentalist playing electric kora, electronic hand percussion, synths and ukulele. Trying to work out what to do with the recordings of 10 complete shows that are entirely different and all worth listening to is tricky. Now available as a download, we initially released it all on USB Stick (now sold out), with a double CD ‘best of‘ alongside it. It’s pretty exciting, and rather unique.

I’ve done a lot of gigs – big gigs, small gigs, medium sized gigs… from opening solo for Level 42 on their Greatest Hits tour in 2002, to house concert tours across the US with singer/songwriter Lobelia, once doing 8000 miles in a rental car in 2 months.

More recently I’ve been collaborating with some amazing people – gigs with Divinity Roxx, Beardyman, Reeves Gabrels, Jason Cooper (The Cure), Andy Gangadeen, Jon Thorne (Lamb), Rob Turner (GoGo Penguin), Jem Godfrey (Frost*), Bryan Corbett (Us3/Brand New Heavies), Emre Ramanazoglu (Sneaker Pimps)…and recording/songwriting with Tanya Donelly, Martyn Joseph, Briana Corrigan, Mark Kelly (Marillion), Roy Dodds (Fairground Attraction), Pete Fraser (The Pogues) and more…

In between, I’ve played a fair few festivals:

• London Jazz Festival
• Greenbelt
• Latitude
• Edinburgh Fringe
• Manchester Jazz Festival
• London Bass Guitar Show (see magazine cover there for evidence 😉 )
• Detroit Bass Fest
• Belfast Guitar Festival

…and have gigged all across the UK, US, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal…

What Else? Ah yes, I ran an acclaimed improv night in London called the Recycle Collective that coupled my bass playing with two other musicians each night for a series of exquisite improvised music gigs, featuring some of the most amazing musicians in London.

I’ve played improvised music at Italian silent film festivals and avant garde extreme metal in fringe London theatre festivals. I’ve soundtracked photographic exhibitions in Germany and played the first ever live gig at the top of The Gherkin (sorry, 30 St Mary Axe) in London. A lot of amazing, surprising, exciting music.

I’ve released a lot of albums. a LOT of albums – over 140 solo and collaborative albums in the last 24 years. Lots of them have had rave reviews in magazines, radio play and been used in short films. Most of them can be bought on a single USB stick, if that’s of interest,.or even better you can subscribe via Bandcamp and get all the solo stuff and a load of exclusives. I’ve also played on quite a few recordings by other people. From gospel singers to rappers, electronica artists to indie rock bands.

I’ve ended up being written about in some big newspapers too – The Times, The Guardian, The Independent (I also wrote an obituary of John Entwistle for the Independent On Sunday, but that’s from a different bio…), as well as in Bass Player (US), (the cover of) Bass Guitar Magazine, Jazzwise, Guitar Player (US), Bassist, Guitarist, Total Guitar, Bassiste Magazine (France), Bass Quarterly (Germany), Strumenti Musicali (Italy). As yet, I’ve not been profiled in Heat, More, Grazia, Take A Break or any trade mags for the building industry.

Radio has been quite friendly too: my music’s been played on BBC Radio 3, BBC 6 Music and numerous regional BBC stations around the UK, as well as college and internet radio across the US and Europe…

Somehow, in between all that, I’ve found time to teach – I lecture in music at BIMM in Birmingham, do a fair few visiting masterclasses and lectures in music schools and universities, as well as private bass teaching via Zoom/Skype, and regular online masterclasses for Musical-U.com. I also recorded a series of courses and live seminars for scottsbasslessons.com. And if that’s not enough, I’m finishing up a PhD looking at the evolution of my audience over the last 20 years.

I’ve also done a lot of work utilising social media at events in the arts, culture and charity sectors in the UK, with organisations like the Arts Council and the British Council. And then there’s New Music Strategies – fixing the internet for musicians, one great idea at a time.

Oh, and I wrote a novel. About a band. It’s called Rock And Roll Is Dead. And you need to read it.

Busy times, eh?

I leave you with some nice things people have said about me. Don’t just take my word for it 😉