Steve Grozier

Steve Grozier’s ability to evoke a fresh Nashville sound with Scottish tendencies is really enrapturing. His groomed ginger beard, checked shirt, boot cut jeans and acoustic guitar took to the Hug and Pint’s stage where sat a solitary barstool. “I’m going to play some songs about feelings and stuff like that”.

Opening with a track that showcased bare, stripped and pure vocals. It pulled influences from blues and exuded the aurora of a weary soul. Steve’s tendency to close his eyes whilst singing really hit home to me that there was authentic meaning behind every lyric.
“these moments do not last, I miss the friend and I miss the way he sings”.

Up next, a personal favourite of mine ‘Take My Leave’. This track features in Grozier’s latest release ‘Keep It Creative Sessions’. Hearing this track live reiterated those feelings I had when I first heard it - relatable, personable and understandable. Through Steve’s stellar performance, his beautiful lines creative vivid imagery where we can cast off our minds to ‘broken down arcades’, ‘empty streets and railway station lines’, ‘gravel paths that leads to [my] home’. There’s a gorgeous light melodic accompaniment on ‘Take My Leave’.

A great thing about Steve was his interactions with the H&P crowd. His music was very solum but he played off that;

“I know things have been crazy upbeat so I’m going to slow things down. Here’s a sadder and slower one” - spoken drenched in sarcasm, a few chuckles echoed around the room.

A few tracks down the line, it came to light that we were standing in the presence of a great cat joke connoisseur. These intermissions where Steve would talk to the audience were fantastic as a way to humanise him. If anything I’d say longer sets and more cat jokes!

Before closing his performance with a mesmerising ‘Ringing of the Bells’ performance, Steve delighted the audience with a Ryan Adam’s cover ‘Lucky Now’. Another exhibition of minimalist guitar accompaniment and a believing vocal performance.

Steve can, without a doubt, hypnotise a room full of strangers with his empathetic songs. Beautiful vocal characteristics like bending notes and soft vibrato add to the authentic credible country vibes. - Head-sync

A completely transparent EP. Steve Grozier lets in light to our souls through his expressive captivating music.

A Scottish being with the spirit of Willie Nelson and sincerity of Patsy Cline. Steve’s ability to sound like the freshest thing out of Nashville is endearing.

‘Porcelain Hearts’ tells the reminiscent heartbreaking tale of a childhood love with Lucy. The emotional performance is enhanced though delicate light vibrato in long held phrases… “you weren’t the kinda girl that could love me…” One truly intense line is “and now i’m old, ohh Lord, I’m old”. Grozier’s honestly is undeniable - it almost seems like he and you are merely sitting on a porch in Tennessee alone and you are the only person to witness the stripped back performance.

‘Take My Leave’ follows in the path of both ‘Porcelain Hearts’ and ‘Ringing of the Bells’, in that it has a true meaningful narrative. In this track, Grozier takes a indirect uplifting approach to this track - whilst talking about needing to leave his hometown but being afraid. This is a place we can all find ourselves in at some point in our lives. Being caught up in the comforts of our lives, Grozier paints some detailed imagery for us lucky listeners to grasp onto. “empty streets and railway station lines… a gravel path that leads to my home…” Fittingly, Grozier wraps up the track and the EP with “But I think one day, imma take my leave”

Right oh, I’ve talked too much. But before I go, please go check out Steve Grozier’s LIVE EP! Yes, it’s LIVE. You can find ‘Keep It Creative’ on Soundcloud; https://soundcloud.com/stevegrozier

One last thing (promise it’s the last), Steve will be performing at The Hug & Pint on April 22nd. Go check it out. I know I will. - Head-sync

It’s no great secret that Scotland’s music scene is a thing to be proud of. So we here at TSA have teamed up with Glasgow’s very own New Hellfire Club to bring you a monthly pick of who we think are doing epically well right now. Keep your eyes out for these up and coming bands. This is TSA and New Hellfire Club’s ‘Pick of the Month’.

This months POTM from NHC MUSIC is one of our favourite singer/songwriting talents from Glasgow, Mr. Steve Grozier, so without further ado we will let him tell you a bit about himself below ..

Hello there Steve. Welcome to the pick of the month section in The Student Advertiser! Can you start us off by giving us a wee bit about yourself, like what style of music you play, how long you’ve been playing, all the usual intro stuff basically.

Firstly, thanks for inviting me in for a chat. It’s real nice to be considered for this feature, especially considering the calibre of the bands that have featured previously. I’ve only recently started writing and performing again after a long hiatus. That’s not to say that I’m new to the Glasgow music scene. My good friend Roscoe Wilson (Of Anton and the Colts fame) and I go back ten years, writing and performing in various Glasgow establishments, some of which have long since closed their doors. I find it difficult to categorise my own music, or even wonder if I would want to. I guess I like the thought of it being whatever people want/need it to be. A melancholy love song for the heartbroken or an ode to good times spent with friends. I mean, they’re not going to trouble Taylor Swift in the charts, unless I maybe do an entire cover of her 1989 record…

We talked about you on one of our blog reviews recently, and our reviewer was impressed not only with the songs themselves, but also with the overall feel of the set, reminding him of the early political folk singers from the smokey, dingy new york bars in the sixties. Is this a similarity that you see/hear in yourself?

I was kinda taken aback by the positive reviews from NHC to be honest. You always hope that other people will like your music, but you don’t write, or I don’t write, with other people in mind. The comparison with the political folk singers of New York in the 1960’s is a very flattering one. Although my songs aren’t politicaly, I guess they do have the same storytelling element. I personally hadn’t thought about them in that light before.

You’ve been gigging quite a bit around Scotland recently, what’s your favourite place to play in Glasgow, and why?

There was a time when I thought I’d never play live again. This year that changed. One of the first shows I played was at the NHC. An unplugged set to a small crowd. I’m not sure why, but I’m always astounded when people actually listen to what I’m playing, rather than just talk over me. One of my favourite Glasgow venues is the Hug and Pint(previously the Roxy/Liquid Ship). I have fond memories of the place as it’s where I cut my teeth back when it hosted the Free Candy Sessions at the Liquid Ship. The booker/promoter of Hug and Pint, Joe Rattray, is a great guy, and the sound is excellent.

Tell us who you love in the local music scene, are there any other artists we should be going to see that you can recommend?

The local music scene is full of excellent musicians and bands not getting the recognition they deserve. Anton and the Colts. Siobhan Wilson. Dixie Lang. Dave Frazer. This could be a very long list…

You know our stance on anti pay to play, and scam artists operating within the local music scene, and you’ve been sharing our posts pretty regularly on the subject, so tell us, have you ever had any problems with pay to play promoters yourself?

I, like the NHC, feel very strongly about pay to play. I’ve been stung in the past, back when I was a young, inexperienced artist. I’ve learned the hard way that some people will exploit you and take all they can get. I wish there had been an organisation like NHC back when I was starting out as their list of trusted promoters is invaluable.

You are one of these musicians that seems to just go for it with regards to online promotion and gigs, do you have any advice for young, budding Glasgow musicians and bands? Is there any big mistakes you made that you wished you hadn’t?

In terms of promotion I dislike doing it as much as the next artist. We all know those people who are great at networking and have all the contacts. That’s not me. I just do the best I can with what I’ve got. I’ve learned that music is a business like any other and it isn’t necessarily how talented you are that matters. If I can give one piece of advice to young musicians? Don’t think of music as a business. Do it cause you love it. Do it cause even if no-one paid you to, you’d do it anyway.

What’s coming in 2016 for Steve Grozier then, any massive plans or hopes for the new year you can share with us?

I’m excited for 2016. I’ve plans to record an LP, or a couple of EPs. A tour of the UK to promote the record(s) and hopefully secure a record and management deal along the way. I’m also hoping to play a festival or two, gain some radio play and feature in more articles like this one. I’d consider that a successful year. I’m playing King Tut’s on January 10th and the Buff Club on 22nd January. Come see me. As NHC said, you won’t be disappointed. - The student advertiser

This was my first visit to the Hug and Pint from way back when it opened it's doors, and since it's just a ten minute walk from my house, and a twenty minute walk from the shop itself, I'm rather surprised that I've never stopped in for a fly pint before, or even a wee acoustic gig. I've been invited down a few times now, but other stuff always seemed to get in the way. Thankfully though, when Steve Grozier asked me to come down for a review, I was free for a few hours and fancied some cold beer and warm music to soothe the days working stresses away for a bit. It's been a while since I had been out for a quiet beer, and to take in a great acoustic set... and Steve Grozier was more than willing to supply the great set end of the deal.

I have already stated on this blog how Steve's softly worded vocals and strong lyrics invoked, for me anyway, the smoke filled cafe/bar days of early sixties 'folksy' New York city (I'm not ancient mind you, I just watched a lot of documentaries on the time and the music!), and keeping in a similar vein as that, the Hug and Pint downstairs, with it's Beat poet dive bar vibe, was exactly the kind of place where Steve should be playing to an eager crowd. The word 'eager' might be the wrong one to use here. That word almost makes me think that the crowd were braying and whooping for more, like a room full of drunks at an all night keg party.

They weren't, of course.

Instead they were, as was I, stunned into a kind of awed silence, as Steve played out tune after tune of drifting, haunting, charming, bluesy folk ode's of lovers lost (even imaginary lovers!), lovers found, sad times past, and good times remembered. This is songwriting at it's best, and even the odd dad joke between songs went down well with the assembled acoustic fans. (seriously though Steve, we're gonna have to work on those funnies). - NHC

Happy Thursday everyone!

Is it Thursday today? Who even knows anymore. Working in a music shop has a startling effect on the human mind, as days blend together in a melting pot of live music, alcohol, random customer conversations, and opening up/pulling down shutters. Hell, sometimes I'm not even sure what month it is, never mind what day it is.

All of the above is fantastic though, I'm not moaning about it at all, because even though all the days, and all the weeks blur into one sometimes. The days are fantastic, and the weeks epic. I have done everything in this shop from fall down the stairs at a gig, to get a tattoo (on more than one occasion), from meeting new people who became fast friends, to playing scalextric on mushrooms. I may be skint, but life is pretty damn sweet, and it's certainly never boring.

It's all good....and nights like the one where we had both Steve Grozier, and The Sneaks instore for a live set, are some of the nights that really make the long weeks worth hanging around for. I've seen Steve play a few times now, and he never fails to impress me with his skilfully played guitar picking and his smooth, nerve tugging vocals. This is a man who not only knows how to write a damn fine song, but knows how to sing it exactly as it should be sung too. Every single song is another story, another (often sad) tale that drags you in and holds you there, scared to utter a loud breath in case you break the silence in the room when he is playing... in case you somehow break the mood that he projects onto his watchers so effortlessly.

Steve seems to be a man out of time for me, his significant skills place him more at home in the smoke filled folk cafe's and downstairs, dingy darkened clubs of early-sixties New York. A time when music really held breaths, and captivated the listener into stunned, awed silence. There are times when we all wish to be back in those heady days of a starting out Bob Dylan... but get this guy in a small, darkly lit club in Glasgow, and close your eyes as he sings his songs, and you could almost be back there...back where some of the best shit began. Check him out as soon as you can, you won't be disappointed. - New Hellfire Club