Music
Press
Texas native/Cincinnati transplant Steve Manuel landed in the Queen City with a handful of tuneful Pop/Rock songs he was eager to record. As his new CD shows, he found the right guys to work with here in Cincy, teaming up with renowned producer/guitarist Ric Hordinski and producer/drummer Josh Seurkamp, known for their work locally with Kim Taylor, Over the Rhine, Dave Wolfenberger and Katie Reider. The result, Comic Book Hero, is an album of dynamic and sophisticated Pop music, with intricate, captivating layers, electronic, loopy quirks, plenty of spaciousness and lyrics that are spiritual and cleverly poetic.
Manuel and his co-conspirators host a two-night CD release party this weekend. Friday and Saturday, the trio performs at Hordinski's new studio/performance space, The Monastery (2601 Stanton Ave. in Walnut Hills). Both shows start at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are available before the shows at ticketalternative.com for $12; you can also buy them at the door for $15.
The tracks that really stand out on Comic Book Hero are the ones that are given creative, kaleidoscopic backdrops by the musicians and producers. Thankfully, that's practically all of them. The spare "Just As Well" is indicative of what a simple, acoustic singer/songwriter album from Manuel would sound like. While still showcasing strong songwriting chops, the augmentations on the other tracks make them far more alluring and unique. Practically every track offers some kind of cool sonic nuance between the nooks and crannies, making the listening experience kind of like eating through several boxes of Cracker Jacks -- there are prizes in each one and the caramel sticks with you (in your teeth with Cracker Jacks; in your brain with Manuel's songs).
U2 is perhaps the most evident reference point for the album. Manuel's voice has a tone similar to Bono's, and cuts like "In and Out of Me" and "Up With Love" have some of the aural earmarks of the band as well, mixed with a little Beatles-y glaze in the harmonies and production tricks (something evident throughout the disc).
Opener "Not My Clothes" recalls the sound and songs of a jaunty Peter Gabriel mixed with a little Brit Pop (a la Placebo), with its climbing, dramatic structure and melody. Other highlights include "Fooled," which features a soaring chorus hook and dirty yet pointed guitar work from Hordinski (who really stretches and shines on his six-string throughout), and the soulful "Go Somewhere," which is propped up by a grimy snare drum and one of Manuel's better vocal performances (he gets a little old-school Lenny Kravitz at times).
Sonically, "Prayer" is enthralling, with its wavering keys and streaks of string sounds, but the song itself is one of the few clunkers, sounding like a maudlin Top 40 hit by Five For Fighting or Train (which is good for the pocketbook, bad for the artistic soul). But, overall, Comic Book Hero is a rich, poignant Pop/Rock album that should draw much attention to Manuel's evident talents as both a writer and performer. (myspace.com/stevemanuelband; stevemanuel.net) - City Beat, Cincinnati
This weekend, local singer-songwriter Steve Manuel releases Comic Book Heroes, his first recorded material since 2000. I chatted with Manuel about working with musical heavyweights Josh Seurkamp and Ric Hordinski and more.
It had been a while since you had recorded your songs - and you got to work with some great musicians. What was the process like?
It was a pleasure. ... Josh and Ric, those guys just know what they're doing. I'm able to collaborate with them really well. It felt very natural to do the project when we did, as opposed to (thinking) "I'm trying to generate something, I'm trying to make something happen." ... One way that Josh and I work is that I completely trust him with all kinds of drums and percussion and loops and let him do everything he wants to do.
Where did you get inspiration for the songs on this album?
There's lots of introspective stuff on there. The title worked because there is a lot of questioning who I am and how I fit in the world. I think that as I move into my 30s, my impressions of who I could be and what difference I can make (in the world) - (I've had some) disillusions about those things and (this has been) a reality check. I had a magnified view of my place in the world, so I now question and challenge that stuff.
Despite all the questioning in your songs, why did you decide to end with the upbeat "Up With Love"?
I feel like where a lot of my audience comes from is that we all have questions and doubts. We're figuring out what the truth is and we want to make a difference. When you put your heart out there on your sleeve, like artists often do, you're going to get hurt more than insular people. But the one thing that I can depend on is that love always works and wins, and I do believe that love is somehow going to win in the end, and that's what I'm banking on. So while there's some questions and doubts, I want to end with a note of faith and belief.
THE SITE: www.stevemanuel.net, www.myspace.com/stevemanuelband - CiN Weekly, Cincinnati
It's something of a local coming-out party this weekend for Dallas, Texas, transplant Steve Manuel. He is releasing his first CD, "Comic Book Hero," since becoming a Cincinnati artist five years ago, when he landed in town following his wife's career. Manuel admits to keeping a low music profile.
"At the time I was convinced moving up here was the death knell for any musical career because I was building a following in Texas and came up here where I was an unknown," he said.
Manuel fell in with the "right" musical crowd, hooking up with veteran multi-instrumentalist Josh Seurkamp and Cincinnati guitarist/producer Ric Hordinski, who encouraged him to record. It seems to be a perfect match of regional strengths. Manuel has that great earthy Texas songwriting touch from the state that has produced so many classic songwriters.
Hordinski contributes his tremendous ambient guitar and production know-how producing a dense, sonic experience that brings Manuel's clever lyrics to a soaring texture in what might have otherwise been a more traditional singer-songwriting effort.
Manuel says he came late to the Texas songwriting tradition. He discovered at Texas A&M that a fellow alumnus was Lyle Lovett and realized, "I better get educated in Texas music. I became a raging Lyle Lovett fan."
Manuel performs a pair of release shows 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Monastery, Hordinski's studio/listening room theater at 2601 Stanton Ave., Walnut Hills ($12) - Cincinnati Post
Discography
Comic Book Hero- 2006 Album
Meta- 2000 EP
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Steve Manuel
(1945-2002)
Steven Alphonse Manuel was born backstage at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris, January 5, 1953, during the world premier of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting For Godot,” shocking his mother, who had already given birth to him once, eight years before. Beckett, a witness to the birth that night, commissioned his own epitaph on the spot: “I saw a baby born with lunch money in its pocket.” For Manuel, it was the beginning of a relationship with the stage that would last decades, garner millions of fans, and inspire three Elvis movies.
When he turned 16, Manuel’s mother was crushed beneath the foot of a rampaging Indian elephant, and he struck out, alone, in search of his estranged father, who had left the family ten years prior in search of his own father, a rampaging Indian elephant. His adventure took him to all corners of the globe, and little Stevie grew fast and strong in the lamplight of the world’s great societies:
At 19, traveling through Central Africa, Manuel – with his shock of bleach white hair – was mistaken for Nzambi, the supreme god for all the Kongo Kingdom. Later admitting his indulgence in hair product, he was demoted to a “nganga,” or a medicinal consultant in charge of rashes and phlegm.
At 23, Manuel burned his draft card and moved to Flin Flon, Manitoba, where he met and married a local anesthesiologist named Ruby who had induce-slept her way to the top of a prominent medical practice. The partnership unraveled, however, when Ruby admitted to splitting a cab once with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The marriage was annulled and all reference to it blotted out of subsequent Soviet encyclopedias.
At 28, piecing his life back together, Manuel returned to his musical roots, and started a traveling harp-lute band. “It’s 1973,” he would often say. “And the world is ready for me and my harp-lute.” But it would be another sixteen years of dingy bars and honky-tonks from Lisbon to Istanbul before Manuel would finally be able to say, “At last I can say, nobody likes the harp-lute, and nobody likes me, Steve Manuel, who plays it.”
Little did he know that success lay just around the corner. While rounding a corner at a market in Prague, Stashwan (as he now called himself) slipped on a honeydew and immediately remembered the lyrics to an original song he heard in a fever dream as a child. He jotted the lyrics down on a banana rind and faxed it to his friend Elton John, who informed him that the song had already been recorded as “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”, although with completely different lyrics and melody.
Devastated, alone, and still father-less, Manuel did the only thing he knew how to do: he courted investors, rented a stage on Broadway, and launched a musical based on his own life and experiences titled “Waiting For Godot.” It was a smash success, heralded by critics for its “rigorous use of the unities,” its “implacable interpretation of human life” and its “generously early intermission.” It was immediately embraced by audiences of toddlers and transients everywhere. Steven Manuel had become a household word, festooned with accolades and beclothed with rich coats of many colors (and also rich pants and matching boots of many colors). Yet Manuel would not admit success until 1998, when his name was used as a puzzle on Wheel Of Fortune under the clue “androgynous mysteries.”
Sadly, Manuel met with misfortune in May of 2002, when the airship he was attempting to fishtail suddenly burst into flames. He lingered in a partial coma for three weeks, emerging from his mental haze in short episodes long enough to swear vengeance on Schneider, before finally succumbing on June 17, 2002. He was 114. He is survived by his dog, Steven Manuel.
Links
