If NYC singer/songwriter Steve Tannen had any doubts about trying to make it as an indie artist, reaction to his debut CD Big Señorita should be putting them to rest. Not only has he won awards in the Unisong International Song Contest and the ABET Music Contest, but Performing Songwriter Magazine named Big Señorita one of the top DIY CDs of the year and spotlighted Steve in the September/October 2001 issue. Earlier this year, he and his brother (fellow DIY artist Greg Tannen) won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for 'Vegas Baby', a song they wrote together.
Steve’s busy tour schedule has helped keep the momentum going. He’s a regular performer at Greenwich Village’s legendary nightclub The Bitter End and also plays other clubs like The Living Room. When he took the time for a quick interview, he had just finished playing several dates in Oregon and was planning to hit the road again.

How did your recent shows in Oregon go?

In Oregon I was touring with Deb Talan, who played in Portland for years, and so the shows were all packed. That always helps. I felt really welcomed everywhere we played. The fact that I live in NYC and the attacks had just happened gave everybody an extra little bit of kindness. But I also just think that people just responded well to the shows, and I think the shows are getting better. I'll be going back to Oregon and Washington in the spring.

Do you drive your own car when you tour? How's it holding up?

I just got new brakes last week, so I feel that if I can just get the car rolling fast enough, I can stop at the appropriate spots on the tour.

Your parents were both musicians. What instruments did you play growing up? When did you start playing guitar?

The three Tannen boys all were required to play an instrument. I chose piano because my Dad played it, and I continued to play it badly throughout childhood at my parents' command. Later I wanted to play guitar to get girls to like me. So I got my brothers to teach me some chords, and then I sat in front of the radio for about six months and learned that way. Then I got obsessed with pop music and it just kind of unraveled from there.

You had many other jobs before you became a songwriter. How did you get the Production Assistant job in L.A.? What other jobs did you have before you began finding your voice as a singer/songwriter?

It was hard. I went to LA because I had friends there I could stay with, and because I was broke. I took a job as a busboy because it was the only job I could find. I hated being a busboy but I needed the money. Then, a friend said he could get me a job as a Production Assistant moving lights around; being a Production Assistant paid a lot more, about 100 bucks a day, so I did that. Then, I heard that songwriting paid nothing at all, so, um...er...I...um...huh. Anyway, I did all sorts of jobs to pay the rent: I made pizzas, I stacked hay for a farmer in Colorado, I drove a grocery van. I've talked to a lot of people who bumped along on the bottom of the river before the current kind of carried them. That's how I look at it.

What led you to move to NYC? How did you start finding an audience and places to play?

There was a little open mic in 1997-98 at a NYC bar called Downtime -- it ended up being the gathering place of a lot of young musicians, and most of the songwriters I kind of learned with were there at that time. We all shared shows and audiences, and it was a real tiny community that kind of grew as we did. Building an audience has a lot to do with community I think.

Is it hard being in the same line of work and living in the same city and playing the same venues as your brother? Does it ever get competitive?

I love playing with Greg. He's a great guy and very talented, so much so that sometimes you just want to deck him. We're on great terms. We hang out together, we write together, and we're doing a tour of California next month that should be really fun. Unless I deck him first.

What's your favorite NYC venue to play and why?

There's a group of people revolving around the Bitter End that I'm very involved with, and playing there feels like playing for your clubhouse buddies as a kid. I also love a tiny tiny club called the Living Room, which is a free space and does feel like playing in someone's living room.

What has been the response to "Big Senorita" since its release?

Amazing. Performing Songwriter Magazine named it one of the Top 12 DIY releases of the year, and I've sold out of the CD once already. On a wider scale though, I've had trouble getting the "industry" to listen -- the big magazines and commercial radio stations won't even open your package, and certainly won't talk to you. That's the indie artist conundrum I guess. You have total control, but nobody else is making any money from you, so you really have to do everything yourself. Word of mouth has been pretty crucial.

Has your Web site been an effective tool in increasing your audience and CD sales? (And what possessed you to put a nude shot of yourself on your web site?)

The Internet is my only distribution source, and through it I've sold CD's all over the world (Norway, Spain, Australia), and people have found the site (and the music) through some very strange channels. I could not have done this ten years ago. Concerning the nude shot, I didn't really know that anyone would SEE the site, let alone find that page. I made a lot of this CD in a basement, and while you hope people will care, deep down you don't know. I thought it was a funny picture, so I put it up kind of on an odd page, and then...oops! Thousands of hits! At this point, the "nude" is kind of like a tourist attraction, so I'll probably leave it up until I revamp the whole site (which I hope to do when I release the next CD).

Your songs on Big Señorita seem to focus on loneliness. Do you see yourself as someone who isolates? What influences the mood of your songs?

I just stayed in a house with a one-year-old baby, who is being given her own room for the first time ever. If you want to hear lonely and scared isolation, you should hear this baby scream when she wakes up alone in the dark at 4 AM. With that in mind, I grew up very aware of being apart from other people. I think a lot of people are that way, and that might be what people connect with when they say they like the music. When I've been loneliest I listened to music and it helped. That's a big part of the reason I'm a musician. I don't isolate myself on purpose, but I think everyone is a little isolated regardless.

Which song on Big Señorita do you think would make the best video? What would it look like?

I think the most visually interesting television shows are the cartoons: I'd like it to be animated by the people who did MTV Liquid Television, or maybe some of the original Marvel Comics artists, like the guy who used to draw Silver Surfer. But it's funny because the band was just joking about this: they all like live-action videos where someone take their clothes off. Song-wise, that would be either Brother Uptown (where someone slips money into my jeans, presumably when I am without said jeans) or Shelter Hotel (where a girl takes off a dress at the end, plus we could go to Paris for the shoot!).

Are you able to support yourself entirely with your music now?

When I released the CD I was at the point where I only worked weekends as a temp, and now I don't do it so much anymore. But I haven't cut off the possibility of paying rent that way either -- I've heard some nightmare stories about music. This is a pretty uncertain source of income.

When you get out to clubs to listen to other artists, who do you see? What's on your CD player right now?

These days I spend so much time in clubs that I don't usually want to pay to do that, but I see a lot of local artists here in NYC, like Joe Brack, Redtime, Deb Talan, Hugh Pool, and they're amazing. I got to see a bunch of better-known musicians this summer at some festivals, artists I've known about for a while but never gotten to see, like Rickie Lee Jones and Gillian Welch.

In My Sony 6-Play:
Manu Chao: Esperanza
Deb Talan: Sincerely
Son Volt: Trace
Jim Boggia: Fidelity is the Enemy
Steve Tannen: Unfinished Demos for the new CD (yikes)
REM: Murmur (on sale for 6 bucks at a Portland store!)

Where do you want to be in five years? Do you want to stay indie, or are you looking for a label deal?

I want to make music as long as people will let me, and that's what I see myself doing five years from now. If someone wants to help me continue to make music, great. I'm making a living and making music and I'm pretty happy. So in order to change any of that, somebody needs to offer something genuinely helpful.

Who would you love to tour with -- your dream lineup?

At some point, it would be great to bring my NY band on the road. I'll need to about triple my CD sales to do that. Touring with other artists is a balance between fitting musically, and being able to function on the road together. You never know how it's going to go until you get lost in Muckwuk and get a flat tire and are late for the show. Then you kind of understand whether or not you should all be touring together. I've been lucky so far.

What are your future touring plans? Where would you like to play that you haven't played yet?

I'd like to get a booking agent to take some of the exhausting work off my hands, so I could tour more consistently -- it's not coordinated very well. I'm still pretty new at this. I want to build an audience to merit bigger venues, but I really like the intimate places I've been playing lately.

What are your plans for the next CD?

Working on it. It'll be another indie release, ten new songs. Trying to get it out this winter.

To get updated tour dates and order copies of Big Señorita, visit Steve on the web at www.stevetannen.com .

Ed Note :
Jennifer Layton is an indie music journalist who also writes for Indie-Music.com and GoGirlsMusic.com. She recently joined the Entertainment staff of CaryOnline and writes freelance articles on indie releases for Raleigh’s Spectator Magazine. She lives in North Carolina and can be reached at jennifer@indie-music.com .

Photos by kind permission of Michael B. King.