Everyone’s got a unique story about their musical upbringing, things that “moved” them at certain time periods. I can track mine by school years, each new time period adding new influences to the previous one:

Birth Till School Years – Classical, Sinatra, Swing, My jazz singing mom, Rosemary Conte.

Kindergarten – Motown; Temps, Supremes, Stevie W.

Elementary School – Beatles, Who, Small Faces, Hollies, Stones, Sly, Monkees

Middle School – Chuck Berry, J. Geils Band, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Aerosmith, Bad Co., Hendrix, Philly Soul

High School – Jeff Beck, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Yes

College – Police, Pretenders, XTC, Jazz Fusion guitarists; McLaughlin/ Mahavishnu, Carlton, Morse, Metheny, Scofield, Stern, Martino & Trad Jazz; Wes Montgomery, Charlie Parker, Miles, Monk, Trane

Post-School Years – Replacements, Tom Waits, Morphine, Iggy, Chris Spedding, Humble Pie, Faces, Chris Whitley, Jeff Buckley, old Blues, classic R&B (Stax, etc) and Soul.

Everything I’ve done since then has been informed by that list.

This is not a list of the only stuff I ever liked or listened to, just what I feel informed my writing, singing & playing.

If i could put together the ultimate rock-soul-jazz fusion band it would be songwriting like Lennon/Waits/Westerberg/Partridge with a singer like Paul Rogers/Rod Stewart/Wilson Pickett/Sly Stone & a guitarist like Jeff Beck/Page/Keef/Townsend/ Stern/Scofield. It would NEVER work! And that is why – I’m a marketing nightmare and no major label would ever touch me again… 🙂

So there you have it. No Clapton. No Dolls. No Pistols. If i didn’t list it, it wasn’t an “influence”.

New video: Steve comes to you LIVE from the Wicked Cool Record offices in NYC to play a solo acoustic version of his summer 2023 single, “Fourth Of July”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAfBlYir4us&ab_channel=SteveConteNYC

The record is available on 7” Limited Edition cloudy blue vinyl, downloads and streaming at the following link: https://orcd.co/FOURTHOFJULY

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Steve talks about writing his new single “Fourth Of July” with Andy Partridge of XTC and how he met Little Steven Van Zandt and came to be signed to his label, Wicked Cool Records (Spoiler Alert: it had nothing to do with playing in the New York Dolls or Michael Monroe band…)

#littlesteven #stevievanzandt #wickedcoolrecords #andypartridge #xtc #steveconte #fourthofjuly

Today marks the OFFICIAL VIDEO release for the new single on Wicked Cool Records!!

Steve Conte – Fourth Of July (Official HD Video)

New York City guitarist, singer & songwriter Steve Conte has released a video for his new single, co-written with Andy Partridge (XTC)  titled  “Fourth of July.”

The recording features drummer Prairie Prince (The Tubes, Todd Rundgren) who played on XTC’s classic album, ‘Skylarking.’ On bass is Steve’s brother John Conte, with Andrew Hollander on piano. 

The song & video serve as a follow-up to his 2021 acclaimed solo album Bronx Cheer, and offers an early preview of his upcoming new LP due out in 2024 via Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records.

The song’s official video was made by 12 Inch Media, UK. Graphics & production by David Provan.  Green screen footage filmed at DCity Studios in Long Island by Don Chaffin. (Thanks to Danny Stanton & Gav McCaughey)

“Fourth of July” was written with one of my favorite songwriters of all time, from one of my fave bands – Andy Partridge of XTC. I feel blessed to be writing with one of my heroes…and to be recording for Little Steven Van Zandt’s label, Wicked Cool Records,” says Conte.

“With a title like “Fourth of July” I knew I didn’t want to make this song lyric at all patriotic American or about Independence Day – I wanted it to be about the sparks that fly, the fireworks that go off in a relationship. One with intense chemistry…love, fulfillment …bombs bursting in air, ya know? Explosions, yes – but no stars & stripes.

The chorus of the song is one that I’ve had kicking around since the 90s. I wrote the hook while getting ready to leave my NYC apartment for some July 4th event – I just started singing about what was happening that day. The hook was all there; chords, melody, the title lyric, the phrasing – complete with that odd timing. I thought it could be something special because I never forgot it.”

At the link below, you can pre-order signed/personalized copies of the LIMITED EDITION 7” single on cloudy blue vinyl and find your favorite digital music sites to buy or stream it!

PRE-ORDER IT HERE

Note: The physical single will not ship until late August/early September, but the downloads & streaming will become available on the date of the song’s release, June 30, 2023.

(The B-Side is an acoustic version of a very cool song, “Poison Candy Heart” by Mark Mulchahy of Miracle Legion.)

Steve Conte – Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Percussion * John Conte – Bass * Prairie Prince – Drums * Andrew Hollander. – Piano * Mixed by Geoff Sanoff @ Renegade Studios, NYC