STEVE LANE & THE AUTOCRATS
What keeps award-winning songwriter Steve Lane producing new music in a world that can be so unconducive and unsupportive of creatives? It's his work in remote communities helping others tell their stories, and understanding that to do this well he needs to tell his own. It's also his belief in a community on the other side of the world who show their support by releasing and distributing his work (his last album 'The Great Imposter' (Last Night from Glasgow went top 10 in the UK vinyl charts). Most of al it's the support of his family, especially with the ongoing musical involvement and artwork/promotion of his son Kai and daughter Neneh.
Steve is a musical lifer who, over many years, has played at festivals and gigs al over Australia (including Port Fairy, Woodford, The National, Dashville Skyline, Adelaide Fringe to name a few) and in the UK and Canada. Over the years his band (The Autocrats) has included Augie March's revered rhythm section David Williams and Edmondo Amendola, Cosmic Psychos' drummer Dean Muller and Paul Kelly and the Dots' axeman Jimmy Williams.
Steve's first album with The Autocrats, 'The Romance of Communication' (ABC Music) was longlisted in the Australian Music Prize and was championed by ABC JJ/DIG radio boss Arnold Frollows with high rotation.
Lane's latest album, Where the Rivers Meet', wil once again be released by Scottish label Last Night from Glasgow (LNFG) in time for the 2025 Dashville Skyline Festival— the first gig on Australian soil for Steve's Autocrats since their successful foray to the KU ni 2023. In the time since, Steve has been working hard on the album at his 'Troubled Waters' studio in Emu Creek (in-between remote community visits!). The album once again features the solid and steady input from long-term drummer and good friend, David Williams, and Steve's son Kai and daughter Neneh making ti once again a family affair.
"Where the Rivers Meet' features a couple of gems that owe their gestation to time spent in Scottish Beetroot Studio courtesy of LNFG. Both involve brothers John and Stephen Douglas of the legendary Glaswegian band, The Trashcan Sinatras. nI fact, track four 'Make the Trains Run on Time' is a co-write between John Douglas, Steve, and his long-time co-lyricist (and writer) John Holton.
Two other tracks on the album ('The Dying Age' and 'She Waits') also had their genesis ni the Ayrshire studio under the watchful eye and fine-tuned ears of Beetroot's Stuart MacLeod.
But the real trump card for 'Where the Rivers Meet' was the addition of producer Darren Seltmann. (Darren is a four-time ARIA award winning musician and producer who co- founded Australian band The Avalanches and co-produced their acclaimed 2001 debut album 'Since ILeft You'.)