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Written by Joel Lapp Tuesday, 16 May 2006 07:52

This month, PlaybackSTL caught up with Steve Ewing before his return to St. Louis on Saturday, July 27 at Mississippi Nights. Previously the voice of St. Louis’ own The Urge, Ewing and his cohorts were a mainstay in local venues. Ewing relocated to L.A., where since the group’s breakup he’s been working on solo material and is now prepping a tour with his new band.

JL: So what’s the lowdown on your new project?

SE: Well, we’re called Stevie E. Three of us are actually from St. Louis, and our drummer Paul is from Florida by way of Los Angeles. So we’re all based out of L.A., but originally three of us grew up in St. Louis. The guitar player is Craig Florez, bass is Barry Hinnton, and the drummer is Paul Allen.

My new music is very much rock-based, with more of a ’60s soul kind of vibe to things. I’d written all the music months ago and recorded, then I brought the music to the guys and we put it to work.

JL: What’s the biggest difference you’ve come across in the LA music scene versus St. Louis?

SE: There’s definitely a big difference. In a city like L.A., you have a million bands and the industry here. It’s crazy, man, you get all these bands, and some of them suck—well, a lot of them suck—and a handful of good ones. In a city like St. Louis, you don’t have a ton of bands, but in order to get a gig you have to be somewhat good.

JL: Can we expect to see you back around town with a new album in the near future?

SE: By all means, yeah. This show is just kind of a kickoff for our little touring season, which will start mid- to late September. What better place to kick it off than St. Louis, ya know?

The album is now actually going to be a seven-song EP. I’m shooting for a mid-August release, if everything goes right with the artwork and all that kind of stuff. That would be the only hold up. If it goes any later, it would just be toward the end of August. But it’s a seven-song EP, packed with just some hot-ass shit. It’s called Here We Go Again.

JL: How are you surviving in a city where you can’t even get toasted ravioli as an appetizer?

SE: Oh, it’s all good. I’m vegetarian so I get a lot of other things that are good. I try to hip people to stuff like toasted ravioli, crab rangoon, and pizza with—what is that—provolone cheese? And they look at me like I’m retarded.

JL: On a more serious note, what’s the deal with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson? You think they’re really going at it?

SE: I tell you what, man, I think it’d be great. At least for him anyway. That’s a good catch for him. For her, maybe she might hook up with somebody who’s got some sense. Seems like she’s always hooking up with somebody that’s half-psycho. I don’t know. It seems like it might be a good little thing. Even though they are like 20 years apart or some shit. If I was him, I’d tap that ass and I’d be happy about it.