Steve Oliver is one of the most inventive guitarists in contemporary instrumental music. He's a prolific writer who is constantly coming up new ideas for both his music and exploring technology to take it to new and different places. He's also a gifted singer-songwriter and a charismatic entertainer. And a joy to talk to because his passion for the music and his optimism and energy come across in long distance conversation just like they do when you are sitting on the front row.
He just released Global Kiss, which is on its way to becoming his most successful album ever. It is also his first on his own label. He has been gracious enough to talk to us several times over the years so we jumped right in where we left off two years ago as the story continues.

SmoothViews (SV): When I talked to you right after the Radiant CD came out we were talking about what direction you would take for your next studio project. You said  you were going to do a vocal oriented CD but at some point that shifted and you've done another instrumental oriented album.
Steve Oliver (SO): I actually wrote a bunch of vocal songs but I had a bunch of instrumentals too. I just write all the time so I was working on the instrumental songs and thinking of the whole concept of the global aspect of the music and that really inspired me. I think as artists we start going down a road and it never ends up where you thought it would when you started out. I decided to put some world music flavor in the vocal songs the way artists like Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon do and surround them with the instrumentals that were inspired by the Global Kiss theme of combining styles from all over the world. I listen to so many different types of music that a lot of that creeps into my writing. I like to go down different roads musically and that keeps me excited as a writer. One day I'll be in a singer-songwriter mood. Then I might hear a flamenco and want to write that, or even just hear a sound in nature and be inspired to turn it into music.

SV: The track that went out to radio -"Fun In The Sun" - is a very format friendly song. You've had some radio hits but you never really tried to shoehorn yourself into a format. Did you have any conscious thought of it being a radio song when you were working on it?
SO: Absolutely. I remember when I was writing it I felt like it had that vibe. It's a feel-good song- very melodic with an R&B type groove. I tried it out live while I was working on it and people really responded to it. They were smiling and bobbing their heads. When I saw that I knew it had to be the opening track.

SV: There are radio people who have this instinct that they can tell which songs are going to be hits. We call it "having ears." You're saying you can do that with the songs that you write?
SO: I can get to this place where I listen as a listener. I kind of step away from myself as the artist/songwriter and listen to my music. When I'm writing I'll get away from it, maybe step outside and do some stuff, then come back and press play and listen. If it feels good then I know it's a keeper. Not just as far as which song will be a radio song but which ones work at other levels.

SV: Doesn't that just really activate that evil inner critic?
SO: Sometimes it does. You do start beating yourself up or getting really critical and picky. When that happens I just have to step away and get back into my "listener" mode again. My gut instinct usually tells me right away and I go by that. I have done that on every project I've done.

SV: You can compartmentalize that in your head while you're in the writing and recording process?
SO: I do. I listen to a lot of albums and I love the way they flow. That's really important. When I'm finished with the songs I'll try them in different orders and listen to how they flow and come together. I know people buy single songs a lot now but I like to cater to the album listener.

SV: There are some themes that run through your body of work and they change and expand with every album but if you were asked to pinpoint the difference between Global Kiss and your previous albums what would you say?
SO: The main thing is that this time I used live musicians. I remembered doing a song on First View, actually it was the title track, where it was the drummer, the bass player and me and we played it live in the studio and kept those tracks. We were listening to each other and really connecting with each other and I loved that but I haven't done it since. This time I went into the studio with Bonny B, Humberto Vela, Tom Schuman, and a bass player named Rashan Westmorland and we all played live together in the studio and got the rhythm tracks down. The interaction with the musicians is so different from when we just play one part at a time or have everyone do their part in their own studio. We are in the moment and it brings the song to another level, especially with a group of musicians like this.

SV: You've worked with Tom before but this time you've got Marion Meadows, Alan Hewitt, Bob Baldwin, and Bonny B from Spyro Gyra who just fires up whoever he plays with.
SO: Bonny B is a force to be reckoned with (laughs). He brings an amazing energy to the songs. He just comes up with stuff and brings this real sense of fun to it. I think that really translates into the music when we are recording. It kicks it up to another level.

SV: Darren Rahn has become the new go-to producer and hit maker and he worked with you on "Fun In The Sun."  Did you specifically set out to work with him or did that come around later in the process?
SO: I definitely wanted him to play on the song. He was on the same label  I was on for a while and we struck up a friendship throughNate Harasim, who played keyboards on the track. Nate and Darren are songwriting partners. He has so many projects going on and I was really glad he could work on the track.

SV: Had you ever worked with Marion before?
SO: I met Marion when I was playing with Steve Reid in Bamboo Forest, I can't believe that was 12 years ago. Marion is in Phoenix and we have played on the same bill and we've jammed together so many times but I've never had him on a CD before.

SV: He did the art for the package too.
SO: He designed the cover. He's starting to do graphic design.

SV: The cover art is beautiful and I think the coolest thing is when you open the CD package and the cover of the actual disc is part of the picture on the inside sleeve.
SO: That was kind of my idea. I love the old fold out album covers that were actual pieces of art.  He was so passionate about doing it. He probably did 8 different concepts. He'd keep calling me and going “I came up with another one” and I would be saying “I like the one you already did!” Usually the art is done by the record company and you don't have input but now we are the record company and the art director was another musician. That was so much fun.

SV: Anyone who has the video or has seen you live over the past few years knows what an important part your percussionist Humberto Vela plays in your music. He is really showcased here and there is a lot of percussion driven music.
SO: I've always loved world music percussion, all the different instruments percussionists use and the hand on drum sound. Humberto and I have been playing together for five years and we've developed this vibe together. Even when we aren't doing gigs we get together at least once a week to practice and jam, we feed off each other and we are always trying to find new sounds and new ways to play as a duo onstage . We are both really into rehearsing, we just love to play,  He plays percussion on all of the songs and drums on four of them.

SV:  You've always toured the states a lot but you started traveling overseas more over the last few years didn't you?
SO: I started getting opportunities to play overseas. Last year we went to Spain, Germany, London, Indonesia, Jakarta – lots of global traveling. When you go overseas you realize how many people love this music. It's really inspiring. That was a real lightbulb moment when it came to the concept. We need to be looking at this as global, not just the US or even North America. I wanted to bring in elements of international music.

SV: Did any specific experiences you had while you were traveling influence the songs?
SO: Lots of them. One of the most fun parts was “Barcelo.” Barcelo is a hotel in Spain that was the coolest hotel I've ever seen. It was brand new, very modern. They had a slide going from the second floor to the lobby. Adults were going down it. You could slide your luggage down it and then slide down behind it. I wanted to catch that fun, hip vibe in a song.

SV: When you were in London you saw Abbey Road.
SO: I crossed it and got a picture taken like the Beatles cover. That's something I always wanted to do. I have the picture hanging in my studio right next to the original album cover. I even wrote my name on the wall at Abbey Road Studios. We couldn't get in because it was gated but there are these pillars outside that everyone writes their name on.

SV: One title is phonetic with a Brazilian vibe, a word you made up? Ba-Aye?
SO: I was working on the song and that's what I just started singing.  It's one of my favorite songs on the album, I wanted to get a Brazilian sound going and I was experimenting with the wording and melody and that's how it came out. Then I just made up a way to spell it (laughs).

SV: Do you ever not have a song in your head?
SO: I always have a song in my head. I even have one right now (scats a very cool Steve Oliver lick). There we go, there's another new one! I'm always humming grooves or making up melodies or weird sounds with my voice. The best stuff comes when I'm just walking around or doing something else, then I run into the studio and hit record and just sing it. That's how the writing process usually starts.

SV: What if you're at the grocery store?
SO: I'll just have to keep humming it and singing it so I don't forget it. Usually the good ones really stick. I get a lot of ideas when I'm touring. When you're out and about you hear music in different ways. Even sitting on a plane looking out the window – it's all music to me. The way the clouds move, the view when you are coming into a city. Everything has music and movement and I get inspired by that.

SV: You did “Fearless” on the CD/DVD project, then you put out a different version for radio, and now there's another different version on this CD.
SO: The live version had a lot of percussion driving it instead of a drum kit. I play bass and guitar on that one. I felt like the song was so strong that I wanted to add some more production to it so I went back in the studio to add some elements to it and put in the trumpet because it just worked. When I do it live I do the trumpet part with my voice. Then I added some more to it for the version on this album.

SV: The guitar sound is really crystalline. It reminds me of some of the early Metheny and Michael Hedges stuff.
SO: I've been getting into that sound a lot more. I used it on “Angel Amore” on this album and kind of showcased it on “Sojurn,” the song that leads into “Fearless” on the live album, and of course on “Fearless.”  I've had so many requests from fans for me to do a whole album that sounds like that.

SV: People would love it. They still love the older stuff I mentioned but there is something about having music that is new that validates it or re-validates it.
SO: Metheny has always been a huge influence on me. Not as many people have heard of Michael Hedges but he has been a huge influence  too. The tapping, the way he created sound with different fingering and different ways of touching the strings. And of course Pat Metheny with the melody and that fluid kind of sound. I created the sound for those songs using the guitar synthesizer and it just makes me play differently when I use it. It opens something up, it makes me write differently. I really am thinking about doing a whole project like that.

SV: Well, you have to now because it's in print and your fans are going to hold you to it!. The other thing I have felt strongly about since the beginning is that as a singer-songwriter you keep growing. You are able to capture the things people are going through, make them universal, not fall onto cliches, and add a sense of hope.
SO: That's the whole idea with me as far as lyric writing. I think the reason I don't write many love songs is because when I'm writing I'm always thinking globally, not about just one person. I am thinking about how I can help other people through my music. That's a constant thread with me, especially with the lyrics. I want to speak to everybody, not just generalize it. Like with “Life Goes On” I was thinking about all the stress and confusion people are going through. In that one I start off saying “there are lies down below us, lies straight ahead, lies all around us, but nobody knows what's there.” There is so much there. Nobody knows what's there. I've always been a fan of songwriters who can capture something in one line and that's what I try to do.

SV: You talked earlier about putting a lot of thought into sequencing the songs and the three vocal songs actually tell a story when you play them in sequence. “Life Goes On” is about how hard it can be to face the world as it is right now, but you've got to be “Fearless” and “Take Me Away” is about keeping faith while waiting for new doors to open. The first line of take me away was definitely one of your one liners that nailed it.
SO: Yeah, “just waiting for an opportunity, can you imagine it” wanting people to imagine it.

SV: Then the line about “slowly unwinding the string that so binds,” then you use the word “unraveling” which I just love. 
SO: When I came up with that one I didn't even know where it came from, but it was like I could see this ball of string. It's a visual thing too. We are all bound up and trying to unwind it..we're slowly unwinding it. The same thing with “Fearless.” I'm thinking globally. You've got to follow your passions, you do have to be fearless. You have to have hope. People have so much negativity coming their way and it's kind of my goal when I'm writing lyrics to let people know that there is something beyond that and you don't have to be bound by fear.

SV: I think that's the reason I've always felt so strongly about this side of your music. People need to hear this right now in a real way that isn't all greeting card sounding.
SO: It's kind of hard when you are in this genre and your identity is mostly instrumental.

SV: But we have a genre that has been unlocked and opened over the last year. As Golub said in our interview a few months ago “the handcuffs are off.” And you don't even have a record company telling you what to do because you've started your own label.
SO: What's really cool is that now is the perfect time to do it, because there really aren't any more stores selling this product you don't have to worry about distribution deals. You can go directly to the audience. It's a lot of work and attention to detail but you see exactly what is going on with your albums and you have control when it comes to promoting it and making it available. Right now Global Kiss is #1 on Amazon's instrumental chart.

SV: I knew it had gone top 10, and so did Ken Navarro's new one which was also on his own label and also reaching out to listeners directly without being filtered by a format.
SO: It was #1 for four days on the Amazon sales chart. It's so great because it doesn't matter what label you're on, or even if you have a label. People hear your music or already know you and see your name and they can buy. It's going to become all about the music again.

SV; You've been getting out and doing all these interviews with both the big names like Art Good and Dave Koz and the new indies like Blake Aaron's show, Talking Smooth Jazz and Smooth Jazz Conversations and people who love it when they hear it on these shows can buy it while they are still excited about it instead of putting it on a to-do list for errand running. It is work and it takes time to do the publicity but when you're passionate in the interview and the music is strong people pick up on that and go straight to the “buy” button.
SO: You have to tell people about what you are doing and really get out there. It does work and I hope it inspires other artists to do the same thing because it does work. It's hard work but it's worth in in the end, when you own your own product and you have all the say through the whole process.

SV: It takes a lot of commitment, especially since the economy has hit music sales and concert attendance. But a lot of artists are adapting to the new business models and creating them in the process and you've been ahead of the curve when it comes to creating original music and making sure it gets out there.
SO: It's just flat out passion. Everybody can take away the jobs and things like that but you can't take passion out of people. Things like the economy or the business climate are not going to take the passion out of me. If you're passionate about what you're doing and you're just headstrong and keep going, you're going to be fine. I really believe that. I don't care how bad times are getting. You'll find ways to make it work and I think that's what's happening with a lot of people. You may have to do something different, or a try lot of new things but when you are passionate you will make it work.

SV: That's what it's all about right now and it takes a lot of dedication and heart to stick with it. You're a wonderful role model and an inspiration for everyone who is committed to keeping this music alive and growing.