Watch out guys, there is a young guitar ace you better watch out for on the music scene in Scotland. This 17 year old guitarist from Glasgow, demonstrates a maturity and command over the instrument that many never achieve. What sets this young man apart from others, however, is his sense of humor and creativity. Finding inspiration in everyday and not so everyday things ( Check out his song, The Inquisitive Sock Monster below or his Tangible Beach Ninjas on his myspace), Steve has a fun journey ahead of him, and it will be exciting to see his career develop!

Keep reading to learn more and listen to his song, The Inquisitive Sock Monster, while you are at it.

For the readers who may be unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe your music? Who are your main influences?

I suppose, for the most part, my music is my own take on certain styles and vibes. Not knowing, theoretically, exactly how to play jazz, for example, I would play whatever sounds like jazz from my perspective. Really, anything that is a sound… I like to see what I can do with it, hopefully in a musical way. Well to summarize all this, I don’t like to stick to one ‘style/genre’ , but sometimes my influences dominate and lead the way in my playing. I do like to explore.

As far as influences go it’s really a giant collaboration of all that I’ve listened to over the years and learned from as well as other non-music related things.

To name a few musical influences:

Mattias IA Eklundh, Ron Jarzombek, Ronald Jenkees, Jeff Loomis, Bobby Jarzombek, Neil Zaza, Spastic ink, Scott Henderson, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Robert Rodrigo, Kiko Loureiro, Tommy Emmanuel, Joe Satriani, Michael Romeo, Eric Johnson, Andy Mckee… These are some of the players that I have learned from so far.

And some non-musical influences: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (game)(this is both a musical and non-musical influence), Films with a good story, Art of all kinds, abstract things, life in general, “what-if” ’s, Zen Peace of mind.

So how did you get started playing the guitar?

In all honesty, it was really only a matter of time before I would eventually start playing guitar. My dad has quite the musical background and plays guitar himself but thankfully I started off young at the age of about 7 or 8 years old. So, more to the point, it was my dad who showed me the way and I’m thankful to him for that.

Before I had a guitar of my own I would ‘practice’ away on a plastic pirate sword doing F-chords and Metallica riffs…. ahhh those were the day’s… Haha.

I recommend to anyone wanting to introduce a child to music at some point to start ‘em as young as possible but maybe at least wait until they can walk first. Hehe.

What is one influential event that helped shape your playing style, or take it to the next level?

Probably the first one was seeing and hearing Slayer being played through a guitar tab software program at the age of 10. I was told that “these guys play this stuff note-for-note” and, at the time, hearing this I was in awe and determined to practice, progress, and be the best player I could be and since then I’ve still been doing that. So, strange as it may sound, hearing a virtual 200bpm solo was enough to do the trick.

This was also where I began listening to more technical music. Slayer paved the way to Dream Theater… somehow. That was my introduction to progressive music and that then paved the way to Jazz and so on.

As I started listening to more and more technical music the ‘healthy’-obsession to progress on guitar amplified.

I almost always write very late at night. Around 3am onwards. The reason is because at this time, presumably, everyone else is asleep except me. It helps me look at myself more clearly and find ideas to work with. It’s a nice atmosphere at that time but the result of doing this has made me nocturnal.

Perhaps some other musicians like to listen to artists right before they plan to write a song. I don’t like to do this because, for me, this way there is a bigger chance of subconsciously re-writing what I’ve just listened to. I’d look back on it and think “Damn! I’ve just re-written the Ghostbusters Theme”. Instead I’d find something non-music related that inspires me and I’d try to depict it through music.

What kind of gear are you using?

Well, man, not the best gear at the moment so to say but I like working with what I’ve got. I think it forces me to be a bit more creative. I’m using an Ibanez RG7321 Guitar recently installed with Dmarzio pickups. Blaze 702’s on the bridge and Air Norton DP793’s on the neck and I connect straight into the computer with a Line 6 PODxt effects processor/amp simulator.

I’m at the stage where I can either choose to get a job or play and progress on guitar all day.

Easy choice really Hehe.

Describe a normal day for you. How much time do you spend practicing and playing, talking to fans, networking, etc.

I’m at my last year in high school so as soon as I get it over with, for the day, I play from 4pm to usually around 10pm then rinse and repeat. After 10 usually I try to catch up with all the cool musicians and people I’ve met so far on myspace.com. I also spend that time trying to find people to share my music with and not just anyone and everyone. I hand type every message to people who have common interests in music and I don’t like to shove my music down their face like “Please please please Check out my music!” because music is about sharing (maybe cliché sounding but true I believe) and not just for the benefit of the player.

That’s what I find cool about it all though, when you enjoy making music and the people enjoy listening to it. It’s the ultimate unison in humanity, in my opinion.

What are you most proud of musically?

Being open-minded about music.

Any other thoughts or words of inspiration?

Just like to say thanks for having me at GPZ, It’s a great place for any guitar-player and I must say that it’s, genuinely, different.

For the next month or so I’ll be working on my guitar project “When Red Monkeys Fly.” Got six tracks down for it and plan to have over 14 tracks on it. At the moment I am working on the title song which will be a 2-parter (it’s quite long so I cut it into 2 parts).

I also plan to devote a song to weird timings, in this one I won’t have to do it in moderation.Thinking of also doing a Scottish song intended for all ears, a Spanish song, a classical fugue style song and more when I can think of other ideas. Should be fun to make and we’ll see what comes out.

When it comes to playing, be yourself and don’t worry if it’s conventional or not.

Some days are better than others but just stick to it and you’ll prevail and remember that music is not a competition and you’ve got to start somewhere.

Check him out and show him some love at Steve’s Myspace page!

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