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We’re all from the African-Diaspora and I think that’s the kind of wider space we operate in. Is there one thing that unites all Steam Down members? We learn different bits of words and language. We also all learn about each other’s cultural backgrounds. So, I think everybody’s comfortable with cultural weaving. Anything with Afronaut Zu in, might switch between Yoruba and English. Shumba Maasai (who is featuring on ‘Can’t Hold Me Back’) is from Zimbabwe originally but was born here. Generally speaking, I would say all of the influences are found in London because the city is a cultural melting pot. The new EP’s lyrics are multi-lingual – would you say you have been influenced by sounds from outside of the UK? And outside of that I’ve done quite a lot of different sessions with people through the years. Before that I also played in a project called Family Atlantica which was an Afro-Venezuelan project. I played with a couple of people before – I’m trying to think who to pull from the list – the main band I played with before was United Vibrations and that was a project with Yussef Dayes, his brothers and myself. Who had you played with before starting Steam Down? They are all people who have crossed paths, it started very organically.
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Zu and Tinyman (both vocalists) have been friends for a while, so they came into the project together. So many different ways but they are mainly people I have met across the scene – friends of friends – Benji the drummer is friends with Dom (on keys). Mostly people are on stage but sometimes people might not be. Part of it is an artist collective, part of it is a weekly event, and outside of that we have a writing group.Īre some of the people who do the writing people who we don’t see on stage? I would say Steam Down is a music organisation. We haven’t really coined a term or one word that describes it yet! Ultimately, I think you need to experience it. However, I think you can break those down into a lot of difference spaces. Those are the three main things if you want to explain it to somebody in its simplest form. If you want to describe the sound, I’d say it’s a combination of afrobeats, hip hop and jazz. Ahnansé sat down with Dummy to talk about the origins of Steam Down and everything we can expect from them next. Since then, they’ve appeared on stages at festivals, from Green Man to Glasto, and beginning on the 17th October, they’re heading off on tour with their brand new EP ‘Five Fruit’. Steam Down was founded in 2017 by multi-instrumentalist Wayne Francis, artist name Ahnansé, who fronts Steam Down and leads their improvised sections at gigs, usually wearing his signature boiler suit. Fans can support Steam Down via subscription platform The Floor in return for early bird ticket sales, because SD Weekly usually sells out.
#Steam down plus#
Each week, their core members, plus a few guests (usually vocalists) link up to play to a dedicated following, who are notified of ticket sales via WhatsApp. If you’re not already in the loop, Steam Down are the collective force of energy that tear up a Southeastern part of London every Wednesday night at the Matchstick Piehouse in Deptford, and have done for the past three years.