Hey, hey, I’m a Weak Man
author: mason sliva | a&c editor
The Steves rocking Swamp Fest. Jael Bartnik.
A look into Regina’s favourite goofball, Piper Burns of The Steves
This article is going to be just like the Steves. Fast Paced. Try and keep up.
The Steves are a band from Regina, comprised of frontman Piper Burns, guitarist Ethan Anderson, bassist Andy Beisel, and drummer Paul Bogdan. However, the band finds strength in unity. In this way, they are all Steve. We are all Steve. All hail Steve. For the remainder of this article, the members of the band shall only be referred to as Steve.
The legend of the Steves begins like this. After dropping out of university, Steve formed a curling team with the rest of the Steves, which just so happened to be called the Magnificent Steves. The four Steves soon after began jamming over songs that Steve had written on his brother’s old Danelectro Guitar. Together, the four Steves would decide if Steve’s songs sucked or not. Usually they didn’t. After lots of practicing, the Steves began playing shows all over Regina, earning themselves lots of love and respect.
Steve has listed many influences, including artists such as Jay Reatard, Randy Newman, Wanda Jackson, and Jonathan Richman. When prompted, Steve claimed that Regina has been extremely influential for him, as Regina is all that Steve knows. Steve commented on the bands songs, saying they were written about “All the usual boring dude rock stuff: self-hate, love, Rock N’ Roll, Nicholas Cage, cowboys, loss.”
These themes are certainly reflected in the group’s newest release, Weak Man. The release, their first full-length album, adds to the already electrifying sounds of the Steves, and provides familiar tones for all loyal Steves fans. When asked for background about Weak Man, Steve added, “Most of the tunes we’d been playing live for quite awhile but I ended up writing one or two extras as well. The theme is pretty obvious. Steve is conflicted between who he is and who he probably could be if he cared enough, or something like that. I don’t really know; they are just songs.”
However, despite Steve’s modesty, the full length is a big step forward for the group. Steve credits his pal, Chris Dimas, for putting his ass is gear and getting an album released. Steve’s favourite song off of Weak Man is “Not the Only One in Love With You” due to the speed and excitement of the song. The group debuted the album during Swamp Fest, at the afternoon show on Willow Island. Steve believes that Swamp Fest is bound to be an institution for years to come.
The Steves had a busy spring, travelling out west on their Do We Even Know Anyone in Kelowna? tour. Steve had a blast, commenting, “None of the shows sucked, surprisingly, and we made lots of good pals.”
Steve says that he tried oysters for the first time in Victoria and now that’s all that he talks about. Pretentious bastard.
Outside of the Steves, Piper tries to work on as much artistically as he possibly can. He plays in other groups, including the Florals, and has released solo acoustic material. He believes that writing acoustic songs has given him the ability to get away from the Steves and not get stuck musically.
I’ll finish this off with a warning. If you see Piper, think twice before telling him he looks like Mac Demarco. The last guy that did that got fired. It is unknown at this time if there is any correlation.
To hear some of Piper’s material with the Steves, or on his own, check out his various profiles: The Steves on Facebook, and Bandcamp at thestevesss.bandcamp.com, or piperburns.bandcamp.com.