STEVE BINETTI PRESS TEXT
Introduction (Influences, Style and Driving Alone)
Influenced by the works of musicians and composers ranging
from J.S. Bach and Stravinsky to Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix,
Steve Binetti plays a varied repertoire of rock and roll and
blues. The influences of 1960s American and British rock are
evident on the title track off his debut solo album Driving
Alone, where Binetti’s guitar playing reverberates with volume
and warmth. Binetti tempers the driving energy of the more
“electrified” songs by juxtaposition with more introspective,
quieter tracks.
Driving Alone plays like a refracted view into Binetti’s
past, shedding light on a lifetime of preoccupations but always
keeping the music as the focal point around which the memories
appear relevant. On the track “Moonglow,” Binetti sings of
lost opportunity in a mournful waver of a voice. The object
of his yearning is reiterated but never elucidated, much as
the hazy title of the track suggests.
History
These memories come from an interesting set of experiences,
the melancholic tones of disappointment and rejection synthesized
from a lifetime of high expectations and deep falls. Born
in 1966 in what was formerly East Berlin, East Germany, Binetti
was educated in Russian and French and trained to be a chef.
After picking up the guitar at the age of 14, Binetti developed
a lifelong passion for music. Steve also played the harmonica
and the saxophone, but he later “lost that harmonica and fell
in love with the music of Hendrix,” whom he tried to imitate.
He didn’t like his job as a cook and so decided to “get lost
and found and become a musician.”
Binetti toured East Germany through the mid-1980s, playing
with the likes of Steven Garling, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conny_Bauer"Conny
Bauer, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_%28band%29"Klaus
Selmke (of the German band “City”), Peter Hollinger and Frank
Neumeier. He toured in the bands “Hard Pop,” “This Pop Generation,”
and “B.R.O.N.X.” A few of Binetti’s recordings with these
bands were published by the East German alternative record
label entitled “die Anderen Bands.” In 1986, Binetti married
a woman from West Berlin. Steve later said that this was the
“easiest and fastest way” for him to leave the GDR. He soon
found out, however, that getting established in the West was
neither easy nor fast.
Steve began his career in West Berlin as a dishwasher. After
living a few years in the West as a dishwasher to support
his family, however, Steve lost patience with the rigors of
capitalism and returned to East Berlin to become a “rock and
roller.” He found himself stranded in the streets of his hometown.
His luck began to turn around in the early 1990s, however,
when he was invited to perform at the Volksbühne in Berlin.
In 1991, Frank Castorf (director of the Volksbühne) watched
a few of Binetti’s performances and directly invited him to
perform in his stage-production of Clockwork Orange. Binetti
agreed and went on to perform with Clockwork Orange nearly
eighty times at the Volksbühne.
Binetti continued to compose and perform for Castorf’s Volksbühne
productions throughout the 1990s. He took part in the productions
of Fruen Fra Havet, Hochzeitsreise, Terrordrom, and, in 2006,
Bertolt Brecht’s Im Dickicht der Stadt.
Discography
Delphinium and Cynosure (1991 BMG)
The Complete Clockwork Orange Soundtrack (1993 Drunkenkid-Music)
Fruen fra Havet (1994 Drunkenkid-Music)
Herzentöter: Remixed and Original Soundtracks from the Motion
Picture (2007 Ziegler-Verlag, Drunkenkid-Music)
Driving Alone (2007 Drunkenkid-Music)
Timeline of Works
1992-2000 Composed and performed music-scores for Frank Castorf’s
stage-productions of “Clockwork Orange,” “Fruen fra Havet,”
“Hochzeitsreise,” “Terrordrom,” at the Volksbühne Theater
on Rosa-Luxembug-Platz, Berlin. Also toured with selected
stage-productions in Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic.
2001-2004 Worked as composer and musician regularly in Berlin
at the Schiller-Theater, Gorki-Theater, Sophien-Säle and in
Schauspielhaus Bremen for Susanne Truckenbrodt’s production
of “Bildbeschreibung” and Arek Smigiel’s productions of “Blaubart”
and “Romeo und Julia.”
2002-2004 Performed in concerts with his Band “The Future
Days.” Composed electronic soundtracks for theater and film.
2005-2006 Soundtrack for the ninety-minute cinema and television
production “Herzentöter,”
(Beyond the Balance), directed by Bernd Heiber and produced
by Tanja Ziegler.
2006-2007 Performed the soundtrack and live music for Frank
Castorf’s production of the Bertolt Brecht play “Im Dickicht
der Städte” at the Volksbühne, Berlin; additionally performed
in the production’s guest appearance in France and four-week
tour of Brazil.
more Informations:
Steve Binetti
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