One of the Sunshine Coast’s most prolific songwriters will launch a months-long performance tour highlighting the region’s colourful music venues this week. For vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Wright (who appeared for decades under the artist name Steve Weave), his Coasting tour begins at a location where he’s never appeared before: the Sechelt Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market, on April 13.
“I’ve lived here for 20 years and I’ve been very active in musical circles,” said Wright, “but there are venues that I’ve never even played. So that was sort of the impetus: I’m going to go out and share my music and resurrect some songs that I’ve never played live, or maybe I’ve never played at all.”
Wright’s catalogue of original songs now exceeds 80 numbers. For the 10 concerts he has booked so far, Wright plans to perform almost entirely selections from his own work.
Wright operates The Sound Studio at the Sunshine Coast Art Centre in Sechelt, the epicentre of his teaching, mentoring and recording projects. Intergenerational collaboration is one of Wright’s hallmarks: in 2022 he worked with longtime protégé Spade Hoile to release a powerfully pensive album of hard rock.
A musical colleague from Toronto recently admonished Wright for becoming cloistered in the studio, hemmed in by instruments that include a collection of cigar box guitars. He realized it was time to hit the road again.
On May 10, Wright will perform on the grand piano alongside cellist (and five-term BC MLA) Nicholas Simons at the Artesia Coffee House in Sechelt. The show will also feature the Sunshine Coast Complaints Choir, a group that Wright assembled for a Rogue Fest 2022 performance of local grievances set to original melodies.
Wright’s current band Old Yeller (which includes Mark Yellowley on saxophone, David Carson on guitar, Chris Greenfield on bass, and Mark Cameron on drums), which performed at Rogue Fest last year, is also scheduled for two shows in July.
Old Yeller is one of a long line of bands that Wright has contributed to over his musical career. His first, Lonesone Charlie, took its name from the cheapest bottle of red wine his college bandmates could find on the shelves of a nearby liquor store. As part of the indie rock band Mazinaw, Wright toured Western Canada and opened for Tsawwassen-based rockers 54-40. He was part of the legendary Coast band Supercabin (“a kind of chaotic improvisational rock band,” he said). Supercabin was famed for its endurance: its members once played a six-hour set at the Roberts Creek Community Hall.
“I’m always writing songs,” said Wright. “I’m writing songs in the morning first thing when I wake up. If I have an idea, I’ll speak something into my phone or hum a melody. It’s really just who I am in my life.”
Wright’s ad hoc projects — like last November’s tribute to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York concert — reflect his roots as a deep-dyed rocker. Despite that, he’ll be visiting the Pender Harbour School of Music for the first time on July 12, appearing with the band Them Ordinary Things. The group specializes in the homespun rhythms of acoustic Americana.
“I feel like [the tour] is a bit of a celebration,” said Wright. “I’ve done this for a long time and I continue to love it and it sustains me in my life.”
Details of Wright’s Coasting tour are online at his artist website: steveweave.com.
