George Steel

BIOGRAPHY

George Steel started as a voice. While working on a nondescript pop song with a friend, an improvised bass riff gave way to a style of singing Michael Quint had never explored before. The voice had a weight and depth, a theatrical heft, that birthed the persona of George Steel. Quint entered into a contentious relationship with Steel, attempting to figure out who he was and what he had to say. To facilitate the process Quint reached out to Ernesto Grey, a producer he had previously worked with in Austin, Texas. During a phone call outside of a Blink Fitness, a raucous Quint explained his vision of George Steel to Grey, and Grey, willing to entertain him, invited Quint to fly out and record. In early 2023 Quint and Grey began to establish a new sonic world that built character-based avant-pop out of folk and Americana roots. The duo took inspiration from the richness of Scott Walker’s voice and the theatricality of Orville Peck and Walt Disco, while drawing from (and subverting) the sonic and lyrical absurdities of Kirin J. Callinan and Father John Misty. 

With the help of over 20 musicians from Austin (including members of Font, Lady Dan, and Loveme) George Steel’s debut album, Desire on the Range, became real. Steel’s life took shape—a snake-oil selling American rock star, a mythic man born outside of a Gun Barrel City strip mall— Steel is a totemic purveyor of music to die joyfully to. Starting his career as a run-of-the-mill folk singer, divine punishment for his hubris left Steel with hands of steel. Now less than human, Steel sings with an unmatched conviction about love in a world collapsing under its own exuberance.

The space between Steel and Quint allows for earnestness, and Grey’s experimental and open production plays with this. These are songs that find ecstasy in the follies of Americana: the wild pop anthem “Pleasure is the Place" gives us a glamorous Steel desperately wishing that Pleasure could cure us all, and on the country song “Wrong” Tyler Dozier of Lady Dan points to a falseness in Steel’s heart. “Sunday Service,” an aggressive pop track, exposes and explores the dark sides of Steel’s ego. “Irene” a Black Country New Road inspired ballad, has Steel singing to Saint Irene about his confused memories of once being her, and his desire to go back and heal Saint Sebastian, whom Irene is fated to save. It’s a gleefully diverse sonic portfolio, held together by Grey’s production and Quint’s bold vocal style and lyrics.

Quint, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, brings the character’s tensions to the stage as he embodies Steel and delivers truthful, intense performances with his “backing band:” pianist and arranger Nico Fennel, cellist Evan Rycebusch, guitarist Jack Rush Kelly, bassist Alex Kan, drummer Seamus Holland, and vocalist Frances Hoggard. Photographer Blake Nelson also brings his skills to the table, helping to build out the visual world of George Steel.  As they get ready for the release of Desire on the Range, Grey and Quint have enlisted Fennel (who has also produced for Quiet Light) to begin work on a self-titled sophomore album.