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For other uses, see Steve McQueen.
"Steve McQueen" is the first single from Welsh rock band The Automatic's second album This Is A Fix. It is their fifth single overall. The track began radio and video play as of July 7, 2008.[1]
[edit] Production[edit] Original performanceWritten originally by Robin Hawkins, Alex Pennie, James Frost and Iwan Griffiths, the track was one of two new songs performed on the NME 2007 Indie Rock Tour, the other being "Revolution", which is now titled "Secret Police". The original version differed slightly lyrically in the second verse with what is now "the engine was running but I couldn't get away, I didn't see any reason to stay", other differences include the use of synthesizers and keys by Alex Pennie in the original version; also before the outro in the song there was a section of screams from Pennie before breaking into the final chorus, this has now been completely removed.[2] [edit] CreditsThe track was produced by Butch Walker, whilst Ryan Hewitt engineered, and the track was then mixed by Stephen Harris. The track was recorded at Sage & Sound Recordings in Los Angeles. Extra backing vocals came from Chris T-T and Frank Turner, whilst Paul Mullen and James Frost sing the main backing vocals and Robin Hawkins sings lead vocals. B-sides "Big Ideas", "In This World" and "Young Entrepreneurs" were produced and mixed by Richard Jackson and recorded at Warwick hall in Cardiff.[3] [edit] ArtworkThe artwork for "Steve McQueen" was completed by David Bailey of Kiosk, who has previously worked with guitarist Paul Mullens band Yourcodenameis:milo for their artwork on Print Is Dead Vol 1, They Came From The Sun and others.[4] The single also credits Shaun Bloodworth for photography on the single. [edit] Current performanceWith the addition of Paul Mullen to the band the song retains the three-part vocals seen throughout previous material. The song no longer has Pennie's high pitched backing vocals; instead, Paul sings and plays guitar throughout. The song was performed by the band for the The Daily Telegraph and later for NME at Glastonbury Festival 2008 as an acoustic session.[5][6] [edit] ReleaseIt was originally thought that the song would be released as a non-album single in early 2007 after Frost stated in an BBC interview that the band planned on releasing a one-off single in April 2007; it is speculated that the track was recorded around this period with Alex Pennie in the band.[7] The release of Steve McQueen as a one-off single was then re-stated in an interview with designer magazine where drummer Iwan Griffiths stated they had recorded over Christmas 2006 and hoped to release the new tracks (McQueen and Revolution) in 2007 before bringing out a new album. It is still unknown whether the original recordings with Alex Pennie still with the band will ever be released in any form in the future.[8]  The first leak of the song occurred on Youtube with a live version of the track being broadcast on February 15, 2007 with Pennie still in the band; it was not until 2008 that multiple live versions of the track appeared on Youtube.[2] The first official preview of the song was in the band's first 2008 tour Webisode released on June 11, 2008 where a live version of the track can be heard along with "Raoul".[9] The track premiered at 7.15 pm on the Zane Lowe show on BBC Radio 1 on July 7, 2008; moments later a clip of the track was added to the bands myspace and it was also announced that NME.com would be hosting the video premiere on July 8. The track in its first week was added to Radio 1's C List and Greg James' record of the week.[10] The release was celebrated by an instore signing in Cardiff HMV, followed by a party and secret later on that evening in Cardiff; due to the record label's (Polydor/B-unique) stupidity the single was released a day late, August 19, 2008.[11] [edit] Use in the mediaChannel 4 program 4music: V Festival 2008 used a segment of the song during the show on August 16, 2008. The song was recently used in a video edit on Formula 1's website for the highlight reel of the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. [edit] MeaningOn the BBC Radio 1 Jo Whiley show the band talked about the story behind the song "A lot of the themes of the first album were about growing up in a small town - because its all we'd ever done with our lives, and Steve McQueen is the last of that, it puts it all to bed, its about having left (Cowbridge) and then returning and just not feeling a part of the place and having moved on" - Robin Hawkins, then asked why its called when asked why its called Steve McQueen; "the escape theme, his frequent escaping in all of his films" - Frost "not all of them" - Iwan - "particulary the Great Escape" - "Did he escape in that?", Paul "no but he tries doesn't he" - Frost.[12] In an interview with Xtaster.co.uk Rob stated; "it’s a romantic reference to growing up in Cowbridge and dreaming of a Great Escape". [13] [edit] Music videoThe music video was filmed on June 15, 2008 in the Mojave Desert, California, the same location used for the music videos The Killers - Don't Shoot Me Santa and The All American Rejects - It Ends Tonight.[14][15] Several pieces of the plane parts seen in the music video are pieces used in the opening episodes of television series LOST. The video itself is set around a scrap yard (the Mojave Airport & Spaceport), with wreckages of planes and engines around a desert, opening with singer Rob Hawkins pushing a motorbike through the desert (A reference to McQueen's film The Great Escape) the video continues to show the band playing in the scrapyard as well as walking around it, and as the video progresses the band are put through a sand storm. The video was directed by Paul Minor, who has previously directed videos for Queens of The Stone Age.[16] [edit] ReceptionFraser McAlpine of BBC Radio 1 chartblog gave the single 3/5 saying; "a muscular reworking of the band's trademark sound, only without the really trademark noise (Alex Pennies screams), which leaves them sounding a bit like just another rock band, but a million per cent less irritating than they used to"[17] Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy wrote "With a beefed-up arsenal of guitars and a snarling, infectious chorus, 'Steve McQueen' is a brilliant slice of old fashioned rawk" giving it 4/5[18] Nicole Kenny of Manchester Evening News also gave the single 4/5 "In a nutshell Steve McQueen is a raucous rock song with a very addictive chorus that will get you singing along on the first hear of it"[19] Sean Smith and James Davies of The Blackout praised the band in Rock Sound, saying "I like it, they've grown up. Its catchy", with James saying "Its a bit more chunky than their earlier stuff, well done, good effort."[20] [edit] Chart performance"Steve McQueen" marked The Automatic's fourth appearance in the UK Top 40, peaking at #16 in the UK Singles Chart hence also making it their second UK Top 20 single. It dropped a place to #17 the following week, then to #29 in its third week and dropped out of the Top 40 altogether in its fourth week.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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