PipemanRadio Interviews American Idol Finalist Oliver Steele

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Hey, you have done to censure? Wow crazy your whycoume America. It's

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time for the Adventures of Pipe Man
on W four c Y dot com.

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West pomp Beats is number one internet
radio station. Here's your host, the

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White Man. Is it too soon? Too soon to say of you?

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Too soon? Te you? It's
the pipe Man here on the Adventures of

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Pipe Man W four c Y Radio. And I'm excited about our next guest

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because not only is he a badass
artist, but he's in the music business

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for a great reason or at least
a great story that I know. And

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he's going to be performing in Jersey
and that's the best part of all since

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I'm a Jersey boy. So let's
welcome to the show. Oliver Steel,

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how are you. I'm doing well, my friend, how are you?

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I'm doing great? So yeah,
one of my favorite places seabright, You're

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going to be at Drift House by
David Burke. That's pretty cool. Yeah,

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you know, I'm so excited.
I one of the ways I love

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to explore, you know, local
culture is by food. So the fact

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that I get to do not only
what I love like doing music, which

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is another part of the culture out
there, but get to have some incredible

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food and go to a place that
I've never been. It's just, man,

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it's awesome. I think it's cooler
than being I American Idol. Just

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saying, but maybe because I'm a
Jersey boy. You know, I didn't

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get to meet an award winning chef
when I was on American Idol. So

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you got that, that's for sure. Say there you go. I love

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it. Uh And so have you
tasted any of his food yet? I

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have not? I have not.
I'll be honest, I hadn't. I

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didn't know who chef David Burke was
until I was contacted to come out there

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and and and do this gig at
the Drift House. But but I did

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my research after I was contacted,
and man, he looks like he looks

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like he creates some incredible dishes.
Did you guys see a dish when you

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were checking him out that like was
the dish you would want to have?

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Ah? Man, I mean I
was very intimidated by a lot of his

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dishes because it seems like he's like
super gourmet ability and I am like a

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home cook, so I can't say
that. I mean, yeah, I

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just it's a little like, oh, man, what would I even would

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I even begin to try you know
what I mean? I think it just

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need to try it all, that's
all. I agree. So tow our

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listeners who possibly didn't see you on
American Idol, possibly don't know who you

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are, how your musical journey started, because I think that's a real cool

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story. Yeah. So, I
mean I grew up with a dad who

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kind of was just involved with a
lot of legendary people when he was coming

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up, played for a lot of
legends, like opening for David Boat or

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starting not David Bowie for BB King. Why don't have David Bowie on the

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brain? Yeah, he opened for
BB King always Because I was talking about

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Stevie Ray earlier. He opened for
BB King and he had Leon Rhodes at

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the Texas True Doors mentoring him and
got to go to the Opry a lot,

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and just you know, I had
that around coming up growing up,

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and there was always music in the
house, guitars everywhere, there was a

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piano in the house. It's just
kind of where my story started. But

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it took me a while to pick
it up on my own. You know.

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It was not until I was in
early high school that I really started

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to sort of pick it up and
step into that world. So, was

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there a moment that happened to you
in that in those high school days that

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made you like drew you to pick
it up? I had. I So,

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my my biggest influences are so my
dad and then you know obviously,

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but then there's there's John Mayer Jack
Johnson, which is arguably my biggest influence,

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and then Ed Sharon And it was
the first it was I heard the

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A Team by Ed Shearon. I
really wanted to learn how to play it

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and sing it, and so I
picked up a guitar and that was the

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first, the first song I ever
learned how to play. Nice And you

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know, I wanted you to tell
a story because of course it's always cool

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to know somebody's background, how they
got to where they are, but also

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because I think everybody has to go
to your Facebook at the very least probably

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your Instagram too and check out the
video of where you played for your dad

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on American Idol, because I know
for the coaches or to judges, it

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was definitely like a heart moment for
you, It was a heart moment for

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me. Just watching it was a
heart moment. I couldn't believe it.

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Yeah, I mean, you know, my dad had a stroke a couple

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of years ago, so it kind
of takes away a lot of his ability.

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Can't really get around that well,
can't play guitar like he used to.

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And there's no other person I would
want playing beside me more than my

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dad, but unfortunately can't really have
it that way. So getting to play

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in front of him, in front
of the judges was it was definitely a

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very emotional emotional moment for me.
Yeah, probably something that when you're like

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eighty, that'll be the story you
tell, right, Oh yeah, resent.

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So what did your dad have to
say about that? I mean he

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was just over the moon, excited
and happy. I mean he was just

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like, it's cooler than anything I've
ever done. And I'm like, I

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don't know if that's true, right, but you know, he just so

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I was just very proud, still
is and he's always been been a supporter

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and been behind me for everything.
So I think it just really really made

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him happy to see that happen for
me. See, and that's why it's

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so cool to me, because that's
not always the case, you know,

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and so it's always cool to hear
stories where like even what you just said

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that, you know, like the
dad saying to the kid that you know,

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well, I've never done anything.
That's cool as that. It's like

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one of the biggest compliments that you
can get. And you know, not

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everybody's like that, not every parent
is like that, So it's cool that

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you have that support system there.
For the record, I don't think that's

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true because some of the stories that
he's told me are absolutely insane, but

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you know, it was nice to
see that, right, Oh yeah,

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I'm sure. I'm sure you heard
lots and lots of stories growing up.

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Is there one story in particular that's
like your favorite that your dad told you?

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Well, they all kind of okay. So here's one that I love.

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So he's got a guitar that's signed
by many people. It's got Percy

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Sledge, like Bill Monroe, Greg
Alman, Charlie Daniels which I actually got

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that zig injured for him, Nice, a couple others, and then it

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has BB King on there. The
story behind that was he opened for BB

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King. And this guitar my dad
has is it's a Teley shaped guitar,

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but it's a custom made guitar.
It's not a Fender. So when he

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was done, BB approached him and
said, oh, you know, Tobe,

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you did an amazing job tonight.
I thank you. And my dad

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was like, mister King, would
you mind signing my guitar? And BB

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said, oh, I can't sign
a Fender. I'm under a strict contract

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with Gibson. And my dad just
said, well, mister King, with

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all due respect, do you see
Fender on the headstock of this guitar?

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And BB just shrugged and said,
I guess not, and he signed the

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guitar. So my dad's got a
telly shaped guitar are signed by BB King.

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So wow, Yeah, that's one
of my favorite story. That is

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a pretty cool story for sure.
So maybe you could tell the listeners who

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haven't heard you or or would rather
hear who you are as an artist opposed

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to somebody that was American idol.
How do you describe yourself as an artist

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now today? I really kind of
just describe myself as an amalgamation of all

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my influences. So it's like a
lot of somewhere between folk and soul.

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You know, there's there's a there's
a rawness to what I do. It's

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very it's very personal, it's very
emotional, and it's just it's something.

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It's anytime I do something, whether
it's especially if it's a cover, I

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try to make it my own.
I try to do it to a point

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where you can just feel the emotion. And who I hate talking about myself,

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you can you can feel the emotion
and what I do. I just

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try to be an honest guy,
genuinely, and I try to do that

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with my music. I just try
to come from an honest place. Even

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if I'm doing a cover, I
try to do it from an honest place.

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Really. That's the only way somebody
should be an artist, really,

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because like it portrays, it portrays
from you to the people that are seeing

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you perform, hearing you perform,
and like, to me, some of

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the coolest things is like even going
on your social media and seeing you just

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hanging out on the stairwell playing.
To me, that's what's cool. It's

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like, I think of two the
way you play. I think of sitting

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around a campfire or bonfire and just
a bunch of people just jamming out having

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a good time. Yeah, I
mean that's for me. Some of those

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moments, those little moments are some
of the best moments in life. You

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know, it's often get we get
caught up and chasing really really big dreams

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and achieving really really big things,
whether it's money or fame or whatever.

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But it's easy to forget that it's
the smaller moments in the journey that often

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mean the most and that you'll remember
the most looking back. So no doubt,

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no one. So you play a
bunch of string and instruments that I've

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seen, Like, how many instruments
do you know how to play? I

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really don't. I only play guitar. I mean I dabble in piano a

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little bit, which I barely.
I just play guitar, man, I

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mean I play I have well,
I mean I have an ukulele. I

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can play a little bit ukulele.
I'm getting better, but mainly just guitar.

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And it's really my main instrument.
And so you got this performance at

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the Drift House. It's December third. You have anything else going on towards

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the end of the year, or
I do next year? I do so.

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Actually, the day before I'm at
Drift House, I will be in

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Baltimore, Maryland at the Lyric Theater. PRS has invited me to come and

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play for the John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer
Center fiftieth anniversary event. Wow. And

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I actually I actually received a call
from Paul Reid Smith himself yesterday asking if

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I would sit in with him and
his band at the end of my set

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and perform Change the World, which
was an honor just to hear from a

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legend like Paul Reid Smith himself.
So, I mean, that's that's literally

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the day before Drift House. And
then when PRS asked me to do the

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gig, They're like, can you
do this on December second? And I

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said to them, I said,
well, I have to be in Jewsy

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the next day, and they said, oh, don't worry, we'll get

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you out there. Well make sure
that you don't miss it. I'm like,

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thank you, so nice. That's
the other thing I have going on.

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Well that's a great cause too.
So that's really cool you're doing that.

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And so how does everybody reach out
to you on socials on the web,

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How did they buy tickets for the
Jersey event? How they find out

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information about anything else you're doing.
I believe that the link to the tickets

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or in my bio on Instagram and
Oliver Steel music under my link tree.

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You can follow me there, follow
me on Facebook under the same name Oliver

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Steel Music. You can also get
tickets to the Drift House event, I

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believe on their website, which you
can you can google drift House, and

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it should be it should be one
of the first things that comes up.

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But yeah, yeah, that's where
that's where you can follow me and find

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those tickets to that event. Yeah, and I'll tell you what. The

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VIP is pretty cool for that event
because it includes a soundcheck experience, which

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I always think that's cool. Like
I go on tour and I do music

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festivals and my favorite time is going
there early in the morning when nobody's there

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and listening to soundchecks. That's the
coolest part. And then and then they

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get to do a meet and greet, so that's like, that's like the

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best VIP ever. Yeah. No, it's funny because like to the average

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person, that's like an incredible experience. But then, like me as an

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artist, the idea of someone coming
and listening to me mess up work out

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the case is like a little scary. But no, I do think it's

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gonna be a really really cool experience. Love it. Any final words you

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want to leave our listeners with that
we haven't touched on yet that you would

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like them to know. I'm gonna
be I still don't have a release date

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for this, but I'm gonna be
putting out a record here soon that is

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a it's a cover, it's a
Jack Johnson cover. We're gonna be doing

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some very special things with that.
We're gonna be doing a little bit of

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a campaign push to raise funds for
the Maui wildfire relief. But when that

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record comes out, whatever the proceeds
are, whether it's ten dollars or ten

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thousand, I'm gonna try to donate
as much of it as I can back

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to the Maui Relief. So it's
just something that's near and dear to my

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heart and I'm very excited excited to
do that. Yeah, that is way

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cool of you, and man,
I love what you're all about. Love

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your music. Everybody's got to check
you out. Keep rocking, and thanks

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for being on the Adventures of Pipe
Man. No problem, man, Thank

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you so much for having me music
soon. Hey, this is Oliver Steele

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and you're listening to the Pipe Main
on W four C Y ray too soon.

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Thank you for listening to the adventures
of pipemin on w for c u I Radio