Dave Steer was the guy who provided keyboards on the superb 1987 League album 'The Perfect Crime'. He also performed with the band live at on the Channel 4 Meltdown TV show in October 87.  The following interview with Dave was conducted via email. Thanks Dave for your time!
 

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1.When did you learn to play keyboards, and were you self-taught or did you take lessons?

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Dave "Totally self-taught.  I started out making Hawkwind-y whooshing noises on a second-hand Wasp synth sometime around 1979.  It had a touch-sensitive keyboard (a bit like a Stylophone), and was monophonic, which was lucky, as I could only play with one finger to start with."

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2, Were you a session musician or/and did you play in bands during the 1980s (if so which ones?).  

 

Dave "I was never good enough to be a session musician, but played with several local bands in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, including Terminal Twist (with JB, later the drummer for ANWL), whose main claim to fame was blagging their way on to a support slot with the Adicts and the Bay City Rollers(!) at the Lyceum, getting past security because they ”knew the promoter” (a certain Mr Curd)."

 

3. Could you explain how you came to be involved with the League on the Perfect crime album? Did you know.. were you friends with any of the band before this moment in time? 

 

Dave "I knew JB from school, where he was in the year below me.  At that time he was the singer in another local band and he would regularly get pelted with rotten food at village hall gigs, which was probably good training for the League.  After leaving school, JB ran a musical instrument shop in T Wells, which became the place for all local aspiring musicians to hang out and steal stuff.  There was quite an active new wave /goth /indie /metal scene in Tunbridge Wells in those days, with bands going to each other’s gigs to check out the competition.  I don’t think I really rated the League until they released a single, and even then I thought they might be just a novelty punk band, until they came out with For You, JJ Decay and Queen & Country, which I still think are brilliant.   In the early 1980’s I was renting a room off JB and when he became mates with the League I would occasionally drive, roadie and operate the lights for them when they played in London or Kent.  When JB joined the League and they wanted some keyboards on The Perfect Crime, I think he suggested me, probably because he knew I would be cheap (i.e., would do it for cigarettes)."

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4. In late 1985/1986 The League recorded some demos for Perfect crime – do you feature also on those tracks? 

 

Dave "No, I think that was Gilly.  When it came to preparing for the Perfect Crime recording sessions, he would play me the demos, and I would try to replicate the keyboard sounds, with him showing me note-by-note which chords he wanted me to play."

 

5. What are your memories of the Perfect crime album, which was recorded in Eastbourne in Autumn 1986?

 

Dave "Dark, dingy and slightly terrifying.  There was always the risk that if you annoyed Winston he would chase you round the recording studio with a turd in his hand.  The others had already recorded the backing tracks by the time I got there, which was usually fine, except for (I Don’t Believe) This is My England, whre they had just left a gap of indeterminate length in the middle, ready for the keys/choir etc to slot in.   Not even a click track to play along to.  I just had to guess the right speed that would end up with me finishing in the right place, i.e., when the rest of the band come back in (no Pro-Tools in those days!).  It still bugs me that I fluffed the timing at the start, and that it’s preserved on tape/cd.   The rest of the songs sounded good in their early mixes, and got even better when Gilly added the lead guitar and backing vocals."

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6. How did you approach the songs, from a keyboard point of view – did you come up with melodies etc that you thought would ‘fit in’ with the material.. or were you perhaps told exactly how they wanted each song to be played? 

Dave "Most of the time Gilly would tell me exactly what to play.  Nick and Winston also had ideas about the sounds they wanted, especially the doomy sounds on System and the industrial sounds on Working for the Company.  I think I came up with some of the embellishments like the fake-orchestral build up before the last verse of This is My England.  The “orchestral hit” (Frankie/ Art of Noise) sounds were added after I went home, by the engineer, so I can’t take all the blame for the 80’s sounds that date the album."

 

7. How did you get along with the League, Nick, Clive, Gilly, Chris Exall and JB, what were they like to work with both on a professional level in the studio, and also socially? 

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Dave "They spent most of the time taking the piss out of me relentlessly!   Having said that, they were all incredibly witty, so the piss-taking  was always entertaining (I would have preferred not to always be on the receiving end though).   I know what Winston will say if he hears you have interviewed me, something along the lines of “fucking Dave fucking Steer! What’s the matter, wasn’t Nick’s milkman from 1973 available for an interview then?”  In the studio they were much more serious, they all knew in their heads the exact sound they wanted, but I don’t think the final results lived up to their expectations."

 

 

8. I believe the album took 2 weeks to record, however ended up being released ‘unfinished’, and also with a mix that the majority of the band were unhappy with. Apparently the keyboards were too high in the mix, with the guitar too low. Also from what I understand, the songs are ‘missing’ a second guitar track/layer. What are your thoughts on all of this? 

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Dave "On the studio monitors, the rough mix sounded brilliant, really punchy, but something happened when it was mixed a few weeks later, it seemed to lose all the energy it had.   I can’t remember who was there for the final mix, I know I wasn’t, so I was quite surprised by the balance of keys vs guitars when I got to hear it (especially because some of the keyboards weren’t me playing!)   Two tracks, The Shining and Working for the Company, were sent away for a remix.  The Shining came back with a synth bass on it and wibbly keys added on the fadeout, which made it sound a lot more commercial, and Working for the Company came back really polished, so much so that I thought they sounded a bit out of place sonically, compared to the other songs.  Looking back on it though, I’m really proud to be on the album, even if it does not sound as good as it did in the studio."

 

 

9. What are your memories of the Meltdown show from October 1987, and why were you asked to join them on keyboards?  

Dave "My main memory is being scared shitless!  The others were probably used to it, but I had only performed in local bands in front of small audiences.  I can’t remember how the Meltdown show came about; apart from a few ads in the music press there did not seem to be much promotion around the album.   Some of the keyboard sounds (on Johannesburg) I could not replicate live, so I pre-recorded the sounds from the album onto a sampling keyboard.  You might notice if you study the video that when you hear what sounds like a complicated keyboard riff, it’s just me with one finger – caught cheating!   The Meltdown show also featured Motorhead, and I got to meet one of my heroes, Lemmy.  Well, when I say meet, he held a door open for me when I was carrying my keyboard to the stage, saying “alright mush” as he let me through."

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10. Apart from the Meltdown performance did you perform any other live shows with the League?

Dave "No, not on keys, although I still drove and roadie’d occasionally, and did the lights for them at a few shows, including when they supported the Ramones in London."

 

 

11. Was the Meltdown TV show your last involvement with the band? 

Dave "Yes, apart from receiving the odd performance royalties cheque (approx. £6.39) through the post, for Meltdown “re-licensing to Malaysia”, doing a few demos with Gilly, and seeing the others socially around Tunbridge Wells.   I still see JB and Nick for a curry every few months and it’s good to see Nick still performing."

 

12. What did you go onto do after this, career wise.. and also what are you up to nowadays? 

Dave "Since school I’ve worked on radio communication systems for the Emergency Services, and I’m still doing that now, 40 years later.  I met a police chief superintendent at a training session a few years ago, got talking and found out he had followed the League all over the place back in the early days, so it takes all sorts.   I take great delight in telling my kids and anyone else who will listen that I once played in a punk band with Ore Oduba’s father-in-law!"

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