Steinbäcker: New Album and Latest Tour

“There is no farewell tour, but a final tour,” Styria asserted. “I am an advocate of ‘everything has its time’. I don’t grieve either.

The tour begins November 24 in Spielberg

It’s not like it’s stopping, Steinbacher emphasized: “I just don’t tour anymore. I’ll be 70 this year and that’s enough. All this work is enough for me.” Plus, his fellow musicians are already 70. However, after the tour, which begins November 24 in Spielberg, he is “ready for all the fun in the world, if it’s funny”.

44 years of audio recording

The new album “44” is a kind of “Best Of” single with new pieces. Choosing old songs wasn’t easy. “That’s why I made this decision,” said the musician. But because the title “represents 44 years of sound recordings,” his first studio work is also included: “Matchless Woman” is the name of the rare song.

From Stony Baker to Steinbacher

“It started under the most bizarre of circumstances,” the singer-songwriter looks back. “I was asked if I wanted to win a singing competition because they couldn’t find anyone worthy of winning.”

This is how Steinbäcker’s first single – with English lyrics – appeared, albeit under a slightly different name: “The label manager said my name couldn’t be Steinbäcker, too common for an international career.” Alias ​​Missing Stoney Baker. “I came home to Graz and thought of explaining to my friends that my name is Stoney Baker now. But the name eventually disappeared on its own because we didn’t sell 30 copies of the song.”

The band’s first experience with EAV

Steinbäcker made his first band experience with Thomas Spitzer, with whom he also played on EAV. This is why some songs from the EAV period have the number “44”, such as the Christmas carol “Roll Over Bethlehem”. Steinbacher described my time in Hamburg with EAV and the 1979 Christmas Shows as “the worst of times and the greatest time”. “Everything was there, and everything ran smoothly. Sometimes Otto Wallex would sit at the cash register.”

Music history written with STS

Subsequently, Steinbäcker made the decision between EAV and STS – the rest is Austrian music history: “With STS I was able to realize myself better as a composer, because Thomas is a stubborn dog.”

The singer describes the STS choruses as the highlight of his music career: “People still come up to me today and say, ‘We’re trying to sing it, but it’s not working. ‘ Bad luck!”

Greece as inspiration

Two songs in “44” (“Herbst auf der Insel”, “Die Sunn über’n Meer”) tell of Steinbacher’s second home, Greece. Several texts were written there: “I was completely mentally free there – at that time without the Internet and the telephone. There was a mole with sharp stones. If I could not think of a line, I kept walking across the sidewalk until I thought of something.” A schön G’fühl”, a reflection on life as a conclusion to the number “44”, in Greece.

Musical arithmetic with politics

And like many of Steinbäcker’s songs, “44” also contains an important contribution. “Heroes of the Day” settle political scores in Austria. The impetus for the song was a cartoon by Gerhard Haderer. “When I saw those, I knew the whole song. I had never experienced anything like this,” Steinbacher says. “I called the present to ask if I could use the title. He agreed on the condition that I come to Attersee and pay for the beer for one night.”

Steinbäcker maintained one credo throughout his life: “I don’t want one line that says nothing.”