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Steve Eaves

Steve has lived and worked in North West Wales for most of his life. His career as an artist began well over forty five years ago. During the late 1960s and early 1970s he worked as a labourer and musician in North Wales travelling further afield regularly to play in the folk clubs and underground music venues of that time. He became literate in Welsh while a student at the University of Lampeter, and following graduation he married and returned to Bangor before settling in the village of Rhiwlas , in the former slate-quarrying area around Bethesda in Snowdonia, where he has lived for over 35 years. Steve began to make his mark in Welsh literary circles in the early 1980s with the publication of his first volume of poetry, Noethni (Nakedness) and the release of his first collection of songs, Viva la Revolución Galesa. This located him as part of a group of self-styled ‘unofficial poets’ who challenged the then poetic establishment in Welsh-speaking Wales. A second and equally well-received volume of poetry, Jazz yn y Nos (Jazz in the night), was to follow, but Steve began to turn more and more towards his songs and music as a medium of artistic expression. The greatest influence on his work has always been and continues to be the blues. His poet’s sensibility is very much evident in his song-writing, as is the influence of jazz, folk and rock. He has released 9 albums of his original compositions since 1983 – among them Cyfalaf a Chyfaddawd (Capital and Compromise) (1985), Croendenau (Thin-skinned) (1992), Y Canol Llonydd Distaw (The Still, Quiet Centre) (1996), Iawn (Fine) (1999) and Moelyci (2007). Steve’s 9th album, Moelyci, released in 2007 (named after the mountain above the village of Rhiwlas) was 6 years in the making and is considered one the high points of his career so far. The spring of 2011 saw the release of Ffoaduriaid’ (Refugees) (SAIN SCD 2633) (the title means “Refugees”) a comprehensive retrospective collection of Steve’s music featuring seven albums and various individual tracks released by Steve between 1984 a 1999. Steve has a fine acoustic guitar-playing style and a sure sense of musicality, with a warm vocal delivery that has a bluesy rough edge. The members of his band, Rhai Pobl (Some People) are drawn from the Bangor / Bethesda area of Gwynedd, North Wales and include some of Wales’ finest contemporary musicians. “Fashions come and go, but the fine songs of Steve Eaves will last as long as good music is appreciated.”Steve writes and performs exclusively in the Welsh language, and his work is now being discovered and appreciated much further beyond Wales. In April 2011 Steve was presented with a special Radio Cymru award for his ‘lifetime contribution’ to Welsh music. The following year he won Radio Cymru’s Siart C2 Award as the artist who topped the contemporary music chart for the longest period during that year. His work has become an inspiration to audiences of all ages and to a new generation of Welsh musicians. He is currently recording a new album.