Mindtours - Biography

Steevio's involvement in dance music goes back to 1983, when a very youthful Steevio opened the first U.K. Electro/ Breakdance club, 'The Sidewalk', in Newcastle. At the same time he formed the prophetically named band 'Acid', which used Electro beats, and live bass, using the tripped out effects of the Roland 501 Space-echo. He called the music 'Psychedelic Electro-Funk'. Acid played live in huge warehouse parties in Newcastle, in 1983, but when Steevio moved briefly to Berlin, he found that ironically no-one was interested in his Proto Techno-Electro, the climate at the time being dominated by Industrial Music. 
A slightly disillusioned Steevio returned to Britain to form the band Dead Flowers, which was a cross-pollination of Funkadelic/ Hendrix / and Beefheart.                By the third album 'Altered State Circus' Steevio's love for his earlier experiments with Roland electronica began to grip his imagination once more, and surfaced in the heavy use of synthesisers and Tribal drumming, and his first solo Techno tune 'Vodaphone in Oz'. 
At this time Steevio was heavily involved in the Free Festival/ Traveller movement, which helped to develop the underground Dance music scene in the UK in the late Eighties and early Nineties. From here he progressed to co-organising huge Techno warehouse parties in Newcastle, and in 1994, formed his first label Roost Records.
The agenda for Roost was to release quality Techno of no particular genre, which explains the diversity of the original releases. The Roland 303 and 909 featured heavily on some releases, in a sort of tribal-acid crossover, but by 1996 the sound was becoming distinctly more minimal, and funky. At this time Steevio was working with Charlie Henderson, who was an excellent drummer, and the focus was on the rhythmic content of the music.
In 1997, Steevio teamed up with Mark Harrington of Kinetec Records in London, to form the Torque label. After being responsible for the first three releases of 'Machine-Funk' and gaining much respect in the underground scene in the UK, he moved on to concentrate on his 'Mindtours' project. This was the name he used as an artist for releases on other labels, culminating in the formation of the Mindtours label in 1999/2000. 
Mindtours releases have consistently been given good reviews in the press, while Steevio remains very much underground.
Diverse luminaries who have played/charted/licensed Steevio's tunes, include : Richie Hawtin, The Advent, Carl Cox, Roberto Q Ingram, Inigo Kennedy, Laurent Garnier, Chris Liberator, Commander Tom, etc.