In this week’s 10 Questions we get to know Steve MacDream Colours, a four-piece indie rock band based in London.
Their song ‘Another Day‘ is currently featured on the NAS Spotify playlists
You can follow Steve MacDream Colours on their website and Instagram.
1. Tell us a little about where you are from.
We are Steve MacDream Colours, a four-piece indie rock band based in London. The band officially came together in 2019, although many of the songs date back much further, reflecting ideas and experiences gathered over many years. Today we’re working on our fifth studio album, Along The Road, while continuing to release new singles, play live around London and build our audience completely independently. Every song we release is another step along the same musical journey we’ve been following since the beginning.
2. What inspired Steve MacDream Colours to start playing and making music?
For Steve, it all started as a child listening repeatedly to his parents’ copy of Help! by The Beatles. Those melodies, harmonies and songs opened a whole new world. Since then, writing music has become less of a pastime and more of a necessity. Music has always been a way of understanding life, preserving memories and making sense of the world around us. Even when careers and everyday life took priority, we never stopped writing or playing because creating music has always been part of who we are.
Music has always been a way of understanding life, preserving memories and making sense of the world around us.
3. Who are Steve MacDream Colours’ biggest musical influences?
Our influences come from many decades of music. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Bowie and many great songwriters have all left their mark on us. Rather than copying any particular artist, we think those influences have gradually become part of our musical DNA. Our music is very much guitar-driven, an indie rock built around melodic songwriting, expressive guitars and thoughtful lyrics.
4. What are your goals in the music industry or as an artist?
Success for us has never been about chasing trends or necessarily becoming famous. Our goal is simply to keep writing honest songs that connect with people emotionally. We want to build a catalogue that listeners can come back to years from now and still find something meaningful in. Remaining independent allows us to follow our own instincts, make the music we truly believe in, and hopefully leave behind songs that outlive us.
5. Tell us about your creative process.
Most songs begin with Steve playing guitar. Sometimes a melody appears while improvising, sometimes during a walk or in the middle of the night, and occasionally while travelling. Once the basic idea exists, the whole band gets involved. Pete shapes the rhythm, Emi builds the groove, Alan adds colour and dynamics on lead guitar, and together the songs evolve naturally through rehearsals and live performances. We don’t force arrangements; we let the music find its own direction.
Sometimes a melody appears while improvising, sometimes during a walk or in the middle of the night, and occasionally while travelling.
6. What is your all-time favorite song by another artist and why?
Choosing one song is almost impossible, but if we had to pick one it would probably be “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles. It combines beautiful songwriting, imagination, emotion and musical adventure in a way that still feels fresh decades later.
7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music?
Probably the simplest advice: don’t chase trends—chase your inner vision. Musical fashions come and go, but a well-written song lasts. We’ve learned that staying true to your own voice is far more rewarding than trying to sound like whatever happens to be popular this year. In the long run, authenticity is easier to recognise than imitation.
We’ve learned that staying true to your own voice is far more rewarding than trying to sound like whatever happens to be popular this year.
8. What is your proudest accomplishment?
Remaining completely independent while continuing to release music that genuinely reflects who we are, playing regularly live events, and sticking together. Every listener who discovers our songs feels like another small victory.
9. What’s been your most embarrassing moment so far?
The time we turned up for a gig and the bouncer refused to let us in because he didn’t believe we were the band. After a fair bit of explaining, he finally waved us through—only for us to discover we’d gone into the wrong venue!
10. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.
The lowest, most frustrating point was probably the pandemic, when live music disappeared overnight and the future of performing became uncertain. One of our highest moments was returning to the stage for our first post-pandemic concert in a small London venue. More recently, welcoming Alan into the band completed the line-up we’d been searching for, and recording our fifth album, Along The Road, is the most exciting moment for Steve MacDream Colours so far.
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