We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Steven Abele a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Steven thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I began my musical career as a child, starting with piano and guitar lessons. I was blessed to have such great instructors Beverly Summers, Nick Summers and Larry Cook. I have always been drawn to music, writing and visual arts since I was very young. After performing at several recitals, I caught the live music bug, and really enjoyed playing for audiences. I also became a mobile DJ at age 12 and loved all the cool lights and audio equipment that came along with it. As years went by, I formed many bands including White Friday, Head Dizzy, POM, Dorothy and SoHi, who have put out various albums and music videos and still do to this day.
Steven, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I do believe I was put on this earth to create music. I had many influences growing up, and learned so much from them. My Mom and Dad were always supportive of my aspirations and did everything they could to help me, sacrificing a lot of time and money. I got into the industry by putting together bands and making friends with other musicians which in turn opened many doors in the industry. They all say it’s “Who you Know” and they are correct. I have had so many opportunities though other people. I was able to meet, interact and perform with many big musical influences because of this. I am currently the lead singer of the Ohio based band SoHi ( stands for Southern Ohio). We currently have 7 music videos out currently, including “Bucknut” which I am most proud of. The song and video are all about living in Ohio and all the great things it has to offer. We were fortunate to have celebrities such as boxer Buster Douglas and Golden Voice Ted Williams appear in the video. The song has been coined Ohio’s unofficial theme song and the video has hundreds of thousands of views. Currently I am really excited about a new Hip Hop /Rock collaboration “Unmended” which I am a part of along with fellow musicians Trent Wyckoff and Jesse Elkins. Our first song and video “Just wanted you to know” will be released in late summer 2023.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For myself the most rewarding aspect of creating music, is the connection to people. Through my music career I have had the pleasure to influence others through my endeavors. A day doesn’t go by without someone commenting on past works or really exited about my current projects. I do believe that I have influenced many young aspiring musicians and artists to work hard and get their art to the masses. Also I am the co-owner of the Southern Ohio Guitar Show in Chillicothe every year. Along with my business partner Elliott John Conry, we try to introduce the upcoming future musicians to an atmosphere of the music community and an opportunity to meet other musicians and equipment vendors.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started my music career long before the current digital age. I don’t think young musicians understand the struggles we had to endure before there was an internet, social media and modern recording technology. When you were playing a gig you had to do a lot more work to advertise your show such as hang flyers everywhere you could imagine. In addition just relying on word of mouth about your latest song or performance was all we had to promote. One of the biggest hurdles was getting in a studio to record your songs. At the time this was very expensive and time consuming compared to the instant results and widespread audience through social media. Bands are getting discovered every day though Face Book, Instagram and Tik Tok, which would only be a fantasy only 10 years ago. I use social media to its full extent to promote my bands, videos and any other projects I am involved in. It is still a lot of work to be recognized in a huge pool of bands all striving for the same goal. I do believe that playing live show’s majorly helps bands get a fan base.. When audiences see you live, they feel a personal connection you can’t get from social media. So I recommend playing out as much as possible to build your base.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sohi2020
- Facebook: facebook.com/sohiband , https://www.facebook.com/esay.six?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: @sohiohio
- Youtube: @sohi5837