Steafán Hanvey
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| Steafán Hanvey | |
 Steafán Hanvey at a Semi Final Club, Helsinki on February 10, 2005.
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| Born | July, 1973 Downpatrick |
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| Occupation | Singer, Songwriter |
Steafán Hanvey originally hails from Downpatrick, County Down, in Northern Ireland. A child progeny of traditional musicians (his parents having recorded two albums during the seventies) his exposure to all kinds of music began in utero. Citing influences today from his formative years as being everything from Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Simon & Garfunkel to Luke Kelly, Willie Nelson, The Johnstons, Paul Brady and Johnny Cash, perhaps the most important of all was the household itself, renowned at the time for its legendary sessions and where it wasn't long before the young Steafán was called upon for a tune or two himself. In primary school too, his teachers would have him sing to his classmates. It was as a teenager though that Steafán began to explore realms of music other than ballads of immigration, love lost, and blooming heather.
At the age of 16, Steafán formed 50/50, a heavy rock outfit with childhood friends Kenny & Carl Papenfus of Relish. After three years of fronting the band and co-writing the material, sniffs of interest from CBS in Dublin and much frustration with the northern music scene, or apparent lack of, in those days, and indeed lack of venues for original rock bands, Steafán opted to take time out to continue his studies at university.
His third year took him to Seattle where he took the opportunity to study sound engineering. Immersed in the music of the time, producing demos for local bands as part of his course, he was able to witness at close quarters the rise and demise of grunge, culminating in the untimely death of Kurt Cobain. Although an enriching experience at the mixing desk, a certain amount of fatigue set in with the amount of Pearl Jam wannabees on the scene, and the realization hit that he missed what was going on at the other side of the window with the musicians. In the summer of 1995, he moved to Helsinki, Finland to continue his studies at the University of Helsinki, working as a barman, and English teacher. Not long into his stay in Helsinki, Steafán began to host his own radio show introducing fresh Irish acts to Finnish ears. (Irkku-aika/Lahi radio)
Music sessions in local bars led to the formation of two bands. The first "Aloof" and later Rig Ma Roll merged elements of both Finnish and Irish folk music. Introducing his own compositions into these bands led to the recording of his first 5 track mini-album Sole in November 2000-March 2001, where Steafán finally got to work with Janne Viksten, one of Finland’s finest recording engineers, who at the time worked at The Sibelius Music Academy.
Sole, dealt with everyday dilemmas, falling in love, falling on your ass, picking yourself back up, fears, apportioning blame – the usual stuff not in the usual manner. After much gigging in Helsinki and around Finland, Steafán relocated to Dublin. His "welcome home" included an unfortunate encounter with a now defunct Dublin PR company. This, in addition to his parting company with his then manager, drove him back into the studio. He got busy recording his forthcoming debut album "Steafán Hanvey and The HoneyMoon Junkies". This saw him team up with old Downpatrick bandmates the Papenfus brothers on lead guitar and drums, and Conor McCreanor on bass. The album was started in Loop Studios in Dublin and finished in The Apollo, with sessions in between at studios in Newry, London and Helsinki.
Steafán returned to Finland to lay down strings to some of the songs, which gave him the opportunity to once again team up with Janne Viksten. He was introduced to Tuukka Helminen (Alamaailman Vasarat/Kwan) who co-arranged the string parts for the album. Steafán was fortunate to have Kieran Lynch mix the record. Kieran, who mixed much of U2’s "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" has also co-produced Elvis Costello's "When I Was Cruel" and is currently working on Relish's third album.
In 2004 Steafán attracted interest from several quarters. Showcases ensued. He visited NYC to play for interested parties there, then onto Montreal, the home of Leonard Cohen. He opened for The Hothouse Flowers in Barcelona in March, played the BelfEst music festival and opened for John Spillane, Eleanor McEvoy (Woman's Heart) and The Devlins amongst others. The radio release of "Rooms" took Steafán around the country on a nationwide (North & South) radio promo tour. He was invited to the BBC in Belfast to record 2 sessions, the first in June, then again in November. He played to a packed Ruby Sessions / Dublin, in July and then again in September where he discovered quite a demand for advance copies of his forthcoming album.
2004 was a fruitful year. Recent years have seen Steafán steadily build a name for himself in Ireland and Scandinavia.
