Taken from the September 2007 issue of Dazed:

Steve Wold, or Seasick Steve as he is better known, is a restless soul who during his 70-odd years has experienced everything from leading a hobo existence à la Jack Kerouac, to being a record producer, husband and father, as well as being highly praised by the likes of Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, and The White Stripes. Born in America but now a resident of Norway, Steve thinks his story went something like this... 

“I was born in Oakland, California, but left when I was pretty young. I was on the road at 13. My parents split up when I was little and my mother got a stepdaddy for me, but he used to beat us. So it either came down to me leaving, or me killing him. I chose to leave and started riding the trains. It wasn’t legal to be wandering about underage in those days but they didn’t have computers to check ID back then. So, I’d ride trains and do all sorts of farm work. You could do corn in the Midwest, then go back to Washington and do apples, or do tomatoes in California. I also worked in lots of different carnivals. Back in those days, there’d be lots of criminals working in carnivals, hiding from the police. A few of them really weren’t very good people so you had to watch your step. But it was also fun, you’d go from town to town and meet girls.

I first started playing guitar when I was about eight. My daddy was a boogie-woogie piano player and he got this old black guy who worked for him to teach me to play guitar. During my carnival days, I’d always wanted to play, but I just didn’t have one. Somewhere along the road, I found or was given one. I figured you could play on the street, but really it was just another way to make some money. It wasn’t much better than picking fruit, but it was something different to do. And then in the 60s, with the whole hippie thing, suddenly in places like San Francisco, you could stay for free, have free food, free music, free everything. That had never existed before. The more people asked me to play for them and the more fun I had, the less I wanted to live under a bridge. So that pulled me out of this other world and back into the world of normal people. And at that point I was older, so I didn’t have to worry about the police picking me up either.

“I had no money and nowhere to stay. I slept in parks. I knew that as long as I had a guitar I’d be eating” – Seasick Steve

In 1971, I had a guitar and ten dollars when I landed in France – I just wanted to see what that part of the world was like. I was doing what I’d always done: walking the streets, playing guitar. I had no money and nowhere to stay. I slept in parks. I knew that as long as I had a guitar I’d be eating. I did that for a couple of years, then went back to America, then back to France again to play some more. After that, I had long periods when I didn’t play music. I got married but that didn’t work out. I had some kids and had all the normal struggles like trying to find work so I could send my kids money. I had two boys, they’re all grown up now. And then I had three more boys with a different girl – we’ve been married for 25 years now.

In those 25 years, we’ve lived in 56 different houses – that’s me settling down! We’ve lived in Tennessee, Iowa, and Washington. When I moved out to Washington, I started recording with some punk bands. I’d already done a bit of recording here and there, and when we lived in Tennessee I got me a pretty good studio together. I moved it out to Olympia, Washington with me. We just moved there by chance, I didn’t know there was a music scene out there. That was in 1990. I ended up recording somewhere between 70 and 90 albums in Olympia – a heck of a lot; and tons of singles. I also produced some early Modest Mouse records. And then Modest Mouse decided I was a member of the band because I’d played on the albums. So, I started touring with them. That was all right for a little while, but it was a bit like taking their grandfather around with them. In a funny way, Olympia reminded me of the old San Francisco scene because it was such a small community. Kurt [Cobain] lived above where I had my first studio. He was a regular feature in Olympia back then. I knew him but we didn’t hang out much. So anyway, eventually I got tired of recording and my wife wanted to move back to Norway, so I packed up my studio and we moved it over there. But before I left America, I was asked to play a couple of shows with R.L. Burnside and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. I hadn’t played for a long time because I figured nobody was interested in some old guy playing country blues guitar. But all these hipster Jon Spencer fans really liked me. So that got me thinking, maybe I could play again.

When I arrived in Norway, I decided to make me a record. I involved two guys, one from Norway, one from Sweden, and I made a record called Cheap. It was as primitive a record as I could do. Then I had a heart attack, just after we were done, and I was real sick and I wasn’t going to play no more. We played a few more shows when I got better, but I didn’t think I had it in me any more. So I had to cancel lots of dates just as we’d started to get a little name for ourselves going. Then I got better and we were asked to play in Belfast. I was asked if I could just go by myself, but I didn’t want to. In the end, they talked me into it. I just sat there with a guitar and played, and the people all went crazy. When I came home, I said to my wife, ‘They liked it just me by myself,’ and she said, ‘Why don’t you just sit here at home and make yourself a record, just you and the guitar?’ She’d wanted me to do that ever since we got married. So I sat down and made Dog House Music in my kitchen in Norway. People heard it in England and wanted me to come over and play. And it’s just kept going.

I made the record for myself and my wife, and I didn’t think anyone would be interested in it. Somehow, I think people were a little bit hungry for something raw. That’s the only thing I can guess. Then, I was asked to be on that Jools Holland show. Now things have got crazier and crazier, and wherever I play, all the shows sell out. I don’t know what the hell has happened. I went from being almost dead to being alive and playing, and everybody liking it. There’s something going on. It’s crazy. I just played at Glastonbury and everybody freaked out. Now, I’m playing festivals all summer. I just don’t understand it. I’ve always played the guitar. When I was in jail, sometimes I didn’t get to play. But anytime I could, I would. But I never really thought much of me being a blues guitarist. I’ve always seen myself more like a song-and-dance guy. I ain’t so good at dancing, but I’ll keep trying.”