Ste McCabe (from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England) is an English DIY,

queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically ...

singer-songwriter, previously based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, and later

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland.

Career

McCabe started performing solo in 2006, using only a drum machine and electric guitar as an alternative to a full band. (Previous band Stephen Nancy had existed between 1999 and 2002.) In 2008 he signed to Cherryade Records with whom he released his first official solo EP "Pink Bomb" as a limited-edition CD. His first album, ''Hate Mail'' followed later that year and received favourable reviews from underground/alternative press and mainstream gay media such as ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ magazine established in 1984. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company began including content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

'', who described McCabe as "armed with a mean, lean, bedroom Disco drum machine, a cheap guitar and his biggest asset; a mind and a loud mouth to speak it." Over the following year McCabe became known as an LGBT rights activist as well as a popular underground musician, performing at events such as London Literature Festival at

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

and

Indietracks Indietracks was an annual indie pop music festival at the Midland Railway – Butterley, Midland Railway in Butterley, Derbyshire, England. The main site was located at Swanwick Junction railway station, Swanwick Junction. Bands played in variet ...

Festival in Derbyshire. The same year he joined

Dandelion Radio Dandelion Radio is an internet radio station founded in June 2006 with the aim of pursuing the musical legacy of the popular and influential BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. The station takes its name from the record label Dandelion Records foun ...

as a DJ, playing "leftist, feminist,

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

positive" underground music. McCabe's second album, ''Murder Music'', was released in 2009, and featured a duet with avant-garde performer

David Hoyle David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

. He was subsequently featured in '' Time Out'', ''

'' and ''

Artrocker Artrocker is a UK-based collective involved in music promotion and publishing. It was started by Paul Cox and Tom Fawcett who had been co-promoters of a London night called The Sausage Machine. Having started life with an online newsletter and ev ...

'' magazine, which in September 2010 featured his open letter to

The Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

protesting against

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

's visit to the UK. He has performed at LGBT rights festivals across Europe such as Noc Walpurgii in Warsaw, Poland and

Gay Pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

2010 in Bristol, England. Ste has received national UK radio play on stations such as BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 1. With the release of his third album, ''Bad Kitty'', he toured Europe again in October and November 2012. McCabe performed onstage with English leftist singer

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

in 2013. His final album, ''Brains of Britain'', was released in October 2014 and included a collaboration with Bragg. He promoted the album with a final tour of the US.

Discography

Singles

* "Accessorise" (2011) (Bubblegum Records) * "Ste McCabe/Mayr" split vinyl (2013) (Unrecords)

EPs

* ''Detect and Abort'' (2000) s/with Stephen Nancy* ''No Apologies'' (2002) s/with Stephen Nancy* ''Pink Bomb'' (2008) (Cherryade Records) * ''Harrowing Breakdown'' (2010) (Cherryade Records)

Albums

* ''Hate Mail'' (2008) (Cherryade Records) * ''Murder Music'' (2009) (Cherryade Records) * ''Bad Kitty'' (2012) (Cherryade Records) * ''Brains of Britain'' (2014) (Manekineko Music)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccabe, Ste British indie rock musicians British political music artists English LGBTQ singers English people of Scottish descent English punk rock guitarists English punk rock singers English radio DJs English rock guitarists English socialists Living people Musicians from Liverpool Queercore musicians Year of birth missing (living people)