Frontman of infamous Soho glamsters PARADISE ALLEY, Steve Vincent is back with a new solo band. Vive Le Rock caught up with him midway through their Finnish/UK co-headline dates with DHARMA GUNS....
Hi Steve, so how are things going since you left Paradise Alley and went out on your own?
"Since I put the band on ice and started doing stuff in my own name, it’s been like a brand-new start. I mean it’s 34 years since I started that band and it’s hard to stay driven and keep moving forward, this just felt like the right thing to do. It does feel like I’ve gotten a lot more recognition and credit for all the musical things I’ve done over the years since I went out on my own and that feels good. It's helped me reconnect with people all over the world that know me from stuff like Paradise Alley, there is a REALLY positive atmosphere around what we do and we've played some amazing shows."
Is there a sense of freedom having a solo band?
"Definitely. I wanted to prove to myself that I could write songs on my own and originally when lockdown had first started, I submitted some songs to the then line-up of Paradise Alley as demos, but they just dismissed them. It wasn’t until my friends Bam Ross (from the Dogs D’amour) and Steve Conte (from the Dolls) heard the tracks and were like “what the fuck are you doing hiding these away? Finish them and get them out there, these are great songs”. I figured they knew what they were talking about and went ahead. Steve even played on one of the songs on the first album which was very cool.
"Ultimately, even when the rest of the band are bringing song ideas to the table, it’s easier for me to filter stuff out that I don’t feel fits."
Who is in your band right now?
"I’m joined by Ian 'Ged' Norris on guitar, he’s been in the band since 2022 originally on bass, but he is a guitar player so it was a natural move for him so we could bring in Kiko Rivers on bass. I’ve known Kiko for quite a while and we share the same musical taste and sense of humour. I had thought about asking him to join the band, but it was just waiting for the stars to align. On drums we have Mark Speight, he’s an old friend of Kiko’s and has played in so many bands over the years all over the world, including Uriah Heep, he really is just the perfect fit for the band.
"And for Helsinki we had TWO guitar players as we were joined by another old friend of mine from back in the day, Pekko Mantzin. He’s in Bad Valentines now as well as a few other bands and is a bit of a Helsinki legend. It was so good to have him join us and he slotted in perfectly, we are hopeful we can repeat that in the future, it’s just logistics that keep us from having Pekko permanently, hahaha."
You said a lot of your influences are Vive Le Rock favourites like Lords Of The New Church and The Faces.....
"The Lords and The Faces are two of my favourite bands alongside the likes of the Ramones, The Stones, The Dolls….a lot of it is pretty obvious and musically a lot of the reviews of the albums and the live shows have compared what I do to a cross between the Quireboys and the Ramones with Stiv Bators as frontman and I am more than happy to take those comparisons."
You are touring with our mates from Helsinki - Dharma Guns. How did that come about?Have you played Finland before?
"Partly by accident, I know Edu (Dharma Guns bassist) from his days with Plastic Tears and slowly got to know the band through him on social media. I’ve been playing their stuff on my radio show, Mystery City on Scotland Rocks Radio for the last couple of years. Anyway, their singer Pete and I were talking on FB Messenger one morning about bands trying to work together, play shows and stuff like that and suddenly it turned into “Let’s do a tour togetherm” and within half an hour we had most of the dates semi-confirmed with the venues. It was totally by accident, but definitely a happy one! The Finnish dates were just off the scale and the atmosphere from the bands and the crowds on both dates was amazing, looking forward to going back at some point but we have definitely set the bar very high, kicking off with a massive crowd at On The Rocks on that first night dancing and singing along with every song is a memory that will stay with me forever."
And we have partied with Plastic Tears who you played Helsinki with too. Sounds like it was quite a party over there....
"It was, hahaha. I’ve been close friends with Miqu from Plastic Tears since we met in London back in ’92 and it’s remained that way ever since. Plastic Tears and Paradise Alley both celebrated their 30th anniversaries back in 2022 and we toured the UK together back then which was a lot of fun. It’s been so good to see them again with the new line-up and hang out after the show in Helsinki. It was also amazing to have Miqu come up and sing 'Fortune Wheel' from my first album on stage as we wrote that together in his old apartment 30 years ago. That was REALLY special."
You already have two solo albums out. What's next for Steve Vincent?
"Definitely more music and gigs! I’ve written and demoed a few things and done a couple of songs with Kiko as well and I know Ged has some riffs and stuff he wants to bring to the table so we’ve got plenty to work with and while I wrote everything on the first two albums apart from the one co-write with Miqu on that first album, it’s nice to collaborate and get everyone involved. We are playing at least one song that is planned for the third album on these tour dates too.
"As for if the future involves Paradise Alley, only time will tell. Right now, people seem to really get off on my solo stuff, so I am more than happy to keep going with the Steve Vincent band and see where that takes us."
Catch Steve and his band live with the Dharma Guns at...
Thu 21 May 2026 – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
Fri 22 May 2026 – Newcastle, Trillians
Sat 23 May 2026 – Wolverhampton, Giffard Arms
Sun 24 May 2026 – London, Hope & Anchor
Sun 6 Sep 2026 – Leicester, O2 Academy: Hard Rock Hell Sleaze Festival
Steve's music is available now through Bandcamp.