Wold was born in Oakland, California. When he was four years old, his parents split up. His father played boogie-woogie piano and Wold tried to learn when he was five or six, but could not. At the age of eight, he learned to play the guitar from K. C. Douglas, who worked at his grandfather's garage, later realizing that he had been taught the blues. Douglas wrote the song "Mercury Blues" and had played with Tommy Johnson in the early 1940s. Wold left home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, and lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. At various times, Wold worked as a carnie, a cowboy and a migrant worker. Paraphrasing H. L. Mencken, Wold described this time of his life by saying "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three."
When asked about his nickname, Wold has said: "because it's just true: I always get seasick". When he was ill on a ferry from Norway to Copenhagen, later in his life, a friend began playfully using the name and, despite Wold not rising to it for a while, it stuck. When asked about his name on British Sunday morning television show, Something for the Weekend, he replied, "I just get sick on boats". On Top Gear, when asked about his name, Wold replied "Well, I guess I just don't like boats!"
Wold made his first UK television appearance on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny BBC TV show on New Year's Eve 2006. He performed a live rendition of "Dog House Boogie" on the "Three String Trance Wonder" and the "Mississippi Drum Machine". After that show his popularity exploded in Britain, as he explained in an interview:
"I can't believe it, all of the sudden I'm like the cat's meow!"
He was well received in the UK, winning the 2007 MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act and going on to appear at major UK festivals such as Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury. In 2007 he played more UK festivals than any other artist.
Wold toured early in 2008, playing in various venues and festivals in the UK. He was joined on stage by drummer Dan Magnusson. KT Tunstall also dueted with Wold at the London Astoria in January 2008.[20] Wold also played many other festivals throughout the world in 2008, including Fuji Rock in Japan, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Australia, also in April 2008,[21] and Roskilde in Denmark.
Wold's major-label debut, I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left was recorded with Dan Magnusson on drums, was released by Warner Music on September 29, 2008, and features Ruby Turner and Nick Cave's Grinderman.
He has toured the UK extensively since 2007 being supported by Duke Garwood, Gemma Ray, The Sugars, Billie the Vision and the Dancers in January 2008, Amy LaVere in October 2008, Melody Nelson at the Brighton Dome on 7 October, and Joe Gideon & The Shark in January 2009. His tours in October 2008 and January 2009 were all sold out and included performances at the Royal Albert Hall, the Edinburgh Queen's Hall, the Grand Opera House in Belfast, the Apollo in Manchester, the City Hall in Newcastle and the London Hammersmith Apollo.
In 2009, Wold was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist, That same year, BBC Four broadcast a documentary of Wold visiting the southern USA entitled Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home. On January 21, Wold hosted "Folk America: Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers" at the Barbican in London, a show that was also televised and shown with the documentary on BBC Four as part of a series tracing American roots music.
In an interview with an Australian magazine, Wold attributes much of his unlikely success to his cheap and weather-beaten guitar, "The Trance Wonder" and reveals the guitar's mojo might come from supernatural sources. "I got it from Sherman, who is a friend of mine down in Mississippi, who had bought it down at a Goodwill store. When we were down there last time he says to me, 'I didn't tell you when you bought it off me, but that guitar used to be haunted'. I say, 'What are you talking about, Sherman?'. He says, 'There’s 50 solid citizens here in Como who'll tell you this guitar is haunted. It's the darnedest thing – we’d leave it over in the potato barn and we'd come back in and it would be moved. You'd put it down somewhere and the next morning you’d come back and it would have moved. When you took that guitar the ghost in the barn left'. He told me this not very long ago and I said to him, 'Sherman! Why didn't you tell me this before?' and he said, 'Well the ghost was gone – I didn't want it around here no more!'"
On January 3, 2010, Wold appeared on the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear as the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car. He was the last star to drive in the blue Chevrolet Lacetti.
In February 2010, Wold was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist for the second consecutive year.
In 2010, Wold made numerous festival appearances throughout the summer, including the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, the main stage at V Festival, the main stage at the Hop Farm Festival and many more.
In February 2011, Wold signed to Play It Again Sam to release his new album with the exception of the US, where it will be released on Third Man Records. Subsequently his new album You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks was released on his new labels and it was announced that former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones had played on the new album, and performed alongside Wold to promote it.
On 16 August 2014 he was the headline act at Beautiful Days in Exeter, UK, and on the 24th August he headlined at 'Victorious Festival' in Southsea, Portsmouth, UK.
Roy’s Gang
Seasick Steve Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'll play
I'll play
I gettin' kind of restless
Wanna get on a road
I gettin' kind a restless, yo'
Believe it's time to go
I wanna get on that bus
Gonna play me a whole bus show
Gon' be so fun to see y'all
Can't believe you still wanna come
Well do our best to rock your socks
A few hours of fun
I wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you my very best show
I wanna get on that bus
Gonna play me a whole bus show
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Not seventy five)
(No shoe gazing, yo')
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Yes yes)
I gettin' kind of anxious
Feel like gettin' around
Me and Dan, and Mark, and Hugh, and Roy
Goin' tear some new ground
Lead me to the place I can play
Pop me up on my shoes
We play some more, to get that music
Goin' tear it up just for you
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
I wanna get on that bus
Gonna play me a whole bus show
(Yes sir)
I wanna get on that bus
Gonna play me a whole bus show
(Sho' enough)
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Not fifty)
(A hundred percent)
(Do what I say)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(You know it's like a work ethic thing, what we do)
(No I mean like, we don't like messin' around, you know)
(Abuse, what we, got, yes sir')
(Now we're gonna get)
(Psychedelic on your ass)
(Psychedelic on you)
(Man we're gonna get psychedelic)
(Now we back in the game)
(We be rollin' yo)
(Now we back in the game)
(Yes sir)
Listen here
We all part of Roy's gane
We traveled high and low
We talked the talk, but we walked the walk
Don't believe it? Come to the show
Lead us to the place where we can play
Pop us up on our shoes
We play some more, to get that music
Goin tear it up just for you
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
(Ya hear?)
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
(A hundred percent)
(Not seventy five)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(No shoe gazing)
(Now what I gon' say?)
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Inside out)
(You got it)
(All right now)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
In "Roy's Gang," Seasick Steve expresses his desire to perform live for his fans. The song begins with Steve's declaration that he is willing to perform when someone requests him to do so. Then, he expresses his eagerness to embark on a journey and tour with his crew. Steve is excited to show his fans a new side of the band during the live performance. He insists that they will do their best to impress and entertain their fans with their soulful music. He asserts that they will perform vigorously and won't hold back anything. Steve's metaphorical references to shoes and the need to pop-up signify his intentions to tune up, rehearse, and perfect his music and stage presence. Steve indicates that he is part of Roy's gang and that they have been through a lot together, but they have stayed true to their music.
Line by Line Meaning
Man, you want me to play?
Asking if the listener wants him to perform
I gettin' kind of restless
Wanna get on a road
Feeling antsy and wants to get on the road
I wanna get on that bus
Gonna play me a whole bus show
Excited to perform a full show on a bus
Gon' be so fun to see y'all
Can't believe you still wanna come
Well do our best to rock your socks
A few hours of fun
Looking forward to putting on an entertaining show for the audience
I wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you my very best show
Eager to perform and give his best performance on stage
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Not seventy five)
(No shoe gazing, yo')
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Yes yes)
Fully committed to putting on a great show and giving it his all
I gettin' kind of anxious
Feel like gettin' around
Me and Dan, and Mark, and Hugh, and Roy
Goin' tear some new ground
Getting anxious to start performing with the other members of Roy's gang
Lead me to the place I can play
Pop me up on my shoes
We play some more, to get that music
Goin' tear it up just for you
Asking to be taken to a stage where he can deliver a great performance
Listen here
We all part of Roy's gane
We traveled high and low
We talked the talk, but we walked the walk
Don't believe it? Come to the show
Explaining that the gang has put in a lot of work to get to where they are and are ready to deliver a great performance
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
(Ya hear?)
Reiterating their desire to perform and give their best performance
(A hundred percent)
(Not fifty)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(A hundred percent)
(Do what I say)
(Sweatin' bullets)
Fully committed to putting on a great show and following through with their plans
(You know it's like a work ethic thing, what we do)
(No I mean like, we don't like messin' around, you know)
(Abuse, what we, got, yes sir')
(Now we're gonna get)
(Psychedelic on your ass)
(Psychedelic on you)
(Man we're gonna get psychedelic)
Expressing that they are dedicated to their performance and will put on an entertaining show
(Now we back in the game)
(We be rollin' yo)
(Now we back in the game)
(Yes sir)
Excited to be back in the game and performing again
We wanna get on that stage
Wanna play you our very best show
(A hundred percent)
(Not seventy five)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(No shoe gazing)
(Now what I gon' say?)
(A hundred percent)
(Sweatin' bullets)
(Inside out)
(You got it)
(All right now)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
(Sock it to me!)
Reiterating their commitment to deliver a great perfomance and asking the audience to enjoy the show
Writer(s): Steve Gene Wold
Contributed by Alexander I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
p7rox
This man is seriously underrated.
Christopher Spence
Concur
victor fernandez
Hes not. I rate him pretty highly and Im guessing a least a bunch of others with good taste do too
LasotaMusic
I've been deep in music for almost 20 years and I'm just learning of him. How the hell didn't I know him earlier? I agree with you!
Controversial 🫵🏻
This man is far too underrated. This dude is my favourite artist by far. YOU ARE AMAZING STEVEEE
Martin Sprenz
My favorite blues artist alive. Hope to see him live in Europe the next few years...
brodie grant
seeing him on the 13th of November
lorena Corsa
Just discovered this gem. Love!!!!
Robert Michael
Hi lorena
You got a cute name. Lol
andrewfuller62
Killer track Steve........white-hot, low-down dirty blues. My new favourite of yours.