Steve Mackay

Steve Mackay
Background information
Born (1949-09-25)September 25, 1949
Grand Rapids, Michigan, US
Died October 10, 2015(2015-10-10) (aged 66)
Daly City, California, US
Genres Rock, jazz
Instruments Saxophone
Years active 1970–2015
Associated acts The Stooges, Carnal Kitchen, Violent Femmes, Estel

Steve Mackay (September 25, 1949 – October 10, 2015[1]) was an American tenor saxophone player, best known for his participation on the Stooges' second album Fun House.

The Stooges

In 1970, Mackay was familiar to the Stooges from his work with the Detroit avant-rock pioneers Carnal Kitchen. He was recruited by lead singer Iggy Pop, two days before the Stooges left Detroit for Los Angeles to record the album, after having sat in with the band several times. Mackay toured with the group throughout 1970, but parted company with the Stooges in October 1970.[2]

In 2003, Mackay rejoined the Stooges when they played their first show in twenty-nine years, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and he performed with them until his death in 2015. He appeared on the live Stooges releases Live in Detroit (DVD) and Telluric Chaos (live album), and toured regularly with the reunited band. He also appeared on The Weirdness (2007) and Ready to Die (2013).

Other collaborations

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mackay became Carnal Kitchen again with then wife, Annie Garcia-Mackay, a blues singer and bassist. In 2001, Steve divorced Annie Garcia due to her infidelities, excessive drug use and temper tantrums. Also in 2001, he then married Patricia Smith.

Throughout the 1980s Mackay played and recorded with a highly diverse cross-section of underground musicians: Violent Femmes, Snakefinger, Commander Cody, Smegma, Zu, Andre Williams, the Moonlighters, Clubfoot Orchestra, and Van Rozay from San Jose. As the 1990s approached, Mackay's profile gradually lowered as he took up residence in Pacifica, CA [just south of San Francisco] and began work as an electrician.

The wider perception was that Mackay was dead. In 2000, Stooges biography pages on websites for MTV, VH1, and Rolling Stone included an item indicating that Mackay had died in the 1970s. The origin of this story is unknown, but music journalist Nick Kent reported the 'fact'.[2] Scott Nydegger from the small record label and noise collective Radon disproved the rumor by contacting Mackay and arranging to release his first solo recordings.

Radon released the "Death City" single in 1999, and Mackay began to perform and record regularly with a revolving line-up of musicians associated with Radon. The first full-scale tour of Steve Mackay and the Radon Ensemble was mounted in July 2003; with a percussion-heavy lineup that featured bassist Marlon Kasberg (Liquorball), drummer Sam Lohman (Nimrod 36), multi-instrumentalist Travis McAlister (Nequaquam Vacuum), scrap percussionist and vocalist Noah Mickens (also Nequaquam Vacuum), and drummer and band leader Scott Nydegger (Sikhara). Other musicians who have performed and recorded with the Radon Ensemble since then included the multi-instrumentalist Tyler Armstrong, projectionist Ed Cooper, bassist Giovanni Donadini, Nyko Esterle, multi-instrumentalists Kamilsky and Dan Kauffman, bassist Jason LaFarge, saxophonist Vinnie Paternostro, Fabrizio Modonese-Polumbo, saxophonist Shane Pringle, Frank Pullen, Suzanne Thorpe (Mercury Rev), John Wiese (Bastard Noise), and drummer Ed Wilcox.

Mackay performing in 2007

Mackay also appeared at live shows by Violent Femmes, with whom he played off and on after appearing on their album The Blind Leading the Naked.

Radon released the Smegma–Mackay collaboration album 30 Years of Service in 2005, his full-length album Michigan and Arcturus (2006), a vinyl-only release with The Radon Ensemble entitled "Tunnel Diner", and in 2008 Resipiscent released Smegma's Live 2004 featuring Mackay and Jello Biafra. Mackay's solo discography included a self-released collection of solo and group demos from the 1980s called En Voyage, and such compilation albums as Popular Electronic Uzak, You've Got Your Orders 3, and Multiball Magazine Issue 2. The Steve Mackay Ensemble continued to perform live and on radio, and embarked on a tour of the US and Europe in 2006.

Mackay continued to collaborate with the Clubfoot Orchestra members, sitting in occasionally at the Bay Area Boat Club's parties. In 2011 Radon and SOOPA released Mackay's new album Sometimes Like This I Talk which features other members of the Stooges, and also the album Machine Gun from U.S.S. with Mackay on sax. Also in 2011, Mackay released North Beach Jazz featuring punk bassist Mike Watt. Mackay was also featured on the record Titans, released in 2012 by the Portuguese stoner-psychedelic rock band Black Bombaim, playing sax on track 'C'. In 2014, he played on the song "A Higher Price To Pay", by the French heavy rock band the Meredith Hunters. He also toured with Bunktilt and Violent Femmes.

In 2015, Mackay, along with lo-fi pioneer R. Stevie Moore and Scott Nydegger (Sikhara), was featured on Shanghai-based experimental punk band Round Eye's eponymous LP which was released by Florida label Ripping Records.

Death

Mackay died in October 2015 from sepsis at a hospital in Daly City, California at the age of 66.[3][4]

A Tribute for Steve Mackay was held at Winter's Tavern in Pacifica, CA on February 27, 2016. The musicians who participated included Jello Biafra and Mike Watt, who performed Side Two of The Stooges' Fun House album. Iggy Pop contributed a short poem that Mike Watt played for the audience through an iPhone. Most of the participants included Bay Area friends and family who had known Steve Mackay through many years of local bands and Open Mikes that Steve often organized.

References

  1. ↑ Jennifer Ruby: Iggy Pop pays tribute to Stooges saxophonist Steve Mackay who dies aged 66. In: London Evening Standard, 12 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 Cliff Jones & Paul Trynka Whatever Turns You On Mojo #29, April 1996
  3. ↑ Minsker, Evan (11 October 2015). "The Stooges' Steve Mackay Has Died". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Steve Mackay, Stooges Saxophonist, Dies at 66". Rolling Stone.com. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
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