Philip Steir is an American drummer, remixer, composer and record producer.
Life and career
As a drummer, he played in the critically acclaimed band Consolidated he co-founded, which was signed to Nettwerk Records and later London Records. Consolidated released five albums between 1990 and 1996. Steir co-wrote all of the band's material, as well as doing much of the producing of the band's studio work.
After the success of Steir's first remix for Consolidated, "This Is Fascism", which went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard dance charts, he started receiving phone calls from record labels to remix other artists on their roster. In 1996, he opened his own studio in San Francisco (Toast), where he remixed tracks for numerous top artists including No Doubt,[1]New Order, Korn, Moby, Rob Zombie, Foreigner, Smash Mouth, Bush, Live, Cake and others.
Steir's remix of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride",[2] for the movie Go, set the ball in motion for many classic tracks to be remixed for movies, clubs and TV commercials. His "Magic Carpet Ride" remix was licensed by Dodge and then Skechers for both of the companies major television advertisement campaigns. It was also used in other films and TV shows.
Steir's reputation as a remixer eventually led to production work. He produced the Grammy-nominated album Arepa 3000[3] (best alternative Latin album) in 2001, for the Venezuelan band, Los Amigos Invisibles. The album was also nominated for a Latin Grammy Award as best rock album.
Steir also produced the majority of tracks on the Maverick debut album Falling Uphill for Lillix. Falling Uphill was an international success spawning hits in the United States, Canada and Asia. The album has now been certified gold in Japan. The success of the song "What I Like About You", which Steir produced for the TV show of the same name, was also the hit song in the movie and soundtrack for Freaky Friday. When the band No Doubt started work on their Rock Steady album, they began first in San Francisco recording with Steir at his studio where the song "Hey Baby" was born, and eventually went on to win the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[4]
Steir was also the music producer and music supervisor for The WB TV Network's image campaigns, producing the theme music for five seasons of the network's image campaign. The campaigns in which Steir did the music for won both he and the network 4 Promax Awards for best Network promo.
Steir is now living in Los Angeles, where his reputation for remixing classic tracks for film and TV led him to develop a project for Warner Brothers Records to remix past hit songs from the Warner Bros tape vaults / back catalog. The album, What Is Hip?, released on Warner Bros Records and whose title track was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 featured songs by America, The Doobie Brothers, Rod Stewart, George Benson, Ambrosia and Tower of Power. The album included remixes by other top producers and DJs. It was conceived and executive-produced by Steir, as was his remix of the Devo track "Whip It" and Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me," from the project which have been receiving license sync's from film, TV and ad campaigns. Steir's remix of Seals and Crofts's song "Summer Breeze" was prominently featured in a summer ad campaign for Gap and was a comeback hit on AC radio.
After remixing the same theme song he originally produced for the WB TV series What I Like About You, Steir was asked by the shows producers if he would join the show as composer, music producer, and music supervisor and has just completed his third season on the hit series.
Steir has completed work on a remix project for Rhino/Warner Music Group, for which he remixed and executive produced a project featuring hits by the Bee Gees.
In the early 2010s, Steir has co-created 'Flow Play' with Derek Beres. Flow Play fuses yoga together with world music.[5]
Awards and nominations • Los Amigos Invisibles, "Arepa 3000", 2001, Best Rock Album nominee
• Los Amigos Invisibles, "Arepa 3000", 2001, Best Alternative Latin album nominee
Bammie Awards and Nominations • Junk, "Kiss My Acid Jazz", 1997, Outstanding Jazz Band nominee
• Junk, "Kiss My Acid Jazz", 1997, Outstanding Jazz Album nominee
Other recognition • Winner of 4 Promax awards for best Network promo, The WB TV Network
