Darwen musician Steven Kenyon releases debut album devoted to hometown

Steven Kenyon, 56, released the album titled ‘Darwen’ last week, which features 10 instrumental tracks named after different areas of the town.

Under the name My Little Universe, inspired by the song of the same name on Depeche Mode’s 2013 album Delta Machine, Steven’s debut release was all produced and mixed by himself.

Steven (right) with his first band, The Edge. L-R: Chris Allen, Roger Dickinson, Simon Hough (Image: Steven Kenyon)

Having spent time in bands in his youth, including touring Europe full-time with his second band named The Affair, Steve lost the passion and instead focussed on his career as a project manager.

But after the end of a relationship, he rediscovered his love for music and set himself up a small studio and, for the last eight years, has been working on songs, some of which have become part of the Darwen album.

On how he became involved in music, Steven said: “I was into punk in the late 70s and then I got into the synth stuff in the late 70s and early 80s. I bought myself a synthesiser when I was still at school. I got a passion for it and ended up in a band (The Edge) playing covers, probably for about six years.

“We won a battle of the bands competition organised by Red Rose Radio. We started doing covers, and then writing our own material and slipping one or two of our songs into our show. It ended up where nearly half of our gigs were made up of our own material, and we were still getting gigs, playing in pubs and clubs all over the UK.

Steven (left) with his second band, The Affair. L-R: Mark Colleridge, Stuart Taylor, Bob Ramsey. Front: John Chatburn (Image: Steven Kenyon)

“In 1989 I got offered to join another band and I ended up touring around Europe playing for all the forces in Germany, Turkey and Greece. I packed my job in and did that full-time for a year.

“After a year of doing that and being on the road, it was exciting but I lost the passion. Living in a van, there was no glamour associated with it at all. So I ended up going back to the job I left a year earlier and set up synths in my bedroom.

“I ended up involved with somebody, got married, and my music went to one side and I concentrated on my career and raising a family.”

Following the end of his relationship, Steven rediscovered his music passion and had been working on his own music in his purpose-built studio.

A chance meeting with another local musician, though, led to the opportunity of performing his own songs live for the first time.

The Edge in the newspaper (Image: Steven Kenyon)

He said: “For eight years I’ve been considering doing something and at the back end of 2021 I got introduced to a guy called Andrew Mahon. I knew who he was for many years because he used to be in a local band in the 80s called Some Now Are.

“They’ve had a bit of a revival lately and I got taken to a gig they were doing down at the blues bar at Ewood Park and a friend of mine knew him.

“Andrew, not knowing anything about me, invited me back to the studio because they were recording some new tracks for an album. I got involved with them from that point and Andrew started sending me rough demo tracks and I ended up doing some production work on them.

“They liked them that much that they put some of them on the album and I got my name credited on it.

Steven now (Image: Steven Kenyon)

“Andrew asked if I’d mind supporting them on some of their upcoming gigs. That really gave me a kick to release this album and release something because if I’m going to be gigging, I need to be able to decide what material I’m going to play.

“I played the entirety of my album there. It was a small venue in Darwen called Dolly’s Tea Room. It went really well. I’ve been blown away by the compliments and the reception I got.”

Since the album’s release, Steven has been inundated with positive feedback, and has found himself re-listening to it over and over again.

He said: “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits with it. I’ve been getting a lot of comments and every time I get a comment about a certain track I find myself listening to that track straight after.

“I end up listening to the whole album again. In the last two or three days I’ve probably listened to it about 20 times.”

Steven’s love for his hometown is clear from everything about the album, from the name, to the tracks, to the artwork that features iconic snippets of the town’s history.

The album cover was designed by the son of Steven's friend (Image: Steven Kenyon)

“The main thing is the fact I’ve been brought up here,” he said. “I’ve never really moved away, I’ve worked all over the place but I’ve never left home. I’ve always commuted if I’m working somewhere.

“A lot of things seem to come out of Darwen. There’s been some great famous films here, the history of the Spitfire, there’s still quite a lot of old buildings, the history of the football club.

“We seem to have our own dialect and microclimate that sets us apart from everyone else.”

The album is available to download on all major digital music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube music.

Steven is also set to perform at this year’s Darwen Live festival, where you’ll be able to hear the tunes in person.