“The last time I played a full set at the Commodore was with a band I was in and touring with called Mounties,” Bays tells me in conversation the day after the show. “I remember us being so grateful to be playing the Commodore despite being a new band. Not unlike last night actually. It was wild to be playing our first ever show as a band on the legendary Commodore stage… (let alone opening for OK Go)! But more recently, I’ve been up there doing the occasional vocal cameo with friend’s bands.. which unfortunately often leads to me raiding their green room and then adding more and more unwanted impromptu percussion to their show, as a ‘gift’ for them. A shame-over the next day isn’t unheard of.”

I’m quite certain there was no shame-over after the set this time. The band—despite it being their first show together—was tight as ever. With veteran players like Dwight Abell (dwi) on bass, Tony Dallas on drums, and Michael Kenyon on guitar, Bays was in very capable hands.

“I took an opposite approach to finding bandmates than I have before,” he tells me when asked how he put together this lineup. “As I got older and was able to understand myself more, I found it increasingly challenging to navigate multiple creative people sharing ideas all at once in the same room. I feared the weird ego dynamic of a ‘solo’ project. I never wanted that, so I never attempted to build a solo project band. But with these fellas, I’ve always felt that they were the kind of fellas I would wanna hang with on a day off… so in some ways this lineup was my life-hack way of finding a way to actually get time to hang and nerd out.“

And you can feel that friendship just watching them on stage. They’re all smiling, exchanging knowing glances, and giving each other shout-outs mid-set. I love to see it.

Steve’s first solo release “Women’s Jeans” is a perfect mix of a Strokes-esque throwback track and the new era of indie pop—the perfect balance of all things Steve Bays.

“In a perfect world, I’d have had a full set of all new songs to play,” he says about preparing for the show. “I casually started to work towards finishing the first song.. and then next thing I knew, the show was getting REALLY CLOSE. I finished a few more but it wasn’t a full set worth so we decided to learn a few Hot Hot Heat songs and I ended up changing tempos and writing new synths parts — kinda reinterpreting them to match my other songs.”

As a fan, I was super stoked to hear some of my favourite Hot Hot Heat songs live again. And by the way the whole crowd sang along to “Goodnight Goodnight,” and I heard a few literal screams when they went into “Kid Who Stays In The Picture,” they were stoked too. Sprinkling in new, unheard songs like “Goth Babysitter” kept things fresh and exciting. Were we gonna hear an old favourite next? Or a new favourite?

Now you know I had to ask the tough questions: what does Steve Bays fangirl over?

“I’m such a fangirl of small, boutique businesses/ companies/one-person operations that make super niche and specific physical or digital tools for artists and creators. I ordered custom skins for an akai midi mixer board I have … and love that somebody makes something THAT niche. My latest thing is a gameshow style button that you hold in your hand and you can use it to trigger anything you can think of… so I’m gonna use it at our next show to trigger different vocal fx that change depending on where we are in the song. I keep in touch with the creator on Etsy and feel starstruck when he messages me back.”

Now that Bays has had a chance to sleep on it, he reflects on the show and what the future holds: “I was flooded with feelings of joy and fulfilment I had sort of blocked out in recent years.. assuming I was trying to embrace a retirement from live performing. But all of a sudden I realized oh no wait – I 100 per cent love this too much to quit,” he explains. 

“I felt an electric feedback loop with the room last night. Within the first song I remembered.. oh yeah.. I’m not up here to feel adrenaline or glory or feed some bs ego.. the goal of all of this is basically just for as many people as possible in one room to just have a good time and allow themselves to take a break from real life. It feels crazy—something you started for selfish reasons has led to a moment where you’re no longer just taking from the world, but you’ve inadvertently landed somewhere where you’re giving something back. Something as small as a bit of entertainment.. or something as big as unlocking a whole new state of mind about how you can interpret the world and define your own reasons for existence.”

It’s clear that this ain’t no comeback—Steve has always been that guy, and he’s here to stay.

Michael Kenyon (of Phony Records) performing on stage with Steve Bays at the Commodore Ballroom.

Dwight Abell performing on stage with Steve Bays at the Commodore Ballroom.