Steve Mueske RIP

[john]

Hi

 

I’ve just been told the deeply sad news that a long term friend and member of Songstuff, Steve Mueske, has unexpectedly passed away.

 

 

Steve was a brilliant guitarist, electronic composer and published poet. I had nothing but huge respect for him. He was known on Songstuff primarily for his music composition and production. He was adventurous composer who pushed away conformity, especially after he discovered microtonal composition. In recent years he combined his love of guitar with his composition and production skills, with great critical success, if not commercial. That was very much the world’s loss. With his passing goes a great composer, a music producer of the highest calibre, and a deeply passionate and thoughtful man.

 

Steve loved his family. He didn’t speak of them often, but when he did he spoke passionately and with pride. Let’s face it, few of us are here to speak of our families. Music is our obsession. I remember the pride he had speaking of his daughter becoming involved in the world of music. He proudly pointed me (and others) to his daughter’s early, online recordings. She has such a beautiful voice and is an accomplished songwriter. He wished such good things for her, and for all his family.

 

Steve has been a member of Songstuff for more than 20 years. Over that time he closed and re-opened his account 4 times. Each time he cleaned house in part because he was a prolific poster and conversationalist. Sometimes he left in the heat of the moment but he took these opportunities to reset. Steve was not without his troubles and he was open about his personal struggles with mental health. As mentioned, occasionally those struggles spilled over onto the community, but Steve always came back and faced up to any fall out and was the first to admit his problems and faults. It didn’t always make our friendship easy, but no one said life should be easy, and nothing worthwhile ever was.

 

I massively regret not working with him on a joint music project despite him suggesting it several times over the years. I was always too busy, buried in work or my own health issues. Sorry for that, my friend. It is my profound loss.

 

All in, I, we, massively benefited from Steve’s huge amount of knowledge. He happily shared it. Despite his talents being obvious to those who knew him, Steve wasn’t confident about his music. He was diligent and disciplined in his approach. That diligence was thrown at his music, in order to manifest his creative vision, but that did not mean that he was confident. This is something he shares with many members of our community so I am sure you get exactly what I mean.

 

Like his Songstuff account, Steve also deleted his online catalog of songs and music, on more than one occasion. At least some of those pieces were restored to public access. Unfortunately that means the entire legacy of works he leaves online is smaller than it really should be. Still, this is how Steve wanted his music to be seen in this moment, even though he probably wasn’t necessarily thinking of his legacy.  I hope someday his broader works will once again be available.

 

Over those 20 years I was lucky enough to call Steve a friend, colleague and fellow composer. He was a one time staff member and was always interested in the wellbeing of the Songstuff community and supporting the talent he found on our boards. In his later years he posted less critique (almost always on the song board, focused on music production, and occasionally on the poetry board) but he still supported other members when and how he could. He was an active community member for most of his 20 years of membership and he was supportive of other composers and performers.

 

Steve was ambitious for his music, but at the same time highly conflicted. He wanted to achieve something, he wanted to earn a living from his music, but at the same time rejected any and all music marketing besides simply telling people another piece was available. Sadly this meant he was often frustrated. Genius is often overlooked. Frustration was a significant part of the discussion when Steve and I discussed his music. Still, Steve did enjoy the support of a lot of fans on Songstuff and more generally on Social media… despite the fact that several times Steve closed his social media accounts (especially Twitter) and started again from scratch. If he hadn’t he would have been a well-known influencer by now.

 

I regret that recently we had not spoken much, after another of those not so easy moments. I deeply regret that our friendship had not yet returned to where it had been for most of those 20 years. I know Steve understood and I am glad that we had at least got that far in our conversations. My respect for him remains unwavering.

 

I will miss our long conversations about music, electronic and otherwise. I will miss Steve’s new music. It was always top quality. I will miss Steve as a supporter of our community and his support in what we try to achieve. I will miss Steve as a supporter of both me and my music. Above all I will miss a good friend.

 

Steve, rest easy, be at peace. There is much love around you and you will be dearly missed.

 

John

 

Midnight On A Digital Sea

Featured Artist - Müesk

[Mahesh]

I am so heartbroken about this news. Steve was always a helpful and supportive human being. What a pleasure it has been to have known him all these years on the boards. 

 

I don't think it'll be easy to get over my guilt of not having finished our collaboration which we'd started discussing last year. We were talking about it and then I got busy. And then he went away for a while and closed his account and the conversation sort of paused by the time he came back the next time around.  I'm sorry we couldn't make it happen, my friend. 

 

Steve was a man full of heart. I remember how helpful he was when I first joined these forums over a decade ago - offering me critique, advise and words of encouragement. Last year, he'd sent me a message randomly saying that he'd been listening to my music and he thinks I'm one of the best voices on the planet. Ugh Who does that? Although there were times when he spoke out of line on the boards and maybe got carried away, he would also send the whole staff a message accepting it and apologising for it. What a class 'A' human being. 

 

I will miss you, dear brother. Thank you for your presence and may you rest in peace. 

[Peggy]

Really sad news.  Rest in peace, Steve.

[Steve]

This is very sad news!  R.I.P. Steve.

[McnaughtonPark]

Play on Steve, play on.

 

Peace,

mp

[geographyhorse]

This is the worst news ever. 😭I always kept in touch with him even though I am a very private, distant, and aloof person. We were discussing depression just a few days before as we both suffer from intense depression and mental health issues (Schizoid Personality Disorder 🙋🏻‍♂️). 
 

I got kind of worried as he hadn’t responded to me in a bit, but it wasn’t all that unusual for Steve to disappear for stretches of time. Hell, I do it too. But, I couldn’t shake this heavy feeling so I hopped on here to see if he was still posting and found this. 
 

I did have the pleasure of working with Steve on a song and he is an extremely talented, passionate and creative individual. But… he was also difficult to work with 😂.  The results were worth it. 

 

I will miss him dearly. 

 

RIP Steve 

[john]

12 hours ago, geographyhorse said:

This is the worst news ever. 😭I always kept in touch with him even though I am a very private, distant, and aloof person. We were discussing depression just a few days before as we both suffer from intense depression and mental health issues (Schizoid Personality Disorder 🙋🏻‍♂️). 
 

I got kind of worried as he hadn’t responded to me in a bit, but it wasn’t all that unusual for Steve to disappear for stretches of time. Hell, I do it too. But, I couldn’t shake this heavy feeling so I hopped on here to see if he was still posting and found this. 
 

I did have the pleasure of working with Steve on a song and he is an extremely talented, passionate and creative individual. But… he was also difficult to work with 😂.  The results were worth it. 

 

I will miss him dearly. 

 

RIP Steve 

 

Good photo

[Janeva]

I was so sorry to hear this news, thank you for letting me know, John.

 

RIP Steve.

[GregB]

*SIGH*    Barely knew the guy, but we did have a few pleasant and interesting exchanges of ideas ... although I felt I was treading on eggshells.
 

If he had issues, I think EVERYONE on Songstuff is on some sprectrum or other.   But if he was at the more extreme end, at least he seemed focused on the craft of making music, kept at it, and was willing to share his creations.

Looking back, I had commented on one of his released:

ME: 

Nice production.  I had assumed from the name that "Pentachrist" would have been edgy/metal/punk 😊

STEVE:

Ha ha! I do have plenty of edgy music. I don't want Pentachrist to be thought of as a metal act, though, more as a hybrid distillation of many forms of ambient, electronic, experimental, and progressive (including metal) music. I'm still evolving. 😊

Edited July 1 by GregB

[BeckyM]

Thank you for the tribute for Steve. I will pass on all the kind words to our children. 

Becky Mueske

[Peggy]

13 minutes ago, BeckyM said:

Thank you for the tribute for Steve. I will pass on all the kind words to our children. 

Becky Mueske

Hi Becky, I'm sorry for your family's loss.

[john]

On 7/12/2024 at 3:32 AM, BeckyM said:

Thank you for the tribute for Steve. I will pass on all the kind words to our children. 

Becky Mueske

 

My condolences Becky. I am glad you saw this thread. Steve was well respected in our community.

[ImKeN2]

I had the honor of having a few songs and instrumentals being critiqued by Steve in the past. His understanding of his craft was beyond me and most of what he talked about didn't compute in my brain. He was a person who struck me as being very passionate and dedicated to his craft, he made me feel a tad bit annoyed at his brilliance but as an outsider who had a peek into Steve's musical creations, he was a bright star blazing his own trail on the futuristic sound waves.

 

My sincere condolences to his wife and children.