STEVE BARTON
Projector, the new album from Translator front man Steve Barton, is a departure as it features Steve on all of the instruments. The album was produced by Marvin Etzioni and was recorded and mixed on tape. This record is made up of songs that Steve wrote in the immediate aftermath of his dad’s death.
Steve has released four solo albums: The Boy Who Rode His Bike Around The World, Charm Offensive, Flicker Of Time and Gallery. The band for these albums consists of Steve on guitar and vocals, Robbie Rist on drums (Robbie is well-known for having played Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch – plus a long list of indie music and film work), and bassist Derrick Anderson (he is also the current bass player for The Bangles) and Casey Dolan on guitar. Casey left the band in 2007 and they have continued on as a trio.
Translator features Steve Barton (guitar, vocals), Robert Darlington (guitar, vocals), Larry Dekker (bass) and Dave Scheff (drums).
Formed in Los Angeles in 1979, Translator relocated to San Francisco and were swiftly signed to Howie Klein's independent label, 415 Records (which became part of Columbia Records as soon as the band signed), on the strength of their demo version of Steve’s song "Everywhere That I'm Not," the song that would remain the band's signature tune.
Heartbeats and Triggers (415/Columbia 1982), produced by David Kahne, was a college-radio hit. The second album, 1983's No Time Like Now was also produced by Kahne and included the hit single, Barton’s “Un-Alone”. Their third album from 1985, simply titled Translator was helmed by Ramones producer Ed Stasium, as was their final album, Evening of the Harvest (1986). For their single “Come With Me”, they travelled to India to film the music video. Everywhere That I’m Not —A Retrospective was released by Columbia in 1986. Two CD retrospectives were released: Translation on Oglio and Everywhere That We Were — The Best of Translator by Sony/Legacy in 1995 and 1996, respectively. All of the original four albums, plus bonus tracks, are available on iTunes and on CD. Also, previously un-released sessions from 1993 will be available very soon. The band continues to play the occasional live show, including some very well-received gigs in Los Angeles and San Francisco in September 2009.
