European Sun
Steve Miles
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European Sun is the brainchild of songwriter Steve Miles. The new album "When Britain Was Great" came out on 23 Jan 2026 and is as clever and as poignant as anything you will hear this year.
The album also includes a seventeen-and-a-half minute CD single, the pop epic "School Report" To their great credit, a lot of DJs have played the whole thing and Louder Than War described it as a work of genius. It is somewhere between a short story and pop song.
Enjoy this enlightening interview with Steve....
So Steve, the new album is called ‘When Britain Was Great’. Did you arrange for all those Union Jacks to be flown from lampposts as an ironic publicity stunt, or was that nothing to do with you?
Yes, it was all part of the marketing strategy. I fell off a ladder myself only recently. But it turns out that anyone attracted to the phrase ‘When Britain Was Great’ has been just as strongly repelled by the word ‘European’ in the band’s name, so the ultimate effect on sales has been zero.
Are European Sun a punk band?
If being punk means making the music that you believe in, even if it's difficult, then yes. The best punks made music with their hearts on their sleeves and that's absolutely what we try to do. You could also call it being ‘unprofessional and unpopular’, but ‘punk’ is probably better for the press release.
There is something idealistic about most groups, I think. Some of them become mesmerised by the allure of money or the prospect of fame - and the early idealism is dissipated. European Sun still feels idealistic, though. Do you agree?
Well, I would love to have tons more money, and I would be thrilled if millions of people cared what I think, but I am made in a way that compels me to be true to my inner voices, and those inner voices aren’t keen on doing the things that generate money and fame, unfortunately. My inner voices aren’t always especially kind to me, but they do care about ideals. In fact, we’ll be playing a song about exactly this at our upcoming gigs, though European Sun hasn’t recorded it yet.
In ‘Falling Down The Stairs With Arthur Seaton’ you reference a memorable scene in the film ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’. Is Arthur Seaton’s falling down emblematic of failed attempts to grapple with capitalism? Or was Arthur just drunk?
Yes. Arthur was drunk because his attempts to grapple with capitalism left him feeling anguished. He sought escape from that in drinking, and the rage that he couldn't express turned into a kind of self-harm. He's kind of happy that he falls down the stairs because it brings a brief, if bittersweet, respite from that anguish. I think we all of us fall down those stairs – metaphorically - on a regular basis. But I must stress that it’s only metaphorically attractive – don’t try it at home. ​
​In ‘Choice Paralysis’ the singer is handicapped by the sheer amount of social stimuli and of commodities that assail him. If those stimuli and commodities were taken away would the singer/Steve Miles surge into action? Or just sleep better?
I honestly don’t know. What do you think?
If it was me, my personal fitness would improve and I’d write more songs, but I would also spend more time in the pub. You and I are quite similar in many ways, so I think this might also be your fate. Talking of similarities, like me, you have daughters. Do you think that living with them has influenced you (in a way that living with sons might not have done)?
Our first single (‘The Future’s Female’) clearly established that we are not fans of the traditional tropes of masculinity. The older I get, the more I think the entire construct of gender is unhelpful at best and mostly plain harmful. That said, I think I would be happier if I had a male friend or two with whom I could be as close as I am to the women in my life, but I don’t.
I am very fond of the song ‘Dad’. It’s a tender portrait, and it makes me wish I’d had the chance to get to know your father before he died. It’s also unusual for men to write sensitive songs about other men. Is this because rock’n’roll doesn’t like that kind of thing, or is it symptomatic of a wider issue?
Thank you. That song expresses two emotions. One is me wishing I too had known my father better before he died. And the other is me wishing that I had known myself better while he was alive. They may be connected.
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As for your wider question, I don’t know. What do you think?
Rock’n’roll doesn’t like that kind of thing. Punk ought to like that kind of thing, but usually ends up in the same macho leather-clad cul-de-sac as rock and ends up just as stunted. Anyway, you currently live in the village where you grew up. To half-quote Peter Perrett, do you want to die in the same place you were born?
‘Miles From Nowhere’ would be a good title for the next album, for all sorts of reasons.
But we are some way off death yet. Are there more European Sun songs in the works?
Well, we've been solely focused on making this record as good as we can for quite a while now, but we do have one great new song, which we’ll be playing live, and that’s about being born. So between that and death, there’s clearly scope for more!
Thanks Steve. We agree: the world isn’t over yet.
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