Steve Dann - Artist Interview
- david1170
- Aug 1
- 7 min read
The superb, striking cover to Charlie Harper’s autobiography ‘An Anarchy of Demons’ was created by Steve Dann, the artist known as Magpie, whilst he was living near Charlie and Yuko on the south coast of England a few years back.
Mark Chadderton of the U.K. Subs Time & Matter website spoke with Steve recently, and we wanted to share the background story about Steve’s fantastic artwork through this exclusive interview as well as how it became that amazing looking cover to Charlie’s eagerly anticipated book...
Magpie: A Journey in street pop and sound
From the gritty streets of Brighton to the serene shores of Grand Cayman, Steve Dann has carved a fearless path through the world of street pop art.
A former British Army soldier, Steve channels his personal experiences with PTSD, trauma, and ADHD into bold, emotionally charged stencil and splatter-style artworks.
Influenced by the likes of Blek le Rat, Bambi, and Banksy, Steve’s work frequently explores themes such as mental health, environmental destruction, as well as the clash between money and paradise.
MC: Hi Steve, so how would you briefly introduce yourself?
STEVE: Hi Mark, well basically I’m a self-taught artist originally from the south coast…
MC: So let’s explore your journey to becoming the artist ‘Magpie’ - what about your early life Steve? Were you an artistic kid?
STEVE: OK, so, life started with me being adopted and I’d say yes, early on I had the will to draw and create. Unfortunately, when I was just five years old, my parents separated. Sadly, my mother’s new partner was a drinker. He would covertly torment me, this behaviour soon became ‘normalised’ and he would tell me things like I wasn't in my real family or this isn't your real mum, and no one will ever care about you. Thinking back, this led to my creativity being quashed early on.
MC: So that awful experience led to you eventually escaping into the army?
STEVE: That’s right, so yes, I spent seven years of my early life in the army before leaving when I was 24.
MC: It seems to me that you’ve had time to reflect on your early upbringing and your time in the army, and, alongside your love of music and where you’ve lived coastally, your life experiences are expressed, sometimes subtly, through your pieces of art.
STEVE: Well yes, music remains a vital influence for me — from the raw energy of punk and classic rock to the defiance of Rage Against the Machine and the lyricism of Bob Dylan. Every piece I produce still carries a pulse, but now it beats in rhythm with the waves, the wildlife, and the quiet strength of the sea.
MC: Those two extremes are, indeed, powerful influences, but I’ve read that you’ve exuded some real determination and strength in order to battle to get where you are today, tell us about that?
STEVE: Okay, well I’d say that only a few years back, I felt that I was just days away from giving up on my passion to create. This eventually led to my finally getting to the lowest point in my life, and to be brief, I ended up with two councillors helping me sort my thoughts out. During my treatment, I thankfully found art again. Art was a way of coping and it actually wasn't long before people were asking to purchase my artwork…
MC: …which is a fabulous turnaround…
STEVE: Yes, and things have continued to grow for me over time and I’m happy to say that I’ve gained recognition worldwide really… which actually led to me taking a work trip to the Caribbean, which, ultimately led to my moving...
MC: So, having recently relocated from England’s south coast to the Caribbean, how has that effected your work?
STEVE: I think that definitely my art has begun to shift from when I was in the UK. The slower pace of island life and the beauty of the natural world have brought a softer, more tranquil dimension to my work – it’s where rage gives way to reflection, and protest finds harmony in nature’s calm.
MC: The combination of getting older and your surroundings is a potent factor in how you see life for definite, as I also live on the south coast, so I certainly get what you’re saying there, so could you also talk about how you actually work as an artist?
STEVE: I always love to build depth and layers into all my pieces, I also use a mixture of mediums with, I’d say, a punky, raw feel. My inspiration, as we’ve talked about, comes from everything and anything really; music, nature, films, posters, and clothing, you name it.
MC: And that painting! Your brilliant portrait of Charlie - let’s chat about that then. When did you create that?
STEVE: The Charlie portrait canvas was completed around the end of July, or maybe early August of 2022, it was created, I suppose, eventually, for the ‘Punk Collection’ that was exhibited at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool that year in August.
MC: I’d love to know about your thought processes which went into producing the Charlie artwork and what materials you used… and I take it you based it on the Paul Slattery photographic image that was on the back of the U.K. Subs 1980 ‘Warhead’ 7” single?
STEVE: At that time I was going through a punk art stage as I was mainly getting inspiration from the 1970s and 1980s New York punk scene, trying to replicate the graffiti on walls and in alleyways with aging posters and flyers on them. I suppose that led me to wanting to use the image on the back of the ‘Warhead’ single as you say, because I love that song, but also that particular photographic image seemed dark enough and punk enough to be simple yet really effective. So for that particular piece I used a load of print offs and pasted them onto a canvas and then both spray painted and hand painted the image and motifs on.
MC: And did you know Charlie before doing the artwork?
STEVE: I had met him at the tribute concert for Jordan Mooney. I was asked to do the artwork for it and I had a stall selling artwork next to Charlie's. He suggested going to that year’s Rebellion Festival and displaying in the art show there. So I applied and made a range of work to take which included the Charlie artwork. Whilst up in Blackpool at the festival, I met up with Charlie a few times and when we went to look at my artwork I remember that he saw the one of himself and told Yuko "…it's the best portrait I've ever seen of myself, and it's also the best artwork I've ever seen of me."
MC: And fortunately, the artwork didn’t sell, and you ended up giving him the artwork, which hangs on a wall in his and Yuko’s house…
STEVE: That’s right, so shortly after the festival finished, I invited them both to my house which is only about a ten minute walk away from their place. That’s when I gave it to him as a present. After that we jammed on guitars and bass for a while, an amazing day.
MC: For sure, you must have loved it when you heard that Charlie wanted to use your artwork as the cover to his book, I remember Charlie phoned me about it in March of this year, because the original intention was to use that great photographic image which is now being used on the back cover alongside the blurb I wrote. Charlie told me on the phone that he’d been walking past your artwork, hanging on his wall, and had only just realised that the ideal book cover image was literally in front of him!
STEVE: Charlie is such a lovely person isn’t he; when we’ve met up, I've been treated to a load of early stories of his time with Lemmy, the Ramones, Iggy Pop… the lot! So I was both delighted and honoured when you got in touch with me when I was here in the Caymans at the time, I was looking forward to his book anyway, but now I'm a part of it – it sort of blows my mind, I’ve let Charlie and Earth Island Books know that I’m very happy to share the rights of the artwork with them to do as they please with it… all I ever want in return is support with my own dream of becoming a successful artist.
MC: Well, as Charlie said, it’s the ideal book cover image, I suppose in this case you can judge a book by its cover… so as a concluding question, have you thought about doing a follow up Charlie portrait of how he looks now, because I think that would be really cool…
STEVE: I have actually, I could get an image of him when I return to the UK in August…
Thanks to Steve for his time and thoughts for this feature, which is illustrated with various images telling the story of Steve’s artwork to book cover…
Magpie has a Facebook page but to keep up to date his Instagram page is always active at: https://www.instagram.com/magpieartuk/
And finally, I asked Charlie to give us a few words to ‘book-end’ this article with another quote from him, so…
“When I first saw it, I thought it the best out of the hundreds of portraits of myself I’d seen, and I loved Steve’s style of painting. Hanging there on my wall, I thought it a perfect image for the book title ‘An Anarchy of Demons’. The artwork has a look of foreboding…” Charlie Harper, 23 July 2025.
Magpie’s artwork is represented through the following international sites, which can be seen at these links:
UK - Cloud Gallery:https://www.cloudgalleryfineart.co.uk/artists/537/magpie-art
Cayman Islands - Carlos V Garcia Fine Art Gallery
USA - Song-Word Art House, Hollywood, LA
Pre-order Charlie’s autobiography now from the worldwide publisher Earth Island Books to get lots of freebies in the post along with either the hardback or paperback version, order now at:
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