"Midnight"
Let's face it divorce just plain makes you crazy. No matter how well adjusted you may be at some point things just unravel. And you wind up like one of those rings from back in the 70's that were made up of 30 different rings. I had told my wife that if she was unfaithful again I'd leave and never come back.Now I usually bloom where I am planted. My student load went from 4 to 30 a week in short order. I construction form Monday to Thursday and played gigs as well as taught on weekends. I had tried working for a printer buddy of mine but frankly I had no talent there. The club scene at the time in Fairbanks was still pretty wide open. This was before DJ's Hip Hop and Kareoke. Live bands ruled and I loved it. It was not uncommon to play from 10:00 to 4:30 6 nights a week. Plus in some cases work part time or like me teach. I made nearly as much teaching as I did playing live. Frankly I was having a blast! I was supporting a woman who utterly refused to work,3 children an apartment and two cars all on less than 20 hours a week and My guitar playing was keeping food the table and heat in the house. The plus was I could tuck my sweet children to be everynight. Two years into being back in Alaska I had given up writing songs. For one the wife would freak if I did thinking off I'll go chasing that dream(I never did in the 1st place) and leave her to fend for her self(something I would never do) And After LA anything in Fairbanks was a bit anti-climatic. But In a conversation with a producer buddy of mine he asked if I had written anything recently. It had been so long I didn't even know if I could anymore. So I sat down to write. In two weeks I wrote 12 songs. At one point I was writing 4 at once. of the 12 I recorded 5 and still have them as a cassette demo. Even though my relationship with the wife was less than fullfilling I loved being a Dad. I loved coming home from work,having pizza nights,building lego cities with Jeremy. Coloring with Jessica. Tickling Emily, I loved fixing breakfast on sundays then going to church. It so totally fullfilled me. I was happy.
All during this time the wife was presurring me to get a job in Prudo Bay(the oil fields) I think she just didn't want to see me succeed in the music biz in general. The season in Prudo ran from January to May just the opposet of the season in town. This was something I didn't know. OK the money was good but 6 weeks later I was back in town. Unemployed.To take the Prudo gig I had to dump all my music stuff, things I had worked years to develope. The house gig,the lessons. 6 weeks later I'm scratching my unemployed ass wondering what to do.
I managed to come up with something but we had to move. A house divided will not stand nor prosper.I took a production gig with a singer/songwriter friend of named Lisa(I would never produce again, not my gift)during the course of recording tracks Lisa says"Steve have you ever considered doing relief work for the Mental Health program I work for?I said "No" although my years as a CNA were some of my happiest work wize. She says"You have the perfect personality for it"....I'm thinking "ya I grew up in a nutty family, I'm married to a lune,and I work in the crazy music biz" crazy and me get along fine. I lwent down the next day filled out an employment app got certified for CPR/1st Aid and they hired me on the spot. This actually turned out to be the perfect scene for me. The clients were certifable but I could handle them fine. I was free to gig on weekends and pick up 2-4 shifts a week. It would eventually become a "real" career out side music. And I grew to truly care for those poor souls. Because I didn't have(nor did I want one) a degree it would take a few years before I had the hours it would take to get on fulltime but in time I would
A word here about the church and I. We were waiting for this apartment to open up for us so the wife got us a one bedroom place owned by a couple at church. I had no intention in staying there for any real lenthgn of time. But we were waiting. The couple had two daughters and lived downstairs from us. They fought all the time. She seemed to yell at that poor guy constantly. I could tell from the get go that she didn't care much for me either. I'd be sitting on the porch in the morning drinkng coffee and smoking and all she ever did was give me dirty looks...real Christian. Well the apartment we were waiting on was taking a little longer than we thought to get ready. So I asked the guy for a few more weeks(I had plenty of money to pay the guy) well his wife wanted to convert our apartment to an extra bedroom for her kids. He comes back 5 minutes later and says we got 5 days to get out. He basically was making us homeless(by now the wife was going to hair cuttting school and it was one of her friends that let us stay there) they stayed in the cabin I slept in the van. My best friend Jessie helped us pack and move. It was a rainy windy day and these "good" Christians sent us into beating down weather and homelessness. Jessie was bitting his bottom lip to keep from giving them a piece of his mind. I told him to keep quiet and let God deal with these two...I was gonna take what ever pride and dignity I left and go. It would be the last time I would ever go to that (or any) church again for almost 15 years. Sad I know a stronger believer may have found a better church but I had had 25 years of this and this was the final straw. It was here that things at home finally blew apart. My soon to be ex used to call all her affairs "Friends" well she found another "friend" only this time I was gonna make good on what I had said years before. I offered her to go to counceling with me(I had found a really really good therapist) she said no....so I took what clothes I could stash,my music gear and walked. I left her with everything. Including a brand new car I had bought her and the kids. That was how she got away with so much she new I loved my children and she used them against me to get she wanted. I won't go into more gory details here except I probably had the closet to a mental breakdown as I had ever had. it was touch and go for awhile there. I even went on anti-depents for a time. Luckily I had a good therapist. He made a tremdous impact on my life. What made all this even harder was the fact my ex looked just like a good little church girl. She looked like one of them,untill she decided to go cruize the bars...when we were together it was like living with Doctor Jekel or Mr Hyde. Things got worse and worse. It would be 18 months before I could drag her to court for our day before the judge.The odd thing was she wept uncontroably during the process. to the point that she had to get up and step out in the hall way several times..I just thought. did you not think it would come to this? It would take me over a decade to pay off all the debt she left me with and I would have to deal with her continually trying to remain a part of my life. The word of God that he had sent me that snowy day in Anchorage was coming to pass. God was making the crooked ways strait. I got hired fulltime at Mental Health so now I could pay child support,I had a second job I worked to pay off my arrears(I was able to pay those off in less than 2 years) but still it would be years before I paid everything off, she never paid a single dime. Yet she would invite herself to dine with my family at any chance she got.
The final chapter of rewriting my life took place in 2001. I came to work one day and there was this new employee named Calisha. She was a big woman of color. She had just had weight-loss surgury. I had determined one way or another I was going to over come this problem. After getting to know her and asking lots of questions and spending hours on the net I decided to do it. I got a second job to cover all the insurance I had a gastric by pass operation..I went from 315 lbs tom 155 lbs...my change complete.
One sunny day I walked into Music Mart and standing behind the counter was this beuitful intellgent woman. Allison. I remember walking away that day thinking "what a pleasent delightful" woman. This is someone I would like to get to know better. At that time in my life I was really comfortable being alone. Maybe that, has been our succsess 2 and half years later we were married. I finally married my best friend,my soul mate, a woman in whose wisdom I can totally trust. It has been an honor to marry into her family. They are the quenticential southern family. All highly educated,very proper southern folk and
good Christians as well. Like I said I think God has been trying to make me into a southern gentalman and I couldn't have a better teacher than her.
In 1999 I formed "The Steve Olsen Band". My divorce had given me a lot of songs to record. With my old buddy Bob as my producer we recorded "Alone Again" there were plenty of cd's out there about good weman being mistreated and cheated on by bad men. But there weren't to many about good men being cheated on by bad weman. When I started writing I was going for total truth. I would pull no punches and color coat nothing when It was done the best compliment I got was from a friend who like me had been married to a real cheat. He exact words were these"Steve I feel like you looked deep into my heart and said all the things I couldn't say" my ex wouldn't let me speak.....so I MADE A CD AND HAD MY SAY AT 110 DB!
I have a good buddy who owns "The Greyhound Lounge" to build his biz he decided to start doing concerts. Just so happened that I was doing the cd and It was all my own stuff so for 2 years we were the house opening act for all the bands he brought up we opened for GREAT WHITE, FOG HAT,BLUE OYSTER CULT,PAT TRAVERS,JIMMI VAN ZANT(SKYNARD TRIBUTE)EDDIE MONEY, AND QUIET RIOT
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Working for a living
"Working for a living"Within a year of returning from LA I was supporting a wife and 3 kids with music and music only. My student load had grown from 4 to 30. I was playing 2 to 5 nights a weekstarting depending on who needed what (the was the club work) and there were the occational wedding. These were the days before DJ's and Kareoke. Bands were playing 6 or 7 nights a week. The city fathers had not shortened the bar hours yet so some weeks I was playing from 10 pm to 4:30 am 6 days a week. We had rented a nice 3 bedroom apartment in North Pole.I had worked briefly for a buddy that was a printer but that didn't last. I had no real talent for the job. I was getting pressured at home to give up playing music and just get a strait day job with benefits,retirement etc. I was making full time pay yet working part time. I could spend lots of time with my kids.What was cool about this period was I was really starting(for the first time)to use my education from G.I.T. I had this one gig where half the night was reading real book tunes. To my knowledge I was one of the first guitar players to use real book charts. I also had to build a book of tunes I could not only play but sing as well.I had lost a few gigs because of the vocal. I built a set list of Stevie Ray Vaughn,Hendrix,ZZ Top and The Stones ,The Doors as well as misc.r&b number s. A list of around 60 songs Between lessons and gigs the rent was getting paid . I got up one day looked around my apartment. Average place, couch love seat,coffee table,tv, cd player toys strewn in all directions all the stuff you find in a young couples home.The thing was my guitar playing had gotten us all that. That was deeply satisfying
I had not done any Christian music. There really wasn't a Christian music scene although I could have gotten something going but I really felt like God wanted me in the , there was something there for me to learn
I had not written any songs in 2 years cuz I knew the wife would freak. In a conversation with a producer friend of mine I said to hell with it and started to write. I wrote 12 songs in 2 weeks. I wrote 4 at the same time. Of those 12, I recorded 4 and had that as a cassette demo for years.The first few years back in Alaska were cool in that I wasn't some rock and roll preacher I was a truly a working class musician.
I'd like to say things at home were cool. The went from bad to worse. She continually discouraged me with what I was doing with the music. She wanted me to go to work in Prudo Bay. So finally a chance came but to do so I had to dump everything. Lessons,house gig. Little did I know the season runs the opposite of the construction in town. I come back 5 weeks later with no prospects. One thing good that came out of my job up north, two weeks into the gig they made me assist foreman in charge of 12 fitter helpers.
Here is where I turn into the true "Midnight" of my life.One that would be years digging out of.
I had not done any Christian music. There really wasn't a Christian music scene although I could have gotten something going but I really felt like God wanted me in the , there was something there for me to learn
I had not written any songs in 2 years cuz I knew the wife would freak. In a conversation with a producer friend of mine I said to hell with it and started to write. I wrote 12 songs in 2 weeks. I wrote 4 at the same time. Of those 12, I recorded 4 and had that as a cassette demo for years.The first few years back in Alaska were cool in that I wasn't some rock and roll preacher I was a truly a working class musician.
I'd like to say things at home were cool. The went from bad to worse. She continually discouraged me with what I was doing with the music. She wanted me to go to work in Prudo Bay. So finally a chance came but to do so I had to dump everything. Lessons,house gig. Little did I know the season runs the opposite of the construction in town. I come back 5 weeks later with no prospects. One thing good that came out of my job up north, two weeks into the gig they made me assist foreman in charge of 12 fitter helpers.
Here is where I turn into the true "Midnight" of my life.One that would be years digging out of.
Into the Frozen North
"Into the frozen wilderness"
We set down in Anchorage with one big bag,3 kids and 50 bucks to my name after 8 years in LA. I had no idea what I was gonna do.We caught a ride with my truck driving brother. There was a very kind and genrious couple from church hat took us in (they had a large house and all their kids had grown up and moved way) so it gave me time to find work,buy a car get a place. I snagged a construction job right away and started saving money to get back on my feet. I was nice in some ways to be back in Alaska it being my home where I grew up. I was able to buy a beater car in short order. One of things that started almost a day or two after I got there was I was offered a teaching job . I was hanging out in the music store I used to teach at before when the two guys working there started asking all these theory questions and I knew all the answers. They said they were in dire need of a teacher and currently had a list of about 5 students. I figured some money was better than none so I became the local teacher. I worked construction monday thru thursday and taught all day Saturday and Tuesday night. Meantime I'm working with this guy who did construction and played clubs on weekends. I had been thinking for a good 5 years before Ieft LA that Christian music was beginning to paint me in a corner. There was so much more music I wanted to explore and I had never been a "working" musician. Strange as this may seem even though I had toured and been signed to a label I didn't feel like a legit working musician because I had never played clubs,gigs or anything that wasn't church related. standing
I get this construction job with this cool guy named Loren. He starts picking my brain all day as we work about theory,scales chords etc. Turns out he was one of the busiest musicians in town. I'm sitting home one thursday night and I get this call from a guy who has the house gig at this club in town. They played 60% oldies and 40%
country. Having never played in a cover band this was gonna be interesting. He needed a guitar player for one night ,the pay was 90.00 bucks. He goes Loren says you are the total shit on the lead guitar. I found that funny cuz he had never heard me play note one. I could have been bullshitting him the whole time.(but then again I always seem to look like a guy that knows what he's doing when it comes to the guitar) Plus Bill the guy who hired me was a hard ass who was known for kicking players off the stage if they didn't know what they were I doing.I find all this stuff out later but as I'm setting up my gear,and tuning both my guitars. I start warming up and thinking "I don't know a single song but right before I left LA I got heavy into 50's music,Chuck Barry,the Coasters,Buddy Holly. Bill goes to this other guy who helped him find me"Well he can play heavy metal lets see if he lasts a single set" Bill gets up and asks me if I knew the Nashville Number method...I think for a moment go then I realize it's the cycle of 4ths and 5ths...I go ya...so off we go. He points and says take a solo....well I just got off the plane from LA they say take a solo there it better be pull out all the stops . I look up and I see this hard core 30 year club vet standing there with his jaw hanging open. At the brake he shakes my hand and says "You are a real good picker" thats what country guys say "you are a good picker" blues guys "Great tone" metal heads "you shred"jazz guys "you can really blow" Bill turns to the guy who helped him find me and says "my other guitar player just lost his job.....what started out as a single night gig turned into 5 months
And 5 months would eventually become 18 years years that would see me play everything from a 10 piece funk band to classic rock,blues, country, hip hop shred and tons of Jazz both in a solo,duo and trio context.God was once again training me.
We set down in Anchorage with one big bag,3 kids and 50 bucks to my name after 8 years in LA. I had no idea what I was gonna do.We caught a ride with my truck driving brother. There was a very kind and genrious couple from church hat took us in (they had a large house and all their kids had grown up and moved way) so it gave me time to find work,buy a car get a place. I snagged a construction job right away and started saving money to get back on my feet. I was nice in some ways to be back in Alaska it being my home where I grew up. I was able to buy a beater car in short order. One of things that started almost a day or two after I got there was I was offered a teaching job . I was hanging out in the music store I used to teach at before when the two guys working there started asking all these theory questions and I knew all the answers. They said they were in dire need of a teacher and currently had a list of about 5 students. I figured some money was better than none so I became the local teacher. I worked construction monday thru thursday and taught all day Saturday and Tuesday night. Meantime I'm working with this guy who did construction and played clubs on weekends. I had been thinking for a good 5 years before Ieft LA that Christian music was beginning to paint me in a corner. There was so much more music I wanted to explore and I had never been a "working" musician. Strange as this may seem even though I had toured and been signed to a label I didn't feel like a legit working musician because I had never played clubs,gigs or anything that wasn't church related. standing
I get this construction job with this cool guy named Loren. He starts picking my brain all day as we work about theory,scales chords etc. Turns out he was one of the busiest musicians in town. I'm sitting home one thursday night and I get this call from a guy who has the house gig at this club in town. They played 60% oldies and 40%
country. Having never played in a cover band this was gonna be interesting. He needed a guitar player for one night ,the pay was 90.00 bucks. He goes Loren says you are the total shit on the lead guitar. I found that funny cuz he had never heard me play note one. I could have been bullshitting him the whole time.(but then again I always seem to look like a guy that knows what he's doing when it comes to the guitar) Plus Bill the guy who hired me was a hard ass who was known for kicking players off the stage if they didn't know what they were I doing.I find all this stuff out later but as I'm setting up my gear,and tuning both my guitars. I start warming up and thinking "I don't know a single song but right before I left LA I got heavy into 50's music,Chuck Barry,the Coasters,Buddy Holly. Bill goes to this other guy who helped him find me"Well he can play heavy metal lets see if he lasts a single set" Bill gets up and asks me if I knew the Nashville Number method...I think for a moment go then I realize it's the cycle of 4ths and 5ths...I go ya...so off we go. He points and says take a solo....well I just got off the plane from LA they say take a solo there it better be pull out all the stops . I look up and I see this hard core 30 year club vet standing there with his jaw hanging open. At the brake he shakes my hand and says "You are a real good picker" thats what country guys say "you are a good picker" blues guys "Great tone" metal heads "you shred"jazz guys "you can really blow" Bill turns to the guy who helped him find me and says "my other guitar player just lost his job.....what started out as a single night gig turned into 5 months
And 5 months would eventually become 18 years years that would see me play everything from a 10 piece funk band to classic rock,blues, country, hip hop shred and tons of Jazz both in a solo,duo and trio context.God was once again training me.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A word
"Faithful"
Not long after we returned from the tour Tink came to and said this. He was thinking of moving. He had these two kids he needed to raise and LA was no place for them. He had an offer for a job out in Desert Hot Springs. When John said that to me I totally and I mean from my head to my toes felt God's peace. I just knew that I knew this was God's plan for his life. I also knew that it would be the end of the Saints as they had been. Zee the Kids wife worked for Sparrow records and they were moving the entire company out of LA to Nashville. At the time I was seeing a mass migration of people in the music biz moving either to Nashville or Seattle. I think it was then that the idea that I would someday live in the south was birthed in me.
After the tour our relationship with Roberts and Victoria soured pretty badly. You get on the road and find out what kind of people you are dealing with. Tink,the Kid and I came off the road closer as brothers than we had ever been. we had a motorhome still full of can goods. The idea was after we were done to divy up what was left and go home. Ken handed Tink 2 cans of hash then drove off. Tink had been on the road for 2 weeks with no money coming in and that hash was what he had for dinner that night. I can handle a lot with most people but cheap pettiness isn't one of them. I pretty much cut my ties with Ken after that for the next 2 years. We did one last "Waters Club" gig as a trio and what everyone noticed was how tight we were. Thats what a road tour will do for a band.
So lets look at what Stevie and the Saints did. In 5 years together there was never not once a harsh word between Tink,the Kid and I. There were words between Roberts and us at times but dispite his lack of people skills he is and remains a Saint. For a band that never had a dime we got alot done. "Metal Blue"was the critic's joy and would wind it's way across the west coast,the midwest,the east coast. We would find air play and reviews in England,Germany,France,we would recieve regular air on the Armed Forces Radio Network that went world wide. History would write the Saints into the trunk of the tree that would become the billion dollar Christian music biz. As a friend of mine once described us"Metalblue was one of those seminal albums ahead of it's time that 20 years later doesn't sound dated" You treat the blues with respect and she will return the favor.
For the next 2 years I struggled with my home life trying in vain to save a failing marriage. I had also discovered was dealing with my "Family of Origin" issues. I had stumbled across an article in People Magazine about this writer named Melody Beaty. She had written a book called "Co-Dependant no more" When she described what a co-dependant person was like it was like looking in the mirror. I began to attend meetings and reading everything I could on the subject. It was changing my life and my whole perseption of myself and my life. Meantime I went back to trade school to finish my welding certification.
About 2 years later I get a call from Roberts,he says"I booked a Saints gig!"I go There ain't any saints he goes don't worry I got it covered. I show up and he has a bass player I knew from another band. A black heavy metal bass player named Tony and a killer drummer named Tim (another brother of color) I thought visually this has possibilities. They knew the songs so I'm standing on stage and look out and notice half the front row are guys from other bands. I guess they missed the blues. We played well that night but it wasn't like it was with Tink and the Boys Still it was a Saints gig.
Those gigs led to recording "Eye on the Prize" a cd that untill recently never really saw the light of day.
As I progressed deeper into recovery from being co-dependant and an adult child of an alchoholic things at home went from bad to worse.
Our church was having a series of special services. There was this minister I knew having seen him in Alaska of all places. His name was Dick Mills. Dick had been an ex jazz dj and had been in ministry for years. He taught bible lauguage classes but his gift was that of a prophet. He had memorized 3/4 of the entire bible and if you got called forward he would have a scripture for you and I had seen him many times and he was ALWAYS on the money. The wife and I were in church that week,she being 8 months pregnant. Pastor Ralf calls us out and Dick says this"you have been ministring to the Lord for quite some time but there has been a lack of funds. That is about to change. God is going to begin meet your every need. "BECAUSE A FAITHFUL MAN WILL OVERFLOW WITH BLESSING"
Let me explain my internal thinking,I never ever think of myself as faithful,as having my ducks in a row,as a good Christian. I see myself in a constant state of trying to improve. To keep my nose above the water as someone who has to always try that much harder to keep up. I never see myself as some shinny example of virtue. Come on at the time I weighed 260lbs and smoked 2 packs of smokes a day. but I guess God saw me differently. I left church that day with alot to chew on. The ironery iof that word was this God called me faithful as I stood next to a woman pregnant with a child I didn't know was mine or not because she was anything BUT faithful. The strangeness of my life at times....
It was a word of prophesy that sent me to LA it would be that word that would release me from LA.without
Back in the studio we got a letter one day from a record label wanting to sign us. We had two
others offering the same deal. The head guy of marketing international for the largest Christian label in the country was a huge Stevie and Saints fan. He knew we were recording a new album and he wanted to hear the first tracks. I say all this for this one reason. After years of toil,poverty,hard times the labels were knocking on my door instead of me standing there with my hat in my hand. My fingers were tighly wrapped around that "brass ring"...I realized that without knowing it I had proved to myself I had the goods. I COULD PISS IN THE TALL WEEDS WITH THE BIG DOGS!!!..the problem with all this was I was a husband first and a father second. So I made one of the hardest choices I ever made in my life. I walked away to give my full attention to try to save a failing marriage and be a full time father to children I knew were hurting over the problems at home. GOD HAD LET ME KNOW DISPITE THE MARRIAGE PROBLEMS.....I HAD PASSED THE TEST....I was no longer wishy washy God had given me an iron soul and a razor sharp spirit and in the process made me a professional musician.
In less than 6 weeks we were back in Alaska. The night we set down I looked at her and thought she has no clue what this has cost me,the band, and ultimately the souls we could have brought into God's kingdom.
Not long after we returned from the tour Tink came to and said this. He was thinking of moving. He had these two kids he needed to raise and LA was no place for them. He had an offer for a job out in Desert Hot Springs. When John said that to me I totally and I mean from my head to my toes felt God's peace. I just knew that I knew this was God's plan for his life. I also knew that it would be the end of the Saints as they had been. Zee the Kids wife worked for Sparrow records and they were moving the entire company out of LA to Nashville. At the time I was seeing a mass migration of people in the music biz moving either to Nashville or Seattle. I think it was then that the idea that I would someday live in the south was birthed in me.
After the tour our relationship with Roberts and Victoria soured pretty badly. You get on the road and find out what kind of people you are dealing with. Tink,the Kid and I came off the road closer as brothers than we had ever been. we had a motorhome still full of can goods. The idea was after we were done to divy up what was left and go home. Ken handed Tink 2 cans of hash then drove off. Tink had been on the road for 2 weeks with no money coming in and that hash was what he had for dinner that night. I can handle a lot with most people but cheap pettiness isn't one of them. I pretty much cut my ties with Ken after that for the next 2 years. We did one last "Waters Club" gig as a trio and what everyone noticed was how tight we were. Thats what a road tour will do for a band.
So lets look at what Stevie and the Saints did. In 5 years together there was never not once a harsh word between Tink,the Kid and I. There were words between Roberts and us at times but dispite his lack of people skills he is and remains a Saint. For a band that never had a dime we got alot done. "Metal Blue"was the critic's joy and would wind it's way across the west coast,the midwest,the east coast. We would find air play and reviews in England,Germany,France,we would recieve regular air on the Armed Forces Radio Network that went world wide. History would write the Saints into the trunk of the tree that would become the billion dollar Christian music biz. As a friend of mine once described us"Metalblue was one of those seminal albums ahead of it's time that 20 years later doesn't sound dated" You treat the blues with respect and she will return the favor.
For the next 2 years I struggled with my home life trying in vain to save a failing marriage. I had also discovered was dealing with my "Family of Origin" issues. I had stumbled across an article in People Magazine about this writer named Melody Beaty. She had written a book called "Co-Dependant no more" When she described what a co-dependant person was like it was like looking in the mirror. I began to attend meetings and reading everything I could on the subject. It was changing my life and my whole perseption of myself and my life. Meantime I went back to trade school to finish my welding certification.
About 2 years later I get a call from Roberts,he says"I booked a Saints gig!"I go There ain't any saints he goes don't worry I got it covered. I show up and he has a bass player I knew from another band. A black heavy metal bass player named Tony and a killer drummer named Tim (another brother of color) I thought visually this has possibilities. They knew the songs so I'm standing on stage and look out and notice half the front row are guys from other bands. I guess they missed the blues. We played well that night but it wasn't like it was with Tink and the Boys Still it was a Saints gig.
Those gigs led to recording "Eye on the Prize" a cd that untill recently never really saw the light of day.
As I progressed deeper into recovery from being co-dependant and an adult child of an alchoholic things at home went from bad to worse.
Our church was having a series of special services. There was this minister I knew having seen him in Alaska of all places. His name was Dick Mills. Dick had been an ex jazz dj and had been in ministry for years. He taught bible lauguage classes but his gift was that of a prophet. He had memorized 3/4 of the entire bible and if you got called forward he would have a scripture for you and I had seen him many times and he was ALWAYS on the money. The wife and I were in church that week,she being 8 months pregnant. Pastor Ralf calls us out and Dick says this"you have been ministring to the Lord for quite some time but there has been a lack of funds. That is about to change. God is going to begin meet your every need. "BECAUSE A FAITHFUL MAN WILL OVERFLOW WITH BLESSING"
Let me explain my internal thinking,I never ever think of myself as faithful,as having my ducks in a row,as a good Christian. I see myself in a constant state of trying to improve. To keep my nose above the water as someone who has to always try that much harder to keep up. I never see myself as some shinny example of virtue. Come on at the time I weighed 260lbs and smoked 2 packs of smokes a day. but I guess God saw me differently. I left church that day with alot to chew on. The ironery iof that word was this God called me faithful as I stood next to a woman pregnant with a child I didn't know was mine or not because she was anything BUT faithful. The strangeness of my life at times....
It was a word of prophesy that sent me to LA it would be that word that would release me from LA.without
Back in the studio we got a letter one day from a record label wanting to sign us. We had two
others offering the same deal. The head guy of marketing international for the largest Christian label in the country was a huge Stevie and Saints fan. He knew we were recording a new album and he wanted to hear the first tracks. I say all this for this one reason. After years of toil,poverty,hard times the labels were knocking on my door instead of me standing there with my hat in my hand. My fingers were tighly wrapped around that "brass ring"...I realized that without knowing it I had proved to myself I had the goods. I COULD PISS IN THE TALL WEEDS WITH THE BIG DOGS!!!..the problem with all this was I was a husband first and a father second. So I made one of the hardest choices I ever made in my life. I walked away to give my full attention to try to save a failing marriage and be a full time father to children I knew were hurting over the problems at home. GOD HAD LET ME KNOW DISPITE THE MARRIAGE PROBLEMS.....I HAD PASSED THE TEST....I was no longer wishy washy God had given me an iron soul and a razor sharp spirit and in the process made me a professional musician.
In less than 6 weeks we were back in Alaska. The night we set down I looked at her and thought she has no clue what this has cost me,the band, and ultimately the souls we could have brought into God's kingdom.
Church life in La and Fatherhood
"The Weird,Wonderful and Sometimes Whacky World of Southern California Churches" As we were settling into LA the wife and I attended this church we had heard about called "The Hiding Place" it met in a school and had a youngish pastor who referred to preaching as his "weekly rap". What stood out to me about the place was we only attended a handful of services yet every sunday there was this wonderful latino brother,an older man, who sought us out and insisted that we join him at his home for lunch after church. He was quite a successful businessman and had this home in Beverly Hills!. He was a tenderhearted unpretentious and treated us like royalty(I sorta felt like it sitting in a house next to movie stars,rock stars and the such..that's a long way from Fairbanks) I remember how he would our hands along with his wife and daughter and pray over the food many times getting choked up telling God how much he loved him and us...sweet.
I have one word for some of the churches we tried out..HUGE..I was invited to a Baptist type church that had 7000 members and a sanctuary that could hold 3000..we visited "Church on the Way" and heard pastor Jack Hayford preach..we was and still remains one of my favorite. It seemed there were large churches every where. We had to go to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa the birthplace of Christian Rock. I recall sitting there as a surfer preached using all the surfer lingo...I hardly understood a word he said. I found the fellowships much more light handed at handling folks. Much less legalistic. One of the first things I got to do that was choice was to go to Disneyland and a "Christian Music Night"..Here I saw up close some of my biggest heros. Mylon La Feverre and Broken Heart, Darrell Mansfield,The Rez band, and Phil Keaggy. Plus I saw a few newer bands I had never heard of. I saw one of the first punk bands ever. "Undercover" I remember seeing this guy up there sporting a MO Hawk with a torn tee-shirt that had "GOD RULES" painted on it. I wasn't sure what to make of them until the singer took out his Bible and began to share..I immediately felt God's presence. The other bands were just as cool. There was even a Christian Rockabilly band called "The Lifters"..I stood there as the guitar player prays.."God bless our singing and our playing and our Dancing".."Did he say what I thought he said?..Dancing?"...as soon as he says "Amen" he turns to the crowd and hollers..."TIME TO ROCK"..and off they go and the dance floor fills up with bodies that boogie!!! I'm in shock..If we had done that back home we would have been run out the back door of the church faster than you could say"Jitter bug"...I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore!..and I LIKED IT!
On any day walking down Hollywood Blvd. you would be buried in every kind of religious flyer imaginable. Not two blocks from school was this big purple building that was the local "Scientology" center, there were Moonies,Mormons, Hare Krishna's and Happy Christians every where.There was a group who passed out fliers that had their whole doctrine built around how the Pope was in Fact the Devil! Southern California truly was the proverbial "Box of Granola"..what wasn't fruits and nuts were absolutely FLAKES! There were churches that catered to surfers, bikers,ex-cons,ex-gays,drug addicts and every walk of life in between. One of my old friends from Alaska has been the pastor of a biker church for years.
During the 1984 Olympics I was still at school when it seemed like the entire world wide church had converged on Hollywood with grim determination to get every freak there saved. There were street revivals, gangs of fresh faced Christians from all across the USA who were "On a Mission" I found it amusing to be walking down the street with some fellow student(sinner usually) and find myself surrounded my a bunch of believers wanting to share Christ with us(I guess having long hair,sporting a guitar and Jimi Hendrix tee shirt made me look like a sinner) I'd go...."Saved,Set free and Tongue talking! Can I get a witness?...now my friend here....well you know what to do"...it was sheep to slaughter.
Eventually we found a nice little fellowship to become involved in. The "Household of Faith" was a little storefront church located in the Sunland/Tujunga area of the San Fernando Valley. Located in the foothills not far from Glendale and Pasadena. Pastored by a nice young couple Terry and Lisa. Lisa was an athletic woman who also loved music and Terry was a be-speckled good humored guy with a heart for God and a lot of kids. I told right from the git go that I was a musician and had a call on my life. At our first sit down I played some Jazz arrangements of hyms I had done on Lisa'a guitar and they invited me to get involved with the church music(a sometime drummer and one piano player) We found a home. By this time we had moved out of crack central into an apartment in Sunland where we would remain till we left LA. The wife was pregnant with our second child and I had found myself in trade school.
I would find that in LA there was always work to be had but the vast majority of it rarely paid a living wage. When I left Alaska working for the state I was making 11.00 an hour good money for Alaska in 1983. That same job in LA required a license and paid a measly 3.65. So off to welding school I went.
It was, by this time, becoming obvious to me that I was in for a tough road. I was in fact in the middle of what would become a wilderness that would last for years. But having been led thru serious Bible study on the subject I was not unprepared to handle it...not that it would ever be enjoyable..I just knew what God's intention would be during the coming trials. As a welding student once my instructor gave me a demonstration on how to turn cold rolled steel into case hardened steel. It was a simple process a combination of heat and water. But it required a sense of knowing when enough was enough. Not to much heat not to much water, the perfect blend of hot and cold...too much would make the steel hard yet brittle. The key was to produce a piece that was both extremely hard yet flexible. As he worked that steel I knew I was staring at God's working in my life.
Just prior to moving out of crack central the wives mother had asked if we would take in her younger sister. She and her step-dad got along about as well as two alley cats thrown into a gunny sack. I find it fairly distasteful when adults don't act like adults in the face of a poor wounded kid from a divorced family who was just trying to find her place in the world. So we took her in. They offered to help out with room and board(gave his money but not his soul..go figure) I thought it would be good for the wife to mend the broken bridge between them. Looking back I see God's hand in it considering what the future would bring.
Life with my little family was a mix of trials,troubles, joy and jubilation. Jeremy was growing like a weed and was a constant source of joy for me. He was a funny little man. Loud as hell and hungry as a bear. I remember bring home a chicken McNugget for him once..the thing was a two handed affair with him and he hardly had any teeth but he devoured it and when he was done had chicken grease all over his face and his filmy hair stood on end. He was so funny. I was so very fulfilled and found a completeness in me being a father.
On a sunny winter morning the wife woke me up with "It's Time"..needless to say I was wide awake and ready to go. So off to Newhall again and this time after 2 hours and three pushes the world invited Jessica Joy Olsen into it. My beautiful dark curly haired bundle of love.
I held her for what felt like an hour. And forged a bond with her that would remain steadfast even today 23 years latter. Precious she was and is. I remember giving Jeremy his first bath moments after his birth and the serious look he had on his face. Then watching him fall asleep a moment later. He came out of the womb relatively quietly. Not Jessica...She arrived crying like hell and displaying all the power of her spirit immediately. She calmed down and started sucking her thumb as I held her and she nestled into my chest while her mom tried to recover. It was one of the most soulful heart warming and full filling moments of my life. From a solo artist I had gone to a duo then a trio now we were a quartet!!!What was once the empty fallow ground of my like now had become a garden of love with a fine strapping young oak and in time not one but two lovely and fragrant roses. I was so full of joy and never knew what perfect unconditional love was until I had become a father..it completed me...and still does.
I have one word for some of the churches we tried out..HUGE..I was invited to a Baptist type church that had 7000 members and a sanctuary that could hold 3000..we visited "Church on the Way" and heard pastor Jack Hayford preach..we was and still remains one of my favorite. It seemed there were large churches every where. We had to go to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa the birthplace of Christian Rock. I recall sitting there as a surfer preached using all the surfer lingo...I hardly understood a word he said. I found the fellowships much more light handed at handling folks. Much less legalistic. One of the first things I got to do that was choice was to go to Disneyland and a "Christian Music Night"..Here I saw up close some of my biggest heros. Mylon La Feverre and Broken Heart, Darrell Mansfield,The Rez band, and Phil Keaggy. Plus I saw a few newer bands I had never heard of. I saw one of the first punk bands ever. "Undercover" I remember seeing this guy up there sporting a MO Hawk with a torn tee-shirt that had "GOD RULES" painted on it. I wasn't sure what to make of them until the singer took out his Bible and began to share..I immediately felt God's presence. The other bands were just as cool. There was even a Christian Rockabilly band called "The Lifters"..I stood there as the guitar player prays.."God bless our singing and our playing and our Dancing".."Did he say what I thought he said?..Dancing?"...as soon as he says "Amen" he turns to the crowd and hollers..."TIME TO ROCK"..and off they go and the dance floor fills up with bodies that boogie!!! I'm in shock..If we had done that back home we would have been run out the back door of the church faster than you could say"Jitter bug"...I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore!..and I LIKED IT!
On any day walking down Hollywood Blvd. you would be buried in every kind of religious flyer imaginable. Not two blocks from school was this big purple building that was the local "Scientology" center, there were Moonies,Mormons, Hare Krishna's and Happy Christians every where.There was a group who passed out fliers that had their whole doctrine built around how the Pope was in Fact the Devil! Southern California truly was the proverbial "Box of Granola"..what wasn't fruits and nuts were absolutely FLAKES! There were churches that catered to surfers, bikers,ex-cons,ex-gays,drug addicts and every walk of life in between. One of my old friends from Alaska has been the pastor of a biker church for years.
During the 1984 Olympics I was still at school when it seemed like the entire world wide church had converged on Hollywood with grim determination to get every freak there saved. There were street revivals, gangs of fresh faced Christians from all across the USA who were "On a Mission" I found it amusing to be walking down the street with some fellow student(sinner usually) and find myself surrounded my a bunch of believers wanting to share Christ with us(I guess having long hair,sporting a guitar and Jimi Hendrix tee shirt made me look like a sinner) I'd go...."Saved,Set free and Tongue talking! Can I get a witness?...now my friend here....well you know what to do"...it was sheep to slaughter.
Eventually we found a nice little fellowship to become involved in. The "Household of Faith" was a little storefront church located in the Sunland/Tujunga area of the San Fernando Valley. Located in the foothills not far from Glendale and Pasadena. Pastored by a nice young couple Terry and Lisa. Lisa was an athletic woman who also loved music and Terry was a be-speckled good humored guy with a heart for God and a lot of kids. I told right from the git go that I was a musician and had a call on my life. At our first sit down I played some Jazz arrangements of hyms I had done on Lisa'a guitar and they invited me to get involved with the church music(a sometime drummer and one piano player) We found a home. By this time we had moved out of crack central into an apartment in Sunland where we would remain till we left LA. The wife was pregnant with our second child and I had found myself in trade school.
I would find that in LA there was always work to be had but the vast majority of it rarely paid a living wage. When I left Alaska working for the state I was making 11.00 an hour good money for Alaska in 1983. That same job in LA required a license and paid a measly 3.65. So off to welding school I went.
It was, by this time, becoming obvious to me that I was in for a tough road. I was in fact in the middle of what would become a wilderness that would last for years. But having been led thru serious Bible study on the subject I was not unprepared to handle it...not that it would ever be enjoyable..I just knew what God's intention would be during the coming trials. As a welding student once my instructor gave me a demonstration on how to turn cold rolled steel into case hardened steel. It was a simple process a combination of heat and water. But it required a sense of knowing when enough was enough. Not to much heat not to much water, the perfect blend of hot and cold...too much would make the steel hard yet brittle. The key was to produce a piece that was both extremely hard yet flexible. As he worked that steel I knew I was staring at God's working in my life.
Just prior to moving out of crack central the wives mother had asked if we would take in her younger sister. She and her step-dad got along about as well as two alley cats thrown into a gunny sack. I find it fairly distasteful when adults don't act like adults in the face of a poor wounded kid from a divorced family who was just trying to find her place in the world. So we took her in. They offered to help out with room and board(gave his money but not his soul..go figure) I thought it would be good for the wife to mend the broken bridge between them. Looking back I see God's hand in it considering what the future would bring.
Life with my little family was a mix of trials,troubles, joy and jubilation. Jeremy was growing like a weed and was a constant source of joy for me. He was a funny little man. Loud as hell and hungry as a bear. I remember bring home a chicken McNugget for him once..the thing was a two handed affair with him and he hardly had any teeth but he devoured it and when he was done had chicken grease all over his face and his filmy hair stood on end. He was so funny. I was so very fulfilled and found a completeness in me being a father.
On a sunny winter morning the wife woke me up with "It's Time"..needless to say I was wide awake and ready to go. So off to Newhall again and this time after 2 hours and three pushes the world invited Jessica Joy Olsen into it. My beautiful dark curly haired bundle of love.
I held her for what felt like an hour. And forged a bond with her that would remain steadfast even today 23 years latter. Precious she was and is. I remember giving Jeremy his first bath moments after his birth and the serious look he had on his face. Then watching him fall asleep a moment later. He came out of the womb relatively quietly. Not Jessica...She arrived crying like hell and displaying all the power of her spirit immediately. She calmed down and started sucking her thumb as I held her and she nestled into my chest while her mom tried to recover. It was one of the most soulful heart warming and full filling moments of my life. From a solo artist I had gone to a duo then a trio now we were a quartet!!!What was once the empty fallow ground of my like now had become a garden of love with a fine strapping young oak and in time not one but two lovely and fragrant roses. I was so full of joy and never knew what perfect unconditional love was until I had become a father..it completed me...and still does.
We'er on the Highway to...the Midwest
"I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO.....the midwest"
In 2006 Stevie and the Saints had a reunion of sorts. Tinker and I were talking one day about our one tour. He stated that there wasn't a single band during that time that didn't go the same hell as we did.
We were getting good airplay in the midwest at the time so Ken came up with the idea of a tour there and had set up one paid gig...one. To say this was stupid is an understatement, But in fine Saints tradition we charged off to go play for the opening of yet another garage.Only this was not across town it was across the country. Ken had talked Ray into coming along with the mobile stage we used at the Rose Bowl. It would have been the perfect match our music ,Ray's preaching except for one thing we needed support and had none, Despite all this we charged off anyway.
I had tried in vain to convince Ken that there had to be churches out there that would be at least open to inviting us to minister to their youth groups and evangelistic efforts. But Ken wouldn't have any of it. So we had 1300 miles to go to our first gig. By this time I was attending Pasadena Four Square under pastor Ralph Torrez who had come up under Jack Hayford of church on the way. Looking back Ray was also a Four Square pastor. with a few simple phone calls we could have played churches from LA to our first gig.
We headed off the Ray's in Pomona thinking that we would hit the road strait way. We ended up refurbishing the mobile stage that put us 5 days behind schedule. I had given Ken and Ray fairly detailed instructions on what to look for in renting a motor home mainly what kind of hitch it needed to have seeing as how at the time I installed them for a living and knew what kind of poundage we would be pulling. They came back with an older motor home with a hitch I really didn't think would make it. But I was out voted when I suggested they take it back. So finally off we went.
I had never been to that part of the country so it was a big adventure for me. Still being stuck in a rickety motor home...or as Ken would dub it..."The Motor HOE" pulling a stage...we were 70, 80 yards of trouble waiting to happen. Paying for it all on Ken's credit card,faith and very little else. What were we thinking? Despite all this God would take care of us time after time and there would be fruit for His kingdom when it was all said and done. A preacher I would hear years later would say this" Security is the Enemy of Faith" those who are more concerned about security never fully experience the amazing provision of God. And never see Him move in their lives in a way that he would if they Struck out in Faith to serve Him". Here we were doing just that. and God did look out for us.amoung the all the normal gear we took with us Ken brought a video camera. He would be catching nearly everthing on tape as we ventured thru of "Lost in Egypt " tour.
Our first pump in the road happened just outside of Vegas. We broke down in a town called "Baker" they should have removed the r and just called it "BAKE" it was 120 degrees and our carburator decided to give up the ghost. No engine, no air.......we were stranded on the suburb of HELL. Ray thumbed into Vegas and manages to buy the one of only two things that made the rig run that were left in the entire town. Meantime Ken sets up the camera inside the home motor ho and we decide to have church. He says this on tape...."This is were God separates the Warriors ...from...And we go in chorus...."The Wimps" It finally started to rain and this was the first time I ever stood outside in thew pouring rain like a dumb chicken and loved every moment of it.
We got back on the road and drove thru Arizona and New Mexico. I was struck on how beautiful in a red desert sort of way it was. I loved it. We would continue to have problems with the motor ho thru out the trip. When we weren't driving it Ray,myself and Tinker was under it trying to get it to run.
What I soon discovered was we had greatly underestimated both the generosity and compassion of the believers we would meet on the road. Another surprize was how we were percieved. In LA we were just another band trying to get noticed. Once out of LA we were looked in a completely different light. A Band with a record deal getting a regular mention in the rags and on tour. The locals in the know were a bit in awe of us. Something I found amusing considering I still had the 71 Maverick parked outside my stinking cockroach infested apartment and we still had to stand in bread lines on occation.
I won't go into day to day road stories but I will share some of the amazing things that did happen. Shortly after hitting the road when things started gettings hard there was talk of giving up and going back to LA. It was Tink who truely expressed what many in the band felt he said "No one kicks my ass and gets away with it..not even the devil" so press on we did. The tour would be a combination of comedies of errors and miracles.
Back in those days I was sporting a rather large ear ring. The running comment was every time Ray had to ask for help the first thing he would say would be "Steve take out the ear ring I gotta ask these nice strait church people for help" "OK you can put the ear ring back in" all tour long"in and out,in and out".
We pulled into the black hills where we would wind up in a town called Spearfish. The Black Hills were a windy, twisty turny...just plain scary considering we were pulling a 32 ft motor home and a 40 foot mobile stage. We pull out of the hills And right in the middle of main street we lose the hitch. I had told them guys what kind of hitch we needed now they knew why. What tragity it would have been had we lost it while still in the hills. Just so happens we broke down right in front of the Spearfish 4 Square Church. Out came the earring and some one from the church jacked up the van and welded the hitch back on. We played the church that sunday(sans my earring)
We toned it way down but the pastor and his wife along with the congregation were more than generous. And accepted us with open arms. After the hitch got fixed it being a Saturday night and not much to do Ken found a large Taco stand where the teenagers hung out. So up goes the Stage and on go the Saints. A very well known comic from that area who had a son that was strung out happened to be there(small town news travels fast)once we were done playing Ray got up and preached with such power I wanted to get saved all over again! This guys son comes forward and commits his life to Christ. Last we heard he was still clean and still very much saved. The church fed us well and gave a donation and sent us on our way. We had to buy a new carb outside vegas so we pulled this truck shop to get it adjusted now whats funny about this is the guy working on it could have been Rays twin.
The next day we pulled into Sturgis South Dakota. The Worlds largest biker rally. We pull in Tink and I fall out the side door he looks around gets that shit eatin grin on his face and says" We are gonna fit in here just fine" Black leather,cut off levi jackets, big bellies an lots of hair.
There were bikes everywhere. Every type size and shape. From vintage museum bikes to custom racers and all types in between.We connected with the local chapter of the CMA(Christian Motorcycle Association) Our buddy Freddy Z had told us about Sturgis. Sturgis as a city makes 98%of it's yearly budget in the month of August each year.We connected with the head of the CMA explained who we were and how we were looking for a place to set up and play then preach. Let me be very very clear here. This guy was not only no help he was totally useless. He looked and acted as if he would rather be anywhere but there. I LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THE CMA.I just couldn't believe how utterly LAME and in charge some jack ass could be.We found a parking lot set up and rocked. Meantime Ray had found a church and was in his element. Preaching up a storm to a bunch like minded holy rollers.
The next day we loaded up and headed for the kids Dads place Sioux Falls. Cruising down the high way doing 65 I'm in the back sound asleep when "Bang" we lose the hitch,the trailer and the bumper. I go from being sound asleep in the back to being wide awake in the front and wondering what the hell just happened. So here we are sitting in the grass on the side of the freeway wondering what to do next when Ray looks over his shoulder and sees a Catepiller factory. He thinks they got welders big presses etc there. ''''Steve"''....let me guess..out goes the earing again.
Kenny the Kids dad and step mom lived in Sioux Falls. a sweet couple. He sold insurance and she was a bartender at the local country club. We had several gigs to play there. Staying with the Kids folks was an oasis of sorts. They sell this mild light colored beer out there that tastes killer. Plus they Tgrow the sweetest yellow corn. So each night we would grill burgers,drink beer(much to Ray's displeasure)and eat sweet grilled corn. Here is the funny part.The Kids step mom being a bartender knew just about every joke or off color song out there and it was a hoot watching her and Roberts go at it. He would start a joke or an off color song and she would finish it!!! to funny. What I noticed was how humid it was there. I had never been in that kind humidity before( Alaska is a dry climate.) Our contact there had arranged for us to go play a maximum security prison. The next day we rolled into the main yard. Maybe 400 by 400 yards. It was sad for me to think that this yard was all some of these guys would ever see again. We rolled out the stage got ready to play and man was it hot...humid...hot These two inmates brought out two big coolers of ice cold sweet tea!...so off we went and in no time the entire yard of say 300 were standing shoulder to shoulder sweating in the heat while we rocked and rolled and Testified" Finally the band took a breather while big brother Ray started preaching. Mean time I'm standing behind the stage when this Mountain of a man comes up to me. He starts asking me questions about Go,the Bible, Jesus. Hear me folks this guy stood a foot and a half taller than me covered in tattoes. Turns out he was the prison "bill collector". I don't recall what I said but the Chaplin said I had gotten thru to him in a way no one else had. The Chaplin said all the hardness had gone out of his voice as he spoke of the band,his conversation with me and with Christ Finally Brother Ray made an invintation to come to Christ with several coming foward. We ended the day like this. The younger inmates were shouting "More leads!More Leads!More Leads!
So I sat down at the end of the stage surounded by maybe 30-40 guys and I just shredded away for another 30-45 minutes. We signed a bunch of New Testaments and called it a good day.
The Chaplin reported several converstions and an all around good impact. That night we had more beer,more corn,more burgers as we listened to Ken and the Kids step mom seranade us with off color songs.We played a pig roast the next day(the gig was boring as hell but the pig sure was good) and that night we went down to a rock club and talked our way into doing a set. What I recall was Tink bringing his own sticks and snare. Tink warned the drummer that he hit hard but the guy said to use his gear. After the pig roast we were chomping at the bit to rock. We TORE THE ROOF OF THE PLACE. On the last song Tink had dented all the cymbles and broke his snare head. I'd say that was a fitting departure to the midwest. I will mention the guys who were running the local Bible book store where "Metalblue" was on sale took us out to this little place in a town called "Tea" for these huge steaks. That was a blessing.
We had to bag our last gig in St Louis cause frankly we were broke. So we pack up all the gear ready for the long haul back to LA. There was this kind brother who ran a shop that did all the brake work for the local police. He custom built us a class 3 trailer hitch free of charge and even took us out to lunch afterward. God's people were good to us there and this time I didn't even have to take out my ear ring. There is one thing I should mention, we were in a service in one of the churches out there where they had invited Ray to preach. Ray was a card carrying 4 square pastor but at heart he was a firery street preacher. I remember during the sermon he goes "If your wife is a bitch it's because you made her one"!! we heard several "amens"on that one but Roberts leans over and says"There goes the offering so I guess you can put your ear ring back on" The next day we were off back to LA. With the new carb and trailer hitch we got home with little trouble. It was an adventure non of us ever wanted to repeat even though it did produce some good fruit for the kingdom.
In 2006 Stevie and the Saints had a reunion of sorts. Tinker and I were talking one day about our one tour. He stated that there wasn't a single band during that time that didn't go the same hell as we did.
We were getting good airplay in the midwest at the time so Ken came up with the idea of a tour there and had set up one paid gig...one. To say this was stupid is an understatement, But in fine Saints tradition we charged off to go play for the opening of yet another garage.Only this was not across town it was across the country. Ken had talked Ray into coming along with the mobile stage we used at the Rose Bowl. It would have been the perfect match our music ,Ray's preaching except for one thing we needed support and had none, Despite all this we charged off anyway.
I had tried in vain to convince Ken that there had to be churches out there that would be at least open to inviting us to minister to their youth groups and evangelistic efforts. But Ken wouldn't have any of it. So we had 1300 miles to go to our first gig. By this time I was attending Pasadena Four Square under pastor Ralph Torrez who had come up under Jack Hayford of church on the way. Looking back Ray was also a Four Square pastor. with a few simple phone calls we could have played churches from LA to our first gig.
We headed off the Ray's in Pomona thinking that we would hit the road strait way. We ended up refurbishing the mobile stage that put us 5 days behind schedule. I had given Ken and Ray fairly detailed instructions on what to look for in renting a motor home mainly what kind of hitch it needed to have seeing as how at the time I installed them for a living and knew what kind of poundage we would be pulling. They came back with an older motor home with a hitch I really didn't think would make it. But I was out voted when I suggested they take it back. So finally off we went.
I had never been to that part of the country so it was a big adventure for me. Still being stuck in a rickety motor home...or as Ken would dub it..."The Motor HOE" pulling a stage...we were 70, 80 yards of trouble waiting to happen. Paying for it all on Ken's credit card,faith and very little else. What were we thinking? Despite all this God would take care of us time after time and there would be fruit for His kingdom when it was all said and done. A preacher I would hear years later would say this" Security is the Enemy of Faith" those who are more concerned about security never fully experience the amazing provision of God. And never see Him move in their lives in a way that he would if they Struck out in Faith to serve Him". Here we were doing just that. and God did look out for us.amoung the all the normal gear we took with us Ken brought a video camera. He would be catching nearly everthing on tape as we ventured thru of "Lost in Egypt " tour.
Our first pump in the road happened just outside of Vegas. We broke down in a town called "Baker" they should have removed the r and just called it "BAKE" it was 120 degrees and our carburator decided to give up the ghost. No engine, no air.......we were stranded on the suburb of HELL. Ray thumbed into Vegas and manages to buy the one of only two things that made the rig run that were left in the entire town. Meantime Ken sets up the camera inside the home motor ho and we decide to have church. He says this on tape...."This is were God separates the Warriors ...from...And we go in chorus...."The Wimps" It finally started to rain and this was the first time I ever stood outside in thew pouring rain like a dumb chicken and loved every moment of it.
We got back on the road and drove thru Arizona and New Mexico. I was struck on how beautiful in a red desert sort of way it was. I loved it. We would continue to have problems with the motor ho thru out the trip. When we weren't driving it Ray,myself and Tinker was under it trying to get it to run.
What I soon discovered was we had greatly underestimated both the generosity and compassion of the believers we would meet on the road. Another surprize was how we were percieved. In LA we were just another band trying to get noticed. Once out of LA we were looked in a completely different light. A Band with a record deal getting a regular mention in the rags and on tour. The locals in the know were a bit in awe of us. Something I found amusing considering I still had the 71 Maverick parked outside my stinking cockroach infested apartment and we still had to stand in bread lines on occation.
I won't go into day to day road stories but I will share some of the amazing things that did happen. Shortly after hitting the road when things started gettings hard there was talk of giving up and going back to LA. It was Tink who truely expressed what many in the band felt he said "No one kicks my ass and gets away with it..not even the devil" so press on we did. The tour would be a combination of comedies of errors and miracles.
Back in those days I was sporting a rather large ear ring. The running comment was every time Ray had to ask for help the first thing he would say would be "Steve take out the ear ring I gotta ask these nice strait church people for help" "OK you can put the ear ring back in" all tour long"in and out,in and out".
We pulled into the black hills where we would wind up in a town called Spearfish. The Black Hills were a windy, twisty turny...just plain scary considering we were pulling a 32 ft motor home and a 40 foot mobile stage. We pull out of the hills And right in the middle of main street we lose the hitch. I had told them guys what kind of hitch we needed now they knew why. What tragity it would have been had we lost it while still in the hills. Just so happens we broke down right in front of the Spearfish 4 Square Church. Out came the earring and some one from the church jacked up the van and welded the hitch back on. We played the church that sunday(sans my earring)
We toned it way down but the pastor and his wife along with the congregation were more than generous. And accepted us with open arms. After the hitch got fixed it being a Saturday night and not much to do Ken found a large Taco stand where the teenagers hung out. So up goes the Stage and on go the Saints. A very well known comic from that area who had a son that was strung out happened to be there(small town news travels fast)once we were done playing Ray got up and preached with such power I wanted to get saved all over again! This guys son comes forward and commits his life to Christ. Last we heard he was still clean and still very much saved. The church fed us well and gave a donation and sent us on our way. We had to buy a new carb outside vegas so we pulled this truck shop to get it adjusted now whats funny about this is the guy working on it could have been Rays twin.
The next day we pulled into Sturgis South Dakota. The Worlds largest biker rally. We pull in Tink and I fall out the side door he looks around gets that shit eatin grin on his face and says" We are gonna fit in here just fine" Black leather,cut off levi jackets, big bellies an lots of hair.
There were bikes everywhere. Every type size and shape. From vintage museum bikes to custom racers and all types in between.We connected with the local chapter of the CMA(Christian Motorcycle Association) Our buddy Freddy Z had told us about Sturgis. Sturgis as a city makes 98%of it's yearly budget in the month of August each year.We connected with the head of the CMA explained who we were and how we were looking for a place to set up and play then preach. Let me be very very clear here. This guy was not only no help he was totally useless. He looked and acted as if he would rather be anywhere but there. I LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THE CMA.I just couldn't believe how utterly LAME and in charge some jack ass could be.We found a parking lot set up and rocked. Meantime Ray had found a church and was in his element. Preaching up a storm to a bunch like minded holy rollers.
The next day we loaded up and headed for the kids Dads place Sioux Falls. Cruising down the high way doing 65 I'm in the back sound asleep when "Bang" we lose the hitch,the trailer and the bumper. I go from being sound asleep in the back to being wide awake in the front and wondering what the hell just happened. So here we are sitting in the grass on the side of the freeway wondering what to do next when Ray looks over his shoulder and sees a Catepiller factory. He thinks they got welders big presses etc there. ''''Steve"''....let me guess..out goes the earing again.
Kenny the Kids dad and step mom lived in Sioux Falls. a sweet couple. He sold insurance and she was a bartender at the local country club. We had several gigs to play there. Staying with the Kids folks was an oasis of sorts. They sell this mild light colored beer out there that tastes killer. Plus they Tgrow the sweetest yellow corn. So each night we would grill burgers,drink beer(much to Ray's displeasure)and eat sweet grilled corn. Here is the funny part.The Kids step mom being a bartender knew just about every joke or off color song out there and it was a hoot watching her and Roberts go at it. He would start a joke or an off color song and she would finish it!!! to funny. What I noticed was how humid it was there. I had never been in that kind humidity before( Alaska is a dry climate.) Our contact there had arranged for us to go play a maximum security prison. The next day we rolled into the main yard. Maybe 400 by 400 yards. It was sad for me to think that this yard was all some of these guys would ever see again. We rolled out the stage got ready to play and man was it hot...humid...hot These two inmates brought out two big coolers of ice cold sweet tea!...so off we went and in no time the entire yard of say 300 were standing shoulder to shoulder sweating in the heat while we rocked and rolled and Testified" Finally the band took a breather while big brother Ray started preaching. Mean time I'm standing behind the stage when this Mountain of a man comes up to me. He starts asking me questions about Go,the Bible, Jesus. Hear me folks this guy stood a foot and a half taller than me covered in tattoes. Turns out he was the prison "bill collector". I don't recall what I said but the Chaplin said I had gotten thru to him in a way no one else had. The Chaplin said all the hardness had gone out of his voice as he spoke of the band,his conversation with me and with Christ Finally Brother Ray made an invintation to come to Christ with several coming foward. We ended the day like this. The younger inmates were shouting "More leads!More Leads!More Leads!
So I sat down at the end of the stage surounded by maybe 30-40 guys and I just shredded away for another 30-45 minutes. We signed a bunch of New Testaments and called it a good day.
The Chaplin reported several converstions and an all around good impact. That night we had more beer,more corn,more burgers as we listened to Ken and the Kids step mom seranade us with off color songs.We played a pig roast the next day(the gig was boring as hell but the pig sure was good) and that night we went down to a rock club and talked our way into doing a set. What I recall was Tink bringing his own sticks and snare. Tink warned the drummer that he hit hard but the guy said to use his gear. After the pig roast we were chomping at the bit to rock. We TORE THE ROOF OF THE PLACE. On the last song Tink had dented all the cymbles and broke his snare head. I'd say that was a fitting departure to the midwest. I will mention the guys who were running the local Bible book store where "Metalblue" was on sale took us out to this little place in a town called "Tea" for these huge steaks. That was a blessing.
We had to bag our last gig in St Louis cause frankly we were broke. So we pack up all the gear ready for the long haul back to LA. There was this kind brother who ran a shop that did all the brake work for the local police. He custom built us a class 3 trailer hitch free of charge and even took us out to lunch afterward. God's people were good to us there and this time I didn't even have to take out my ear ring. There is one thing I should mention, we were in a service in one of the churches out there where they had invited Ray to preach. Ray was a card carrying 4 square pastor but at heart he was a firery street preacher. I remember during the sermon he goes "If your wife is a bitch it's because you made her one"!! we heard several "amens"on that one but Roberts leans over and says"There goes the offering so I guess you can put your ear ring back on" The next day we were off back to LA. With the new carb and trailer hitch we got home with little trouble. It was an adventure non of us ever wanted to repeat even though it did produce some good fruit for the kingdom.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Buzz
"The Buzz...begins"
With the finish of the album Ken now had us on wax. The problem now was how to sell us. The challenge back then was distribution. Back then Christian music was primarily sold in Bible bookstores,mom and pop shops an on rare instances record store. It would be years before the industry would grow into the billion dollar business it is today. Really Ken was a one man show and like us broke. still what He did have and was good at was this. He had the underground wired. He had a listing of tons of fanzines,magazines,reviewers, radio stations or shows that would feature us. All with the names of contacts. He had begun to send out advance copies of the cassette to reviewers. Meantime we continued our shows. By this time we were needing a second guitar player. If for no other reason for the song "Saints Boogie" The song featured twin guitar harmonies. The second guitar spot would wind up being a bit of swinging door for a time. We were good friends with another band called "Dave Brighten and the Promise" Dave and I had become friends after I graduated and he and Ken had known each other for quite some time. Thru Dave I met a guy who would leave a lasting impression on me. Troy Moody was a guitar player who was a bit older than I with similar tastes in music and family back grounds. He was average height and build with a mustache and a reseeding hair line. We hit it off right away. Having a second in the band also freed me to blow the harp which I was now doing on some newer tunes I was writing. I had learned a lot about song writing from Ken and I was already thinking of the next album. Song writing in the Saints was like this..If Tinker could catch the grove on a new song I wrote it was a keeper if not it was back to the woodshed with it. I remember I had written lyrics to a song that would wind up on the second album. I liked the words but every-time I brought it to the band Tink just couldn't get it..He'd say"Not that one again" Finally I'm sitting at home one night listening to Bo Diddley when that grove hit me. Yea thats it. Next day I play the groove for Tink and he's all over it like a bad rash.
The shows we were doing were as varied as you could get. One night might be a youth group the next would be a club. I remember we did a gig at this cool club in Long Beach called Bogarts...I had a blast that night It was not long after that that Troy shows up to gig dressed in "Saints Gear" he had gone to this place in Van Nuys called "ReRuns" a vintage clothes store and showed up wearing a shark skin tiny lapel suit, shinny tie and of all things...spats!...too cool I was really beginning to like him. We had done a gig one night for this youth group at a fairly large church. They were cool and even passed the plate. By then we had cassettes,tee-shirts,and 8x12 glossy' for sale. I can still remember someone asking me for an autograph for the first time...it was weird and a bit surreal .He was a latino brother that had just watched us play and could hardly speak english. I made sure I got his name right and signed it. We had been asked by the youth group to come back and do another gig. I remember the first time how we had 400 teenagers rocking and rolling in front of the stage all night..we wore them out..typical to the Saints back then.Gigs were a combination of glorious and gruesome. The week we played the gig with the youth group we had done our first gig at the FM station in North Hollywood. We played the 1 am spot on a tuesday night. The audience consisted of 3 passed out drunks at the bar,the bartender and two very bored looking waitresses. Loads of fun. We were thrilled to go back to the youth group again for another night of boogie with boys. We had set up earlier in the day so when I got there I tweaked a few things then went back stage. We were playing downstairs in a large multipurpose room from the church proper. I peeked out the curtain and saw the place was packed even more than the first time.
I start to get into the magic blue suit and beret when I hear this from the main room....stevie, stevie, stevie it
starts to grow louder accompanied by stomping....Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, I'm standing there shocked..Louder it gets STEVIE,STEVIE,STEVIE,,,Tink is standing there with this" knowing "kind of look on his face."Hear that?"..I couldn't believe my ears..I felt humbled...humbled...then....FIRED UP READY TO RIP!!!!!. We hit the stage that night and broke things.....the church did not inform me that we (specifically ME) were set up over the baptistry. Yea the drink...so on one particular hot tune I jump up and come down to find the floor cracked in two...the only thing between me and getting dunked and electrocuted was a 3/4 piece of plywood and a carpet! We had to stop the show and rearrange the gear so we(i,e ME) wouldn't wind up getting baptized for a second time in my life.
One of my favorite things after the shows I liked was standing behind the merch booth and meeting the fans..it was always such an honor and a blessing to play for them. I always found it wonderful to interact with them,sign autographs, laugh, encourage them in God.
Back at the studio Ken was busy promoting the album..he could only afford cassettes at first. But I remember when he ordered LP's. He took me to a pressing plant in south bay. I t was a cool experience. They had been there for years and years. I watched as they pressed our 1st LP's. They had these machines that looked like big waffle irons. In the center of the wheel out would come this blob of vynal.sitting on the outer rim was a gold master disc(Ken had said he made sure they cut the grooves deep to give us a good sound)the blob goes down on the bottom disc and the top comes down..splat! an LP, a tech trims the excess vynal and attaches the label.And there you have it! a shinny new LP just like the Big boys have! Cool! Ken also decided to press a 45 all this was mostly because the radio stations at the time were asking for LP's and 45's....had we only known that mere months later all this would change with the advent of cd's. Ken took "Don't Knock the Rock" and pressed 40 45's and sent them to the radio stations. Along with the LP's. This is a miniscule amount of 45's and LP's to sent out. I knew bands that would send out thousands of LP's. Out of a mere 40 45's we got regular rotation(which means they played us a lot) on 30 stations. Unheard of.
I'm sitting at home one night when I get a call from Ken. He says "You sitting down?" Well check this Out"
He begins to read to me the reviews he had gotten from the advance cassettes he had sent. For the next hour it was one RAVE review after another, "Genuine Guitar Hero, One of the Best bands to come along in Years,A Christian Jimi Hendrix, The Best Instrumental of 1988," on and on he went! I was dumbfounded . Amazed and humbled. Ken was beside himself and couldn't wait to call Tink. I hung up and sat there for the longest time just pondering all this. I couldn't wait to play our next gig.
There was one review in particular that really hit me. As I said before there were two rags I never missed. Guitar Player and Contemporary Christian Music. CCM said this about us.."This cassette may be hard to find but go to your local bookstore ASK FOR IT BY NAME AND DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!" To get a review like that in a mag I had been reading for nearly 10 years was to say the least thrilling.
Early on in the band we had ran an ad in this south bay publication called "The Christian Activities Calendar"
sort of a who's who's of up and coming bands and events. One day I get this call from a former roommate from Alaska. Freddy Z (Z for Zaritzney) Freddy had moved to southern California gotten married ,had some kids and was a Calvary chapel evangelist. He was and still is a serious biker and a member of the Christian Motor Cycle Association. CMA. We talked about what I was doing and I told him about the Saints. Freddy would over time toss quite a few gigs our way including a "Biker Wedding". We were a good match. Plus Freddy was the kind of guy that seemed to know everyone from Darrel Mansfield to the guys in the Rez band(He had actually lived at JPUSA for a short time) to Chuck Smith the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel..the guy got around He even showed me pictures of him sharing his faith with none other than Sonny Barger the head of the notorious Hells Angels.
The good reviews continued to come as we struggled to figure out how to get the cassette and LP's out to the public. Ken was trying as best he could but it was a big world and to crawl out the underground was difficult to say the least. Looking back compared to your average musician walking the street ,here is what we did have...An explosive live show, a "critically acclaimed band" a producer and a killer LP. Honestly how many guys from GIT were doing what I was? or my friends back home? But at the time we were hoping for more. Ken was doing everything he could but he lacked two things...money and marketing. But really all of us were in some form of that soup or another. I can recall having a conversation with Dave from Neon Cross back stage at a show at the Waters Club. They had recorded a 24 track studio album on their own nickel. A no brainer for any label. Dave told me they had signed with some guys who turned out to be pirates. I remember him saying..."Stevie we got a good deal on our royalty spread..12%...but dude 12% of nothin is still nothin" hence the Christian Music business back then. It took money to promote and money was something we never had. What was great was the buzz that continued to grow. I just felt deep in my sould something would eventually come of it all. I remember early on before tell the guys this."Every gig we play good or bad,every person who sees us,reads anything about us is seed in the ground and it will reap a harvest someday. The key to this is to keep at it, "WEARY NOT IN WELL DOING BECAUSE IN DUE SEASON YOU WILL REAP"
By now Tory had left the band because he didn't see eye to eye with Ken. It was too bad too,I had grown really fond of him. all of us had. Once again the second guitar seat was empty. Finally one day Ken took off his producer hat, took off his manager hat,removed his record label suit and strapped on a guitar. It was a perfect fit. No one knew or understood the our music as well as he did. No one believed in us as much as he did. On top of all that Ken was an excellent rhythm guitar player. He had a knack for tying Tink and the Kid together in a tight groove and he could drive the band as hard as I could. It was a
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears Moment" where Long John had been "to cold" Troy "To hot" Ken wound up being "Just right"
There reviews and reports coming into studio on a regular basis now. We were hearing all kind of rumblings. We were getting airplay in pockets on both coasts the midwest and even Europe. They were playing us in England, Germany and France. We had even received notice from a station in Strasbourg France the we had become the second favorite artist on their station second only to Stryper...not bad for a bunch of broke fat boys.
In England a lady had contacted Ken and expressed a desire to be our exclusive representative over there and had said there was some interest from the Label that Motorhead was on(could you have imagined a tour with them Stevie and the Saints and Motorhead talk about "Heaven and Hell") They were a little put off by our straight forward Christian message. We had heard that Scott Gorham of Thinn Lizzy had heard the album and had expressed some interest. I got a call from my buddy Dave saying he had heard us on the major radio station there in Seattle during drive time(a choice time to played)
The point to all this is this, Most of what was swirling around us would never lead to anything solid but we were on the wire,on people minds and lips and the buzz was continuing to grow and grow..the would eventually lead to something.
One of the funniest things to come out of this was a call I got one night from my former musical partner Paul.
Paul was now living in Juneau Alaska. He was in a mall one day having coffee with a friend when up comes a buddy of his and says this"Dude I just got this totally killer cassette from a band out of LA called "Stevie and the Saints"..Paul goes "Hey I grew up with him, Stevie and I started out playin music together" The guy goes"Get outta Town! Who you fooling".."No really"..You're pulling my chain"...No It's the truth...Tell you what come with me right now and I'll prove it"...down to Pauls place they go. I get this call and it's Paul on the other line.He relates the story to me as I crack up he hands the phone to his buddy going "I told you so.." I hear this stuttering voice on the line...."Uh Uh Uh is the really Stevie?..."Yep the one and the same" there is some silence...then..."DDDDDooode...I really really like your band (smoke a lot pot did we?..I'm thinkin) I thanked him we talked about the music,guitars what we had coming if we would ever play in Juneau..I had a chance to encourage him in the Lord. It was a treat for the brother. It's not everyday a fan gets to chat on the phone with one of his favorite artists....the reality was, the Maverick was still parked outside my door,I was still standing in a cramped roach infested apartment with hardly two nickels to rub together while the woman I was married to complained constantly and basically treated me pretty much like a loser.....could have been worse could have had all that and nothing else.....the next week we played the FM station and as we drove up on the marquis was "STEVIE AND SAINTS LIVE TONIGHT" that made my Maverick look like a Cadilac!
With the finish of the album Ken now had us on wax. The problem now was how to sell us. The challenge back then was distribution. Back then Christian music was primarily sold in Bible bookstores,mom and pop shops an on rare instances record store. It would be years before the industry would grow into the billion dollar business it is today. Really Ken was a one man show and like us broke. still what He did have and was good at was this. He had the underground wired. He had a listing of tons of fanzines,magazines,reviewers, radio stations or shows that would feature us. All with the names of contacts. He had begun to send out advance copies of the cassette to reviewers. Meantime we continued our shows. By this time we were needing a second guitar player. If for no other reason for the song "Saints Boogie" The song featured twin guitar harmonies. The second guitar spot would wind up being a bit of swinging door for a time. We were good friends with another band called "Dave Brighten and the Promise" Dave and I had become friends after I graduated and he and Ken had known each other for quite some time. Thru Dave I met a guy who would leave a lasting impression on me. Troy Moody was a guitar player who was a bit older than I with similar tastes in music and family back grounds. He was average height and build with a mustache and a reseeding hair line. We hit it off right away. Having a second in the band also freed me to blow the harp which I was now doing on some newer tunes I was writing. I had learned a lot about song writing from Ken and I was already thinking of the next album. Song writing in the Saints was like this..If Tinker could catch the grove on a new song I wrote it was a keeper if not it was back to the woodshed with it. I remember I had written lyrics to a song that would wind up on the second album. I liked the words but every-time I brought it to the band Tink just couldn't get it..He'd say"Not that one again" Finally I'm sitting at home one night listening to Bo Diddley when that grove hit me. Yea thats it. Next day I play the groove for Tink and he's all over it like a bad rash.
The shows we were doing were as varied as you could get. One night might be a youth group the next would be a club. I remember we did a gig at this cool club in Long Beach called Bogarts...I had a blast that night It was not long after that that Troy shows up to gig dressed in "Saints Gear" he had gone to this place in Van Nuys called "ReRuns" a vintage clothes store and showed up wearing a shark skin tiny lapel suit, shinny tie and of all things...spats!...too cool I was really beginning to like him. We had done a gig one night for this youth group at a fairly large church. They were cool and even passed the plate. By then we had cassettes,tee-shirts,and 8x12 glossy' for sale. I can still remember someone asking me for an autograph for the first time...it was weird and a bit surreal .He was a latino brother that had just watched us play and could hardly speak english. I made sure I got his name right and signed it. We had been asked by the youth group to come back and do another gig. I remember the first time how we had 400 teenagers rocking and rolling in front of the stage all night..we wore them out..typical to the Saints back then.Gigs were a combination of glorious and gruesome. The week we played the gig with the youth group we had done our first gig at the FM station in North Hollywood. We played the 1 am spot on a tuesday night. The audience consisted of 3 passed out drunks at the bar,the bartender and two very bored looking waitresses. Loads of fun. We were thrilled to go back to the youth group again for another night of boogie with boys. We had set up earlier in the day so when I got there I tweaked a few things then went back stage. We were playing downstairs in a large multipurpose room from the church proper. I peeked out the curtain and saw the place was packed even more than the first time.
I start to get into the magic blue suit and beret when I hear this from the main room....stevie, stevie, stevie it
starts to grow louder accompanied by stomping....Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, I'm standing there shocked..Louder it gets STEVIE,STEVIE,STEVIE,,,Tink is standing there with this" knowing "kind of look on his face."Hear that?"..I couldn't believe my ears..I felt humbled...humbled...then....FIRED UP READY TO RIP!!!!!. We hit the stage that night and broke things.....the church did not inform me that we (specifically ME) were set up over the baptistry. Yea the drink...so on one particular hot tune I jump up and come down to find the floor cracked in two...the only thing between me and getting dunked and electrocuted was a 3/4 piece of plywood and a carpet! We had to stop the show and rearrange the gear so we(i,e ME) wouldn't wind up getting baptized for a second time in my life.
One of my favorite things after the shows I liked was standing behind the merch booth and meeting the fans..it was always such an honor and a blessing to play for them. I always found it wonderful to interact with them,sign autographs, laugh, encourage them in God.
Back at the studio Ken was busy promoting the album..he could only afford cassettes at first. But I remember when he ordered LP's. He took me to a pressing plant in south bay. I t was a cool experience. They had been there for years and years. I watched as they pressed our 1st LP's. They had these machines that looked like big waffle irons. In the center of the wheel out would come this blob of vynal.sitting on the outer rim was a gold master disc(Ken had said he made sure they cut the grooves deep to give us a good sound)the blob goes down on the bottom disc and the top comes down..splat! an LP, a tech trims the excess vynal and attaches the label.And there you have it! a shinny new LP just like the Big boys have! Cool! Ken also decided to press a 45 all this was mostly because the radio stations at the time were asking for LP's and 45's....had we only known that mere months later all this would change with the advent of cd's. Ken took "Don't Knock the Rock" and pressed 40 45's and sent them to the radio stations. Along with the LP's. This is a miniscule amount of 45's and LP's to sent out. I knew bands that would send out thousands of LP's. Out of a mere 40 45's we got regular rotation(which means they played us a lot) on 30 stations. Unheard of.
I'm sitting at home one night when I get a call from Ken. He says "You sitting down?" Well check this Out"
He begins to read to me the reviews he had gotten from the advance cassettes he had sent. For the next hour it was one RAVE review after another, "Genuine Guitar Hero, One of the Best bands to come along in Years,A Christian Jimi Hendrix, The Best Instrumental of 1988," on and on he went! I was dumbfounded . Amazed and humbled. Ken was beside himself and couldn't wait to call Tink. I hung up and sat there for the longest time just pondering all this. I couldn't wait to play our next gig.
There was one review in particular that really hit me. As I said before there were two rags I never missed. Guitar Player and Contemporary Christian Music. CCM said this about us.."This cassette may be hard to find but go to your local bookstore ASK FOR IT BY NAME AND DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!" To get a review like that in a mag I had been reading for nearly 10 years was to say the least thrilling.
Early on in the band we had ran an ad in this south bay publication called "The Christian Activities Calendar"
sort of a who's who's of up and coming bands and events. One day I get this call from a former roommate from Alaska. Freddy Z (Z for Zaritzney) Freddy had moved to southern California gotten married ,had some kids and was a Calvary chapel evangelist. He was and still is a serious biker and a member of the Christian Motor Cycle Association. CMA. We talked about what I was doing and I told him about the Saints. Freddy would over time toss quite a few gigs our way including a "Biker Wedding". We were a good match. Plus Freddy was the kind of guy that seemed to know everyone from Darrel Mansfield to the guys in the Rez band(He had actually lived at JPUSA for a short time) to Chuck Smith the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel..the guy got around He even showed me pictures of him sharing his faith with none other than Sonny Barger the head of the notorious Hells Angels.
The good reviews continued to come as we struggled to figure out how to get the cassette and LP's out to the public. Ken was trying as best he could but it was a big world and to crawl out the underground was difficult to say the least. Looking back compared to your average musician walking the street ,here is what we did have...An explosive live show, a "critically acclaimed band" a producer and a killer LP. Honestly how many guys from GIT were doing what I was? or my friends back home? But at the time we were hoping for more. Ken was doing everything he could but he lacked two things...money and marketing. But really all of us were in some form of that soup or another. I can recall having a conversation with Dave from Neon Cross back stage at a show at the Waters Club. They had recorded a 24 track studio album on their own nickel. A no brainer for any label. Dave told me they had signed with some guys who turned out to be pirates. I remember him saying..."Stevie we got a good deal on our royalty spread..12%...but dude 12% of nothin is still nothin" hence the Christian Music business back then. It took money to promote and money was something we never had. What was great was the buzz that continued to grow. I just felt deep in my sould something would eventually come of it all. I remember early on before tell the guys this."Every gig we play good or bad,every person who sees us,reads anything about us is seed in the ground and it will reap a harvest someday. The key to this is to keep at it, "WEARY NOT IN WELL DOING BECAUSE IN DUE SEASON YOU WILL REAP"
By now Tory had left the band because he didn't see eye to eye with Ken. It was too bad too,I had grown really fond of him. all of us had. Once again the second guitar seat was empty. Finally one day Ken took off his producer hat, took off his manager hat,removed his record label suit and strapped on a guitar. It was a perfect fit. No one knew or understood the our music as well as he did. No one believed in us as much as he did. On top of all that Ken was an excellent rhythm guitar player. He had a knack for tying Tink and the Kid together in a tight groove and he could drive the band as hard as I could. It was a
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears Moment" where Long John had been "to cold" Troy "To hot" Ken wound up being "Just right"
There reviews and reports coming into studio on a regular basis now. We were hearing all kind of rumblings. We were getting airplay in pockets on both coasts the midwest and even Europe. They were playing us in England, Germany and France. We had even received notice from a station in Strasbourg France the we had become the second favorite artist on their station second only to Stryper...not bad for a bunch of broke fat boys.
In England a lady had contacted Ken and expressed a desire to be our exclusive representative over there and had said there was some interest from the Label that Motorhead was on(could you have imagined a tour with them Stevie and the Saints and Motorhead talk about "Heaven and Hell") They were a little put off by our straight forward Christian message. We had heard that Scott Gorham of Thinn Lizzy had heard the album and had expressed some interest. I got a call from my buddy Dave saying he had heard us on the major radio station there in Seattle during drive time(a choice time to played)
The point to all this is this, Most of what was swirling around us would never lead to anything solid but we were on the wire,on people minds and lips and the buzz was continuing to grow and grow..the would eventually lead to something.
One of the funniest things to come out of this was a call I got one night from my former musical partner Paul.
Paul was now living in Juneau Alaska. He was in a mall one day having coffee with a friend when up comes a buddy of his and says this"Dude I just got this totally killer cassette from a band out of LA called "Stevie and the Saints"..Paul goes "Hey I grew up with him, Stevie and I started out playin music together" The guy goes"Get outta Town! Who you fooling".."No really"..You're pulling my chain"...No It's the truth...Tell you what come with me right now and I'll prove it"...down to Pauls place they go. I get this call and it's Paul on the other line.He relates the story to me as I crack up he hands the phone to his buddy going "I told you so.." I hear this stuttering voice on the line...."Uh Uh Uh is the really Stevie?..."Yep the one and the same" there is some silence...then..."DDDDDooode...I really really like your band (smoke a lot pot did we?..I'm thinkin) I thanked him we talked about the music,guitars what we had coming if we would ever play in Juneau..I had a chance to encourage him in the Lord. It was a treat for the brother. It's not everyday a fan gets to chat on the phone with one of his favorite artists....the reality was, the Maverick was still parked outside my door,I was still standing in a cramped roach infested apartment with hardly two nickels to rub together while the woman I was married to complained constantly and basically treated me pretty much like a loser.....could have been worse could have had all that and nothing else.....the next week we played the FM station and as we drove up on the marquis was "STEVIE AND SAINTS LIVE TONIGHT" that made my Maverick look like a Cadilac!
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