The World According To Steve Stevens

Guitar virtuoso Steve Stevens has spent the best part of well over 20 years as the on-again, off-again sideman for Billy Idol. During the off time he has played and recorded with Vince Neil and he won a Grammy for his performance on the Top Gun Soundtrack. Stevens has also found time to record a few solo albums along the way.
Memory Crash, his latest solo album, is just as the title suggests: it’s Steve Stevens: 21st Century Model.

Currently on tour in Europe with Billy Idol, Stevens recently found time to talk with Pop-Rock Candy Mountain about finding happiness and why the bridge in “Eyes Without A Face” still kicks ass after more than 20 years.

Pop-Rock Candy Mountain (PRCM): How’s the new tour going?
Steve Stevens (SS): The tour is going great. So far, the highlight was playing two nights at the Fillmore in San Francisco — which is a cool old venue to play.

PRCM: Do you still enjoy going out on the road?
SS: Absolutely. The last tour we did was like two-and-a-half years ago, so it’s not like we do it often.

PRCM: What inspired your songwriting on “Memory Crash?”
SS: For me, doing an instrumental record was about trying to recreate some of the “prog” records I liked as a kid. Playing a bunch of notes and having a “shred-fest” isn’t really my forte. So, I tried to encapsulate some of the stuff I like when I was young — Pink Floyd and things that are more compositional. I didn’t approach it writing wise any different than I would with Billy. The only thing I did, was instead of having vocalists on it, I would just play my guitar the melody.

PRCM: What inspired the song “Josephine?”
SS: That was for my fiancé. I’ve never written a song for her or anything, so it was kind of cool. As cheesy it might sound, it’s really cool to be in love and have a person be a part of your life — she’s a big part of the record.

PRCM: Do you still enjoy collaborating with Billy and doing studio sessions?
SS: Yeah. I try to do collaborations where I learn something new. I’ve been making records for 28 years, so it’s cool to learn some new things at this point.

PRCM: Do you like the way the music industry has changed since the beginning of your career?
SS: I think the industry and the big labels are dying. For an artist like me to do a small, instrumental record I think it’s good. It evens the playing field. Plus, I have more direct contact and interaction with my fans. I have a home studio, so I don’t need and A&R guy telling me what notes to play at this point. I think it’s all healthy.

PRCM: You guys were such a huge part of building up MTV. Nowadays, it almost seems like they have turned on the musicians. Are you glad to see the demise of the music video?
SS: (laughs) The thing is, back in the day — you don’t realize that every video is going to cost you $300,000. I was never a big fan of the conceptual video — I was always more of a fan of the live videos. So “Rebel Yell” or the “Mony Mony” video was great to do. Once it got more into the stuff where they wanted to paint me green and hang me off a flaming tree — I’m a guitar player, man. (laughs)

PRCM: I’m completely obsessed with the bridge in “Eyes Without A Face.” Do you remember how that was done?
SS: Thanks. The way we always recorded stuff with Billy was we never really new what the bridge was going to be. So, we would always allow three minutes in the context of the song and we would build up around it. We did that with “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell.” With “Eyes Without A Face,” I was given free reign to do the middle section. It coincided with having Dave Whitman the engineer come in and work with me on the guitars on that record. Dave had worked on “Houses Of The Holy” — he new how to get great guitar tones. Plus we recorded it at Electric Ladyland Studios, so I was like a kid in a candy store.

PRCM: Even though you say you’re not a shredder, the solos on “Rebel Yell” and “Flesh For Fantasy” are pretty badass.
SS: To me, I think the better and more interesting the guitar sound is, the less notes you have to play.

PRCM: For someone that grew up a fan of Brit rock, did you feel fortunate to hook up with a British singer?
SS: Billy came from the whole punk rock thing. I liked the New York punk — The Ramones and The New York Dolls. But that didn’t mean I had stopped listening to Queen. But with the British, they had to deal with a lot of socio-economic issues.

PRCM: Are you discouraged by the demise of the guitar hero?
SS: It’s better now than it was in the 90s. I know for a fact that a lot of those guitar players are a lot more technically efficient than they let on (laughs). It’s almost like they dumbed their playing. On the last tour with Billy, we played on the Warped Tour in Europe. During “Blue Highway,” I do my guitar solo and I play with my teeth and stuff and kids were freaking out over that. I think the guitar player is in a better spot than it was 10 years ago. I teach guitar and however kids discover it, whether it the video game “Guitar Hero” or whatever, the important thing is they have discovered it.

Steve Stevens Official Site

Billy Idol appearing with Def Leppard

Wed 08/06/08 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum
Thu 08/07/08 London, ON The John Labatt Centre
Sat 08/09/08 Quebec City, QC Quebec Colisee Pepsi
Sun 08/10/08 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
Wed 08/13/08 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
Fri 08/15/08 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena

Billy Idol

Sat 08/16/08 buy tix Hammond, IN The Venue at Horseshoe Casino
Sun 08/17/08 buy tix Omaha, NE Qwest Center Omaha

appearing with Def Leppard

Wed 08/20/08 Fort Wayne, IN Allen County War Mem. Coliseum

Billy Idol

Fri 08/22/08 buy tix Baltimore, MD Pier Six Pavilion
Sat 08/23/08 Atlantic City, NJ House Of Blues
Tue 08/26/08 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
Wed 08/27/08 Asbury Park, NJ Stone Pony

appearing at “The Verizon Wireless American Music Festival”

Sat 08/30/08 Virginia Beach, VA Virginia Beach Oceanfront

Billy Idol

Fri 09/12/08 buy tix Las Vegas, NV The Joint

Courtesy Photo: Tom Cnossen (www.stevestevens.net)

The Old Believers Give Us A Reason

By AMANDA BRUMFIELD
Pop- Rock Candy Mountain

From their official bio:

The Old Believers: Now calling Portland, Oregon home, Keeley and Nelson originally hail from Kenai, Alaska where they have played with artists of all shapes and sizes including Khaki King, Shiny Toy Guns, Tim Easton, the Duhks, and Confederate Railroad.

The Old Believers maintain a sound from anytime and everywhere, while they are unmistakably here and now. Their honest, pop framework is outfitted with aesthetics of blues, americana, old-time, and jazz, with songs ranging from warm, embracing folk ditties to noise wrenched, desperate country ballads.

Under the guidance of Dylan, Tom Waits, Billie Holiday, and Mississippi John Hurt, the Old Believers are singing a brand new song like it’s tradition.

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Turd Blossom Special

Harry Shearer as Karl Rove

Harry Shearer at My Damn Channel

Spacehog Reunites!

via Jonny Craig on MySpace:

“”It’s been a while since I last spoke to you and really out of not knowing what to say about the status with Arckid.

The truth is we are in a state of premature retirement. As some of you may be aware we were joined by Richard Steel for a couple of shows last year. This gave way to inevitable conversations about reforming Spacehog. I can now tell you that we are going to start work on a new Hog record next week in LA and if you are in the area we are going to play the Viper Room in Hollywood on Monday (28th) at 11pm.

Christian Langdon is very much in our lives and our hearts. Apart from djing fancy parties with me in We.R.D2 he’s been a busy bee writing his own music. He is also has the Kid Symphony tune ‘Hands On The Money’ on “The Love Guru” soundtrack, check it out.

We all want to say a big thanks to those of you who came to a show, bought a t-shirt, listened to the music or just wrote to say hello. Please stay tuned for the next adventure!
I would tell you more but then i’ll get into trouble!

–Jonny Cragg

*Spacehog will appear with the Subways and Blackmarket on Friday night at the Troubadour, Hollywood, CA. Show starts at 8:30.

SeepeopleS: The Lights Fandango

By Amanda Brumfield
Pop- Rock Candy Mountain

From Seepeoples official bio: “With an intensive focus on the memorable songwriting of bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Will Bradford, coupled with the band’s trademark psychedelic touches and expert musicianship, SeepeopleS’ timeless songs are polished, tightly-composed offerings that blend intimate emotion and wide-open, politically minded themes. At times lush and candid, at others minimal and disquieting, SeepeopleS’ critically-acclaimed music chronicles with dexterity the story of a band coming of age in a world that often seems built on nonsense.
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Filed Under: Interviews, Music/Bands
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Rob Corddry: The Measure of a Man

July 24, 2008 by poprockcandy · Leave a Comment 

By Amanda Brumfield
Pop- Rock Candy Mountain

Rob Corddry is perhaps best known and loved for his time as a reporter on The Daily Show, a job he left with a tear and a poop joke on August 24, 2006.

Since his resignation, Corddry has appeared in “The Winner” which he referred to as ” sort of like a fucked up ‘Wonder Years’”, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, The Heartbreak Kid, Blades of Glory, Semi- Pro, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Failure to Launch.

He also starred in the recently released Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay as agent Ron Fox and What Happens in Vegas as “Hater”.

Corddry will also appear in the upcoming films, Lower Learning, Patriotville and will star as Ari Fleischer in the film W.
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Filed Under: Actors, Interviews
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