Page 46 - RAGEBREED MAGAZINE - ISSUE 2 FLIPBOOK

1. Hi Steve, hope you are well? So last
time we touched base was when you
headlined our Indoor festival Ragefest

2015 at Firebug, Leicester. How did you
find the show?
Hi Karina, yes, it’s been awhile, and hope you’re well! I
am doing well out here in the San Francisco Bay Area,
California, where I moved back to at the end of 2017
with my wife and family. We are doing our best to stay
safe and healthy out here until all of this Covid mess
blows over. We had a great time at the RageFest back
in 2015! Lots of solid bands,and people we met that
night, some of whom we still keep in touch with as
well! It was blast, and we hope to be asked back to
do it again!
submitted ands was chosen by Mike Varney (of Shrapnel Records fame) to be featured in his
2. So a bit about you, you have been in Hometown Heroes column in Guitar World magazine. I formed an instrumental project with

bands such as Testament and Forbidden my old Ariah band mate, bassist Steve Hoffman, called The EssenEss Project, we recorded
an EP that was released in 1993, and wrote for a full length that was going to be a vocal
so you have a great thrash background based progressive metal band, but I got a call and got picked to be the next lead guitarist
including your current project One of the band Vicious Rumors in 1995, and hit the ground running with them for the next 4
Machine. Tell us a bit about your ½ years. I was friends with te guys, knew the songs, and was able to step in with a few
journey with previous projects and how minor adjustments, and learned the new album they were touring on and the new songs
One Machine developed? they were writing for the next album, Something Burning. We did two records together,

Right, I started playing in my own local band out here Something Burning and Cyberchrist for Massacre Records, which I was also a contributor
in the Bay Area back in the late 1980’s opening for a to, and toured the US and Europe very frequently over the next several years. I got a call
lot of the local metal bands on the scene, as well as from my guitar tech in late 1999 (he was out with Testament while we were writing a new
some bigger national and international acts when the Vicious Rumors album), and asked if I might be able to step in and do some touring for them.
opportunity came along. That band was called Eric Peterson jumped on the phone, and asked me how many songs do I know. I immediately
Ariah, wewere a five piece band that was a bit said I know 20 songs! He gave me a list to learn, and in fact, I did know all but the Demonic
unique in that we had a female singer, certainly the material and The Gathering material. I went into a situation that was only supposed to be a
first of our genre in the Bay Area that I remember three week tour of Europe and Japan, and ended up staying on and playing for the band for
anyway. We were also a bit unique in our attempt to be the next nearly 5 years. That was a blast, and we toured everywhere the call was for us to
a bit more genre defying as well. We had some songs be! The guys and the organization were very easy to get along with, and I learned a lot in that
that fit the category of hard rock, while others were time. I was also a founding members of the band Dragonlord, the side project Eric started
a bit more melodic thrash and progressive styled. It to do, and we did two albums together, Rapture, and Black Wings of Destiny, a bit of touring
made it difficult at time to get gigs, as booking agents in the US and Europe as well. When Chuck Billy was diagnosed with cancer, we had a bit of
didn’t know who to put us with, but we fought on to downtime, and I picked up a touring situation with the band Nevermore, which initially was
get where we could get to with the band. We broke up just a few shows, but we found we got along, had a lot of the same influences between Jeff
in 1992, and shortly there after I found myself writing Loomis and I, and I had known Warrel and Jim through Sanctuary before that, and got along
instrumental music, getting out some shred with the band very well…that they ended up asking me to join them. I ended up making that
guitar vibes that I wanted to write an album for, and decision to join them after a lot of thought, but could also see that Testament was heading