Somewhere Between Sleep & Awake

Steve was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and began playing guitar at the age of 8 years. Early on, he was heavily influenced by Peter Frampton, Steve Miller, Deep Purple, Styx, and Boston - among others. "I remember watching Don Kirschner's Rock Concert and Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special", recalls Steve. "At that point in my life, I was too young to go to concerts so that was the only way I could... see the greats. That was long before MTV and VH1."

During the summer of '76, Steve acquired several no-name brand electric guitars and amplifiers - in an effort to emulate the sound of his idols. He even went so far as to craft a custom guitar with his father, Robert - using pieces from several of the intruments - in an Erector-Set like fashion. Steve listened to "Frampton Comes Alive" endlessly from '76 to '77 to the point where the grooves on the record were worn completely smooth. To him, Frampton's soloing style was so mezmorizing. "I wanted a Gibson guitar so badly and wanted to make my playing sound like Pete's...", Steve recalls.

On the evening of May 28, 1977, Steve met Ken Neiheisel - who was playing with his west-side Cincinnati-based band at Trolley Tavern on River Road in Cincinnati. Steve remembers, "..Ken was playing a cherryburst Les Paul and his soloing was so smooth. I wanted to play like that. I remember the date because it was the night of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky. During one of the setlist breaks, everyone went outside and saw the glow of the fire in the southern sky. After we all came back inside, I approached Ken about guitar lessons. The lessons were great and I got to play his Les Paul. After that I couldn't play my Erector-Set guitar anymore. So, one stormy night, in late '77, my dad took me to Denny Heglin Music in Covington, KY to look at guitars. I borrowed $451 from my dad to buy a new tobacco burst Gibson SG Standard. It was so cool and I stayed up as late as I could that night playing what I could on it." I thought, "Now all I need is an amp - then a band...".

In 1978, Steve acquired a Fender Twin Reverb and the standard arsenal of effects pedals: MXR Distortion, compressor, etc. and he was ready for a band. He joined a band his cousin put together which included his cousin on piano, her boyfriend on guitar and vocals, John Schamer on drums and Scott Thurman on bass. Musical differences split up the band and Steve, John and Scott formed another band - TRANSIT, and focused on writing and performing original compositions.

Ken Neiheisel's brother Rick played keys with a local group, THE RAISINS and introduced Steve to the band members. Steve recalls, "I first saw these guys in 1977 and when Rob Fetters played the guitar solo in "Your Song Is Mine", I was absolutely amazed. Rob had THE coolest guitar tone and sound I had ever heard. Ken used to get me in to the bars to see THE RAISINS even though I was under age. That was a fringe of knowing the keyboard players brother.

Rob played a Strat, and, like Pat Travers, used an ADA Flanger. He rounded out his sound with an Echoplex tape unit. I wanted that sound in my rig. Ken told me he had an Echoplex that didn't work well so I offered to fix it - hoping that maybe he'd sell it to me. Well, that's exactly what happened. After adding the ADA Flanger, I was in heaven."

TRANSIT played together for several years, performing some high school parties and recording at a few studios. At one point, Tom Obrien was on vocals and Gary Schroer was on electric piano. However, in 1980, TRANSIT called it quits.
For the next several years, Steve's musical interest varied between April Wine, Styx, Ozzy, Van Halen, Benatar, and The Raisins and he found himself more focused on playing covers and auditioning and practicing with several other bands. Meanwhile, John Schamer had been playing in a punk rock band, playing songs by The Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, U2, etc. Steve recalls, " I remember one night in 1981, John and I were at Alexanders (in Cincinnati) listening to The Raisins. It was "3 beers for a buck night". We kicked around the idea of starting up another band. This time it would be a cover band and we'd mix in originals over time. We tossed around some band names - none of which seemed to stick - until the waitress came by and gave us a menu. I said to John, "why don't we call it THE MENUS? We could plaster menus from local restaurants all over our equipment. I guess it wasn't really an original idea. When I first saw The Raisins in '77, they had Flintstone pillowcases and balloons plastered on their PA system. Anyway, that was the OFFICIAL beginning of THE MENUS." Steve sold his SG and bought a Fender Strat to support the new effort.

John and Steve auditioned several bass players and singers and finally added Mark Wills as the 3rd member - on bass. Joe, a friend of John's was on vocals. The foursome never got out the door and at some point, Joe and John left the group. In an effort to keep things moving, Mark recommended his buddy, Brandon Ryan who he knew played drums. The audition worked out and the trio became the new THE MENUS core. Brandon's buddy, Tim Goldrainer auditioned for the lead vocal position and a new era for THE MENUS was ushered in. "I'll never forget the night we played Bogarts (in Cincinnati)", said Steve. "It felt like we were in the big time. Brandon was so nervous, he was spitting up blood. We opened up for another act and I remember we didn't get paid because we played songs that the main act told us we couldn't play. Playing was more important than the money."

Shortly after that, Mark went into the Air Force so he was replaced by Barry Taylor - and Tim Goldrainer left. Although the trio never performed live, they did record three originals together. Steve performed with THE MENUS until 1984 when he moved to St. Louis, married and embarked upon a career in engineering. At that point, THE MENUS contained no original members. THE MENUS would go on to become one of the largest and most successful bands to ever come out of Cincinnati. As of the date of this bio, THE MENUS are still going strong.
For the period 1984 through 1994, Steve had not touched an instrument - except on occassion, and by 1989, he had sold every piece of gear he owned. Steve remembers, "...it was a period in my life where I was focused on other things - building a career, family and raising kids. It wasn't necessarily a concious decision to NOT play music. It just happened - and before I knew it, 10 years had passed." By 1994, Steve was getting the itch to play and set his eyes on the holy-grail of guitars - a Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty. His latest acquisition led to a short 1995 stint as Director of Engineering for Gibson Guitar in Nashville TN. Shortly thereafter, Steve divorced and moved back to St. Louis.

Music composition was on-hold for the next several years, but in 1999, Steve embarked on a solo recording project entitled SPHYNX. Between 1999 and 2001, Steve wrote, performed and recorded three SPHYNX albums (compact discs) entitled; PAST LIVES, FROM THE INSIDE OUT, and SUMMER HEAT, respectively. Steve played all instruments and sang all vocals.

During late 2001, early 2002, Steve performed in St. Louis as a solo act, playing guitar live against backing tracks of his original compositions. This performance experience led to an all-out search for a local band. After several disappointing auditions with other musicians that didn't have the same musical interests, Steve decided to put together this own band.
Mark Keller, a former drummer for St. Louis-based HEAD EAST, and Steve paired up to form a classic rock band. After auditioning no-less-than 30 musicans, and 2 or 3 lineup changes, the band S.O.S. was formed - a 4-piece, guitar-based, classic rock band consisting of Steve on guitar, Mark Keller on drums, Tim Toth on guitar, Dan Raftery on bass. All members on vocals. S.O.S. performed from 2002 through 2003 with several lineup changes. The final lineup change dismantled the band and the final S.O.S. performance, including Steve, Mark Keller and Richard Plumb, was during the Jefferson County Fair July 17, 2003.

In the years that follow, Steve and Mark formed THE VAULT that included Dave Bohannan, Stu Massey and several others. Unfortunately, Steve never got out the door with THE VAULT. Steve focused on several career moves and a major career change.

From the musical-performance void, in 2007, Steve created a Pro-Tools based recording studio for his personal use, MIND'S EYE STUDIO.

This album is the culmination of the aforementioned. Please ENJOY!