Backstage Pass Radio

S1: E9: Stacey Steele (AM/FM - Mr. Wonderful) - An Immortal Jellyfish & Spider

July 28, 2021 Backstage Pass Radio Season 1 Episode 9
Backstage Pass Radio
S1: E9: Stacey Steele (AM/FM - Mr. Wonderful) - An Immortal Jellyfish & Spider
Show Notes Transcript

Stacey Steele is a Cypress Texas artist that has traversed the Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles music scene for the better part of 30 years. Stacey is a multi-instrumentalist in the Houston-based bands Mr. Wonderful, Shotgun Road, Steele & Newman, and Diamond Jack. 

 

Stacey Steele

Sat, 1/1 7:49AM • 1:42:24

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

band, play, song, guitar, called, drums, playing, music, randy, musician, people, big, acoustic, katy, backstage pass, record, drummer, bass, solo, years, Stacey Steele, AM/FM, Mr. Wonderful, Stacey Steele, Randy St. John, Maston Walker, Ty Tabor, KingsX, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Interview, Podcast, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast

SPEAKERS

Randy Hulsey, Stacey Steele, Adam Gordon

 

Randy Hulsey  00:00

A very pleasant Good evening to all the Backstage Pass radio listeners this evening. My guest is a local resident, and a neighbor of mine from right here in Cypress, Texas. He spent many years in the music scene not only in Houston but Dallas and La as well. He is a vocalist, a multi instrumentalist that plays here in the greater Houston area. You guys pop on some good headphones and turn up the volume because we're going to talk to my friend Stacy steel right after this.

 

Adam Gordon  00:27

This is backstage pass radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon. And I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like subscribe and turn alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio. Randy Halsey.

 

Randy Hulsey  00:57

Stacy's Good to see you Thanks for driving all the way from Cyprus to Cyprus to visit with me this evening. A whole five miles. Yeah, it was tough, wasn't it? Yeah. So how are things with you? You know, I guess from a playing out perspective, the COVID strain has loosened up a little bit. Do you see the shows starting to pick up for you guys now? Or is it kind of is it still kind of in a in a crunch? Talk to me a little bit about that?

 

Stacey Steele  01:24

No, we're playing now more than we were pre COVID. No kidding. It's crazy. I think I was looking at the calendar today. And April, compared to this time last year. We have like five or six more shows this month. May. I think we have somewhere around all the bands combined, including some solo stuff and some duo stuff. Like 18 dates in May.

 

Randy Hulsey  01:49

Is that a home? July?

 

Stacey Steele  01:49

August are all I know every weekend is filled and in several Sunday through Thursday. Dates are are full. Wow.

 

Randy Hulsey  01:57

Is that a pretty normal schedule? I mean, what how many do you carry a month normally? Like what's a normal month for

 

Stacey Steele  02:04

normal for the all the bands? Normal would be like 15. Okay, yeah. So

 

Randy Hulsey  02:09

you guys are a little ahead of the curve then. So

 

Stacey Steele  02:12

every Friday, Saturday, probably about every other Sunday. A couple Wednesdays a couple Thursdays, Mondays and Tuesdays are generally the nights that we don't do like our Yeah, not even acoustic stuff. But yeah, so if you combine the three to three bands together, and in some stuff that can't do acoustic, we're looking at an hour on average, about 15 shows a month for at least the next four months.

 

Randy Hulsey  02:38

Yeah, well, that's great to see it. Picking up a, I was about 100. And I guess pre COVID. I was right at 130 a year as a solo artist. And I've cut that back in half, because I didn't realize how much time I would spend on the podcast. So I've gone back down to probably the seven right around 7580 a year. But it's nice to see the belt loosen and people guys like you that make a living, performing getting back to work and doing what you do. That's a great thing. Yeah,

 

Stacey Steele  03:11

yeah, we were really worried about what it was gonna be like when things started open back up. And, but we've been playing steady, since like, August, September of last year, we started working again, after having, you know, three or four months or so with no work at all, you know, when everything was completely shut down, but around August, I think August or September, we started filling the calendar again and booking for you know, while it was still last year, we were already booking for this year assuming that things were going to absolutely normal so the calendar since then has been pretty rockin that's also an every day we're adding more stuff, you know, even if it's a year from now, you know, it's yeah, it's,

 

Randy Hulsey  03:59

that's great. So you get the schedule booked out pretty far in advance kind of like me, I'm a resident at probably seven places. And they booked me a year at a time which is awesome, right? I hate the admin part of the scheduling. Oh, can we fill this Can we do that? It's like can we just set the calendar and just be done? If you have to cancel with me? No big deal but I don't want to like onesie twosie it's just too hard to keep up with in the mind

 

Stacey Steele  04:26

yeah, no, we we try as hard as we can to try to book as far out in advance as possible like Jackie's a couple other places we booked 12 months out like Jackie's we already had the whole year booked a couple other places. I think Mahoney is we booked through at least like October Yes. And a couple other places. But you know, we're also breaking in some places we'd never played before that are brand new to us too. So and in a lot of places we're finding our booking last minute right now to or the which is okay, but on the other hand, you know, we booked we stay booked. Yeah, it's like, you know, someone's like Hey, Can y'all play in two weeks? No, no? Well, when's your next open Saturday? You know, look at the calendar. It's like, oh, well on August 17, or whatever it's like, Oh, okay. So like, we try to tell people look, you can book something, let's book something now. Because you can always cancel it later, or something's going to happen. But if you want, you know, in August, do you want to call us and say, Can you play us day?

 

Randy Hulsey  05:23

There's no better time to do it than now. I'm in sales for a living. And that's kind of the mindset with the sales guy, you know, close now, don't wait three weeks to close. Because that deal may not be there in three weeks. So and I guess it kind of sounds a little salesy to say, oh, book now we're gonna fill up. Oh, yeah, sure you are, but it's the truth. And it's like, I'm just looking out for you. Because the schedule does fill up.

 

Stacey Steele  05:45

Right. We're not making it up. I mean, it's yeah, the calendar is full, which is a good problem to have. Yeah, it's, we can't do it last minute right now. Unless you want to, like a Wednesday or Thursday or something. There's a good chance we Exactly.

 

Randy Hulsey  05:57

Or a Sunday morning. Which is probably not gonna happen. You guys. You guys play late on the weekends? Yeah, we try not to. So now you grew up in the Katy area. Correct? Right. Mm hmm. And what was family life like growing up? Uh, Stacy steel, like, kind of like, walk me a little bit through that. You don't have to go into all the bad things you did as a kid. But, you know, were you a sports guy. Were you were was it always a music thing?

 

Stacey Steele  06:25

Well, it was always music sports, where I could care less about the sport. So no, my parents were musicians. And so I you know, my earliest memories are of being around musicians and having musical instruments in the house music always be in played either at home or I was, you know, being babysat by my grandmother or somebody in a, in a bar stool at a bar somewhere there. My parents were playing it. So I didn't know anything other than that. Like I said, there were always guitars around or there's pictures of me that on my one year birthday, I got a drum. A little toy guitar, a little toy piano.

 

Randy Hulsey  07:08

I mean, it's that was a gift. That was it wasn't a baseball glove glove or a bat it was always that musical Enzo and it may be a shirt or underwear.

 

Stacey Steele  07:18

But it was always instruments. And as I got a little bit older, like old enough to read, like, you know, whatever age you start to read five. I don't know. Like the Sears catalog was the big thing. Oh, yeah. Especially that Christmas time at the Sears like the wish book

 

Randy Hulsey  07:33

or whatever it was called go in there and circle what you want it or whatever. Yeah. And it was always

 

Stacey Steele  07:36

like a toy drums but a little bit bigger than you know, like the Mickey Mouse one. Sure. You know, when a guitar and piano thing. All my Christmases, it was always music stuff. Yeah. And then in and that turned into like, you know, get records and tapes and stuff eventually. But yeah, growing up in my house was it was music was always being played, either by my parents on an instrument or singing or records were playing. And, you know, it was that's all I really remember. There was no sports. Yeah, if nothing else, it was just music 24 hours a day.

 

Randy Hulsey  08:14

Well, you know that me and you? And probably the old fart Kent Newman are the only guys that probably even know what a Sears catalog is, right. And Tina's over there raising her hand, too. So no, it was a great thing back in the day. I mean, that's how we shopped. Right? And it was and like

 

Stacey Steele  08:32

you said, Yeah, circle it and go mom down.

 

Randy Hulsey  08:35

I want this is what I want. I did the same thing. So brothers sisters, I have three younger sisters. Three younger, yeah. musicians as well or No,

 

Stacey Steele  08:45

no, not really. No, I think they think they kind of tinker around with the piano a little bit, which is how I am on a piano. I can kind of pick out a couple of things by ear. But by no means do I call myself a piano player. But they all sing. They all have great voices nice. Everyone in the family can sing at least if not play an instrument as well. Everyone can sing harmonies and lead as well. Just as good.

 

Randy Hulsey  09:09

Let's go. So mom and dad were both professional musicians that played not just dad, right?

 

Stacey Steele  09:14

Yeah, my mom when I was born. Well, for a few years prior to me being born, my parents were in a touring band called The Future faces. And they were doing hits of the of the era that like, say they had a record. That was they they worked for Marriott, okay for JW Marriott, and he would actually fly them all over the country to all these Marriott Hotels throughout the country. And they would play for I don't know, like a month at a time or something. And they were doing stuff like what's on that record? They were doing like Sergeant Pepper's. Does anybody really know what time it is? Chicago? Yeah, some Neil Sedaka stuff, just stuff up the arrow to 6768 6970. And in then they were doing Doing the music from the movie hair. Yeah. And they were doing that as well. So my mom told me that I was almost born in in Minneapolis. They were playing at a Marriott in Minneapolis, my mom was pregnant, like eight, eight or nine. Ellen's been real long. But she wanted me to be born in Houston, where they were living in based out of, so they she flew to Houston. Interesting. And so I could be born here. And but yeah, that's so that's what they were doing at the time, they had a full band, and continue doing that. Until this is where I start. My memory gets fuzzy, but I think it was a handful of years after that, that they stopped doing that. And then that changed to like solo or I mean acoustic stuff around Houston. Okay. You know, like the steak and Ale chain.

 

Randy Hulsey  10:46

Yeah. I remember seeing musicians back. Yeah, there was a group called popcorn back in the day that that was doing the steak and L. And I was like our killer. Yeah, for sure.

 

Stacey Steele  10:56

At the end in that time. That was like a that was like a good gig. Yeah. From what I understand. I'm mistaken. L by the way. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's pictures of me eating s cargo. Really? I couldn't imagine me eating that. Now. There's pictures of me. It's

 

Randy Hulsey  11:12

because you didn't know what it was. Right? Right. Yeah, this chicken. Chickens. Crazy, right.

 

Stacey Steele  11:17

But even back then I though as young as I was, I remember being like, even though it was my parents, it was like seeing them in the, in the bar, or playing live was captivating. And so even at that early age five, six ish years old, were getting turned on this idea. I thought I knew it was cool. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. So so I might be jumping ahead. But I knew I knew that young that yeah, this was something

 

Randy Hulsey  11:46

that some people don't learn that too later, you know, in their teen years, that that's what they kind of want to do.

 

Stacey Steele  11:52

I knew right from the get go. And it wasn't by any means, like, pushed on me or I mean, yeah, they would buy me these instruments and stuff, you know, with like, toy versions of them. But because I asked, yeah, exact not because you know, you're gonna play guitar. Yeah. I wanted that. Well, they it

 

Randy Hulsey  12:07

was called, it's called exposing you to it, right. I mean, that's really what it is, is it's no different than, you know, I spent 17 years in professional hockey on the official side, right. And it's like you either, nobody ever pushed me to skate. Nobody ever pushed me to play an instrument. It was it was just because those were the things that I wanted to do. And I and I like to do and it's funny that you said Neil Sedaka, because the song laughter in the rain comes to mind, one of the best modulations. And I thought, you know, for years, I thought that that was a female sing in that song, because Neil Sedaka has a really high voice. So yeah, but it's a great song. And I love it. So after high school, what kind of work were you doing then? Were you a musician right out of high school? Or were you doing the odd jobs like we all do, you know, working in the restaurants. And that's kind of where I started, like John Burr and I used to work at a restaurant together. And that's, you know, we go way back. We're like, brothers from way back. But even as a musician, you know, I came up through work in the little odd jobs and I didn't know if you did the little odd jobs or if it was always you just were always into the music thing.

 

Stacey Steele  13:11

I had a my very first job was in Katy at a 24 hour kind of coffee place called the kettle. You remember the kettle? Oh, yeah. It was on I 10. And I worked there. I think I lasted a week.

 

Randy Hulsey  13:26

Yeah. That's four days longer than I thought.

 

Stacey Steele  13:31

Yeah, I was there, like a week or something like that. And, and but I was in a band at the time. I had bands all through junior high in high school, but I wanted to make my own money so I could get like a certain guitar that I wanted. Absolutely. But so after that week at the kettle, I ended up getting a job at a Subway restaurant that was on basin road. And I was there for maybe a year, nine months to a year somewhere in there. And that was the last kind of like, little job that I had. From there. I actually my the bass player in the band I was in at the time. He was doing AutoCAD, okay with Laura Daniel engineering company. And he because his dad was an engineer. And he learned how to do AutoCAD, which was still kind of new at the time. This is like 8990 so they I used to go up to his work after hours. And he would teach me AutoCAD like after everybody had left for the day, and I learned just enough to like barely to get a job okay working for them. So I got here they got me on a place called Gulf interstate engineering. Okay, which is down by the Galleria and I was there for and this was right out of high school. I was there for about a year and and that's that's when I met Kent Newman and everything went to hell. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  14:55

Then life life collapsed around you. I'm glad he's not I'm here to correct us on anything. He'll listen to this podcast and I'm sure Roll over, roll over in his bed after it listens to it correct me at the next gig. Oh, yeah. It seems like that kind of guy.

 

Stacey Steele  15:12

He in. I say that jokingly but yet he did have a big part to play and what happened from that point? Yeah till now.

 

Randy Hulsey  15:21

And we'll we'll talk a little bit about that here shortly. So would you say that the music that your parents were playing was the music that just got you interested in being a musician altogether?

 

Stacey Steele  15:33

Yeah, it was, it was the music, but it was also seeing them live and seeing their bands live

 

Randy Hulsey  15:38

the vibe and everything that was that was the,

 

Stacey Steele  15:42

it was the actual, like, the playing of the instruments that I was fascinated with. It was the singing that that I loved. And also, you know, people giving applause and yeah, cheering and stuff. I thought that was awesome. You know. And, you know, I grew up on everything that whatever records they had, which was a vast collection of genres, I mean, everything from like early Chicago and Santana and The Beatles, to Merle Haggard, George Jones, Marty Robbins. And then there were there were in like the singer songwriter like the Neil SuDoc as the James Taylor's. So it was just a real hodgepodge of music that I was very eclectic. Yeah. And I dug it all until you know, about 82 or 83 when I discovered oszi. Well, I didn't say I knew kiss prior to that, because my next door neighbor, who was four years older than me, had a kiss records. But all I knew of them was the makeup. Yeah, I didn't know that they played guitars. And so he just had these posters on the wall. I thought they may as well have been movie posters, as far as I knew that, but it was the first record I ever bought with my own money, like from mowing the yard was die of a madman. And that's when I started getting more into like rock and roll other than the records my parents had. Yes, that's all I had access to until then. Sure, like Donnie Murray. All this stuff, which I actually liked.

 

Randy Hulsey  17:10

Yeah, I still listen to that kind of stuff. Believe it or not, it's all life. Garrett, old Sean Cassidy stuff like it's yeah, it was just it was what shaped me as a musician, even though a lot of people would look back and say, but you really listened to the Partridge Family. I think I love you. I mean, that's silly, silly. Randy's like, but it wasn't silly. But then it's, it was good stuff.

 

Stacey Steele  17:31

Yeah. And thank God, they had records by the carpenters and UPS Barry Manilow and stuff like this, which were actually great songs, and, you know, vocals, I mean, Karen Carpenter, come on, you know, in the

 

Randy Hulsey  17:43

armatures. Anybody better? No, I mean, we one of the greatest singer. Right, right.

 

Stacey Steele  17:47

And so it was every kind of music really was what we had in my parents record collections. And because that's all I had to choose from the listen to, I would just listen to that stuff over and over and over again. And eventually that led to what, you know, listening to something and trying to find the notes on the bar. Yeah. You know, that sort of thing, which led to the instrumentation and knowledge.

 

Randy Hulsey  18:15

Yes. When did the journey out to LA take place? What took you to LA?

 

Stacey Steele  18:21

That was more, say recently? I mean, that was in the end of

 

Randy Hulsey  18:26

Oh, eight. Okay. I was thinking that was back in the day.

 

Stacey Steele  18:29

No, I would love to have been out there back in the heyday. Yeah. But no, this was, this was in Oh, eight. I went out there to basically just to try something different. I didn't really have a band going on. And I had just come out of some, some personal stuff. And I thought it my, my uncle who had some he had offered me some work out there. So I was like, you know,

 

Randy Hulsey  18:53

I'll go out there unrelated to music. Yeah. Okay. But I was there two days. And about as long as you were at the kettle runner,

 

Stacey Steele  19:02

and connected with some friends of mine who had already lived out there that I knew. And they're like, Hey, I got this going on. I got this going on. Why don't you come you know, and so literally like three days, you know, I was playing? Yeah. Wow.

 

Randy Hulsey  19:15

Interesting. And how long were you out there again? I was there three years, three years. felt a lot longer. Yeah, I was there in LA. Like down like in I live city. I

 

Stacey Steele  19:25

lived at the corner of Melrose and Vine. Next door to Paramount Pictures. So I was in the you were in the Hotmail dab in the middle of Hollywood. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  19:35

Now, some years back, I was consulting at Great Southern music with Kevin and Justin Perry. And I somehow learned that your dad and Kevin used to play together taught me a little bit through that relationship and where that kind of started up. How did those guys find one another?

 

Stacey Steele  19:54

Well, you know, I don't know the whole story of that, but I know that Kevin was around in, in my youth, dad and Kevin had a UH OH band together, they performed they I think they had a drummer and maybe another guitar player as Marfan my very first electric guitar. My dad got from Kevin. Okay, so and I can't remember my age. I know what wasn't 13 I wasn't a teenager yet. But anyway, but yeah, so Kevin and Dad Yeah, they had a band, they played around town. And I believe they some of the early versions of like dat tapes to have like backing drums and stuff like that. They were using that exactly. They had like a, I know they had to do for a while or Kevin was on bass and my dad sang and played guitar. And they were using the the old school dat tapes for the rest of the music. And yeah, they were just doing venues like, you know, I think some restaurant type place. Okay. But yeah, so Kevin and Cecilia. Yeah. And Justin, I remember Justin as a little kid, two feet tall. Yeah. They were an extended part of the family for a long time could imagine great people. And I love those guys.

 

Randy Hulsey  21:09

Well, I know Kevin, you know, over the years has done a ton of work in the shop with, you know, such greats as Clint Black. And I think he did some work with ZZ Top. Right. And me, of course, I mean, you know, that rounds it out. I mean, Clint Black, ZZ Top and Randy Hulsey. I mean, what more could a guy assets resume? No, but for those that don't know, great southern music as an authorized dealer, and Taylor Martin and Gibson guitars, and they're also a service center, and hands down had been one of the top, you know, resellers in Texas over the years, and certainly do great service work on the guitar. So if any guitarist are out there that don't have a place to take their stuff to get it worked on and tuned up. I highly recommend Kevin Perry their great southern music always. I can't tell them a little love. Yes. refriended.

 

Stacey Steele  22:01

Several of my guitars over the years, man always does a great job. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  22:07

Now you you and your dad also played some shows together pre COVID. Right. Or I'm trying to, like we talked about before we kind of hit the record button here. My chronological memory absolutely sucked. I can't remember years. I can't remember dates, but either, but I think it was pre COVID that you and your dad had played a few shows together, right?

 

Stacey Steele  22:28

Yeah. Every now and then whenever time allows. And if we're not, you know, on the other side of the state or something, cease to he lives out in Katy. We've done some stuff acoustically and full band together. And with my mom as well, if she you know if one of them is ever at any of the shows, especially if it's shotgun road, the country man. Yeah, you know, we can't go through a night without having them come up and sure do something. Right. Yeah. Or and my sisters for that fact. Yeah, they'll get them up to sing on something. That's cool. But yeah, whenever like we did. There's that place out here in Cypress, the Cypress trail hideout. Oh, yeah. Papa Charlie's. Yeah, we've done some stuff over there. Which Kevin Perry was out there for that. He and his family. Yeah, we did some stuff at Mo's Irish Pub out in Katy when they were still doing music. We did a thing at Moe's place on Mason road. While I was living in LA I flew here and did a thing it most it was really thrown together but it had like some really top notch musicians like Bubba Gould was on pedal

 

Randy Hulsey  23:32

steel. No Bob.

 

Stacey Steele  23:35

Gosh, can't I'm

 

Randy Hulsey  23:37

he was associated up there. Great Southern music. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he

 

Stacey Steele  23:40

was a staple in the scene. And

 

Randy Hulsey  23:44

our Condit No, no.

 

Stacey Steele  23:47

See, Dad Dad was on rhythm guitar. I was on guitar for and Justin was on drums. My mind is escaping me at the moment. We had the keyboard player skip now. Yeah, you know skill. I thought it was GOOD. Luthor new healers for years and years. He played keyboards and so yeah, whenever time allows will will love to play together

 

Randy Hulsey  24:09

when you get tired of Can't you call that? That got to the curb for a little girl right? This is the best filter we love

 

Stacey Steele  24:17

him. And dad he does his own gigs around Katie. Oh, does he? Yeah, he plays out at Midway BBQ sometimes in a place called Texas traditions on highway 90 and old Katie.

 

Randy Hulsey  24:30

Okay, that's interesting, because pre COVID I was also booked at Midway. Oh really? We negotiated everything got like three dates on the calendar and then COVID came around and that was that never got to play out there. And I've just been so busy with now with the podcast and with plenty of shows to play and then trying to work a 4050 hour week, you know, doing what pays the mortgage. I just I mean I don't have time but the food looks amazing. Oh yeah, it's really good at Staples.

 

Stacey Steele  25:02

Yeah he plays out there with he's got a swing ban Texas swing. They do like all like Bob Wills asleep at the wheel. Really cool. Yeah. Technical. Yeah, swing jazzy Texas swing stuff like chords that I can't even pronounce. Right. And yeah, it's really cool. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  25:20

I have to be on the lookout for does the band have a name?

 

Stacey Steele  25:24

Yeah, they're called this the swing and on band. Okay, swing. They're just a little trio. Okay, with a upright bass. And dad plays acoustic and then they have a lead guy that does all the fields and the RONZI so my mom's in my mom plays she's not she's not in the in the music scene like you know, bars and restaurants. But she's one of the featured singers at Ed yet Dr. Young's Second Baptist Church the one out there again, Katie. Hey, yeah. Off the feeder. Yeah, she's, she sings there and, and has a beautiful voice and should be singing more. Yeah, in my opinion.

 

Randy Hulsey  26:01

Yeah, sure. Well, you when you said the, the trio with the upright bass, it made me think a little bit I'm gonna have a guest on I need to tack down the date but shake Russell is gonna be on the show. Right. And that's, you know, when I've seen shake play around town, it's him and two other guys. You know, he played with I guess Michael Hearn for a long time and whatnot. And Dana Cooper. Yep. So that'll that'll be cool. Now, you spent time in both original and cover bands? Correct. Right. Was it original first, and then you bled into cover later on? Is that kind of how it went down?

 

Stacey Steele  26:34

Yeah. Yeah. So in junior high, come, you know, coming out of junior high into high school. I didn't know what a cover song was. I'd never heard that term. I mean, I knew my parents and their bands and stuff that always played, you know, hits from the radio. I'd never heard the term cover before. I didn't know what that meant. But yeah, so in high school, it means some friends from our I went to Katy High School. Our rival high school was Taylor High School. And there was one other school in the Katy School District. There was made Creek. So Katie Taylor, and made Creek were the only three high schools I think there's like 50 of them or something, at least. But um, so me and some friends that went to Taylor. We went to the same church together as kids. And we started a band called recovery. And, you know, we we weren't the best musicians, you know, by any means. But we were determined, like crazy, and wrote and wrote and wrote and made. We made a couple tapes. Yeah, yeah. They were like 10 Song tapes. You know, we had a bunch of over and we played all over town. I mean, to think back at, you know, 1617 years old, whatever we were at the amount that we played, is kind of crazy when I think about it, which isn't often but yeah, we and our parents, my parents, their parents, were all real supportive. They would take us to the gigs in their cars, they take time off of work. Nice to get us where we needed to go. Let us rehearse in the house, you know, through pa Yeah, you know, they come home from work, wanting to relax, and we'd be in there banging on drums and loud guitars, and they put up with it. And yeah, so and so yeah, we all we did was music that we wrote. Yeah, whether it was good or not was up to whoever was hearing it. But yeah, but we thought it was cool. And we went out and played all over the place doing it all the way up till 90 When that band, I'd left that band. And some friends of mine that went to made Creek High School had a band called a rival. And we used to play at this, like teen community center in Katy. And, you know, I had gotten to know those guys. And so anyway, flat, fast forward to like 9091 I ended up hooking up with those guys. And we'll and that was an original band too. But we had some covers in that. Okay, and that's in that band, just to fill a set time. Yep. And so that's it. It was with those guys that I had first ever gone to the Richmond strip. I think it was 91. Okay. And that's where I saw the first band I saw was rat Ranch, okay, at the Outback club, and I had no idea outside of what my parents used to do when I was a kid playing Chicago and all those bands. I didn't know that there was a world out there to do that right and here's this band fairly young making a living do they they were older than me haha. But but nonetheless still young. And playing four hours of music in a packed bar with a cool PA and cool lights and in songs that I knew from the radio for sure that I loved and so it like that's when a light bulb kind of went off and solved it. This this new world of like the cover scene, because you know, the original thing. You make any money doing that? Yeah, not any real money. Sure. You know, I'm in a rush, you got a record deal? Well, right in, I don't even remember even thinking that far. At the time, it was just, we were just writing stuff that we thought was cool. And we'd go play and we got 50 bucks to split between us and we'd all go in, but 10 bucks or so money. Right. And that's all that we really cared about. But, um, so it was right about 91 I think when I kind of started thinking, wow, well, you know, these guys are making money. Yeah. And doing

 

Randy Hulsey  30:42

all the stuff that people already love. We don't even have to develop a following.

 

Stacey Steele  30:45

Yeah, they were doing like Rush and you know, these kind of songs and stuff that I loved. But I had never dreamt about, like, playing a night of stuff in the radio. Exactly. So that's kind of where the cover thing. Yeah, entered my picture.

 

Randy Hulsey  31:02

So So Kent had was a little instrumental in turning you on to that whole thing.

 

Stacey Steele  31:06

So okay, so what happened was being some friends, we'd go out and see rat ranch up. And there were some other bands that we saw that were doing this the same kind of thing, not the same music, but playing for hours on Richmond strip to packed houses. And they sounded good. And so I, I was at this time, I was still working for that engineering company. And because I was doing computer aided drafting, I've made up some of my own business cards. Okay. Put my name. I think I put drummer guitars, bass player, and then my phone number. And I had never played drums in a band. I had never played bass in a band. I had only played guitar in my little original band. But I thought I can play if I always had drums at home, but I do been in a band.

 

Randy Hulsey  31:52

Well, if you hit if you hit one one time, you've played the drums. Right? I mean, technically.

 

Stacey Steele  31:59

Right? So So I made up these cards, because I wanted to get my foot in that scene. Yeah, somehow, but I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to put the band together, much less how to get booked into a place. So I My memory is that I gave one of those cards to camp. Okay, introduce myself said here. I play drums, bass and guitar if you know anybody that needs somebody that's doing what y'all are doing, give them my information. And and I think that somehow got into the hands of their then drummer John Hill. Okay. And so there was this band called World edge who I had seen it out back also that we played very similar music to rat ranch. And somehow that card wound up in the hands of the guys in world edge, okay, who needed a drummer, because their drummer had just left who was the original drummer from rat ranch.

 

Randy Hulsey  32:51

Okay, interesting.

 

Stacey Steele  32:53

They called me up, said, Hey, we got your card from somebody in rat Ranch, we need a drummer, row. And I'm like, in a given me all these songs that they play, I'd never played any of those songs, I'd never play drums and I didn't even have a drum set. So my buddy Tracy, who was the drummer and a rival, the band that I was playing with prior to let me borrow his drum set to go and audition. And I get to the audition, I find out they don't have a bass player. It's all sequence based. So I have to play to click track to every single song. How do

 

Randy Hulsey  33:25

you even improvise something I can't even imagine like, go like, no, and I'm like this too. I'm watching Tina mouth over here at me. And I'm like, I'm an improviser, too. Like I can, I can get myself out of jams. But if I said I'm a drummer and had to actually go in an audition, like, how do you even how do you improvise that like not even knowing? I don't. I read I'm impressed. I'm just I'm just asking. I

 

Stacey Steele  33:53

remember. I remember thinking, what did I get myself into? Do you remember I would think having that feeling because I had to borrow the drums. Okay, and go over to their rehearsal place. I remember even like having trouble setting up the drums. Like, what goes where? I mean, I was that green. And, you know, I put on a set of headphones and I'm hearing you know, starting and they're starting like, I think the first song we did was a logical song by Supertramp Yeah, I'd never played it. I'm just I'm playing off just what my memory of how it went on the radio. Wow. And somehow I got through like 2018 20 songs with them without like having to stop and it just I that's I don't know how that's

 

Randy Hulsey  34:36

pretty impressive. This story is stressing me out though. Like as I sit here and listen, my palms are sweaty, like this guy pulling this off.

 

Stacey Steele  34:43

It was crazy. It I got the job. They said you want it and we're we're playing like this Friday night. It you know, our very first my first show was with them was at Dave and Busters on Richmond. Wow. In their little showroom. Yeah. And they had like this full calendar they're playing every week. And, and then some. And I went home with Tracy's drums and I would shed it a little bit. And once they gave me the complete setlist, and that was off to the races, and I played with them for, that's when I that's where I met Tina. By this point it just become like 92. This was because all this went down, like due around the end of 91. Okay, so it was now into the early months of 92. And I played with them for I think about a year and a half or something like that.

 

Randy Hulsey  35:31

So you went from not even knowing how to play the drums to being fully booked in places like Dave and Busters within and playing

 

Stacey Steele  35:39

to a click track every single show. Yeah, I mean, I was basically pretty much thrown to the lions also. Yeah, off the bat. But you know, and I swear, I swear this, I don't mean it. Like, it just, it wasn't hard. It just kind of I guess I just took to it pretty easily. And and you know, and all the songs that were in their song list. I knew Yeah. From hearing them so many times on the radio and stuff. So I kind of knew how they went. I mean, if I had to learn anything, really, it was just kind of like how they ended the song. Yeah, if it was a fade out or something like I know how to do a live in little things like that we ironed out in rehearsal that week before the first show. But um, yeah, I played them for about a year and year and a half maybe. And then I got an offer from it. There was another band called the limos that was playing all the same circuit at the time, but I knew that they were making more money. And they needed a bass player. I'd never played bass in a band before.

 

Randy Hulsey  36:38

I'm starting to see a pathological liar. And Stacy still hear people. So anyway. Well, I was don't believe anything. This guy said.

 

Stacey Steele  36:47

I was just young and hungry. I mean, you want to get it? Yeah. And and so I knew that they made more money. They were the limos were had a bigger following and made more money and stuff. And when they needed a bass player, and I got to talking with them about it. I jumped at that more money. More people at the gigs. Yeah. And then that lasted for a little while, and it was had a blast that's in that band. A total blast doesn't go down. But it was just a different kind of the songs were different, right? And we partied man. Yeah, that was another big difference. We partied and maybe didn't take our musicianship as seriously as the world edge guys. Yeah, there was like, no partying in that band. They were forever. Yeah. And we were young, drank our butts off. Yep. You know. And so the limos was just let's go out and have fun, fun, fun and party party. And that's, that was the big difference between but and that was a fun band. And, and then that just started a whole, like, kind of I would jump from that point to another band band, doing it all these years later.

 

Randy Hulsey  37:51

So Tina, did he tell you he was an astronaut, too? Like he said, he was a bass player and a drummer. And he wasn't at the time. I didn't know if he like, his pickup line was like, Hey, I'm an astronaut. We'll talk we'll talk offline about that. You had even gone up to Dallas, I think and joined up with Randy St. John, former drummer for sweet savage. And then I think Masten Walker was in this band called Mind Body Soul.

 

Stacey Steele  38:22

Correct? Right. So okay, so we fast forward after the limos, there were a couple other bands that I played with during that time. And then I played with bangle toy subs for a while. And that was a 9697. And when the toy subs thing came to an end for me, that's when I ran into just by chance. I was somewhere and I ran into Masten. And I had known him from the old like backstage. Yeah, sure. On bissonnet. Now he had a band called bang, bang, okay, which I used to go watch them a lot. And I ran into him somewhere. I think it might have been Sam's boat on Richmond. But anyway, he said, Hey, I'm going to be moving up to Dallas, I'm doing a solo out my first solo album. And Randy St. John, who was also the drummer in bang, bang after sweet savage. He said he's gonna He's gonna play drums and we have this guy, Dave Heineman, who was at the time in a band called Solander with Johnny Salander who later on went to Skid Row. Yep. This was prior to that. Anyway, he said, you want to play bass. And I just gotten out of toy subs, and I didn't have a gig. And I moved to Dallas. Wow. And I just said, okay, you know, cuz These were guys that I've kind of, you know, at one point, I was like, it'd be cool to play with them. Yeah, sure. When I was younger, and he gave me a copy of his solo material that he had recorded up in Dallas. This the music was already done. He had session players and Randy did all the music. I listened to it. I thought it was good. It was kind of more acoustic based. It wasn't as heavy as the Bang Bang sweet savage stuff was, but it was good catchy. Nice. Yeah, I'll go. So, literally, I think within a week, we packed all of our stuff and went up to Dallas Randy already had a house in lower Greenville, and mass and I stayed in a hotel for a couple weeks until we found an apartment and, and we worked up all this material and pretty instantly started doing shows just because they already had a reputation. Okay, their names they were just they were able to get gigs at the places in like a down in de Belem. And yeah, so we pretty much right off the bat were gigging doing only original stuff masters original song. Yeah. And and that evolved over time into we started writing as a band. And at that time, we had, I think it's because I came into the picture, we got heavier, the stuff we were riding together was more heavy. And then we that's when we decided to change the name. Because when I went up there, it was just the mass and Thomas Walker band. That's what it was called. And then we decided, well, since these songs that were that we're doing now we've all written together, we need to have like a band name. Yeah. And we came up with what they mastered, had a short lived band called Mind Body Soul that lasted about the blink of an eye. Yeah. And I always thought that was a cool name. And I think I remember I think I was the one that suggested Why don't we bring that name back? And everybody seemed to agree. So that's, that's what we went with. And we made an EP. Yeah. Which we did with Ty Tabor. From King Zach's. We masked and was buddies with him, and brought him into the picture. And so we made our first EP was called Mind Body Soul, okay, and it was a four or six songs or something. And that's, so that's what started that whole thing.

 

Randy Hulsey  42:01

Now, it was my understanding, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding that you guys might have been on the verge of a record deal. And it turned out to be a little elusive. Is that Is that correct? Or is that? Am I off base?

 

Stacey Steele  42:16

Yeah, well, there were a few things like that that happened in that band. But and I think Ty was kind of helping us getting it into some people's hands that we wouldn't have had access to. So there were some moments where there were some phone calls and some interest, and we did some showcases up in Dallas, but nothing ever panned out. Sure, but there were some inklings of, there's moments that we got excited about and you know, says something. So So I was interested in, but it wasn't till later, there was another band that I had. I guess we'll get to that. That got a lot closer to that. But yeah, but that was a fun band. And we ended up making another full length CD about a year later that had 14 songs that we did up in Dallas with Eric della guard who did the Bowling for Soup albums. Okay. And at his studio up in Denton,

 

Randy Hulsey  43:08

they were big back in the 90s right was yeah, that timeframe? Right. The night? Yeah, the 2000 early 2000 Yeah,

 

Stacey Steele  43:14

they were kind of in there with that Green Day, some 41 kind of vibe, you know, great band. And so yeah, my body soul went on for about three or four years and you know, nothing really happened though. A bigger than us just playing regionally around Texas. I ended up moving back to Houston I'd left the band and moved back to Houston and got back into the cover thing Yeah, and pretty much haven't looked back well that well there was a I guess we'll get to the I had another original band after that. That had some success and but I've pretty much been doing the cover thing since since.

 

Randy Hulsey  43:52

Oh, one yeah, now with Mind Body Soul. You guys recorded a song called Robert. We're gonna take a listen to a clip of that song and then we'll come back and chat a little bit about it.

 

44:12

I do know that names

 

Randy Hulsey  45:25

Now so that was a song called Robert. My Mind Body Soul. Was this a song that was written by Masten? Or was this a collaborative effort with you? And Randy in the band was a song written pre you joining up with these guys. Yeah, that

 

Stacey Steele  45:40

was something that we wrote. Um, my recollection is that I, I had the music, I had written a guitar riff and gave it to Masten. And we have one of those. Remember those? Fostex Oh, yeah, this was a fourth track. Yeah, cassette and yeah, I had one of those. That was masters, but I kind of taken possession of it. And a drum machine. And yeah, so I seem to remember the I came up with a riff for that. And just did like a basic just a kick, snare, something to keep time and gave it to master and he wrote the lyrics, and it was about his brother, and then gave that to Randy. Randy came up with the drum. So that was that was actually that was me on bass. Randy on drums. Ty Tabor on the guitars, and Masten on vocals and rhythm guitar on that track that you just played. And that was actually done at Ty's house out in Katy when he used to live in Katy. Okay,

 

Randy Hulsey  46:41

and where is he? Where is he?

 

Stacey Steele  46:43

I believe he's in Missouri now. Okay, Ty Yeah, he's in Missouri. But he used to live in my old neighborhood and Oh, did he Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  46:51

Hello. I remember being right when Terry and I were I think it was our other house. I had taken a second job to try to put some money together we were young at the time and I took a job at sound warehouse on dairy Ashford and I were I think it was Westheimer and Doug used to come in Kings X Doug used to come in fact I think up in my in my I have a memorabilia autographed memorabilia room upstairs and I think the gretchin album is he signed it for me when I was at sound warehouse I think I still have it up there but that was my the first time I was starting to hear about kings acts and whatnot

 

Stacey Steele  47:34

awesome yeah they're great band great

 

Randy Hulsey  47:36

guys there was also another song that you guys did called be like be he will take a quick listen to that and then come back and chat about that song

 

47:46

cool to be power is.

 

Randy Hulsey  49:10

Now that one got a little heavy there.

 

Stacey Steele  49:12

I was just hearing that as that's heavier than I remember. I haven't listened to that. A long time. Yeah, that's pretty heavy.

 

Randy Hulsey  49:19

Was that one more in line with what mind? Body and Soul was as a band? Yeah. A little on the heavy edge. Now. Were you were you always a heavy guy. I mean, I we talked about, you know, the Partridge Family and things like that kind of jokingly. But yeah, we're at heart. Are you a heavy rock guy? Is that who you are?

 

Stacey Steele  49:38

I love it. Yeah, yeah. And at that time, see, that would have been 99 I believe or that was 99 or 2001 that was made. Part of it was trying to keep up with be competitive with the music of the time. You had like, you know, lip biscuit. Yeah. Like rock and all that stuff was really big at the time. And we were diggin a lot of that stuff. And so we were in sweet Savage, and bang, bang, you know, those bands. They were pretty heavy at their time as well. And so we all had that in us. I think I might have been the one that kind of pushed that, if I remember correctly, but everybody was on board. I think we all had the same vibe. So yeah, that was pretty much what we were going for that heavy kind of in your face.

 

Randy Hulsey  50:24

Yeah. You talked about Limp Biscuit. And you know, I guess some of the rap rock is what I call it, maybe it's a different genre. The Kid Rock, you know, it's it's rock, but it's, it has some. Yeah, that's some rap in it, if you will, but there was also a track called owed to pain. Right. And I think that that kind of falls into that. It had some rap in there. Right. And that was he was doing the rap and who was the

 

Stacey Steele  50:50

I was mastering there. Like that was our attempt at at doing something that was in that that ballpark? Okay. But that's a really cool song, though. Because this one I really liked, because Ty did the guitar solo on this, okay. He did a few of them on this album. He recorded it and mixed it and engineered it. And so while he was doing that, we were like, Hey, you want to do some solos on some of these songs? Yeah, he's like, Yeah, sure. You know, I think he went back and like, later on, he heard he's like, Oh, God, I was so out of tune. I didn't really hear it. I think they sound great.

 

Randy Hulsey  51:22

I didn't pick it up. Like I listened to it a few times. And I didn't, I didn't pick up on it. Well, that's nitpicking, isn't it? Yeah, I would think so. Like, that's being critical. And my mom always said, you know, if you can't say anything nice, right. But that was

 

Stacey Steele  51:35

cool. That was really cool for us, you know, to have him play on the album.

 

Randy Hulsey  51:39

What was? What was the connection with Ty Tabor? Who had that connection with him? And was this at the height of Kings X? Oh, they popularity and whatnot?

 

Stacey Steele  51:50

Yeah, they were Yeah, this was, you know, at the end of the 90s. Like I said, 99 2000 they were doing well. And you know, being Houston guys, and we were Houston guys meeting mascot and Randy knew them from the scene better than I did. Okay. I just knew them because I you know, they were from Haiti. And I live in Katy. And it was just there. I think I, I seem to remember, it was as simple as Masten like, called Thai one day and said, Hey, dude, we're doing an album would you like to be part of it with us? If you have some downtime, and it was like, Okay, I think it was as simple as that. Wow.

 

Randy Hulsey  52:26

Literally, will will queue up. I've got that queued up and we'll take a listen to this. This is a song called Ode to pain like eau de Ode to pain, correct? Right? Take a listen to that real quick.

 

53:24

You so you're gonna say you know, the show, what's your name? You don't have to say a word in place, the way that change takes you to a better place to play. There's a time to buy

 

Randy Hulsey  54:12

that's a good driving song there. I like that. And kind of funny. I've listened to that a couple of times, but I really got into it just then that's a cool song. And I don't think he was I didn't hear anything out of tune about his rap. So I mean, it sounded good. Yeah, no,

 

Stacey Steele  54:28

it's again. Yeah, that sounds a lot heavier than I remember it. Yeah, that was fine. Because we another thing at the time when we were doing that we were kind of between like Dave Heineman, the guitar player that we had at the time. He had another band called Salinger. And they were playing this. It was like us Solander drowning bowl. Oh, yeah. Before they got their deal. Yeah, we were all doing the same circuit and a lot of the shows together, there'd be like all three of us in one show. Yeah. So we didn't have a guitar player at the time. That whole album I Did bass in the guitar I didn't tie to the solos. I didn't play any of the guitar solos. But Randy was on drums. And I played bass and guitar and then we ended up getting a bass player named Michael Hildebrand that joined right after that was made Nunna we got a guitar player named Joey Otto. I went to bass Joey auto played guitar. And then we got another member change, right, as we were making the next the full album, a guy named Michael Hildebrand who had played with Masten. And Randy, in a band called torrid affair, which was a Dallas based band that was around for a little while. Okay, so yeah, that was a fun period, though. I mean, again, you know, we were, you know, when our original band and we were out doing a ton of shows around Dallas, and we'd come to Houston often and play down here did some stuff with kings X, and it was, it was fun. It was, we had a great time.

 

Randy Hulsey  55:48

Now, I don't know, I personally don't know Masten Walker, but if my memory serves me correctly, he and Randy St. John are either currently in a band called The Swamp hippies, or was that an older man that's not together anymore, but that's current that is current. Okay. They're still active in are they playing around anywhere?

 

Stacey Steele  56:08

I think they're about two I think during COVID They were getting together while everything was shut down and working on songs they've got I believe our friend, Jeff Clifton, I think is playing bass with them. I'm not 100% Sure. He was at one time, but

 

Randy Hulsey  56:23

all original stuff, I'm assuming Yeah, yeah. If they do

 

Stacey Steele  56:27

any cover stuff at all, it might be like, one one or two songs. I know he used to do. We did a version of long train running. Oh, yeah. Whenever we would do like an acoustic thing. We needed to fill time. Yeah, we threw that in and I think we did. Oh, like three dog night song. Yeah, I can't. Okay. But uh, so yeah, yeah, they are. They're doing swamp hippies. And I think they're gonna be playing out soon.

 

Randy Hulsey  56:54

Okay. I saw Joey. Joey Jones play at I think it was the concert pub north. A few years back. I was there and Randy was there and I think even Masten was in attendance probably. And I know Randy got up and jammed with Joey. I don't remember if masked Oh, I take that back. I think they opened for Joey is what the deal was swamp hippies had opened for him probably. And then. And then. When Joey came on, I think Randy went up on stage at some point in time and played a song with Joey if my memory serves me, but that was my, that was my first exposure to swamp hippies. Right. I hadn't heard of him before that. And I didn't know Masten. But that's when I heard of him is is it that particular show? Yeah. Now you are now very active in a multitude of projects. So many, I bet you even forget which ones you're in sometimes. But let me try to walk through them. So you've got you've got shotgun Road, which is the country cover band, you've got diamond Jack, which is the 70s band. You've got Mr. Wonderful. That's the 80s band. You've got Newman steel, as the duo, and then you're also playing some solo shows. So what's that five? Five projects with? Right? Am I spot on? Or did I miss them? There?

 

Stacey Steele  58:18

That's that's that's pretty much it. Okay.

 

Randy Hulsey  58:21

Which of those projects do you feel like is your favorite like, what? What of the music and I'm not talking about musicianship because I know they have different players in each one. Just from a maybe a genre. And song. That's, that's why I'm asking like, which, which songs are your favorites to do? Is it the 70s? The 80s or the country stuff?

 

Stacey Steele  58:44

It honestly depends on what day you asked me? Yeah, I mean, it. I love them all. They're all fun. You know, Mr. Wonderful is our newest band. And that's a whole lot of fun. I play bass and sing in that one with Kent Newman on guitar and Rick Ballard is from my ranch. We got him on drums now. That's a real fun band. And yeah, the diamond Jack 70s band is a lot of fun. I play drums in that group. It honestly is one of those things where it just depends on what day you asked me that question. I mean, the band that wears me out the most is diamond Jack. Yeah, beat playing drums in that band in Unix. We're doing Boston and yeah, sticks and a lot of kind of technical stuff that Yep, I'm worn out by the end of those shows. But I have as much fun playing in that band as I do in the other two.

 

Randy Hulsey  59:33

Yeah. Now I guess you guys just added Rick back recently. This interview won't air for a little while because of editing purposes. But you guys you were you were playing drums originally for Mr. Wonderful and then came out to bass guitars that originally I

 

Stacey Steele  59:51

was the bass but when we first started when we first started, I was the bass player and we had Johnny Simmons on drugs who plays with the Ricky's and was Enjoy subs. And, and because Mr. Waterfall and the rookies kept getting booked on the same night just wasn't working out, we had to be able to play. And so I went to drums and we got Scott Madigan, who's in our other two bands. Yep, to play bass. And I went to drums. Okay. And that lasted a handful of months. And Scott decided he didn't want to do that anymore. He just wanted to do shotgun road and diamond jack. So when it came time to look for another member, we weren't sure if I was gonna stay on drums and get a bass player, or if I was going to go to bass and but can't had been talking to Rick and Rick had expressed some interest in wanting to get back playing again. Yeah, and so long story short, Rick came into the band. So I went back to base, okay, and I have just as much fun. It really doesn't matter which instrument I'm playing in which band, I enjoy doing them all. The good thing is, is that all three of those bands, we play our song list are made up of songs that we want to do. Yeah, they're not made up of songs that we feel the audience wants to hear like, like, we're not playing what people think we should be playing or the current hits of today and are trying to reach like the younger people with you're playing what resignate with is we're playing what makes us happy. And thankfully, it's it makes other people happy too. And we're able to have a nice full schedule with those three bands. And we're working without having to compromise playing songs that not that there's not good stuff out there today. But we're we're playing what we want to do. So that's that's one of the biggest reasons that I have so much fun with those bands, aside from everybody being great musicians and yeah, and funny as hell yeah. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:01:57

You have to play the songs that you love. Because you can't deliver the songs if you don't, that's a conversation that I have with Terry all the time. She's like, Oh, well, you're playing this place. I think you should play these songs. And I'm like, it doesn't work like that. Right? I understand where you're coming from. But if I'm not feeling those songs, I can't deliver those songs. Right right. I have to first love them and want to play them that night for myself and then you know we kind of work it from there right just can't go play stuff that I that I just don't feel

 

Stacey Steele  1:02:29

right and we've all done that in you know over the years you know you play in songs that you don't necessarily want to play and you got to sell it like you're enjoying it yeah right and but this is the first or these are the first bands I've been in that I can remember that not one song in the setlist I can look at and go. This sucks. I

 

Randy Hulsey  1:02:50

don't want to play this. Yeah,

 

Stacey Steele  1:02:51

I mean, yeah, yeah, they're all fun songs that we picked because we liked them.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:02:57

We'll diamond Jack is for me, head and shoulders. That's that's my favorite. I've seen I haven't seen shotgun road yet. But I didn't come up as a country guy either. I've, I've developed a country taste over the years because I'm a solo artist. And I have to be a little more diverse than just one genre, right? You got to break out of that one genre kind of delivery. So I've learned a bunch of Americana and country and whatnot. But I think the 70s just resignate with me, that's what shaped me as a musician. That's, you know, 7677 78 those are. Those were the years for me that formed me as a musician. So the stuff that diamond Jack is playing just like it hits it hits. Those are the strike from the heart songs for me. I have a mentor that got me into playing I idolized the guy was kind of the reason I ever even got into music. But I took him out to see you guys play. It was the first night that Mike joined you guys it was out in Richmond. I can't remember the name of the place. But it was the first night he played keyboards with new guys and, and my buddy Mark was there with me and he's Scotties Yes, Scotty still. Yes. And, and my buddy Mark was like, wow, you know, those guys were spot on. And he really he really enjoyed that like and he's, he's an old kind of a he's played stages with Jerry Jeff Walker and Loretta Lynn got us. You know, I mean, he goes way back right. And he was he was really into to what you guys were doing with diamond Jack. As far as gear goes now like you're a multi instrumentalist. Is there? Is there an instrument that just does it for you over the other instrument like, like, there's this instrument and then there's the other ones, you play the other ones too. Like, would you say you're a bass player before a drummer or drummer before bass player or guitarist like talk to me about that?

 

Stacey Steele  1:04:57

I get that question a lot. And it's always hard to answer But I think if I'm completely honest with myself about it, I think I'm a bass. I think a better at bass and I am at the other two instruments, drums and guitar, okay, just because it's like a combination of both, you know, it's percussive Yeah, like a drums rhythm section. Yeah. And yet it's there are musical notes of strings like a guitar. So it's kind of for me it's the best of both worlds. I get to play the rhythm while playing musical notes on strings as well. So it's, I think I take the bass better. I've been playing I mean, I started on drums me if you go back to my childhood, yeah, drum sets are what I had more of than anything else. I didn't have. I didn't want to base until I was an adult. Yeah. So. And rhythm guitar. I'm more of a rhythm guy. I'm not a big same solo guy. Yeah, I can tinker around with some lead stuff. But I don't consider myself a lead guitar player. I could sit down learn something if I have to. Yeah, but

 

Randy Hulsey  1:06:03

but you don't have to when you play with guys like can't Well, you know? Yeah. Yeah,

 

Stacey Steele  1:06:09

I'm never I'm not even gonna go there. Right. Exactly. So I Yeah. And, and as far as drums go, you know, I'm not flashy drummer guy. I'm not super technical. I think I can hold hold the beat down. And sure. I'm, I think I'm more of a Dave Grohl kind of guy than I am. Like a neil peart or so yeah, sure, I don't have the technical chops. But I like to just pound and so in Diamond Jack, that kind of stuff we do. allows me to do that, even though even though we play you know, Boston, and some of that stuff is not very easy to play. So I mean, I mean, I, I do have to pay attention. I'm doing but exactly what I think basis might like my, if I it's inviting. It's my desert island. instrument. Yes. If I was honest with myself,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:06:57

Well, I came I came up as a classical taught pianist. And that's kind of where my music started. And when I came to the realization that, okay, you're a late teenager, now. You're not going to go to you can't first of all, you can't take a piano to a party. Second of all, you're not going to impress the girls play in, you know, Bach and Beethoven. So you've got to change it up a little bit, right. So I so i Back then I was getting into you know, Motley and you know, a lot of those bands and I was always a big Nikki Sixx fan. I thought that you know, the sleaze and the sexiness of the bass was cool. So I went out to Evans Music City on Westheimer bought my first bass guitar.

 

Stacey Steele  1:07:44

Did you get Warlock? It was a beast. It was

 

Randy Hulsey  1:07:49

no I did not like Nicki, but I did get I think the only thing I could afford at the time was like a it was a Pvt. 40 or something like that. And I think those were, were they heavy there was like a natural wood finish thing like weight about 735 pounds or something like, I was so small, like, I needed like, some structure to hold me up with the guitar. I think like I was that small back then. But yeah, I mean that the bass was always like, cool for me. But then I realized real quick like, Man, I can't even strum any chords and sing along with this. So I wound up getting rid of the bass and getting my first acoustic guitar. And then that was the onset of, of the acoustic thing for me. And I've always, you know, I played in some rock bands back in the 80s, some rhythm guitar on the electric, but I would never even call myself an electric player, right? I'm just an acoustic guy, then that's what I gravitated to. Over the years doing a lot of the singer songwriter stuff like Fogelberg and James Taylor and things like that.

 

Stacey Steele  1:08:47

I was kind of the opposite. I was more of an electric player. And in, you know, when I would be between bands, I would do solo stuff and had to learn how to play the acoustic Yeah, versus the way you would play an electric which, to me are completely different. Yeah. I think I got my acoustic style from my dad, who's a hell of a finger picker,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:09:10

Travis type or whatever. Well, I

 

Stacey Steele  1:09:12

mean, if you're really good with chords, okay, and I think I got my playing style from that. But and I gravitate if I'm playing acoustic I gravitate to like what you were saying? The the kind of the Balladeers the set the 70 singer songwriter Yes. On a people. Yep. So I whenever I do play solo these days, which is kind of rare, but I love to play that kind of stuff. Yeah. And as well as the country licks and yeah, that kind of stuff. I love playing that I don't I haven't had any reason to play rock electric guitar in a while. So because I play only band I play electric guitar in his shotgun Road, which does all 80s and 90s country and I'm just rhythm at that. Yeah. But I still have fun with it.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:09:59

Yeah. I haven't seen you have all of those projects that you have going on. I haven't seen you solo. What kind of stuff are you doing solo? Yeah, I

 

Stacey Steele  1:10:07

mean you talked about country stuff and singer songwriter but but drop a couple of names of some some of the cover stuff that you're done John Denver Denver. Okay. Little River Band. Yeah. Beatles bought a Beatles can probably have 40. Beatles songs in my I could do a whole night of Beatles No kidding. Yeah, yeah. James Taylor. And then I'll I'll kind of do my own kind of stripped down version. You know, as a solo, I'll take stuff like, carry on wayward son. I don't use loopers. Yeah, or any of that kind of stuff. I do. I do have a vocal harmony pedal that every now and then like on an eagle song or something. I'll kick it. Yeah. But I know when I play solo. It's just me and my acoustic No, no drum machines? No, like I said, No. loopers

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:51

Yeah. Is that the tc helicon? That yeah, use the harmony singer. Yeah, I think it's the

 

Stacey Steele  1:10:56

harmony g i think it's called. Yeah, yeah. And you know, it. It sounds great. You know, you can do Hotel California and kick into it in the in the chorus. And it sounds like you got five guys singing up there with you. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:11:07

And you know, I guess some people might look, it's, you know, I'm not a big backing track kind of guy always said, you know, if I'm going to go out and play, it's just going to be me in the guitar. But you want to add a little bit of flavor to it. Right. And I think that that that pedal adds just enough flavor to it, that it's not overbearing, and you use it sparingly. Like you don't use it in every song, like, you know, the eagle stuff and whatever, but it resignate it's really nice in like, I do, lionize and take it easy. And I mean, just a few of the hits and that like, it just sounds like wow, I mean, I can see people turn around at the shows like, yeah, right. Wait, wait a minute, like where did all the vocals come from? All of a sudden, they don't understand that. You know, it's it's all my feet, right? Working it with my feet or whatever.

 

Stacey Steele  1:11:56

I use it when I do El Paso by Marty Robbins. I'll do I'll do the whole like, you know, eight minute version of in Yeah. And I'll use it on that. Okay. People kind of trip out something like that sounds

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:07

really cool. Yeah, I love that. I've been using that one for four or five years now but bass guitar of choice like what is your gut? What What's the brand of bass that you're playing? You might have multiple bases, but what's the working guitar

 

Stacey Steele  1:12:19

right now? It's a Spectre. Okay, a five string Spectre that I use in Mr. Wonderful. I've had pea bases I had back in all through the 90s when I was playing bass back then it was a the sound gear that Ivan has sound gear, because they had the real thin necks that were kind of more like a guitar, but currently all i plays Specter,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:39

okay. And what about electric guitar choices on telly? Telly? Golly, I

 

Stacey Steele  1:12:44

have whittled it down. I had like 16 or something.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:50

You should never Whittle any good. I don't want to I don't want to hear that. There

 

Stacey Steele  1:12:55

were so many. I know there were just so many that just didn't get used. So now I'm down. I've got six tallies now and I have three that are that are I go back and forth as my go twos. I've got an American special tobacco burst that I use, and then I have you know all fender I've wanted to read sparkle. That was a squire. But I replaced the pickups with the Fender Custom Shop Texas special pickups and, and then I've got another butterscotch telly. Okay, those are like my three main ones for shotgun road. Okay, I've got some other ones that pretty much never leave the house, but

 

Randy Hulsey  1:13:35

I've got one and it's the orange one. That's the I only have one Telly but I love that, you know, my son and I my son Brandon play some shows with me and he's a Strat guy. He's a big Stevie Ray bond guy. And there's always the debate like, you know, leave that strat at home and play something that stays in tune can play Metallica so we go back and forth on that. But what about acoustic of working acoustic guitar now I think if I remember correctly, you play Breedlove. Is that Is that correct? Or do you have other guitars that you play on stage with or is that kind of your go to?

 

Stacey Steele  1:14:10

Yeah, I've got to breed loves that I use and prior to that, I was uh, I had a shallow body ovation, the celebrity and like the Richie Sambora kind of, you know, but it you know, I don't remember why. And I was also a Larrabee guy for a while, okay. And that guitar got ruined. And so I found a shopping at Guitar Center one day a handful years ago, saw Breedlove on the wall, and I'd heard of them, but I didn't know much about them. And I grabbed it and started playing on it. It just the neck felt great. The sound was great. I plugged it into a little Fishman amp, and it sounded huge. Yeah. And got it. It's there. I forget the the model off the top of my head. It was like the, it's like the $700 one. So like a lower. Yeah, a lower line. But um, it's been great live and I have two of those. And I don't even use amps anymore. I mean, Mike my, my rig for shotgun road is just a it's the it's called the atomic amplifier. Okay, it's a MPL, I fit. Sorry, yeah, it's a little 1212 channel. pedal board, okay, that you know that Bay, and I only use four tones. I use use a clean, a dirty, a twang, and in a little like a more of like an Angus Young distortion, or one of the songs that we do. So unlike cat who needs several different patches, you know this fractal? Yeah, I just use this. I have four patches. Got those dialed in really well. And that's it. Yeah. And I haven't used amps in forever. Yeah. And the older I get, the less gear I want to have to take to a gig. And if I can, if I can do that without skimping on tone and the quality of sound, which I think I've found that with this atomic amplifier pedal board. It's got everything on there. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's pretty reasonable. It's it's somewhere around I think. 800 bucks. It's cheaper than a fractal. But for what I need it for. It's perfect. It's put some in my ears in my ears. And I'm good to go. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:16:25

I remember seeing you in Kent play and down at Jackie's brick house and the duo and the guitar sounded really nice. I wasn't that familiar with Breedlove. I'm a big Taylor guy. I've got like five or six seven tailors all over the place in the house. But I saw Cullen Hey, the lead singer for minute work doing a Santa Cruz he plays Santa Cruz guitars and I had never heard of them before him. But he was doing what was the big song

 

Stacey Steele  1:16:57

gonna be now or?

 

Randy Hulsey  1:16:59

No, I'll think of it in a minute. It was one of their bigger songs. But he was doing it acoustically. In the in the tone of this guitar is off the charts and unlike so now I'm thinking about man, I need to look at the the Santa Cruz maybe I need to throw a Santa Cruz in there. You know, like, I mean, either he made it sound really goddamn good. Or it's just a really good sounding guitar. And as I started to look at them, they're up there in price. I mean, they're not. They're not the laminate $300 guitars like like the tailors aren't either, right? So like a boutique brand or something? Yeah, it's probably along the Cullen Collins line like a handmade guitar out of Santa Cruz, California.

 

Stacey Steele  1:17:37

When I was living in LA, I saw him at a at a place called Largo. And it was just him in an acoustic guitar used to go watch him. Quite often when I was living out there. He had a little residency there for a little bit. And it was just a little, tiny little place. And I remember his guitar always sounded amazing. And I got I remember, I kind of poked or peeked at the stage, under his mic stand one night and I think all I saw was like a DI box a tuner. And like one other pedal. So I mean, the majority that sound whatever was coming through that guitar. I'm not sure if that was the same one you're talking about. But it sounded amazing. A huge,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:18:15

and he and he's an amazing artist. Like I never maybe it was the whole the minute Work videos that resignate in my mind from MTV, like I they had great songs we love them back in the 80s I don't know that I took them too serious is like being like over the top great artists, but yet we'll see anything later on. In the years doing solo stuff like this dude's a badass, like, he's got an amazing voice and the playing is like, okay,

 

Stacey Steele  1:18:46

yeah, until I saw him at Largo. I never I didn't know even played guitar. I just use the singing or Yeah, yeah. And you know, he was up there with this acoustic guitar and he was just playing these beautiful chords. Yes. flawlessly, and in his in his voice even sounded better than ever. Yeah, you know, I don't know how old the guy has been. But

 

Randy Hulsey  1:19:04

he's got me late, late 80s, early 60s some of his

 

Stacey Steele  1:19:08

butt off and playing the hell out of that guitar. And I hadn't I had no idea he was a guitar player.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:19:13

And he has a very nice tenor voice which I don't have I'm I don't know about you know, you. I'm a I'm a baritone kind of guy like the lower register. But I wish I always wished that I had that upper register vocal range and he does like he's up there and he's in he sounds really nice to amazing. So tell me how the listeners find you guys projects that you're playing what's the best way to go find out about these projects that you're playing and where you guys are playing the places you're playing that kind of thing

 

Stacey Steele  1:19:43

the best way you know having three different bands. Instead of having three different websites. We made one website that's like the hub for all three bands. The acoustic stuff can I do and my solo stuff and it is WWE a dot Space city bands, plural bands, space city bands.com. And that's God, BIOS video, Song lists, schedules, everything you would need to know about each band, where we're playing. And it's got our calendar through the end of the year from now through the New Year. And it's yeah, so that's the kind of a one stop shop for all the bands and all the projects that we have are all on that website. Space city bands.com.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:20:30

So if you're looking to book any of these bands, you should do it now for 2022. Not 2021. Right? I mean, you guys are pretty packed for the year. But yeah, get on that schedule. Like I guess, are you the main one booking for the bands? Or do you guys share that responsibility? I

 

Stacey Steele  1:20:47

think I'm probably the primary guy but. And we also you know, each band does have a Facebook page of their own too. So I think diamond Jack is Facebook. It's a diamond Jack Houston. Okay. Mr. One other. I think they all have Houston. So it's a Mr. Wonderful Houston. That's Mr. Wonderful Houston. Diamond Jack Houston. Shotgun Road, Houston. Okay. So, but yeah, I think I can't do some stuff, booking wise here and there. But I think I'm pretty much the primary guy.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:21:18

Do you think there's any chance that any of these bands that we talked about will record any original material from the respective genre? I mean, is that out of the question, have you guys ever? You know, we've opened conversations about that. We've talked

 

Stacey Steele  1:21:32

about it. Yeah, we've definitely talked about it. And we were just talking about it earlier this week. Actually, Kanye, we've been wanting to do something like that. But we just haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. I mean, it's kind of on a back burner, but it's definitely something that we would like to do. I've got some solo country stuff that we have talked about maybe working into the shotgun roadshow, and can't even wrap ranch had some country stuff that they had done original music, that we've talked about maybe taking a song or two of that, a song or two that I had on my album, and working them into our set. And as well as writing some new stuff from scratch. It's just COVID came along. And like everybody else, we just kind of put everything on the back burner, but it's yeah, it's definitely been discussed. And even for Diamond Jack and Mr. Wonderful. We've talked about recording a couple versions of songs that covers that we do to have out there to put on the website or something. And until we can write something of our own our own. Yeah, so all three bands, it's definitely something we would like to do that would be cool. Not to, you know, try to make it you know, or just something, you know, like, when I was why not sure. You know, we all you know, we're all creative, but we get so caught up in our schedules and learning the songs, you know, for the paycheck. Yeah, that writing original stuff, at least I'll speak for myself, you know, it kind of gets pushed onto the back burner, but

 

Randy Hulsey  1:22:59

well in there's only so many hours in the day to you know, but we've all got Kent

 

Stacey Steele  1:23:02

and I both have recording software and all the kind of all the stuff we need it at our homes, to where we can remotely record and he can we can send stuff back and forth to each other. And so yeah, we've definitely talked about the desire to do that, when we'll pull the trigger on it. I'm not real sure, but

 

Randy Hulsey  1:23:19

Well, I'm sure you guys will keep everybody posted through and by way of social media, like what you're up to and whatnot. Let's do some quickfire questions. You down. Cool. Yeah. All right. So how about 70s 80s or 90s music

 

Stacey Steele  1:23:36

80s Oh, 70s I take it back. 70s

 

Randy Hulsey  1:23:41

He's, he's reading it again. 70s 70s. Okay. What about Neil Peart or Keith Moon, part? Favorite guitar,

 

Stacey Steele  1:23:51

a telly, Americans, American Telly, TV or radio, TV,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:23:57

acoustic or electric drums. Oh, acoustic favorite drum in the entire set. Now just asked guy gelSo from Zebra this the other day and he's like, whoa, I've never I've never been asked that question before, like, which drum in the drum set? Like if you're a golfer, like I don't know if you've ever played golf, but there's that one club in the bag. For a golfer that is the go to like, I hit that one better than any other club. Like what is the drum for you?

 

Stacey Steele  1:24:28

Man? I'm a big crash cymbal guy. Okay, so I would say any of the crash cymbals um a big accent. Okay, so interesting crashes over Toms themselves.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:24:41

Yeah. So guys response to me was the the bass drum and the snare. Um, he answered it was two but that was his to go twos.

 

Stacey Steele  1:24:50

That would be my for various that would be my second.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:24:54

Okay. Rock or country. Rock, Houston music scene or The Dallas music scene.

 

Stacey Steele  1:25:03

Hmm. I haven't been back to Dallas and almost 20 years so I don't know what it's like now but I don't have to go with Houston.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:25:11

Well, you know, if you compare Dallas back to the the backstage in the car these days, like you came up there in that time. Oh, like, you know, like,

 

Stacey Steele  1:25:20

I'd still say Houston. Okay. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:25:22

I always tell people, you can plead the fifth on this one because you don't want to feel partial, like to the places that you play. But do you have a favorite room or a favorite place that you'd like to play? Oh,

 

Stacey Steele  1:25:33

you mean like a venue? Yeah. Uh, yeah. Jackie's okay. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:25:39

Somebody else said Jackie's too.

 

Stacey Steele  1:25:41

Yeah, Britt. Yeah. That's a joke. Yeah, Brett. Hey, Brett,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:25:46

Brett. Yeah, he did say that, didn't he? Yeah, I was talking to somebody I interviewed said that. I was thinking that Kent said that but I don't remember if I asked him I haven't heard can't say no, no, it hadn't come out yet. But it's thinking about throwing his away. I'm just kidding. For can't we've like done who teen has like who's can't

 

Stacey Steele  1:26:07

but at least it's not on video cuz I heard he was naked. Oh, gosh. Geez. Okay, no, so Jackie's man Jackie's is just Jay no coolroom it the people love their music there. Yeah. And you know, come on, John. And the staff there are their top there. They're awesome. Yeah, they're so awesome.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:26:26

I think I've played certainly have not played Jackie's as many times as you guys but I've done probably six or maybe six or seven shows there. And I've always enjoyed it because I grew up on that side of town. So my following, you know, is on that side of town already, so it's easier to get them. It's like oh, you live at home Cypress I don't want to drive you know 45 minutes to see is that the poor pitiful me? All you Randy Hulsey listeners out there.

 

Stacey Steele  1:26:55

Yeah, I mean, I day don't get me wrong. I mean, everywhere that we play currently that's in our rotation. I love playing it. We play it my homies in The Woodlands quite often. All three bands. Yep. And that's a great, that's a great place to I mean, but if I have to go by where the best crowd response is, and not just you know, like how cool the staff is on the staffs pretty cool every everywhere. Yeah, like, but Jackie's audiences are the best. Yeah, they just they just love and they really show it. They're how much they love the music. And so for the band members, I think that's where we get we feel the most love. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:27:34

well, I'm John John. We'll love to hear that I'm sure favorite song to play live.

 

Stacey Steele  1:27:41

Well, I have to break it down to each band then. Diamond Jack? My favorite live songs probably for play longtime Austin. Mr. Wonderful. My favorite song that we do is probably a lesser known song called crazy by ice house. And in shotgun road. My favorite one is probably any of the songs that we do by Ronnie Milsap or Vince Gill. Okay, do Liza Jane by Vince Gill, which is just a fun, upbeat, 20 tele guitar song and with really cool harmonies in that's another thing any of the songs that have big harmonies I Love

 

Randy Hulsey  1:28:23

You know, I mentioned earlier that the diamond Jack is my favorite and I and I think the I think you guys open up with the song but I think the one that resonates with me and that's one of my favorites that you do is off the flat as a pancake album. haste. Yeah, love. Love that song. Never been any reason that song Never gets bought. No, it doesn't. And I think that what is that, like the only song that they had? Like, I don't I don't know. I don't think they were a one hit wonder. But I mean, I don't know of any other songs by Headies that that resignate to me, I but I do love that one. I mean, that was just like, at that has that 70s vibe, man. Oh, I love that.

 

Stacey Steele  1:29:02

Yeah, and I love John Schlitz voice. Yeah. Even when he went to Petra, you know, several years. I sure I love a lot of their stuff. Just because he was a singer. Yeah, but uh, yeah, that's, that's really the only song I know by Eddie's. Yeah. I mean, the guys in the band, they probably know more stuff that they did, because they're so much older than I am.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:29:24

Right? Well, it gives Madigan a little chance to show off the bone, bone bone. You know, a little baseline

 

Stacey Steele  1:29:30

scores are awesome. Yeah, I love the keyboards got that. moogie kind of, you know? Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:29:36

And Mike, Mike been a great addition for you guys. Like the the dude's off the charts. I was booking him. I booked him a couple places. I think Jamie had played maybe maybe friends on court when I was booking for them down south but but yeah, great, a great keyboardist, pianist, and I discovered him when he was with Sister Mary tarantula like he he was with that band and then he left and then you know next thing you know, he was playing with you guys. I'm like, Well, what a great fit right?

 

Stacey Steele  1:30:06

I didn't know him prior to him join diamond Jack. I didn't know his name. I did you know, the guys had mentioned that he played with Madigan. Okay. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, he had been in Madigan for a little while. years ago. Okay. And then I had heard that he played with the band VHS. Yes. That does Jackie's Yes. Time to time. who I'd never seen just because I always played on the same nights. We were playing it. But I didn't know anything about like, he came to our first rehearsal. And I was like, wow, yeah, he just blew me away.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:30:38

Yeah. And I think he's tied into school rock as well as a teacher. But he was. So it was there's a guy named Jeremy Walton right. And Jeremy is the bass player for VHS who was also in Sister Mary tarantula. It was Mark Neely, Carlos. You know, Mike and Jeremy both played in that band. They've done a little bit of a lineup change since Mike and Jeremy left and went on to do the BHS thing, but that's where I knew those guys back from the sister Mary tarantula days. Yeah, formal training on the drums.

 

Stacey Steele  1:31:17

No, okay. I don't have any formal training on any instruments. Okay. However, other than some chords my dad showed me when I was a kid. And my headphones. Yeah, right. My turntable is a kid that

 

Randy Hulsey  1:31:31

thumbs up the best way to learn you know, that's my favorite song of all time.

 

Stacey Steele  1:31:37

I probably it's a tie between maybe I'm amazed and a something by jet the band jellyfish. Do you know who that really fishes?

 

Randy Hulsey  1:31:47

It's, I didn't write here. Interesting.

 

Stacey Steele  1:31:51

Here. I'm showing them my tattoo on my arm of jellyfish. Yeah, they they have a song called joining fan club, which is the title of opening song on their Spilt Milk album that's probably tied with maybe I'm amazed as my favorite songs

 

Randy Hulsey  1:32:09

in this band to me is like who are these guys like before? So I was interviewing Joey Jones and his guitarist Antonio, Brazil. Great guys. And I think I asked him this same question if if not kind of a derivative or something along the lines of, you know, most influential band or whatever. And both of these guys said jellyfish and I'm like, what? I feel like I'm missing out now that you've said jellyfish like, so I'm gonna have to go like and and check them out. Right? Oh, do you know jellyfish too? Okay, so she knows Yeah, so you guys can't see the visual here but but Tina's sitting over in another area and she's holding up the praise praise Jesus and for jellyfish so I'm gonna have to give them a give them a listen. I feel like I'm missing something. Now.

 

Stacey Steele  1:33:00

I was very fortunate to have the solo album I did up in LA the keyboard player of jellyfish did the keyboards on my album. Oh, kind of thing for me is

 

Randy Hulsey  1:33:13

the stars. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A surreal thing.

 

Stacey Steele  1:33:17

And you know, not many people know that jelly fish was not a household name by any means. But musicians know who they are. Okay. And they've got everybody's respect. Yeah, in the music community. They only did two albums. I think 92 and 93. I don't think I have those years. Right but,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:33:36

and you know that that was a that was a really weird time for me like my I think I've this has come up in probably every interview that I've done, but you know, I have always said and it's always been a tongue in cheek thing for me like in 1989 I turned off the radio and I just stopped listening like uh, you know, his his hair metal was going out and grunge was coming in I respect all the grunge you know the you know the Nirvana's and and Pearl Jams but I just I don't know what I was doing at that party at that time in my life that I just wasn't into that stuff. Right. And so now that you mentioned jelly fish be in 9294 timeframe. Okay, no, that makes sense to me now like why I missed that right

 

Stacey Steele  1:34:21

but if you like the Partridge Family, yeah, love the partial love jelly fish. Okay, this this is jelly fish rolled up. Beach Boys Supertramp queen, Cheap Trick. Costello 10 cc wrap that up into a cigar and smoke that you've got jellyfish and Okay. Okay, well all band harmonies in the world early. Okay. And the grooviest right Fender Rhodes kind of keyboard II. Part Two G family kind of songs with Queen vocals and Beach Boys harmonies. That's jellyfish.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:34:55

Alright, well, I'll definitely look them up now. It's funny. Not many people. Have you ever heard of 10? CC? Right? And if and if I'm a big music trivia guy, but if you don't know where they got the band name from, you should look that up sometime. It's quite interesting. I'll tell you off the record if you don't know. This is not a this is like I guess a PG 13 show not a not a x ray to show. So through Stacey Steel's eyes, greatest drummer of all time. Oh,

 

Stacey Steele  1:35:28

I think well of all time. That's a tough one. I tell you who I really love right now and have for several years as Todd Zuckerman sticks, their current drummer who's the new guy, and he's what you know, 25 been in the band for like, 25 years, right? Yeah. He's just amazing. But you know, I, I love you know, Neil bird, of course. I mean, who doesn't? Yeah, you know, but I'm really hooked on Todd Zuckerman displaying.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:35:55

I like his playing. I've seen videos. I haven't seen sticks live since they, of course don't have the Panozzo brothers in right, you know, but yeah, he, I mean, all the YouTube stuff that I've seen with sticks. I mean, the dude's really good. Yeah.

 

Stacey Steele  1:36:08

And I'm you know, I'm, I'm not a big fan of like, super technical drumming. It just does. I'm more of a I like Dave Grohl. You know, he's just a power. Yeah, kind of bottom type. Sure. Just in the pocket. Heavy on heavy footed on the kick. Yeah, I gravitate more to that. And Superman can do all that. But he'll do a little fill or some kind of study where you just go What in the world and I just hear it. Yeah. Amazing. And makes it look like it's effortless and just super tasteful. Yeah, I Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:36:41

sometimes. overplaying is not attractive and underplaying is not either, but sometimes it's, you know, like you said, the simple feels can just be the most tasty thing I don't need to hear about. You know, I agree. I agree. Number one, influential musician or band. McCartney? Were you a big wings fan? Of Love points. So I mean, I was never I have to say that. I totally respect the Beatles. What, you know, some of the greatest musicians of our time. I was never a big Beatles fan. But I loved wings. Like I love their stuff more than I love the Beatles. That was just that's just my taste. Right? But but I was always and I think that that was wings for me was synonymous with that mid to late 70 sound that that shaped me as a musician. Yeah, band on the run. And, you know, just stuff like that will really resonate with

 

Stacey Steele  1:37:43

hon intended but you know, McCartney really got to spread his wings. Sure. When he when he put that together, right? Because I was, you know, people are like, are you Lennon guy or McCartney guy? You know? I'm a McCartney guy. Yeah, hands down just because I think his melodies resonated more with me than Lennon's I love Lenin. I mean, yeah, I love the Beatles. And I didn't even really discover the Beatles until my adult years. I mean, I knew who they were. But it wasn't until I'd been a musician. Yes, working musician for a while that I went back and listened to like Abbey Road and revolver and some of those albums in went, Whoa.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:38:21

That's the way the stones were for me. Like I was never a big stones fan coming up. But as I become a player out and uh, you know, playing shows and have been corporated, some old stones like Angie and wild horses, the staple songs on the acoustic, that I ever go back and say, Wow, I really liked these guys, you know, the whole open G chords and that that kind of thing, or the open G tuning I should say, yeah, it is cool. That was a big Keith Richards thing. Right? Yeah. Favorite local band, other than the ones you play and you have a band around town that you're like, I really like those guys. Like, you know, is there one for you or not really?

 

Stacey Steele  1:39:02

And, you know, no, I don't have one. And I'll tell you why. Because we play we don't get to go see anybody play. I mean, who's out gigging on a Monday night or Tuesday night? You know, I mean, I mean, yeah, unless you're maybe are solo or something. Yeah. So I don't know who's out there. And what they sent me I see names on marquees and websites, Facebook and stuff. And I see you know, a lot of my friends are out there Gigan and, and I'm glad they are, but I don't get to go see any of these people. And if I do have like a weird night or Saturday off, which is extremely rare. I stay home. Yeah. I don't blame me. I don't you know, I don't drink so I just don't go out. Yeah, but yeah, I never get to see anybody. So I don't know who's out there doing what I mean. I've got like I said, I've got tons of friends that are out gigging. I'd love to go see him if I could. But I don't know that's a tough one.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:40:01

It's it's nice to actually have the time to get on the other side of the microphone. Like for me, I enjoy going out in support and you know, like you guys play and bread and, and you know a lot of different people that are around town. It's nice to sit on that side and just get to enjoy the music versus being the one delivering it all the time. Yeah, so I really enjoy that myself.

 

Stacey Steele  1:40:25

Yeah, I do too. I just don't I never really get to

 

Randy Hulsey  1:40:28

well, in your situations a little different. I mean, this is what you do for a living and that's prime time. Right for you guys to be out on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you know, some most sometimes even Sundays, right are pretty popular days.

 

Stacey Steele  1:40:43

Yeah, yeah. Especially a spring and summer. Absolutely. Yep. For all the listeners out

 

Randy Hulsey  1:40:47

there. I want to thank Stacey for joining the show and wish him and all the projects that he's playing and continued success on the shows and future endeavors as well. As always, I asked the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. Also, make sure to follow diamond Jack shotgun road, and all the projects at Space city bands.com. As always, you can find the show backstage pass radio on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast on Instagram at backstage pass radio, on Twitter at backstage pass PC and the website at backstage pass. radio.com. Stacey, thank you for joining me. It's been a pleasure to chat with you. Yeah. Thanks for Tina. Thanks for being patient over there. And you guys take care of yourselves and each other and we'll see you back here on the next episode. Backstage Pass radio.

 

Adam Gordon  1:41:48

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of backstage pass radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Hulsey music and on Twitter at our Halsey music. Also make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them backstage pass radio is the best show on the web for everything music. We'll see you next time right here on backstage pass radio