Bands, Discography, and Musical Endeavors

 I do enjoy playing music!  Whether performing as a solo act or with others ... whether performing live to an audience or recording in the studio ... I simply enjoy creating, arranging, and playing music.  Over my lifetime of playing music I have been privileged to have performed and collaborated with many great musicians, songwriters, crew members and soundmen ... some of them now touring professionals.  So many great venues, owners, and audiences... the number of great people I've met, performed with, and gained friendships with is innumerable.   A recent social media post puts that thought squarely into focus. 

So here is my look back at some of the musical chapters in my musical book of life ... my memories of people, places, performances, albums, and recordings of which I have been a part.  And when possible I've included fun artifacts such as recordings, videos, and pictures.  

And the next chapters?  Well those are yet to be written, yes?    
Enjoy...  
- Stevie 

Early Years

I began playing piano at age 6 and then drums at age 10.  I performed in numerous orchestra, band, and musical theater productions throughout my school years.  It seems that music has always been a part of my life even from an early age growing up listening to everything from Beethoven to Belafonte, Motown to Rock & Roll,  Big Band to Jazz, Folk music to Techno-Pop.  Artists like The Beatles, The Eagles, ELP, Deep Purple, Sly & Family Stone, Hall & Oates.  So many genres, bands, styles ... and I liked them all.

JUST US

At age 16 while living in Cleveland, I was recruited by John Goodworth to play drums for the St. Adalbert's Girls Choir, aka Just Us.  A Godspell-like youth choir from the Cleveland suburb of Berea, Just Us was booked multiple times on local Cleveland TV variety shows, including  Polka Varieties, The Gene Carroll Show, and even the local Jerry Lewis Telethon.

Just Us Centennial Celebration (1973)

Just Us

I recorded the drum tracks on this 45 with John Goodworth (guitar), Gene Kunda (bass), and the St. Adalbert's Girls Choir called "Just Us". Recorded at the famous Cleveland Recording Studio with Ken Hamaan as Engineer (James Gang, Grand Funk), I played on Jimmy Fox's (James Gang) drum set because I arrived late to the session due to car problems.

I recorded the drum tracks on this 45 with John Goodworth (guitar), Gene Kunda (bass), and the St. Adalbert's Girls Choir called "Just Us". Recorded at the famous Cleveland Recording Studio with Ken Hamaan as Engineer (James Gang, Grand Funk), I played on Jimmy Fox's (James Gang) drum set because I arrived late to the session due to car problems. All other tracks were finished by the time I arrived and Mr. Hamaan didn't want to spend any more time setting up my kit, so he pointed to Jimmy's kit in the corner of the studio where The James Gang was setup to record and told me to play it! That certainly worked out well for me. I always wondered if Jimmy Fox ever found out I played his kit...

Read more…

The High School GARAGE BAND with no name 

At age 17, my friends and I decided to start a rock band.  Since we were all drummers, we decided that our buddy Dave should be the drummer since he had the coolest kit: a Ludwig double-tom clear acrylic set!  I switched to keyboards/vox and my friend Carl brought his guitar.  We recruited Mike for lead guitar work and Jim for bass.  We were the epitome of a garage band with our cobbled up equipment and less than polished sound.  I played a Farfisa Combo organ through a Leslie I borrowed from John Goodworth (Just Us).  We only played 2 times: once for a New Year's Eve party and lastly for my High School graduation party [ LOL emoji goes here].  While we were far from great, we had a great time and our playlist was great:  Paranoid (Black Sabbath), Sweet Lorraine & Easy Livin' (Uriah Heep), Into The Sun (Grand Funk), Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh), Evil Ways (Santana), China Grove (Doobie Bros).  Some of the 1st rock songs I ever learned.  

We thought we were rock stars! 

Theater and Pit Orchestra

While in High School I found some work playing percussion and drum kit in Cleveland area theater productions.  At Baldwin-Wallace College (Berea, OH), I played in "Bye, Bye Birdie" with other B-W college musicians.  In the Clague Road Community Theater production of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris", I played percussion.  I really enjoyed playing in a pit orchestra and playing percussion and learned that I was a very good percussionist, but just an OK drummer.  This would signal a musical change of directions for me.

Solo

SOLO & Coffehouses

After high school, I attended college at The University of Toledo.  As it turned out, I would end up in the Toledo area for the next 40+ years.  While at U of Toledo, I performed solo piano at campus coffee house concerts to great reviews.  The owner of The Southwyck Lounge (a piano bar in Toledo) saw me play at a campus coffeehouse and he hired me to play at his piano bar.   It was the 70's so I played a steady diet of The Beatles, Billy Joel, and Elton John.

Miniture Buzzurd

The Hollow Inn, circa 1989 (L to R): Stevie, Dave, Scott, Danny O. (photo Ross Eyer)

Around 1985, after seeing Scott Shaull and Danny Overton perform, I knew I wanted to play in a band with them someday.  We started Miniture Buzzurd and eventually recruited Dave Foreman from Findlay, OH around the end of 1987.   We played 70/80's rock and were a good draw in NW Ohio from Toledo to Bowling Green to Lima.  The band's live chemistry and energy was undeniable.  Our playlists were a great mix of current 80's and classic rock - dance and deep cuts.  At our peak, we had an extended, busy schedule: 6 weeks of Th,Fri,Sat nights, then 1 week off.  We played hard, burned out fast, and although we were together only until 1990, but we made forever friendships.  Buzzurd reunions have taken place, with Mark Stears filling the bass duties allowing Scott to focus on acoustic and rhythm guitar.  As it turned out, I ended up performing with Danny, Scott, Dave and Mark in future bands.

   Classic line-up:  
- Scott Shaull (vox/bass/acousitic),
- Danny Overton (drums),
- Dave Foreman (vox/lead guitar),
- Stevie (vox/keys)
   
other Buzzurds:  - Mark Stears (bass, Reunion Buzzurd), 
                              - Tom Jaqua (original guitarist),
                              - Russ Wangler (guitar 1987). 

1st Gig - our name in lights

Live Skutch

Miniture Buzzurd

One of Miniture Buzzurd's popular destinations was The Hollow Inn in McCutchenville, OH. MB was well liked not only for our on-stage energy and chemistry, but our playlists included everyone's favorite dance tunes plus many deep cuts too.

Read more…

Here's a video from the archives of a deep cut we covered called "California Man".   Cheap Trick covered this Roy Wood (ELO, The Move) penned song on their album "Heaven Tonight" (the one with Surrender).   Our video was recorded at The Hollow Inn in 1988 and it became one of our favorite power rock tunes.  

Here's another deep cut from the Buzzurd archives.  Also recorded in 1988 at The Hollow Inn - MB covering Rough Boy by ZZ Top.

Edwin Dare

Incredible musicianship in this Progressive Heavy Metal band which included Bryce Barnes, Jeff Kollman, Kevin Chown, and Tommy Kollman (RIP).   I worked with Edwin Dare as a session musician from 1990-1994, providing keyboard support both in the studio and for live performances, as well as providing live backup vocals.  Edwin Dare opened for many national acts including Dream Theater, Ronnie Montrose, Lita Ford, and Foreigner.which led to numerous regional headlining shows as the band became well known for their powerful live shows.

You may ask: what is a keyboard player doing in a Metal band?  The genre of Progressive Metal was morphing in the early 90's and keys provided a new ambience to the hard driving metal side.  I liked progressive rock and also metal, so I was thrilled to be a part of the ED process as the band developed.  My contributions were mostly carefully placed backing riffs, samples, special effects, and laying down rhythm voicings behind Jeff's solos, especially live,   My keys were an important filling out of the overall soundscape being produced by the band.  Working with Jeff in the studio I provided many special effects, strings, synths, choirs, and other fattening of the sound.  I brought those same sounds forward into the live show, where Edwin Dare had a reputation as an exciting and polished live show.  

One of my favorite live intros was Jeff's arrangement of Carl Orff's O Fortuna , which we often used to open shows.  Lights down, crowd cheers, and I started on my VFX by fading in a dark, breathy synth drone with thundering sub-bass.  As lights came up and the keys crescendo'd in, they were large and in charge thanks to Kelly King hitting' the Gas!.  While I played the main Orff theme, the band layered in choir-like vocals, guitars and drums quickly crescendoing to Bryce's "Rob Halford-esque" high vocals thundering over the top.  On the climax note  ... Jeff added a pronounced E string mod up tune which segued into Take Your Stand.  Wow ... just wow!   I wish I had a recording of it to share because it was amazing.

The Edwin Dare crew  was equally amazing thanks to Chris Rynn, Cal Clayton, Tony "Bonz" Berezowski, Greg Harley, Dan Dauer and many others who dedicated their time, energy, and skills to the betterment of the band.  The friendships I made then are still alive today.

performing with Edwin Dare circa 1992

On Tour w/ Edwin Dare

The Unthinkable Deed (1992)

Edwin Dare

I recorded keyboards on several tracks for Edwin Dare's debut LP. Multi-instrumentalist and friend of the band, Mark Mikel also recorded keyboards on a few tracks along with songwriting and engineering.

Read more…

The Killer was one of the first songs I recorded with Edwin Dare.  The strings and choirs helped set the mood of this dark rocker.

Just a Heartbeat Away was one of my favorite songs to play live with the band and still one of my favorite ED songs ... period.  Tommy's thundering drums, Bryce's soaring vocals, and great guitar riffs.  I used my VFX to provide synths, strings, and a few special effects (a patch called Orbit at the end).  I also used a Roland sampler for the choirs and effect samples (technology of the day folks).  I remember we sampled the "Run - Scream" from the master tape so I could bring them to the live show and augment the band's live vocals.  This was a technique we used on other tracks as well, like Don't Listen To Your Head, where we sampled the reverse vocals and brought them to the live show.  While the live shows were plenty good on their own, these techniques helped to provide an important connection to the studio material during live performance and solidified the already polished shows.

Can't Break Me (1994)

Edwin Dare

On the 2nd LP by Edwin Dare, I worked closely with Jeff Kollman in the studio and recorded keyboards on many tracks for this CD. I again provided live support for what was now the powerful and polished Edwin Dare live shows. Bands like Edwin Dare, Mark Mikel, The Affair and others had the country buzzing about the Toledo music scene as possibly

On the 2nd LP by Edwin Dare, I worked closely with Jeff Kollman in the studio and recorded keyboards on many tracks for this CD. I again provided live support for what was now the powerful and polished Edwin Dare live shows. Bands like Edwin Dare, Mark Mikel, The Affair and others had the country buzzing about the Toledo music scene as possibly "the next Seattle?".

Read more…

Feel The Power, the opening track on the LP, became one of ED's most powerful songs and show openers.  I used a brass synth to augment the main power riffs on this songs.  I also provided live backup vocals.

Don't Listen To Your Head is one of the song written by Mark Mikel for Edwin Dare.  Also one of my favorite ED songs.  I added dark strings and synths in various places throughout the song.  We sampled the "Calling Me" reverse vocals from the master tape so I could bring them to the live show.  

Jeff Kollman & Kevin Chown

During my time with Edwin Dare, I also performed live with Jeff Kollman and Kevin Chown supporting their solo LPs, "Schizoid" and "Fruedian Slip", respectively.  Jeff and Kevin have both gone on to be successful professional musicians living in LA and performing with some of the music world's biggest names, including a recent LP and tour with Alan Parsons.  Over the years, Jeff Kollman has returned many times to his home town of Toledo, OH to perform and I have had the privilege of being invited to play with him on multiple occasions.

One such occasion was the "Bobnoxious" Tribute event in 2018 at Howard's Club H in Bowling Green, OH.  The event was put together by friends of Bob Revells (RIP) and featured musicians from all over Ohio (and the world really) to play some of Bob's favorite songs.  Performers were "assigned" songs by Dan Dauer and Mark Mikel and featured many incredible players, including yours truly along with Jeff Kollman, Mark Mikel, Steve Feehan, Dan Dauer, Corky Laing (from Mountain), as well as many, many others.   It was a great night of fun and comradery with the many great musicians from the Northwest Ohio community.   In this "Highway Star" video by Jerry Knott from the 2018 Bob Revells "Bobnoxious" Tribute event,  I was playing one of my all time favorite Deep Purple tunes with a pretty amazing pick-up band.

- Jeff Kollman (guitar), 
- Rob Brug (drums), 
- Kevin Kekes (bass), 
- Scott Miller (vocals)
- Stevie (organ)

Edwin Dare Reunion (well, sort of)

Bryce, Jeff & Kevin returned to Toledo in 2012 for an Edwin Dare concert performed at the former Roxanne's venue, where ED had taken Toledo by storm in the 90's.   (Tommy Kollman did not make the trip and we lost him to the great gig in the sky later that year.  I still get sad about that).  I was again invited to provide keyboard support.  After Jeff, Kev, and Skeeter played some Cosmosquad tunes, I stepped on stage and the foursome played a few fusion/jazz instrumentals:  from Jeff's Solo LPs and a couple by Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats (a band in which Jeff and Kevin had performed together after Edwin Dare).  For the finale, Bryce took the stage for several headlining Edwin Dare tracks, including the powerful opener Feel The Power.  It was a fantastic, bombastic night of fun and remembrance.

2012 (L to R): Stevie, Kevin Chown, Bryce Barnes, Skeeto Valdez (kit), Jeff Kollman.

Mark Mikel

Mark Mikel is one of those rare multi-talented musicians who is skilled at songwriting, studio engineering, playing all musical instruments, and live performance.  His vocals are what Alan Parsons has called "Lennon-esq" ... a rare breed for sure.  Mark is good friends with Jeff Kollman and the Edwin Dare family, having written several songs for ED.  I joined Mark in 1994 when he was booked as opening band for Bad Co. at the Toledo Masonic Auditorium and he needed help covering live keyboards.   Soon after that show, I joined his Mark Mikel Hallucination band full time and while I was in the band from 1994- 1997, I provided keyboard support both in the studio and for live performances.  The MMH live shows included material from his LPs "Marikesh", "Sorghum Pudding", "The Idiot Smiles", "Blatant Ripoffs".   Mark Mikel's live shows primarily featured his original music, but he always like to cover one (just 1) somewhat complex track at each show ,.. a deep track that no other bands covered, like: Yours Is No Disgrace (Yes), Make Me Smile (Chicago), and I'm Just A Singer (Moody Blues).  Mark has gone on to a successful professional career in music, performing as a Toledo favorite and also working with well known professionals, such as Corky Laing (Mountain) and Alan Parsons (AP Project, Pink Floyd, Ambrosia) as well as Jeff Kollman and Chris Shutters.  On Alan Parsons' 2019 LP "The Secret", Mark wrote and performed a song called Fly To Me (with Jeff Kollman on guitar).

The Idiot Smiles

Mark Mikel

I recorded keyboards on several tracks for this CD working with Mark in his studio.

Read more…

Mark is a skilled multi-instrumentalist and often records some if not all of the tracks himself.  Even though Mark is an excellent keyboard player, he and I have different styles.  He liked the way I laid down the organ groove to Going To a Love-in, the first track of "The Idiot Smiles" CD, and it made the cut to the LP.  I'm also credited with playing Rhodes on the track, but honestly it was just a piece of ear-candy that Mark came up with.  He told be to play the main riff on the Rhodes, which he had routed through his Wah pedal and a Fuzz box to his Fender guitar amp.  He close-mic'd the distorted amp and I played the riff while he worked the Wah pedal with his hands ... "tiny fingers rubbing your brain ..." about 2:30.

I arrived for a recording session at Mark's studio one day and at some point I shared with with Mark that I had created a new synth program on my VFX.  It was a screaming sawtooth synth I called "Tarkus", because it reminded me of Emerson's synths on the ELP track called Aquatarkus.  I was noodling around with it and Mark, also an ELP fan, liked what I was doing so much that he went to the control booth and started the tape machine recording along with a backing track playing.  I asked "what should I play?".  He said "just play whatever feels right, like what you were doing before [when you were noodling around]."   Mark always liked to have a little ear-candy on his LPs, and my 1-take synth noodling ended up at the end of the LP's final track called Pacificus (Half Man, Half Ocean)Pacificus is an epic, soaring track on which I had already recorded the piano track and to finish off the song and album in style, Mark added the surprise, ear candy reprise of Bad Mouth.  

Give the whole song a listen because it's still one of my favorite Mark songs.  Go to about 6:00 for the ending and reprise with synth.    

Blatant Ripoffs

Mark Mikel

The album was mostly a collection of songs from Toledo artists and covered by The Mark Mikel Hallucination, as a tribute to the Toledo Music Scene. At the time, Mark had engineered or produced many Toledo band's original LPs and these were his favorite songs from each of them. Some live Mark Mikel tracks were also included.

Read more…

The CD cover was purposely designed to mimic The Beatles white album; a blatant ripoff?  No, just classic Mark Mikel.  You may also notice that "The Idiot Smiles" cover has a similar theme as "A Hard Days Night".   Shout out to The Beatles for sure.  Anyone who knows Mark, knows that The Beatles are a #1 favorite band.   I recorded keys on 2 of the tracks on "Blatant Ripoffs" before moving on to the next chapter in my musical adventures.

Over the years following my departure from The MMH, I've had the pleasure of playing multiple times with Mark at special occasions and I have enjoyed renewing our friendship and our mutual love of music on stage each time we have played together.  This picture from the 2019 celebration of Steve Feehan's 50th birthday at Howard's Club H.

Tongue 'n Groove

In 1997, I was asked to perform in Findlay, OH at a homecoming concert with former Miniture Buzzurd bandmate Dave Foreman.  Dave was returning home from Florida and a back-up band was put together that included many of Dave's former bandmates including Scott Shaull, Chip McClurkin, Holly McConnell, Tony Cole, and Adam Nation,  The concert was booked at a club in Findlay called Moondoggies owned by Bob Freed (great-nephew of Alan Freed ... yes THE Rock-n-Roll Alan Freed!).   The concert was a success and the band's chemistry was so obvious, that once Dave returned to Florida, the back-up band decided to continue performing ... and Tongue n' Groove was born.  As a founding member and original keyboard player of the band, I performed with Chip and the numerous line-ups in TnG for 12 years until April 2010.    Aside from the original line-up, several of the other musicians I had the privilege to play with were Dave Foreman, Mark Stears, Rob Sexton, Jeff Gaskins and Dr. Ike.   As it turned out, Dr. Ike and I would reunite in 2014 in Big Red Deluxe.

Original TnG lineup (L to R): Adam, Stevie, Tony, Chip , Scott, Holly

The Ronco Sessions (2004)

Tongue 'n Groove

We recorded 8 tracks at Flag City Studios in Findlay, OH as a demo, but several tracks quickly became my favorites as they showed the power of this line-up and why the band was a perennial festival favorite.
- Scott Shaull (vox/guitar/acoustic);
- Chip McClurkin (drums/vox);
- Stevie Eyer (keys/vox);
- Dave Foreman (Lead guitar/vox);
- Jeff

We recorded 8 tracks at Flag City Studios in Findlay, OH as a demo, but several tracks quickly became my favorites as they showed the power of this line-up and why the band was a perennial festival favorite.
- Scott Shaull (vox/guitar/acoustic);
- Chip McClurkin (drums/vox);
- Stevie Eyer (keys/vox);
- Dave Foreman (Lead guitar/vox);
- Jeff Gaskins (bass/vox).

Read more…

(L to R): Jeff Gaskins, Chip McClurkin, Scott Shaull, Stevie, Dave Foreman

7 Live (2007)

Tongue 'n Groove

A 7 track demo EP of Tongue n' Groove live performances recorded at various festivals and other venues. TnG members:
- Scott Shaull (vox/guitar/acoustic);
- Chip McClurkin (drums/vox);
- Stevie Eyer (keys/vox);
- Dave Foreman (Lead guitar/vox);
- Jeff Gaskins (bass/vox).

Read more…

Duo with Scott Shaull

While I was performing in Tongue n' Groove, long time friend and bandmate Scott Shaull invited me to perform with him as a duo.  We performed at the 2003 Findlay Balloon Fest and continued to perform together off-and-on for several years at various venues in the Findlay area.  Scott and I would eventually reunite our SnS duo about 15 years later.   As has happened often in my life of music, while playing with Scott, I met someone I would play with in another time:  Scott's guitarist friend Jerry Natal, who would join my blues band in 2016.  

Dr. Ike in for Scott

Tina Lee & Random Blues

Sabbatical

Big Red Deluxe

Solo Again (...Duo too)

Buzzurd Blues Project

UB Bluesin' It

Next Chapter?