In 1992 Steve and some friends, including his best friend, Emerson Forth, formed a metal band called SkilletHead, which performed the club circuit in and around Miami. That year Steve also made occasional appearances as a guitarist backing the Bee Gees.
In February of 1997 Steve joined one of South Florida's 'buzz bands', The Underbellys. (In the photo, Steve is on the far left) This five piece band included Billy Velvet (lead vocals), Joel Dasilva (guitarist), Sean 'Evil' Gerovitz (bass), Randy Blitz (drums) and of course Steve on guitar. The band played countless venues including the Viper Room in Los Angeles and Don Hills in Greenwich Village.
The Underbelly's, including Steve, recorded for Columbia Records with Pat Dinizio of the Smithereens as their producer. Unfortunately this did not result in a record deal. Later the group would dissolve over 'creative differences'.
Three of it's members, Dasilva, Gerovitz and Blitz would later form the power trio now known as The Hep Cat Boo Daddies.
In November of 1997 Steve performed live with his father and uncles for their 'One Night Only' concert in Las Vegas. Steve also toured with the Smithereens in the late 1997/early 1998 timeframe.
Since his beginnings Steve has continued to progress in his chosen field, playing with Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) in 58, Zakk Wylde in The Black Label Society and now as a guitarist in the New Orleans based, metal/sludge band, Crowbar. See the other specifically named sections for more details about Steve's time in 58, The Black Label Society and Crowbar.
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On October 14, 1988, Steve and 9 other students at The Lear School in Miami performed their first concert. This group was put together by Isaac Ersoff, a mathematics teacher at the school with a background in music. The students performed at lunchtimes and for special events at the school. (The photo on the right is from an article published in the Miami Herald at that time. Although it's not at all clear, Steve is the individual to the right in the picture.)
Despite the fact that their high school closed its doors in early 1989, Steve and friends, Mike Wolofsky and Matt Ackerman, maintained their friendship.
That same year Steve and friends formed their own band which was indecisively christened NNY for 'No Name Yet'. Later they would settle on the name ZEX. (sounds like sex?)and in February of that year they landed a gig at 'Woody's' a Miami club owned by Rolling Stone, Ron Wood. Later in the year Steve would work as a guitar technician on the Bee Gee's 'One For All' Tour.
In 1991, after being his dad's guitar tech for two years, Steve enrolled in a music school in Miami where he studied, made some good friends and got his degree.
He began writing songs, the first of which was a solo effort entitled 'Whiskey Jam'. Other songs penned during this time were 'Shadow of Your Dreams' with Emerson Forth and Deniz Kose, 'Hole In My Soul' also with Kose, and 'Ren and Stevie' with Middle Ear Studio engineer, Scott Glasel and his girlfriend, Amanda Green. This song being a take off on the Gibb family dog, Ren, and the Nickelodean cartoon series 'Ren and Stimpy'.
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