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Stephen has been playing the guitar since he was five years old, although that wasn’t his first instrument. His grandmother started him on the piano a few months prior to that, and taught him to read sheet music. “She would use a sharpened pencil under my wrist to keep my hands in position…I remember crying about it to my mom.”
He got his first guitar from his uncle Jim at age five: a mini-sized Stella acoustic. “I remember it vividly;” he says. “I was told if he ever saw it laying on the ground he’d take it back.” He learned Yankee Doodle, then progressed to the D chord, which he cites playing sustained ‘for days’. “I thought I was a songwriter,” he says. Stephen briefly took drum lessons a little later in his childhood, as well as dabbling some more in piano, which translates into the keys and synth pedalboards he plays live with Odd Logic and his other project, Graphic Light Theory. Stephen is also currently involved with another band, Bleach Black. Visit their Facebook page for info. |
To say Stephen grew up in a musical family would be an understatement. At the annual family reunions, the older members of his family would sit in a big circle and play country, old Duane Eddie, and 60s surf tunes on Fender guitars. “I would sit close by and pretend (pre-air guitar) on anything that looked like a guitar,” he says. “Ruler, broomstick, whatever.” Every Sunday at church Stephen's mom, his uncle Jim, Jim’s wife, and her sister would play old gospel songs. “I saw them practicing in our front room all the time,” he reminisces. “I saw Gibson, Fender, and Peavey when I was very young…big stacks being moved around, pedals and wires…it was awesome. I was always intrigued.” His entire family has been nothing but encouraging. “My brother plays guitar and sings quite well, and my sisters sing duets to this day. At my mom’s memorial, my uncle and his wife once again played those same old gospel songs.” That perfectly sums up how important music has always been to Stephen and his family. “When I die, I want my ashes cremated and stuffed in the sound hole of my Martin acoustic. Sean’s gonna play a little piece, then seal me in it and bury it somewhere or throw it in the ocean. That’s going to be my final resting place,” he laughs.
Stephen has been involved in many projects over the years: a Rush-influence power trio in the late ‘70s by the name of Ivory Tower, a biker band with much older guys who all rode Harleys, a pseudo-comedy band called Knuklhed in Florida, which was his first studio experience. He moved to Seattle in the early ‘90s, met the guys from Graphic Light Theory and played with them up until the formation of Odd Logic. “GLT includes two of the best musicians I’ve ever played with in my life: John Miguel Mayhan and Rene Monjaros Gamboa.” Graphic Light Theory had the honor of opening for Fates Warning, who he mentions is his all-time favorite band. “It was surreal,” he says. “Sean did vocals for us that night…it was one of the greatest shows we ever performed.”
He was also an instructor at Full Sail College in Florida in the early 90s, in the Studio Maintenance department. “And believe it or not,” he adds, “I was a high school teacher for eight years in the early 2000s." In 2003, he won the Outstanding Teacher Of The Year award.
When not totally engrossed in the studio, Stephen likes to tinker: repairing guitar amps, repurposing scrapped thrift store organ foot pedals into MIDI foot controllers, and working on cars. It earned him the nickname “The Scientist” in the band. “I used to rebuild and customize VW Beetles back in the day... I can remove and replace a bug’s motor in about seven minutes,” he says with a laugh. “No kidding!”
Stephen is a father of two, who are in their late teens and are also also extraordinary musicians. He says he thinks his two ‘humanoids’ are what he’s most proud of, “besides being married to the same awesome chick I met in high school and married 33 years ago.”
Stephen has been involved in many projects over the years: a Rush-influence power trio in the late ‘70s by the name of Ivory Tower, a biker band with much older guys who all rode Harleys, a pseudo-comedy band called Knuklhed in Florida, which was his first studio experience. He moved to Seattle in the early ‘90s, met the guys from Graphic Light Theory and played with them up until the formation of Odd Logic. “GLT includes two of the best musicians I’ve ever played with in my life: John Miguel Mayhan and Rene Monjaros Gamboa.” Graphic Light Theory had the honor of opening for Fates Warning, who he mentions is his all-time favorite band. “It was surreal,” he says. “Sean did vocals for us that night…it was one of the greatest shows we ever performed.”
He was also an instructor at Full Sail College in Florida in the early 90s, in the Studio Maintenance department. “And believe it or not,” he adds, “I was a high school teacher for eight years in the early 2000s." In 2003, he won the Outstanding Teacher Of The Year award.
When not totally engrossed in the studio, Stephen likes to tinker: repairing guitar amps, repurposing scrapped thrift store organ foot pedals into MIDI foot controllers, and working on cars. It earned him the nickname “The Scientist” in the band. “I used to rebuild and customize VW Beetles back in the day... I can remove and replace a bug’s motor in about seven minutes,” he says with a laugh. “No kidding!”
Stephen is a father of two, who are in their late teens and are also also extraordinary musicians. He says he thinks his two ‘humanoids’ are what he’s most proud of, “besides being married to the same awesome chick I met in high school and married 33 years ago.”
STEphen'S INFLUENCES
Stephen’s musical preferences are strongly rock- and metal-oriented. “My older sister bought me my first heavy metal album for Christmas in 1975: Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare.” Styx’s “Man in the Wilderness” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” were the first real songs Stephen learned on guitar. Aside from Rush, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Hendrix, Stephen went on to discover bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Fates Warning, Forced Entry, Crumbsuckers, the early years of Kiss, Megadeth, Slayer, Kansas, Yes, Nazareth, Nuclear Assault. He attributes his musical expansion to friends from high school and his time at Full Sail, citing friends John Maddox and Shirzad “Shane” Saidi as people with whom he could really share his passion for rock and metal.
As a guitarist, Stephen takes influence from many of the rock and metal masters from the 60s to modern day. “Tony Iommi was the first guitar god I tried to emulate,” he says. “Along with Ritchie Blackmore. Alex Lifeson was my guitar hero when I was very young. Only the old stuff, through pre-Signals,” he clarifies. He cites Randy Rhoads for being his gateway to shredding, Ritchie Blackmore for his classical influence and perhaps the biggest influence on his lead playing, Alex Lifeson for the clean and open sound and the “long prog stuff”, as well as songwriting. He further cites Jim Matheos for his “big and crazy chord progressions and odd time signatures—my early prog metal roots.” He also mentions Joe Satriani as an influence for his two-handed technique. “I’m really into instrumental guitar now,” Stephen confesses. “Guthrie Govan, Keith Merrow, Jeff Loomis…guys like that. It’s my goal to learn that legato style.”
As a guitarist, Stephen takes influence from many of the rock and metal masters from the 60s to modern day. “Tony Iommi was the first guitar god I tried to emulate,” he says. “Along with Ritchie Blackmore. Alex Lifeson was my guitar hero when I was very young. Only the old stuff, through pre-Signals,” he clarifies. He cites Randy Rhoads for being his gateway to shredding, Ritchie Blackmore for his classical influence and perhaps the biggest influence on his lead playing, Alex Lifeson for the clean and open sound and the “long prog stuff”, as well as songwriting. He further cites Jim Matheos for his “big and crazy chord progressions and odd time signatures—my early prog metal roots.” He also mentions Joe Satriani as an influence for his two-handed technique. “I’m really into instrumental guitar now,” Stephen confesses. “Guthrie Govan, Keith Merrow, Jeff Loomis…guys like that. It’s my goal to learn that legato style.”
STEphen'S EQUIPMENT
Stephen customizes all of his guitars. All the pickups have been changed to The Nazgul, Sentient, Liqui-Fire and Crunch Lab—all Dimarzio pickups. He primarily plays Paul Reed Smith guitars, with customized Crunch Labs pickups and Ernie Ball Strings. He uses Carvin, Ibanez, PRS and Schecter 7-string guitars. “I’m a budding guitar collector,” he says.
Recording Effigy, Stephen used a Fender Strat with upgraded Hot Rails and a Gibson Les Paul with Liqui-Fire and Crunch Lab pickups, plugged into an ENGL 50-watt PowerBall with 6L6s with a Sennheiser E906 and a custom German ribbon mic, all out of a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cab with vintage 30s. “I also blended tone from a hot-rodded 80s 2505 Marshall JCM 800 with EL34s,” he adds. “I modified the grid resistors to increase current throughout the tube for more saturation…I used the Fender Strat through that beast.” Stephen uses ProTools 11 with The Waves API series EQs and the Schepps Neve console simulator alongside Stephen Slate VMR Plugins through an M-Audio 2626 audio interface and a Presonus Blue Tube preamp. Stephen runs and maintains a 24-track ProTools studio.
Recording Effigy, Stephen used a Fender Strat with upgraded Hot Rails and a Gibson Les Paul with Liqui-Fire and Crunch Lab pickups, plugged into an ENGL 50-watt PowerBall with 6L6s with a Sennheiser E906 and a custom German ribbon mic, all out of a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cab with vintage 30s. “I also blended tone from a hot-rodded 80s 2505 Marshall JCM 800 with EL34s,” he adds. “I modified the grid resistors to increase current throughout the tube for more saturation…I used the Fender Strat through that beast.” Stephen uses ProTools 11 with The Waves API series EQs and the Schepps Neve console simulator alongside Stephen Slate VMR Plugins through an M-Audio 2626 audio interface and a Presonus Blue Tube preamp. Stephen runs and maintains a 24-track ProTools studio.