Steve Gibb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steve Gibb (born Stephen Thadius Crompton Gibb, 1 December 1973 in London, England), the firstborn son of Barry (one third of the Bee Gees) and Linda (nee Gray, voted Miss Edinburgh 1968) Gibb.
Steve Gibb is at least a third generation musician via his father's side of the family. His paternal grandparents were involved in performing music during the 'big band' era. His father and uncles are internationally known songwriters and performers who reached the height of their success in the late 1970's.
Due in part to these influences and a number of others, Steve was determined to take the stage early in his life. An impressionable five year old in 1978, Steve was exposed to the highlights of musical success and fame, witnessing firsthand all the excitement his father and uncles were a part of at the time.
Ten years later, at the age of 15 he would vividly recall, in an interview with the Miami Herald, the thrill of their tours and performances saying, "I remember every little bit of it, all the fun they had. I never wanted to do anything else. I've been around it all my life and I don't know any better feeling. It's the best!"
Steve married Gloria Levas in November 2002. They have one daughter and one son. Currently Steve and his family live in Miami, Florida.
Contents |
[edit] Musical beginning
At the age of 3 Steve began playing piano, but when he was about 13 he decided he'd like to play guitar. After attending a Van Halen gig he was inspired to work harder at this instrument.
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
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 Nickelodeon cartoon series 'Ren and Stimpy'.
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. 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'.
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.
[edit] Moving on with the music
[edit] 58
Since his beginnings Steve has continued to progress in his chosen field, playing with Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe) in 58. The concept Nikki Sixx had in mind when he formed -(58)- was of a non-touring, internet promoted entity that would feature on his new record label, Americoma Records. The name of the band stemmed from the year 1958, in which both Nikki Sixx and David Darling were born.
The sound, as exemplified on the band's one and only CD released in early 2000, was a self-described mixture of "glam, hip hop, rock, pop, funk and a car crash."
Steve is given co-writing credits on the track Who We Are. which features on the groups only album Diet For A New America.
[edit] Black Label Society
Steve was invited to join Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society as bass player in the Spring of 2000. Zakk nick-named his new bass player S.O.B. which had several interpretations from Sick On Booze to Scumbag On Bass but really it simply meant Son of Barry (Gibb).
Alcohol Fuelled Brewtality, B.L.S.'s live album was recorded in October of 2000 and released January 16, 2001. This recording gives those who haven't had the opportunity to see a live performance a chance to hear the band actually play together. It has been Zakk's policy to play all instruments (other than percussion) on B.L.S studio albums thus denying fans the chance to hear the other guitarists on recordings.
B.L.S. was added to the Ozzfest 2001 schedule that summer as the main stage opener. The first gig was in Milton Keynes, England, the 26th of May. After that it was off to the U.S. for the stateside gigs. Superterrorizer was recorded at one of the shows and is featured on the Ozzfest 2001 CD.
In June of 2001, just weeks into the American Ozzfest schedule, Steve left the band for personal reasons, a turn in life that took him out of the limelight for a while, disappointing many dedicated fans.
[edit] Crowbar
Kirk Windstein (founder of Crowbar) planned a rebirth of sorts for Crowbar in early 2004 and rebuilt the band with Steve Gibb as guitarist, Pat Bruders on bass and Tommy Buckley on drums.
"After a two and a half year hiatus, while I recorded and toured with Down, Crowbar hit the stage for the first time on June 24, 2004," says Kirk, "The new lineup of myself, Steve Gibb, Tommy Buckley and Pat Bruders proved to be crushing from the first few chords."
The European tour of 2004 was a big success, the highlight of which was their performance at the With Full Force festival in Leipzig, Germany. The band has consistently toured Europe, United Kingdom and United States of America year on year to packed out enthralled audiences.
The bands CD released in 2005 is called Lifesblood for the Downtrodden and was mastered at Middle Ear Studios (owned by Steve's father) and features Steve's excellent guitar performance on the track Lifesblood.
Steve and his brother, Travis, put together the first ever definitive DVD of Crowbar, featuring backstage footage, the Full Force festival, video tracks and a few more surprises. The "Live: With Full Force" DVD was released in early 2007 and received much critical acclaim.
[edit] Solo & Sides
In addition Steve has worked with his father and brother, Ashley, on various co-writing projects for artists like Barbra Streisand, Sir Cliff Richard and for Barry's forth coming solo album.
Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed along with Kirk Windstein started a side project metal band called Kingdom of Sorrow, they asked Steve to come lay some riffs on a few tracks. The debut album is set for release in February 2008.
Steve has also been putting together his own body of work, which he hopes to release on CD at some point in the future.
After touring as guitar tech for Down, and forfilling a week of Crowbar gigs, Steve returned to Miami to continue work with his father and brother on Barry Gibb's country album due for release in early 2008.
[edit] In films
The Outkast Talent Agency in Miami were asked to find numerous extras for the Michael Bay film Bad Boys 2 Steve appears briefly in the opening sequence (look for the beige baseball cap). Steve's long time friend Emerson Forth appears as the Boat Dock Guy (he holds Martin Lawrence hostage).
In September 2006 Steve, his father and brother Ashley wrote a song called Drown On The River, which is included in the Burt Reynolds 2007 film Deal. An album of the films soundtrack is also available.
