Thirteenth Step (band)

Thirteenth Step (stylized as ⊥hiЯteenth $tep^[1] or 13th Step^[2]) is an American psychedelic rock and post-grunge band, formed in 2006 in Valley Station, Louisville. They were signed to Dirty Water Records^[3] until 2009; the band is now signed to CITYFIDE MUSIC GROUP.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The band consists of Michael Anthony King - vocals, guitar; Josh Pierce - guitar; Nicholas Brae King - bass, vocals; Jonathan Barnes - drums, percussion.^[9][10] Thirteenth Step have released two studio albums: No More War^[11] and Carry On as well as 10^[12][13] studio EPs and two live EPs and four^[14] home-recorded demo albums. The band is known for its song's Don't Be Afraid, My Suicide, Hit the Ground, and Misery as well as a handful of other songs.

Thirteenth Step was put on the national spotlight when they were flown to Arlington Heights, IL to perform for Alternative rockers Days of the New^[15][16][17] at Home Bar Chicago in front of a capacity crowd. That event scored them endorsements from Gibson Guitars, Ernie Ball Strings and a National Distribution Deal with Best Buy.

Thirteenth Step tours nationally, having opened up shows for the likes of Black Label Society, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Religion, Black President, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, NOFX, Filter, We Are the Fallen, Living Sacrifice, Demon Hunter, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion, Danzig, Eagles of Death Metal, Tenacious D, Mike & The Mechanics, Days of the New, etc.

13th Step early years (2006–2007)

^[18]

13th Step was formed by brothers Nicholas and Michael King in the summer of 2006, both brothers wanted to form a rock band Nicholas started out as the guitarist and keyboardist and they performed covers of Christian rock bands like Third Day, Mercy Me, and Jars of Clay. They recruited guitarist Brent Evans and drummer Jonathan Barnes as official band members and bassist Angie Thompson at one point drummer Chad Walls played duo drummer combo with Jonathan as seen by The Allman Brothers Band in the 1960s and 70s. The band recorded 4 EPs in 2006 their debut 5 song covers release More Than Words. they wrote four original acoustic songs for a release called Don't Be Afraid, they wrote and recorded 4 more songs for the release of Hit The Ground and the last being the self-titled promotional covers CD used for booking bars and clubs was released that fall. The band opened the WLRS Festival in 2006^[19][20] alongside 7 Day Sun, and SubRosa. They ended the summer of 2007 opening the Christian rock Ichthus Festival.^{[21][22][23][24]} That same summer Thirteenth Step opened for Tantric and Drowning Pool at Phoenix Hill Tavern.^[25] The band was known for its sexual-related art work of porn star Jada Fire^[18] as seen on MySpace.^[1]

13th Step (2008–09)

Thirteenth Step released a music video featuring Vietnam War footage in July 2008 with their song My Suicide and an acid-trip-driven music video for Don't Be Afraid the following month for fans on YouTube^[26] the band also released live footage video from concerts and special vlog's also known as video blog's to update their fans on the status of the band by weekly post updates. The band hired Wyndell Williams as a full-time guitarist after Brent Evans was dismissed due to musical differences and drug abuse. The band recorded four albums^[27] with Wyndell Williams but did not break into the mainstream.

Break-up (2008–2014)

After remaining inactive for over a year, it was announced in October 2009 that 13th Step had disbanded. Nicholas cited tensions between Michael and the rest of the band as the reasoning. He said that the relationship with Michael had become so strained that the creative juices were no longer flowing. The reality was that Michael was in Beechmont, Louisville battling his addiction to alcohol and drugs.^[28] Almost simultaneous with the announcement of 13th Step's break-up, Michael opted for a solo career.^[29] On July 3, 2013, Cityfide Music Group released 13th Step's What Hits!?, after which Michael released his debut solo album when we were young^[30] in 2013 with Cityfide Records recording artist LIL Aizy.^[31] Meanwhile, Nicholas and Jonathan had reunited with Wyndell Williams to form a new band, called Brothers in Arms^[32] with singer Chuck Willis, formerly of Breckinridge and the current frontman of Heaven Hill's^{[33][34][35][36]} latest project.

Side projects (2007–2016)

^[37][38]

Altered Addiction original line-up and post break up legal battles in civil court

Altered Addiction^{[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]} was formed in 2008 in Portland, Louisville by vocalist/guitarist Michael King,^[29] keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter and producer Steve Mings,^{[48][49][50][51][52]} guitarist Matt Crowley, bassist Joe Lewis and drummer Jonathan Barnes.^[53] Jonathan Barnes and Michael have been previously performing together in the band 13th Step. In 2008, Altered Addiction^[54] signed with Little Heart Records. With the loss of bassist Joe Lewis,^[51][52][55] Matt Crowley covered both bass and guitar duties on the debut Sweet Dreams - EP.^[56][57] Steve Mings and Michael King of Altered Addiction formed their own imprint record label in the Portland, Louisville area were they have an in house recording studio and video production company called Addiction Entertainment L.L.C.^[8]

Jason Fagan^[58] began performing with Michael King and Steve Mings in 2011, where they played under the name "Altered Addiction", until Matt Crowley's estate issued a legal challenge to the use of the trademarked name for a venture not including Crowley. As a result, they changed their name to "Altered Addiction with Jason" in January 2012. The group played at the 2012 Portland Festival^[59] and embarked on their first tour in 2012, and released their debut album, Vendetta (LP), on November 1, 2012. Fagan left the band on December 22, 2012.

Altered Addiction second line-up

Matt, Steve and Michael regrouped with a new band by the same Altered Addiction in December 2012 with blues guitarist William Mellor (Seth Mellor) to record the covers E.P. Brown Sugar^[60] it was released exclusively to ReverbNation and their originals E.P. Here I Am^[61] it was released exclusively on PureVolume^[60] Seth left the band the following year and Dujan Burton was hired to record on the covers E.P. Change The World^[62] he also wrote the songs Jug Band^[63] and Hard Headed^[64] which are now unreleased singles and out of print. The tracks are featured on the band's official YouTube^[65] page for fans listening pleasures but not retail.

Post Steve Mings era, session musicians and arrests

Steve was fired in December 2013 after an argument with the band that resulted in Joe P. Kelly, and Dwight Cummins becoming his replacements in the band thus leaving only Mike and Matt as the founding members of the group, Dujan Burton remained in the band and would record a new album with the group entitled "Glances"^[66] his departure came after his legal battles and drug habits got in the way of his performance with the group. He was arrested 3 times in 2015, once on August 11,^[67] a second time on September 9,^[68] and again on October 29^[69] leading to his dismissal from the group. In the following months Dwight Cummins had been arrested for charges of identity theft.^[70] Joe P. Kelly was later fired due to musical differences with Mike and Matt. Matt and Mike parted ways for a short time.

Jeffrey Hughes era

While Michael and Colin Price the bassist for Incarnational Sonship was attending alcoholics anonymous meetings in South Louisville he meet guitarist and visual artist Jeffrey Hughes and asked if he would join him and Matt in Altered Addiction later Jesse Brennan and his wife Mindy was asked to join the band and they recorded the album Sinking Ships^[71] within a month of forming the band. It didn't last long do in part to the album's failure in the charts.

Dave Eged and Patrick Lee Douglas era

^[72][73]

Patrick Lee Douglas meet Michael and Matt at the local library across the street from his house late one night and asked if Matt and Mike would jam at his place the acoustic covers EP^[74] was recorded in his home that very night he added bass lines to the recordings. within a months time Michael Glenn King; Mike's father suggested bringing Dave Eged into the band to change up the sound and make something fresh with there music being good friends from back home in Campbellsburg, Kentucky during the original Thirteenth Step days he agreed. He now resides in Cleveland, Ohio but comes to Louisville to record and practice on the regular basis. The band would record the Up Left Mofo Demo Tape^[75] in Patrick's home studio and their debut studio EP Fallen at American Recording Company in Louisville^[76] a second EP was recorded during these sessions also that only included Dave, Mike and Matt which featured covers selected from their favorite rock bands entitled Breeze^[77] Cumbersome was re-recorded twice once with the band as a four piece and then as a 3 piece band. Cumbersome had been recorded once under the Steve Mings and Dujan Burton era of the band on the Change The World E.P. release and on a Thirteenth Step^[78] release thus making it the 4th studio version Michael had cut to date. A live acoustic version had been issued by 13th Step during that time too. Simple Man was recorded twice as well of both sessions.

Incarnational Sonship Christian rock spin off to Altered Addiction

Incarnational Sonship^[79] was an Alternative Christian rock band that formed in 2011 in Hikes Point, Louisville at the Southeast Christian Church. At that time, the band consisted of vocalist Matt Singleton,^[80][81] bassist Michael "Mike Higgins" King, guitarist Steve Mings, and drummer Jerimy Lindsey. The pastor of the church was throwing a Saturday night concert. A band had backed out and he needed a replacement. Matt Singleton, Mike Higgins, Steve Mings^[48][49] and Jeremy Mehler^[82] formed "Pull Me Apart Trenita"^[83] to perform.

Incarnational Sonship current line-up

^[84]

Steve and Michael started a new band after not hearing from the original members of the group, to start the guys toyed around with different band names but settled on the old band name they had with the original group, Colin Price had meet Michael while attending Bridgehaven with his wife and asked him if he'd like to start a band he sighed to the pressure and agreed. Cory Brandon Arledge would become the groups guitarist and later be replaced by keyboardist Blaine Grant A childhood friend of Steve's. Michael has stated the reasoning for letting such a great guitarist go was his criminal history^[85] that compared to that of Dujan Burton from his other band Altered Addiction that he found online. This line-up has remained in place to date and plays shows on the regular basis in coffee shops and Churches around the Commonwealth of Kentucky and States of Indiana and Ohio. The band was also known by the name The Morning Freaks upon learning the name was already used by another band they accept the fate of Incarnational Sonship and Christian rock being the claim in music. The band issued two singles Jesus^[86] and Dreams^[87] on Purevolume.

Fallen Down (acoustic duo)

Fallen Down was an American acoustic rock band from St. Matthews, Kentucky, formed in 2011. The band consisted of vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Nicholas King and Danny Roach & a wide array of session musicians.

Reunion and touring (2014–2016)

From 2008 onward, Nicholas promised that Thirteenth Step would never reform. However, on April 11, 2014,^[88] Thirteenth Step's website announced that the band had reunited for a new tour and plans for a new album. According to Nicholas, "We're all very excited to reconnect with our fans and each other after one long Year." He later added that being in Thirteenth Step again was "the last thing [he] expected." Jonathan also stated: "Our career as Thirteenth Step came to a very abrupt and unforeseen ending. After reflecting on some of the greatest personal and professional moments of our lives, we've come to realize that we are still very capable of continuing that career and our friendship on a grander scale than ever before. "In an interview for LEO Weekly magazine, Michael elaborated on the reunion, saying, "We never felt like we weren't together. We're not looking at this as a reunion. It's more of a rebirth."^[89][90]

Hiatus and family issues (2016–present)

The band had announced after its reunion tour that there was not going to be a new album in the works via its Facebook page^[91] and that the band would be on a long-awaited hiatus;^[92] The hiatus was due in part to bassist Nicholas Brae King^[93] having legal issues and the older brother having family issues with their mother and father's divorce. The tickets for the last few shows were refunded for those who would rather see Thirteenth Step over Mike's new project with former multi-instrumentalist Steve Mings who he had performed with in the bands Never October, Altered Addiction and Incarnational Sonship they simply dubbed their new project Michael Cash and Steve Mings of Altered Addiction. They had vowed to do remakes acoustically live of Thirteenth Step's hit songs "My Suicide" and Don't Be Afraid and fan favorites like Hit the Ground, Heavens Gates, Misery and My Angel which a demo track of appears on their new Reverb Nation page.^[94] The duo is set to do a headline acoustic tour in the fall of 2016 regionally. Steve and Michael also re-released their entire acoustic demo package online spanning 10 years of over 50 plus acoustic rock originals and covers, plus 40 or more newly recorded acoustic rock originals and classic folk rock covers plus the unreleased Altered Addiction demo tapes originally recorded under the band name Altered State. The remastered cassette tapes which are now offered as digital downloads via PureVolume^[95] for free. The duo had the tapes digitally transferred from modern tape deck to computer technology in Mings's home studio in Portland, Louisville using Mixcraft. A box set will be released on July 4, 2016, containing all three unreleased discs plus the Bad Things EP, Drive - EP, Here I Am - EP, and Change the World - EP containing unreleased studio sessions and live recordings from their debut tour in 2007 and other unreleased tracks from all 4 studio sessions.

Nicholas and legal issues

Nicholas has been arrested for domestic violence with his girl friend Stephanie Mahoney in Bedford, Kentucky three different times and was arrested once for failure to appear in court in Henry County. He has been in and out of group homes growing up and has had many other legal issues related the drugs and car thief.^[96]

Side projects (2014–present)

Midtown Cocaine

^[97]

Michael got with guitarist Charlie and Steve after a jam session at the Urban Goatwalker coffee house to form an acoustic post grunge rock trio entitled Midtown Cocaine^[97] they've released over 50 demo tracks via ReverbNation mostly rough covers and original songs. The group is an acoustic guitar duo of Steve and Charlie and singer Michael. They have an early Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden voice meets Bob Dylan and Neil Young guitar work sound.

Red (Nicholas King solo project)

Nicholas begun working as a solo artist again as of July 2016 and plays open mics on the regular basis when off from work he now does his music for free and fun. He holds a day job and tries to get out and play on his free time. He has released a demo's EP on PureVolume^[98] and an exclusive Acoustic EP to Reverbnation.^[99]

Shorty Doowop (Jonathan Barnes solo project)

^[100]

Jonathan Barnes has been recording solo work off and on for over 15 years he has since returned to recording solo music and touring small clubs and bars on the regular basis he lives in Phoenix, Arizona and plays nightly gigs all over the city.

In-print record company

Thirteenth Step's Michael King started a production company for underground Louisville area artist's that he promotes and manages called 13th Step Productions.^[2] He also has started a management company called Michael King Music, Inc.,^[101] 13th Step Productions has signed Chainfire and most notably Bury The Willing.^{[102][103][104][105]} Michael King Music is the parent company over Burkhart Management L.L.C.^[106] the pair produce live recordings and do video production for local area artists most notably Steve Hunnicutt^[107] of Tommyrot^{[108][109][110][111][112]} and former guitarist singer songwriter for his acoustic rock trio Hunnicutt, Sensbach & King and later renamed Never October^[113][114] after adding multi instrumentalist Steve Mings to the band. Michael produced Hunnicutt's Acoustic Live at Wick's Pizza which was engineered and recorded by Josh Gray^[115][116] of the band Common Collective^[117] and in his own right a solo artist of great statue himself.

Discography

^{[118][119][120][121]}

Studio albums and EPs

^{[122][123][124]}

• More Than Words EP (Released March 10, 2006)
• Don't Be Afraid EP (Released April 29, 2006)
• Hit the Ground - EP (Released April 30, 2006)
• EP (Released August 1, 2006)
• No More War (Released March 2, 2008)
• Love's Not Dead EP (Released June 3, 2008)
• too late (Released January 24, 2010)
• city of the dead (Released June 8, 2010)
• Voodoo Princess (Released June 7, 2011)
• Voodoo Queen (Released December 6, 2011)
• Worship - EP^[125] (Released on August 13, 2013)
• Rocketship EP^{[126][127][128][129]} (Released January 9, 2015)
• Carry On (Released April 7, 2015)
• In the Air Tonight - EP^[130][131] (Released December 11, 2015)
• Hush E.P.^[132][133] (Released April 8, 2016)

Live albums and EPs

^[124]

• MTV Unplugged (Released September 19, 2006)
• Live on The Resolution Tour EP (Released January 8, 2008)

Former members

• Brent Evans^[134] - lead guitar, backing vocals^{[135][136][137]}
• Chad Matthew Walls^[134][138] died October 4, 1974 - January 28, 2015 - drums^[135][138] (More Than Words EP)
• Angela Thompson^[134] - lead guitar, backing vocals ^[135] (More Than Words EP)
• Kelly Rosenthal^[134] of Say Chance - guitars and samples (No More War & Love's Not Dead EP)

Touring musicians

• Shawn Harrell - bass (2009)
• Drew Norris - lead guitar (early 2015)
• Michael Dickerson - lead guitar (2016)
• John Carter - bass (2009)

Session musicians

• Chico Beat^[134] - drums and percussion (No More War)
• Wyndell Williams^[134] - lead guitar (No More War)

References