I had plans to record album #8 in 2019. Then this year. Both times, nope. The muse was not ready to find me, even though I was writing a lot of demos. Rather than force things, I am going to take you all on a trip back in time and give you little commentaries about my seven studio albums. You can go to this website for more info about song titles and such: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Steve_Bello/3540255350 but I will be providing some trivia here and there on this blog.
And away I go...
TWISTED METAL (2003):
Recorded in 9 hours at a home studio in Franklin Lakes, NJ (the exception of the lone acoustic song done on another day) with myself on guitar and bass, and Darren Patrick on drums. This was the cd that got the ball rolling. Was only supposed to be for when I did Ibanez clinics but it somehow generated a fair bit of interest. Producer Joe Valesio said he never saw anyone work as quickly as Darren and I did, so that was a nice thing to hear. The title came from an article about the aftermath of 9/11, with a caption that said "Strands of twised metal strewn across the land."
ALL WIRED UP (2004):
Now I had a power trio, with myself, Darren on drums and Courtenay Penick on bass. Did this cd at Crystal Studios in Park Ridge, NJ with Mike Koenig (RIP) producing. This was a lot of fun to record. Like the first cd, everything was recorded in one day and the acoustic track was done another night. Supposedly a copy of this cd made its way to Steve Vai for his Favored Nations label but am sure it was at the bottom of the pile. No biggie. We actually played real live gigs with this music...fancy that! Darren left in February 2005 and the hunt for a new drummer was on.
JUPITER RETURN (2005):
This is my least-favorite cd for many reasons. Darren was replaced with Evan Prettyman on drums and he was trying to push my music in a more jazz/fusion direction. My music already had touches of that but he was hoping I'd do away with the metal. Whose name is on the cd?! Anyway, this album was a disaster to make. Producer Mike Koenig broke his foot real bad, but he still wanted to do the album. Everything was a mess, and I was rushing things because I was upset about Darren leaving the band. I felt I had to prove that I could go on and for the most part, I succeeded. I like some of the songs on it but overall, it's my dark horse.
ABOUT TO EXPLODE! (2008):
Three years later and I finally did this album, and it was a lot of fun to make, unlike the previous cd. The line-up here featured Ko on bass (and he produced as well) and CJ on drums. I remember CJ sweating up a storm during the recording, was quite a trip. This was actually finished in 2007 but there were some delays with getting the cd printed up and such but i finally came out in 2008. This should have been the album after ALL WIRED UP but time is funny like that. I like this cd, has some really cool moments.
GO BERZERK! (2011):
By this time, I could have changed my name to Boston or Def Leppard because the space between albums was getting longer. Started writing for this cd in 2009, had a great rhythm section in Joe DeMott on ass and Ed Faust on drums. But shortly after the cd was out, Ed left. He was replaced with TC Tolliver of the Plasmatics for the shows (but we never recorded together). And this is the only cd where I didn't write all the songs. Joe wrote "Chomp" which was his foray into slap bass. Johnnie Truesdale produced it and we recorded at the new-defunct Bennett Studios in Englewood, NJ. Yes, Dae Bennett, the son of Tony Bennett was the owner. That was a nice notch in my bedpost. And this cd was featured in M Music Magazine (if you got to the PRESS page on my site, and find the link, you can read it).
LAYERS OF TIME (2015):
This is the only cd to date where I recorded everything except one keyboard part. The drummer and bassist I had bolted before I recorded a note so I took it upon myself to be like Prince and do everything. Rosario Panzarella produced the cd, and added the keyboard part on the title track. I programmed the drums, played all the guitars and bass (and I even drew a breath on song "Slippery Gypsy"?!) This was fun to make but very exhausting yet the payoff was sweet. This cd garnered the most attention, got the most gigs out of it, and honestly I've yet to recapture all that magic. Still I try...
MARBLEHEAD (2018):
I had a line-up for this but they felt "pressured" to record so they left. Enter Chris Davison on bass (who produced this) and drummer Ronnie Mormino. We had four rehearsals and then banged the album out over the course of three sessions. This was a joy to make, really felt like everyone were on the same page. But Chris and Ronnie have their own band so after this was out and we did a couple of shows, I had to find new players. After all the success I had with LAYERS, it was really tough to find that mojo and keep the excitement going. I will always be proud of MARBLEHEAD because it's still my most creative music to date. The title came from a temp job I was working at in 2015; I kept seeing labels for Marblehead, MA, so I figured it sounded like a cool funky title and I was right.
As of this writing, I put away live performances yet still wish to record new music. I have 26 demos that I narrowed down to 10. Working on album covers and whatnot because I am old-school like that. Not sure if I will record alone like I did with LAYERS, or have a rhythm section again. Have to really play this one by ear.
For now, you can hear most of my albums on iTunes, Spotify, etc. Some of the cds are out of print but I remastered some tracks and re-released them on a comp download-only called REFURBISHED. If all goes well, I may have a new album out in 2021.
But I won't hold my breath.
