Speaker 1: Hi, This is Bobby Brown and welcome to another fucking podcast.
Speaker 2: Troy a sight, don't be all a man bab not
once great champ now sunny and mopishness no longer the
factory hungry still wait right? So many times people by
a pathetic wash up age, ax Champion.
Speaker 3: All right, let's go. I think you know the guy,
and I think you know what's pretty dear?
Speaker 4: WHOA?
Speaker 3: His name is he?
Speaker 1: Presley?
Speaker 2: Press pres Psley? What's my name? Say my name, bitch?
My good friend?
Speaker 1: Is he Presley? Is he Presley?
Speaker 4: Is Presley Couch?
Speaker 1: Is he Presley?
Speaker 2: WHOA?
Speaker 4: That sounds a little weird? Is he President?
Speaker 2: Is he Presley?
Speaker 3: Is he Presley? The heaviest, gurthiest rocky j around? Hey,
this is Jeffer. You listen to Izzy Presley. Those aren't
pillows now they're not. Hello, Las Vegas, Hello world, Hello,
my loyal dominions. It's good to see you. It's always
good to be seen. I'm Mizzey Presley. I'm the host
of the program without the fabulous Mike Dawson. This week
DOS had some scheduling conflicts. He was not able to
record this week, and that's fine. You know, it's great
people have have lives too, and I could not not
do a show. So here I am flying solo, which
I've been doing for thirteen years, so it's not like
I haven't done this before. It's now. Can give me
Garth staring at the at the at the camera where
you think his head is going to explode. But thank
you for being here. I appreciate you guys. I appreciate
you hanging. I appreciate the support. Uh. Speaking of the sport,
hit up Thepatreon Patreon dot com slash real Izzy Presley
five dollars a month. If you are on the Patreon,
you're hearing this tonight, You're seeing it tomorrow. This is
Oh what is the date? It is Wednesday, January twenty first.
It is seven to three pm. You're hearing it tonight
by eight three pm January twenty first. If not, you're
getting it off Friday the twenty third, with ads. All
the Patreon's ad free. It is what it is Patreon, folks.
I apologize. I thought I hit published on the show
last night, so you got you're getting two shows tonight.
Went to the av ends today and that was glorious.
Just went to get my badge and walk around and
met Christy Kanyon. God bless her, God bless Christy Kanyon. Wait,
we talk about that in the interview later on. I'm
going to be going back tomorrow to get the content
and the next fresh round of dating tips from porn stars.
And I just have to get the questions lined up,
and they will be lined up, and they will be entertaining,
and there will be jiggling titties on the show, but
of course covered up because you know, we can't. I
can't show titties. As much as I'd love to. I'd
love to have grocery store gal naked behind me. That
would be glorious. That'd be good. We'd like that, that
would be good, but we can't do that. We can
do that on the radio version, on the podcast version,
but I can't do that here, trust me, because I
want to see those that would be glorious. Some bitch
thinks that would be glorious too. It's mad at me.
Didn't bring them to the porn didn't bring them to
the a v N. Not the awards, the uh the
It's like nam accept the fun diseases and much more
titties that you want to see. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Speaking of that, why don't we do this, Why don't
we jump into one of the dating tips with porn
Stars that we did not play yet, And then we'll
be right back with my good friend Steve Brown, you
know him from Trickster plays with def Leopard from time
to time as the fill in guy for a Vivian
and sometimes Phil. And now he is coming on to
talk about and I'm talking like that on purpose, by
the way. Now he's coming on to talk about his
brand new bon Jovi tribute called Always Jovi, who is phenomenal,
and we dive into the tribute world. We get good
old Trickster stories, we get some old bon Jovie stories,
get some of these freely stories, a fun ride down
Steve's rock and roll past, and you will enjoy it.
It is another fucking podcast. I'm busy. Presley Dawson will
be back next week and here's dating Tips with porn Stars. Hey,
at least we got Dawson's voice.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for dating tips from porn stars.
Speaker 3: Here we go, Dating tips from porn stars. Who do
we have here? Yes, all right, sirah. Question number one
We all know confidence is king. So we're taking that
off the table. Looks money or a sense of humor?
What's more important? I like that? I like that for you.
How important is it for a guy to make the
first move.
Speaker 4: It's so important for me.
Speaker 3: I have to be chasing.
Speaker 4: One.
Speaker 3: Here you go. Can you smell desperation?
Speaker 1: Absolutely?
Speaker 4: Don't do it.
Speaker 3: Don't text boy, don't email mom me. I will respond
on my own time, and I probably will respond if
you give me actual conversation, all right? Do you prefer
text or a phone call? Text?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 3: And if you're get to start seeing somebody, how long
before you tell them what you do?
Speaker 1: Bright away?
Speaker 4: I don't need to find out. I don't want to
be like yourself.
Speaker 3: You can enjoy every moment of what I do, and
sharing that with someone I like is must? All right?
If you want to find you on the socials and
the interwebs, where can they find you?
Speaker 4: Herespun dot com Love it.
Speaker 1: That was dating tips from porn Stars. Now back to
another f and podcast with Izzy Presley.
Speaker 3: Joining me. Now a man that I've known for a while.
I've seen him, uh just recently in November when we
cross paths of the Kiss trdfest, I mean the kiss
cruise landlocked and you know from Trickster, you know, from
that big Christmas extravaganza. And now he has entered the
Tribute world. Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Brown, how you doing,
Buddy good?
Speaker 4: Is he man? Great? Great to be here? Hello, everybody
out there in the worldwide? Is he rock and roll?
Intraweb world? It's great to be here? Freezing in New Jersey.
I woke up today. It was zero degrees out and
my I had some problems with some heating in my house,
and my house got down to fifty degrees and we're
just thawing out. But like I tell everybody, you know,
like when I'm in Vegas, you know that line that
you guys use all the time when it's one hundred
and ten degrees and you say, but it's a dry heat.
I tell everybody, Oh, it's zero degrees, but it's a
dry cold.
Speaker 3: Well, actually, you know what? You know what I say, Steve,
it's one hundred and ten, it's not seventy below zero.
I like this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know what, dude, I'll take that any
day as well. I love I'd rather be hot than cold.
Speaker 3: So are you start? Are you like forever Jersey. Then
are you Do you ever think about getting out of
Jersey for like reasons like that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean at some point, I mean, you know,
Jerseys you know, it's family, friends, It's where I live,
you know. Yeah, my we're in the the world famous
sixty one sixty Mojo Vegas studio, so you know, yeah,
it's uh, you know, I've thought about it. You know,
I think at some point, you know, probably within the
next ten years, I'd love to get a place in Florida. Yeah,
you know, and be down there. I mean, you know me, dude,
I'm a beach guy. The palm trees and you know,
I love all that stuff. So but we'll see. Man.
You know, I love winter too. I don't mind the cold.
I was out skiing the other day with my daughter.
I'm in a blast. So but I'm I'm definitely I'm
ready in about another week and especially supposed to get
a big storm here in Jersey this weekend, and I
know after that, let's talk next week and I'll be like, dude,
I'm I want to move to Florida. I want to
move Get.
Speaker 3: The fuck out air Fuck this, I'm done. Yeah, I know,
I have to have an act show in Minnesota February
twenty first, So I'm not looking forward to the Maybe
the exploding trees will be done by then. I have
an exploding tree warning in Minnesota going on right now
because it's so goddamn cold. I just don't need that shit.
Speaking of New Jersey, there, Steve Reno, you are now
currently in a band called Always Jovi. Yes, the New
Jersey tie in. See what I did right there? A
Bond Jovi tribute. How long has this been in the works?
Whose idea was this and what made you say, you know, what,
it's time to do something like this.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it's been in the works for over a
year and well over a year now. And it started,
you know, it started years ago. It was always in
the back of my mind, you know. And just so
you know, man, you know, I think you know, I've
been playing in cover bands and tribute bands in between
playing with def Leppard, playing with Trickster, you know, to
make money to be a full time musician, you know, Trickster.
As great as it is, it's my baby, I created it.
The money that we make from that is not enough
to supplement what we need to do to keep the
lights on and feed our families, you know, PJ and I,
So we've always done supplemental things. You know. PJ and
I both played in this eighties band, Rubik's Cube for
I was in the band for the better part of
twelve years and Pj's been in the band for a
while now. And long story short, you know, last year
it just popped in my mind being out on the
road with Wizards of Winter. My good buddy Greg Smith,
Tokyo motorfist Greg Smith. He plays in the problem arguably
the biggest Journey tribute band in America, Voyage with Robbie,
our buddy Robbie Hoffman and Pedro now as the new singer.
All happening last year, I was just it just got
my head and I said to myself, I need to
do this, you know. And it started back when I
started playing with def Leppard, because Phil and Joe would
always compliment me and say, like, oh, you sound like
John if John, you know, kind of a cross between
Joan bon Jovi and Richie sam Bora, the way you sing,
you know, And it was always in the back of
my mind, you know, And let's be frank here, man.
You know, over the last five years, I think it.
Tribute bands in America have skyrocketed to where bands you know,
our friends get the letout, they play Red Rocks and
sell it out. They play arenas our friends in the
band Hairball. And you know, my good buddy Nick Tierry
is in He's the mastermind behind that arena rock show.
And he's actually my partner and helped me launching always
Jovie and and him and I are you know, business
partners in this. So but it's more than you know,
more than anything, it's the love of the music and
being able to do it perfectly because I've been blessed
with this crazy voice that is able to you know,
pretty much nail John in his heyday, the John Bonjo vocal.
Speaker 3: Style which look and look and I think a lot
of people, a lot of people in some genre shit
on Jovie and they don't realize how good of a
singer John was in his prime. Obviously we know he's
not what he used to be. I mean, I mean, look,
he's aged, he had the throat problems. It's it happens.
Look at Paul Stanley, I mean he so we forget
he's seventy four years old. But being able to do
it at your age when not that I was calling
you old. I mean, we're pretty. I'm fifty three, you've
got to be You're like fifty six, fifty seven.
Speaker 4: Fifty five. I'm heading fifty five, so I'm around in
third base to fifty six. So man, what I would
do to be fifty three? Again, shut up, you punk.
Speaker 3: But to be able to do that is something special.
And this is one one thing that I wanted to
bring up to you and ask you, are you doing
the costume with the wig? And okay now the reason no, no,
hold on? Yeah, yeah, but there's a there's a there's
a thing that I wanted to throw by you and
just just hear me out, because, like you know, I
do the Israeli tribute. I do not look like a Fraili.
I don't sound like Ace FRAYLEI. I wear a jacket,
you know. But I've seen kiss tributes that I know
that I'm friends with, that you see them in costume,
you see them in the full makeup. People listen with
their eyes, so they sound more like them when they're
in the get up than they do when they're not
in the get up, because you're not getting the visual
part of it. Now, you could sound just like bon Jovi,
but you're gonna sound more like him if you have
the get up. You know, I'm getting it.
Speaker 4: I totally do. I totally understand that. And I've had
a lot of I've had a couple agents that have said,
you know, man, you know, if you're doing a tribute,
you gotta do this. But what I said before, the
biggest tribute band in America is get the letout. They
don't look like led Zeppelin. Okay, they don't do that.
Queen Mark Martel, he does Queen's One vision arguably probably
one of the top three biggest Queen tributes. It's about
the voice. So the look is one thing. Kiss is
a different thing, okay, because if you're doing Kiss from
the seventies, you gotta do that, you know. But we
also know that there's a lot of Kiss tributes and
there's a lot of bon Jovi tributes to where, you know.
And not to slag on anybody, because.
Speaker 3: That's oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 4: I love what everybody's doing. My take and this is
the tagline. It's a tribute like no other, and that
is the reasoning that I'm doing it in the way
that I'm doing it. To where it's me as the singer,
which is a different thing. People are people still text
me and message me, dude, I can't get past you
without not a guitar, you know, and not having guitar.
Andrew Freeman said that to me, and I'm like, well,
that's cool, because this is showing a different side. And
you know, but you know, the thing of it is
is that what we're doing is you know, it's all
the songs in the original keys. I'm singing everything. It's
pitch perfect, note perfect, and we're doing the greatest songs
from the greatest era, plus some deep cuts. But we're
doing it our way. And you know, you've seen you know,
I got my girl, Devin Maries, the you know, background singer,
and we're in you know, none of the other Jovie
tributes have a girl singer that's in the band full time.
She's in the band. We're able to do. Who says
you can come home. She's she's actually gonna be singing
some of the other deep cut songs. That's really special
to where I'm gonna be playing guitar on So don't
worry everybody, I am gonna play guitar and I'm gonna rip,
you know, don't worry about it. But again, this is
my thing. And look, there are so many great bon
Jovi tributes out there. Are my good friends are the
Jersey band, Slippery and Wet. Mike Parks looks like John
nineteen eighty seven to the tea. But you know, again, man,
there's a difference in what I'm trying to do. And
my my goal with this is to honor the music
perfectly and do it better than anybody else. And I
think we're doing that because you know, I haven't heard
a singer on the bon Jovi tribute circuit who can
sing the stuff as good as I can. And that's
just the way it is. And I'm you know, so
whatever what we're doing, as far as not having the wigs,
we're still gonna look like rock stars. You see our friends.
That's what it is. But it is, you know, And again,
you can't please everybody, is man. You know, we know
that in this business. And I've already gotten people. How
could you do this? You can't do that. Look I'm
doing I've always done things my way and that's the
way we're doing this. And you know John and the band,
you know, John and Richie, I've been you know, forty
year friends of mine. I jam with Dave Bryan a
couple of weeks ago, down and down in Nashville, right
before I launched Always Jovi. We jammed on stage with
my friends in the band Hippies and Cowboys, and I
sang three bon Jovi songs with him, and afterwards I
grabbed him, I put my arm around and go, dude,
just so you know, like in a day or two,
I'm launching my bon Jovi tribute. And he's like, oh man,
you sound great. Good luck, you know, and it's all
about love. You know. Look, John's been a friend, and
I've actually offered my help to help John with his voice,
to try to help him get back. I've reached out
to him and numerous people in his camp. So you know,
this is not in any way. This is all about
love and love and the music. And sure bon Jovi's
been one of my biggest influences in inspiration. So you know,
what better way and what better way to honor the
music and do it right? Then have me do it?
Speaker 3: Did Was there any help from John when you guys
were getting started? Did you know when did you meet John?
Did he have a hand in helping you guys get signed.
Speaker 4: He certainly did, man, you know, and Pete is broadcast
this like on his YouTube channel. So the story goes, Man,
we were you know, let me go back now that
we're talking about this. So nineteen eighty five Rat bon
Jovi tour Metalands Arena. My first time seeing bon Jovi
was me and Pete were there and we were watching
the show and it was a life changing show for
me because that was the night, first off, seeing John
bon Jovi live at that point nineteen eighty five, the
best looking dude in rock and roll, hands down, the
best fucking hair, the jersey frosted tips. Nobody had that hair,
and he was on fire. The band was unbelievable. They
were like a cross between there everything that I wanted
to be that I wanted Trickster to be. It was
a cross between Van Halen, Brian Adams, def Leppard. They
had they had shipped from everybody journey, you know, and
seeing them, it was like, this is the coolest band.
But the X factor that night was seeing Richie Sambora
and that was the night that I knew that I
had to step up my vocal ability to become what
I say, like a lead singer guitar player, like the
way Richie is, the way Steve Lucather was in Toto
to where you're just not a background singer, you're actually
a lead vocalist. And that night was a game changer
for me, you know, to see Richie what a great
guitar player. He was. Performery looked awesome, and he sang
like I mean, like you know, we all know he
was a much better singer than John ever was right.
He was the guy that carried those high harmonies, and
it was just, you know, life changing. But fast forward
to a year later when we recorded our initial tricks
to demo tape, the five song what people call that
just having fun sessions. And when we finished that, you know,
we started playing the Jersey clubs, the all ages thing,
and immediately we started getting some momentum. And bon Jovi,
of course, was a huge influence in that because they
were really starting to come up and they had just
finished Slippery and Wet and it was about to come out.
You Give Love a Bad Name came out, went right
to number one. It was the beginning of slippery Mania.
You know, if you remember that time.
Speaker 3: I remember it distinctly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we had heard that John was doing a thing
at the hard Rock, like a radio thing, and so
Pete and our drummer, they you know, cut school, I
think they were out of school or graduated at that point,
and they had heard that John's going to be at
the hard Rock in New York City. So they went
in and brought a demo tape and somehow tracked them down.
They gave him the package and dude, a kid you not.
A week later on our trickster hotline, which was Pete's answer,
we get this message from John bon Jovi. A Peter,
It's John bon Jovi. I just want to know I
listen to your tape. Think you guys got a lot
of potential. And it was one of the greatest moments
of our career, of our lives at that point, to get,
you know, the seal of approval from a legitimate rock star.
And that's what happened. And and then a couple months later,
another fabulous moment was when Slippery and Wet had blown
up in the world. They started their tour with Cinderella.
They played New Year's Eve at the Metal Lands Arena
and lo and behold we were there and we were
backstage and John Saws. He came right over to us. Man,
he was like, you tricks to motherfucker's what's happening. I'm
so glad And dude, we snuck backstage. We never had
backstage passes. We would just always sneak in to whatever
show and we would be there and all the you
know union guys. Oh, the trickster guys. Yeah, they're cool.
They don't need passes.
Speaker 3: Cool.
Speaker 4: And John came out, man and he was he was
I think he had a couple of drinks in him.
Of course it was New Year's Eve, of course, and
he came right up to us and he goes, dude,
he goes, guys, come here, I want to introduce you
to somebody, this other band that I'm working with, skid
Row guys. And that was the night that he introduced
us to Snake, Rachel, Scottie, and Rob. You know, they
were all backstage and John said the Snake. He goes, man, Snake,
make sure you take care of these guys, you know,
because we had some gigs booked opening up for the
original skid Row before Slash was in the band. So yeah,
I mean it's just an incredible story, and you know,
John was there, you know, and another fabulous you know
John was He was always a part of our successes.
So the day we found out our Trickster record went gold,
when we were on tour with the Scorpions and of
course Doc McGee was their manager in nineteen ninety one
and John was on hiatus for bon Jovi. So we
were playing two nights at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater sold
out with the Scorpions. I mean, it was as big
as it was getting. His Scorpions were on top. We
were number one on MTV with one in a million.
It was the best. And John came to the show
with the Scorpions and I pulled him aside and I said, dude,
I want to tell you this. You're one of the
first people to know that we just found out today
that our record went gold. And he was so happy
him and Dorothea. Dorothy is like, yeah, I think I
still have that tape somewhere, and he said to me,
he goes, man, I always knew you guys were going
to make it, and it was. It was one of
the greatest another one of the greatest nights of our
lives and John was there watching us from the wings
and like making faces at us playing, and you know, again,
it was just one of those cool things. And you know,
and that's gone on for years and years of him
always being there and Richie as well, you know, because
Richie and I developed a really good friendship. You know,
I was with Richie when he was making his solo
record and you know, just incredible. So you know, again,
it is what it is. But you know, we're we're
booking shows and it's gonna be you know, it's gonna be.
It's gonna be special, and I'm really really looking forward
to it. I've been singing every day, two and a
half hours, singing the set. Keep my ass, you know
up there, man. You know again what you said John
back in the day, especially like eighty nine through like
ninety seven, when he did you know, the New Jersey record,
Keep the Faith, you know, to keep the Faith. I
think to Keep the Faith tour was one when he
was singing at his best. You know, he was just phenomenal.
And you know again, you know, he never I don't
think he ever got enough credit for how great of
a singer he really was. But you know, I'm here
to tell you learning these songs and singing always and
singing beta roses. It's it's definitely it's not kids stuff,
that's for.
Speaker 3: Sure, dude. It's it's great to hear that you're doing it,
but it's still I mean, it's got to be a
little weird for you too at the same time, you know,
like he talked about, it's like, obviously you can't make
a living doing Trickster all the time, you know. But
and it's just wild how the tribute world has just exploded,
you know.
Speaker 4: It has. I mean, you know a lot of my
friends are you know again, you know, Voyage is a
huge example of that. You know, talk to Greg smith Man.
They're doing you know, they're playing you know, big casinos fairs,
they're selling out you know, two three thousand seeds and
making you know, making successful national act money as a
tribute band. I mean, look at you know, look at
Get the Letout, look at Hairball, look at that Arena
rock show. You know, these guys, I know, the numbers
that they're doing, man, and it's bigger than most national acts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's insane. And actually a Hairball type show just
popped up here in Vegas. I can't like Todd Kerns
and those guys are all in it. Of course, you
know the Vegas icons, you know, it's like icons of rock,
icons of rock. There it is. See, I knew I
was close.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So the thing I did get is, you know,
I might not be wearing a wig, but I got
the mic standing.
Speaker 3: Oh see. Now it's the props. It's all about the props,
you know.
Speaker 4: I guess, I mean, you know, I mean, at the
end of the day, we're just doing it, you know,
we're letting the music do this all. And we got
a great show. I got an LED I bought an
led wall, so we have awesome and it's it's next level. Man,
it's looking I'm really really looking forward to it. And
the fans have been you know, the social media stuff
has been out of control. People are going nuts. All
the bon Jovi sites are you know, liking in sharing
it and nice. You know again again, it's all done
with love. And you know, like I've told somebody before, man,
like playing with Deaf Leopard, it's always great to do
something like playing with def Leopard. Their music was in
my blood, Like I didn't have to learn that much
because I knew all the songs already. It's always great
when you do play in a band that that's your
favorite music, So bon Jovi, you know, it's just natural
for me. That's it really is.
Speaker 3: And you know how I just take les to sometimes Steve,
how long have you been sober?
Speaker 4: Now? It's I'm rounding third base, that's my that's my
new catchphrase.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 4: I'm sliding into home next month. Well March, March is
going to be seven years my man.
Speaker 3: Wow, what was it that made you turn the page
and say, you know what, I'm done with this?
Speaker 4: You know, I think it was just look, man, you
you you want to live life or you want to die?
You know. I mean, there were there were some there
were some moments where I was in some pretty bad situations.
I don't think a lot of people knew how bad
it was, but you know, because I was always, you know,
I was always the Van Halen mentality, Man, let's get
the life of the party. You know, let's party, let's
keep going, let's you know, and and it just got
out of control for me. And it was one of
those things that I knew I had a problem for
a really long time. But you know, the alcohol and
drugs or whatever anybody does, it's all a lie and
it lies to you, and it may you become a
liar to facilitate it. And finally, I just you know,
I had I really had no choice, you know, and
I and I just woke up one day and said,
I got to do this. And uh, it's been the
greatest thing that I've done, you know, really and one
of the biggest compliment, compliment accomplishments of my life. You know.
And Alex van Halen, who's a good friend of mine,
you know, he says that he goes of all the
things you do, your sobriety is one of the greatest
accomplishments and one of the biggest, you know, things that
you've done in your life. And you know him being
sober for such a long time, and and you know,
again rock and roll is Phil Colin from def Leppard.
You know, he was one of the first people that
I called and you know kind of begged for help.
And you know, numerous people helped me along the way,
but ultimately, you know, it's like you it comes down
to you. You have to make that you know, commitment
to do it. And I didn't go to you know,
AA or anything. I just went I went to some
local counseling to get my mental state together, because it's
a big thing when you get sober, and especially being
a musician. I had this conversation with Neil Sean once
and you know, it was like, you know, he told
me it took a long time for him to get
his chops backed because we're also used to and Ed
van Halen was a prime example of that. You know,
he always told me he used to have he used
to have have to have like a six pack of
beer just to get creative, you know. And it was
that thing man, like we all did back in the day,
a couple of drinks, a couple shots before you go
on stage to loosen up, you know, and that's what
it was. And then the next thing, you know, it's like,
you know, all that is after the show, and then
it becomes, wow, I'm really hungover now, and what's going
to make me feel better? I got to start drinking again.
And that's when you know you're fucked. You know, when
you when you literally wake up and the only thing
that's going to make you feel better is you know,
another beer and a shot to start the day and
That's how I knew I was fucked, And sadly, it
took me another five years after that where I was really,
you know, really kind of in a bad state. But
you know, either way, and you know, and I've given credit,
you know, I've said it numerous times, but Joel Hookstrow
was one of the guys who said the most profound
thing to me about it. And it was really simple
when he got sober. When I was doing Rock of
Ages with him, I was his filling in twenty fourteen,
and that's kind of when he got sober, wow, over
ten years ago, and he said the simplest thing to me.
He said, dude, it's made my life one hundred percent better.
And for some reason, that was the most powerful line
and it always stuck with me. And sure enough, three
months after I got sober, my life was a thousand
percent better. And it was like I call, I texted him,
I said, dude, you were so fucking right, and it
was the truth. And it's been seven years now and everything,
you know, I feel great. I'm performing better than ever,
I'm singing better than ever, and just just loving life
more than ever.
Speaker 3: And then you realize, oh, maybe I wasn't the life
of party. I was just annoying. I love you.
Speaker 4: I definitely was, man, And I've apologized to a lot
of people, But you know, it was never it was
never meant to be that way.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm just giving.
Speaker 4: But you know, man, we've you know again, it is
what it is. And yeah, it's people who come out
on the other side that's what's most important, you know, exactly.
Believe me. I've apologized to a lot of people. I'm
sorry about that night.
Speaker 3: How's the how's the guitar world going? Yeah? You got
your guitars out? I still haven't. I still haven't touched
one yet, that one one in Vegas?
Speaker 4: I think, didn't you didn't you touch the one I
was playing?
Speaker 3: No, you don't think you don't put your testicles on it.
I did not put my testicles on it. I didn't
rub my use my dick as a slide or nothing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, well, yeah, the new line, the new line,
the twenty twenty twenty six models just came out last
week and flying off the shelves. Use it's incredible, man,
I gotta tell you, I never in a million years
would have thought that at my success level that I
would have a guitar line that's selling and people love
and I'm just so honored to have it. And you know,
it's the best guitar under one thousand dollars in the
you know, the shred model range. You know, it was
one of those things. My partner, Jay from Guitar Fetish,
who was the guy who masterminded this whole thing, came
to me with this idea and he said, I want
to do a signature lone with you. I want like
a Van Halen style guitar, Floyd's you know, eighties inspired,
and I was like, I was like, what me. You know,
it was one of those things where it just kind
of came out of left field and he's like, no, man,
I want you because you're the everyday, you know, working
musician where you're playing stadiums with def Leppard and then
five days later you're down at Seaside Heights playing the
Beach Comber in front of twenty people, and then you're
out with Trickster playing here. You know, all of that
played into it, and you know, and we just designed
this guitar. It started during before COVID, and during COVID
we were able to perfect it and get it to
where we made these incredible guitars that basically retail for
three hundred and fifty nine and they have every rock, rock,
shred guitar player could ever want, you know, And we
have new models that are you know, you see the
Telly back there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love that we have.
Speaker 4: Non Floyd's and we have you know, all these different models.
So it's just, uh, it's a you know, again, brother,
it's a dream come true. And they are great guitars.
I'm using them out on the road and I use
them one hundred percent stock. The only thing I do
on them is block the Floyd Rose because I don't
like a floating Floyd right. But you know, dude, it's again,
it's uh, it's just such a dream come true. And
the response, you know, dude, I got my own Facebook group,
SBS Guitar Facebook group people you know, modifying and like
the other day somebody was like, yeah, I went on
your Facebook group too because I needed to get a
new nut and I wanted to know. And I'm like, wow, dude,
I have my own SBS Guitar Facebook group. I didn't
even know, you know, as wild, Like yeah, so it's been.
The response has been great, and everybody the house one
loves them, and uh, you know again just uh, you know,
another one of these things where this rock and roll
fantasy life of mine. You know, it's just keeps keeps going,
and I'm just so appreciative. So thanks for bringing it up.
Speaker 3: Of course. But you're not at NAM with them.
Speaker 4: No, we're not a NAM. SBS is not you know,
it's a mail order guitar company, not in retail, and
NAM is more retail partner Jay from Guitar Feedig. He's
out there doing deals with some of the overseas company
and stuff like that. But yeah, it's uh, you know,
maybe maybe one of these years.
Speaker 3: Well you got to get out to the Las Vegas
Guitar Show at a fraction of the price, you know,
I know you got to get out here. But I see,
I'm not at NAM either. I met the fun NAM
where the good diseases are the avns.
Speaker 4: You told me that, dude, that's great.
Speaker 3: I met Christy Canyon today, what Christy Canyon, and all
I had to do was name drop Adam Carolla and
she loved.
Speaker 4: Me the Adam Carolla card. Here you go, Adam.
Speaker 3: She she went to elementary school with Adam.
Speaker 4: Oh very cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. So she was on the show and he
had told the story about her years ago, and then
she came on the show and she was like, oh
my god, I love Adam and she talked to me.
I'm like, oh, this is awesome. Did you ever in
your heyday, back in the party days, when you guys
are on top of the on top of the world
before Nirvana and everything made it come crumbling down, did
you ever indulge in the porn star life in uh,
because a lot of a lot of the guys in
that in your in your ear, that's it was like
rock and rollers and strippers and porn stars. It was
like boom, it was like peanut butter and jelly.
Speaker 4: No. But I do have a cool story. I mean
it's not it's cool and sad at the same time.
But when we were on the Warrant Trickster Firehouse Tour,
the Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour, at the end of
the tour, Paulie Shore came out on the road with
us and at that time, you know, the we'se the
weel hit buddy Buddy. He was dating Savannah at the time.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: She came out on the road with us, and she
was so nice, and you know, a couple of her
friends were out. But no, man, no that was not
my thing. But I was around him and got to
meet some of them, and uh, you know Christy Kenyon,
she's like an eighties supers. Yeah, she's great.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 4: I remember, you know, big fan of the movies, you know,
of course, or shall I say the video tape.
Speaker 3: The video videotaps YEP rate to video, great to video.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that was cool. Yeah, And I remember, you know,
because Paulie was dating her and she was out on
the road with us, because Paulie would come out, you
know and do like he was like the MC for
a couple shows, and uh, we had a we had
a blast together. And but now that so, what is
that like? Is that like that? That's the porn nam show.
Speaker 3: It's the porn nam show. I mean, you get free lube,
there's all the every booth has a girl in it
or multiple girls in it. Then there's a section where
it's dude, so of course you walk around that one
and then dude that the sex dolls. Now it's like
I got friend zoned by a real doll. Today and
now they have robots these fucking it's it's a sex
but they're like real, they're fucking humanoids. And the thing's
looking around. She's looking up at me with her eyes like, Okay,
this is creepy. Except one of the hands wasn't on it,
and I forgot to take a picture of it, so
it looked like the termina with just when he had
his fucking new hand put on after Vader cut it off.
Weird as shit, but yeah, that's basically what it is.
You know, everybody doing meet and greets and just come
up to the booth say hi, okay, Christy Ken Nina
Hartley was sitting right next to her.
Speaker 4: Oh cool, she was. She was the one that was
in Boogie.
Speaker 3: Nights right, Yeah, No, it wasn't Nina Harley. It was
that was next door.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 3: I don't know, it doesn't matter, but but yeah, it's
fucking Christy.
Speaker 4: I was out and so you speaking of that. I
last week I was at the NAM show for tribute
bands in New York City called the APAP Convention.
Speaker 3: Really I did not know about this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's a big you know, every year right
after New Year's like the first week after New Years
in New York City. It's called the apap aap Ap
and it's all tribute bands. So it's all the agencies
and they have booth set up like nam and I
mean it's like any business. Most businesses that sell something
have some sort of trade show.
Speaker 3: So yeah, no, that makes sense.
Speaker 4: But it was cool man. Got to see a lot
of Uh, got to see a lot of great bands.
I have a new country tribute as well called Country
Live that we showed there, and uh, that was fun.
But I got to see you know, I posted a video.
There was this guy the MJ Illusion, This guy dude,
it's unbelievable, crazy Michael Jackson. And there was a great
Ozzie tribute that I became friends with, this band Crazy Train.
They're fucking great to do its father and son. The
father's uh, the father is Ozzy and the son does
the Zach Wilde.
Speaker 3: It's oh wow, good. But it was cool man.
Speaker 4: So yeah, getting into it. There anything we do, you know,
they're anything whatever, anything that is for sale. There is
some sort of trade show for have.
Speaker 3: You talked about the h you brought up the warrant
tricks or fire or a stone cold stone kill Steve
Alston says fire else he talked about that tour and
how much fun you guys had. If you guys ever
talked about doing it again, getting those three bests together
and going out again.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did. In twenty eleven and twenty twelve, we
did a bunch of you know, we called like, what
was it, thirty year reunion or twenty year unions? Oh okay,
I'm terrible at math, but we did shows where it
was Warren Tricks the Firehouse and uh yeah, you know,
we did and had fun. But nothing will ever recreate
that was. That was just something so unexpected, you know,
and that tour was not looked upon when it was
booked as being, you know, something that was going to
be so successful, but it wound up becoming one of
the top ten tours of two of nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 3: And it was.
Speaker 4: It was a fucking rolling barbecue, Christmas, New Year's, your
Birthday party, fucking I mean, the Warrant guys taught us
how to party because they were next level man, you know,
and we all had fun. And still to this day,
all the bands and all the living members were still
great friends. We still text each other funny shit and
every time we're together, when we're with the Warrant guys,
with the Firehouse guys, we're all together, it is just
we cry with laughter talking about some of the stories.
So definitely one of the greatest summers of our lives
for sure.
Speaker 3: That was. And we'll move on and get wrapped up here.
So we're moving on an hour and I know it's
late where you are, and you're an old man. So
that tour that was after the Wall, after Nirvana hit correct,
So it was just no, it was right before, it
was before.
Speaker 4: And I have a funny story about that because when
we were on the tour, our old radio guy at
MCA Records, this guy Bill Bennett, who's no longer with us,
who's one of the guys at MCA Records responsible for
our success. He became the president of Geffen Records a
couple months after, you know, probably I'm gonna say June
of ninety one. So a couple months later, we're finishing
the tour in LA We're playing you know, Universal Amphitheater,
We're playing all these great places, and so we were
hubbed right out of Sunset Strip. We're staying at the
Riot House high on sunset. We had a show every
other day, so it was just we went over to
the comedy store hung out with Dice Clay and it
was just unbelievable. But he invited us to come up
to Geffen Records. And we went up to Geffen, me
and Pete and PJ and pj's brother Pat and our
manager Joel at the time, and we walk in and
you know, we wanted to go to get free CDs.
You know, give me the new White Steak, give me
the new Tesla, you know, blah guns n' roses, everything.
You know, we just fill up fucking bags of stuff,
you know. And another funny thing is I never knew
that anytime bands would come and they would get free stuff,
the bands got charged for that good. Yeah. It was
like fucking funny. I found that afterwards for all the
in stores that Trickster did, and we're, oh, yeah, we're
gonna give you guys free CDs and no, no, no, no,
we fucking paid for that ship. Oh jesus, you know,
it's all typical scumbag of Coursey bullshit. But of course,
so we get there and Bill's, oh, congratulations, guys, great,
you had an awesome tour he goes, hey, I'm gonna play.
I want to play this new band that we signed,
and they're starting to really break up in the mid
up in the Pacific Northwest, and he fucking put on
smells like teen Spirit and I'm like sitting there listen
to it, and I remember saying, I'm like, oh man,
it's kind of like kind of the guitar sound sounds
like Black Sabbath when it kicked in, and it sounds
like cheap Trick. I was like, it like Black Sabage,
cheap trick. He goes, yeah, they're doing really good. You know,
I don't know what's gonna happen. Just got their video
added to MTV. And so he gave us all the
original Nirvana promo, the fucking T shirt with the you know,
the smile, the fucked up smile on it. Yeah, gave
us the advanced cassette and here Trickster is the epitome
of eighties nineties hair band, if you will ye, And
he gave us these bags and we're walking out. You know,
we had our typical Guns n' Roses CDs whatever was
on Geffen, but we here we were PJ said it best.
We were carrying the time bomb that was gonna blow
up the whole genre. And I wish you know Pj's brother,
who's no longer with us, but Pat, he was always
the guy who always had the video camera. He's the
guy who got great footage. What I would have done
to have that, oh us. But dude, it was crazy
because here we were in La the Sunset Strip and
here are the guys in Trickster walking with as PJ said,
the time bomb that was going to blow up the
whole genre, and we had it in our hands.
Speaker 3: That's insane. So the Nelson Twins you being a business
guy too. I don't know if you've heard this, but
Matt and Gunner I always talk about this, how the
end of your genre was just like the end of disco.
And the reason that it, the main reason that disco
ended was because the record companies realized that we are
sick of paying these guys all this money. And remember
when punk came in. Punk came in because they could
offer them a sandwich and a fucking biddle a Heroin
instead of having to pay them millions of dollars. And
it was kind of a reboot of the system. And
they say that that had a lot to do with
what happened to your genre too. What are your thoughts
on that?
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, look like everybody's talked about any
great thing, any phenomenon, it's and the bubbles always going
to burst, right, you know, and it's just it got
to be. It got to be. There needed to be
a change.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I agree, you know, I think you know what.
Speaker 4: Happened with us, you know, and Trickster is unique in
the sense that, you know, we were the last band
ever played on dial MTV. We were the last SONGTV
from nineteen when did dial MTV start eighty five with
I Think Home Sweet Home? Was the first number one
video on dial MTV, And we were the last video
ever played. And PJ is convinced. He says it all
the time. He goes, it was that shitty fucking video
that we made for Surrender, that that the big wigs
at MTV said no more of this, and that was it, man.
You know, Surrender was supposed to be the song that
took our records of platinum. Double Platinum is the big
power ballot and we made this video three hundred and
fifty thousand dollars and it's sure enough. It came out,
it went right to number one, Surrender was going up
the Billboard charts, and then all of a sudden, two
weeks into it, MTV cancels dial MTV our song drops off. Wow.
And then four months later Nirvana came out and wiped
it out. And that's just the way it goes. But
I will say, and this is something I don't think
most people ever talk about. With any genre of music,
there always is going to be you know, it happened
in the sixties, all the sixties bands, then the seventies
came in all the soft rock bands, and then disco
came and disco had like a four year, three year
if that. It was a phenomenon, the biggest thing in
the world. I mean, I love disco still to this day.
Saturn Nite, it's fun fucking records. Still love it all,
you know, I'll defend it. I still love Dynasty. I
still think it's one to kiss his best records. It's
not a.
Speaker 3: Disco record, though it's got a disco song on it. Yeah,
but the records just record. Yeah, oh absolutely.
Speaker 4: But for our genre, the eighties, hard rock, and I
don't think and you could do your research and everybody
else do your research. There is no other style of
music that has had a that had a longer shelf
life than eighties hard rock. It was from nineteen eighty
to nineteen ninety, and arguably it was Trickster and Firehouse
with the last two bands that really had an impact
from that genre that sold and did you know, major tours.
I don't think there's any other genre that had a
ten year rain, and that just goes to show you
why all of the big bands, whether it's bon Jovi,
Deaf Leopard, def Leppard of course the band that never
stopped touring afterwards, because and why this in this day
and age, those bands and our music is still so
popular because and I'm I'm almost positive there's no other
kind of music you fast forward. Grunge was four.
Speaker 3: Years, yeah, and most Flash in the Pants We're.
Speaker 4: Dead, you know, the guys died, and then what came
after that, like the you know, the Matchbox twenties and
the and the Lits and stuff like that. They had
a short even though they had huge hits and lick guys.
That's one of my favorite bands. But no genre new
metal in the early two thousand, yeah, three four years,
no genre had that kind of impact where for ten
years there were multiple bands that would sell a million,
two three, four million records every time out. And then
in the mid eighties when Slippery, when Wet took off
and Hysteria took off, was the beginning of band selling
eight million records, ten million records again, Appetite for destruction,
you know what, twenty million records? You know, so again
there's something so I don't give a fucking again, always
said it. We were just so honored to be a
part of it and be a part of the greatest
genre of music as far as I'm concerned, and I
think a lot of your viewers out there will agree absolutely.
Speaker 3: And dude, it's funny because Phil Lewis said in an
interview with me years ago, he goes, when I brought
up kind of the same thing. He goes, Nelson Nelson
on the head Banga's ball We was done, and he
but he was friends with them. He wasn't taking a
shot at them. But it was because that was the
cookie And I'm not calling them cookie cutter at all,
but you know what I mean, it was because at
that time it was like blonde lead singer, you know,
ballad whatever, even though they were more kind of more
of a pop rock act. But but yeah, that on
the on the head Bangers Ball, it kind of makes sense.
So let me leave you with this. Steve A. Reno,
obviously you got to work with Ace on his last record.
You knew Ace, and uh, obviously I'm a but we
were both give us a good.
Speaker 4: Story, super fans, super fans, Let me show you. Let
me show you some stuff here. So here, here's a
cool Here's some some of Ace's artwork on some custom
guitars we were working on. You know, this is the
recorded half the record. And you know, here's some of
the lyrics sheets. I think I showed you one of
these a kiss cancer goodbye when we were out in Vegas.
Here's some of the lyrics. Here's some of the Oh wow,
here's my notes. I constantly cute. But you know, working
with Ace was one of my greatest experiences of my life.
You know, Ace was the first rock guitar hero I
ever had, and you know, he became a friend. You know,
I met Ace, you know backstage coincidentally at the bon
Jovi skid Row show in nineteen eighty nine at the
Metal Lands Arena. Ace came out and did Cold Gin
with skid Row.
Speaker 3: Of course he did introduced me.
Speaker 4: Say, hey, Snake, Steve, come over. I want you to
meet Ace, and Snake introduced me and he goes, He goes, Ace,
this is my buddy Steve. He's in the band Trickster,
you know, and a quintessential A's hey Steve, how you
doing good to me? Yeah, good luck with your band,
you know. And then you know, I've hung with Ace
in their early nineties with Eddie Trunk and stuff and
on the Reunion tour, but you know, working on ten
thousand volts was something just it was mind blowing, you know,
one of those incredible experiences. And Ace was here, you know,
so many times, and it would be like, you know again, man,
you know, we've been around rock stars a lot, but yeah,
even when they're your friends, like Ed van Halen was
a good friend of mine, and it was so natural
to be around them, but there were moments where I'd
be just like, holy shit. I remember the first day
working up at Ace's house when we were working on
Walking on the Moon, and I remember that it was like,
cause you know, dude, it's like you never know what's
going to happen with these guys where yeah, we're gonna
work together, it's not until you finally get into the
room with them, right, and the enormity of it. You know,
it's like the same thing when I played with def
Leppard for the first time. You know, it's like, once
you're on stage, you go, holy shit, I'm fucking playing
photograph with def Leppard, you know. And as and as
good friends as I was with those guys, it's still
a massive hedge trip. And so the Ace thing was,
you know, finally we got to work together. I had
sent him a bunch of ideas fighting for Life. I
sent him the idea for Walking on the Moon, which
wasn't Walking on the Moon at the time, it was
another title. And Ace came up with all that, and
it was like before we even worked together. Ace had
the whole concept for the new record already. He was like, well,
you know how he was, man, he was like when
he was on it and when he was creative, he
didn't stop. And so you know, we got working together
and it was just you know, we it was magical.
And but again, you know, it never got lost on
me that here I am. You know, whether it was
at his studio in Sparta, New Jersey, or here that here,
I am working with my fucking hero. This is unbelievable,
and we're making great music together. We're having so much fun,
you know, and that was the coolest thing, you know,
which I think you know, people got, you know, saw
when some of the videos that we would post, we
would have so much fun. I mean, because you know,
Ace was such a funny guy. Yeah, show, Yes, we're
always flowing. But man, you know, I like getting back
to that story. Dude. The first day we worked together,
I remember sending PJ a fucking picture and I go, dude,
I can't fucking believe it. We're actually doing this. And
that was it, man, And we made, you know, a
phenomenal record, and sadly, we had so much more planned,
you know, but that's not you know, that wasn't to be,
and you know, I think we all you know, For me,
I missed my friend more than anything. Of course, he
was my creative partner for a while and we were
we were working on ideas for what was going to
be the follow up for ten thousand Volts. But you know,
I still have a hard time. I think a lot
of us have a hard time believing that he's actually
really Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm still numb about it. It's like it's I mean,
obviously I didn't know. I met Ace twice. You know,
he doesn't. He has no fucking idea who I am.
But it's just people always bring it up. It's like,
how can you cry about somebody you never met? And
once it happens with that one person, you get it,
you understand, and it's still weird. It's still I'm still
in awe that Ace Frehley is gone. He wasn't at
the Candy Setter Honors. He wasn't there he was supposed to.
He was excited about being there, you know.
Speaker 4: Looking forward to that. Man. Yes, I remember, man, when
the press conference when President Trump you know, and said
the names and he called me and he's like, he's like, Steve,
probably President said my name right. And he was so
proud of that, you know, because dude, you know the deal.
You know, growing up in Paramus, New Jersey, everybody I
knew said Ace freely, Ace freely. But I learned, you know,
especially working on the record. Ace corrected me a couple
of times ago, Steve, make sure you say my name right.
It's Frayley, you know, and that's it, Ace Frehley. And
he was so happy that President Trump said his name right.
And you know, I was. I was at Ace's wake
and I was there with some of the Kennedy Center
guys and the one guy who was coaching President Trump
to make sure he said everybody's name correctly, you know,
because the President was very aware, I don't want to
mess up anybody's name. And he was telling me how
he kept telling the President, It's Frayley, Frayley, Frayley and again,
you know, and you could hear when President Trump said
Ace Frehley. He was very much. He was very much.
He could tell he was rehearsed. Yeah, but Ace was
so happy. And man, it was a bummer. And watching
the Kennedy Center Honors and seeing that tribute Chris Angel
did such a beautiful job and love you Chris for that,
and and then seeing the guitar smoking and then that
cutaway to Peter and Monique. Man, I its tears going
down my face. I was standing watching it and I
was that was It really hit me. It was so
but it was beautiful. It was so sad and beautiful.
But you know, like my daughter Lily said. You know,
she said, hey, man, you know, legends never die, so
Ace is always going to be with us. Thank god,
we have all this great footage and all the great
music that we made, and you know, for me, it
was just you know again, it was arguably one of
the greatest experiences of my life working with him, and
I will forever love you know, Paul Daniel Ace Freely.
Speaker 3: It was just the best I think he was. He was.
That's that he my look, fucking Keith Robert Warm my
guitar and act say that best. Without Ace, there's no us,
and I don't think that's the best way to put it.
Steve a Reno, Steve Brown, why don't you please let
us know where we can find you, where we can
find the always Jovie tribute, and where they can find
tour dights for you and everything else that you do
and your guitars.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, Steve Brown rocks on Instagram and all the
social media sites, you know, whatever you have X and TikTok, Facebook,
Tricks to the Rocks and the Tricks to Rocks website
is all tricks through. We started the twenty twenty six
tour ahead into Australia for the first time in March.
God willing, can't wait for that. Always Jovi, Always Jovie
Rocks and always Jovie dot com. And we just booked
like three three shows this week, so announcements are coming
and nice, let's get man SBS Guitars, Guitarsfetish dot com.
And you know, dude, thank you so much, and you've
been such a great friend and likewise great supporter. I
love you, brother, and I'll love you. I miss seeing
your beautiful face and I miss you especially when you're
in a beautiful cheap suit.
Speaker 3: I look, damn a beautiful designer cheap suit. Let me
tell you right, that's right. Hit up Steve Brown. Hit
up the Patreon, Patreon dot com slash Realzzy Presley. It's
only five dollars a month, is he Presley dot com?
Find all my links there and don't forget on that
be off of Steve Brown. I'm Missy Presley. What I
lack of talent I make up for the cock.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you very much. We're a little late.
Speaker 3: Say good night, Chrissie, good night, good night,