About My Music & I
The Album
Lane Steffler :
Writer, Singer, Performer
Sean Winburn:
Production & Engineering
Elle Langford:
Web Design / Graphic Design / Photo Manipulation
Kevin Griggs:
Additional Photography
Rich Stratton:
Red Tuxedo Mastering
BIO:
Hello Everyone,
As I write this bio I’m reminded of when I first had the thought of being a musician. Around the age of 11 my good friend Sean M. and I would watch Headbanger’s Ball on MTV religiously. We were enthralled by the videos we would see and it inspired us to become musicians. Before we could get our hand on adequate instruments we would pretend to play the songs in the videos we watched as if we were the actual musicians. My friend at the time had an acoustic guitar with only two strings attached. I creatively found some chopsticks that I pretended were drumsticks, filled 2 liter bottles with water, which became the drums, and finished it off with plastic plates tapped to the wall to use as cymbals. We spent countless nights pretending we were the bands in the videos. After about 6 months of playing in our make-believe band our parents thought it might be good to nurture this inspiration. I obviously wanted to be the drummer but to my surprise my friend’s parents bought him a drum kit. So by default I got my first real instrument; an electric guitar. In the music store I see a beautiful brand new red electric guitar. The shop owner said I might be happier with the used Fender Strat and my dad agreed. However I was ignorant and wanted the nice shiny Premier guitar. Hindsight is 20/20 and I’m still kicking myself to this day for that bad decision. However I played it like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately though quickly after we started playing my friend’s parents decided to move to Arkansas for work. It was a sad time and I haven’t talked to him since the day he moved back in 1992. However his introduction into music is still with me today. (Update: I found Sean M. recently...he s doing well but doens't play music anymore.)
Fast-forward to around the age of 15. I get my first drum set since I had proved to my dad that I was in music for the long haul. Though hesitant due to noise issues my dad helped me purchase my first drum set. Rhythm city had an 8-piece 1970’s Ludwig drum set with rock toms for, if I remember correctly, around $400. This brought to life my first real band called LSM (Life’s Secret Mission). The band consisted of myself on drums, Matt Elston. on bass, Greg Steward on keyboard, and my current engineer Sean Winburn on guitar. Our practice space was in my backyard, build painstakingly by Sean and I. Collectively we put together a 4-song demo and took our stuff to Green Onion Studios in Atlanta. There we recorded our songs but realized we didn’t have lyrics. Nobody wanted to sing, or could sing…haha, so with Matt’s poetry and my voice vocals were added at the last second. This was a fun experience for all of us and inspired more music to come in the future. Nothing really ever came of that band though. We didn’t play live but practiced a lot. The band eventually broke up due to members sleeping with other member’s ex-girlfriends. That never bodes well by the way. However I still have the cd we produced and fond memories to boot.
So high school ends and I find myself playing upright bass in a band called Bach on a Hook. A guy named Marty Matteson created the band. He took many classical cello suites, Back…Telamon…Chopin…ect, and transcribed them to viola. "Baroque music updated for the 21st century. Perhaps what Mozart listened to in college" would be an accurate discription of the music. With Adrian Ash on drums with a rock flare, myself on upright bass, and Marty Matteson on viola we played numerous shows out around Atlanta. The music is still available on the web if you’re interested. It was a great experience and we had great times playing in this band. However the band eventually broke up due to band members getting involved with band member’s ex-girlfriends. Damn…there seems to be a pattern here. Fortunately I was to smart to get caught up in that web of instability.
After that band, and trying to form other bands I found it frustrating to rely on others to be punctual or hone in on particular songs. So I then decided to go solo and write all the music myself. I spent a few years writing my own songs and found an opportunity to write jingles for Clear Channel Radio commercials. This was a lot of fun because at the time I was experimenting with orchestral accompaniments with my music. The pay was not worth the time it took for me to put together 30 second jingles, not to mention I had to sign over the rights to the songs and forgo any type of royalty. So ultimately I quit pouring my heart and soul into music that, in return, left me with $50/song. Though this was a tough decision to quit the jingle racket I never stopped writing music.
This now brings me to where I am today. As I look back into the past I am left with only one regret. All my life I was told that the music industry is very cutthroat and hard to gain traction. You know the “1 in a million” argument? So music has always been a side project for me…not to mention the therapeutic benefits of writing music. My non-musical career has taken me far and has helped me pay the bills. I love the career I’m in currently and I can’t imagine another career choice. But again as I look back I wonder what could have transpired. Where my music could have gone. Where I would be now if I gave it 100%. What I regret is not ever doing anything with my music. I would write over the years, record and perform all instrumentation, but never would release it in any sort of fashion nor try to perform the songs live because of that “1 in a million” argument. So I sit here fueled with this regret. I don’t want to look back in another 20 years and wonder the same things about my potential music career. So now I find myself trying to make my dream come true. If people don’t like my music then it is no sweat off my back…however I can, in 20 years, look back and be happy I gave it the old college try. So let this be a lesson to anyone reading this bio. Follow your dreams, no matter how big or small, and SCREW WHAT OTHER PEOPLE TELL YOU! I wish someone had told me this years ago. However….it’s never to late and my music will not collect dust any longer.
So thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my bio. There is so much more that I left out but I’ll spare you all for now. Music is in my blood, it’s in my soul, and I will not hold back any longer.
Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the hard work and determination put into a project that I can finally say I brought to life Before I’m Dead.
- Lane Steffler