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Updated: March 29 2006 WHO THE HECK IS STEVE MADDEN?SINGER, GUITARIST, SONG WRITER AND ROCK N ROLL MADMAN would be a good short description. Back in the late 1970s when disco was mercifully starting to pass into history there was a Canadian band called Reckless that opened a lot of ears around the world. The music was fresh, heavy and tight. With teased up hair the band looked glam before glam was a fad. They shared international stages with heavy weights of the day and rubbed elbows with the stars. The driving force was Steve Madden. RECKLESS COULD'VE SHOULD'VE WOULD'VE been one of the next big things coming out from the Canadian heavy metal scene. The first album was self titled and featured Jan Melanson on vocals, a female singer doing the hard rock thing at a time when the ladies were only expected to hang around far off stage. Many heavy metal connoisseurs still feel this was the definitve Reckless lineup. So much so that by late 2005 U.K. record company Rock Candy Records was negotiating a re-release of that album, still waiting on a release date. Did you know Reckless has a question in the Rock N Roll Triva Pursuit Game? SH*T HAPPENS AND THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH when you're dealing with the world of hard rock. So just around the time the original lineup was getting ready for a second release Steve and Jan crossed swords. Hey whadda ya expect when band members start playing house? Well I guess that's not really fair to say 'cause there was the little matter of artistic difference and the direction the band was going to take. As a result Jan was out and the six new tracks that had been recorded were left in a studio vault for 25 years. Its a real shame too 'cause around that time the band had done some international touring and was starting to get serious attention. A NEW LINEUP, A WHOLE LOT MORE ATTITUDE and they were back at it again. This also meant it was time for all new material so back into the studio they went. By this time management and record deals had expired so they were left holding a bagful of great tracks. Enter Heavy Metal America Records who took 'em on with the release of Heart Of Steel and once again Reckless was climbing the charts, at least in Europe that is. Ah yes to be a Canadian band back in the 1980s, kinda the kiss of death for promo if ya know what I mean. Did you know Reckless is included in Martin Popoff's The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Volume 2 : The Eighties? STARS SHINE, STARS FADE and after a few album releases the business end of things claimed another victim. So by the late 1980s Reckless was no more, but not before establishing Steve as a serious talent on the international stage. But the story takes a turn here 'cause now the Canadian music scene was a much more happening thing and dreams of international fame got put on the back burner. It was time for a new act with an even heavier sound and Marshal Law was born to go out and haunt the Great White North. BIG HAIR, SOME LEATHER AND A LITTLE FLASH THROWN IN added to the screaming guitar sound of Marshal Law. Between playing the likes of famous venues like The Gasworks the band found time to record an album. There wasn't a record company involved but band member Shaun Keith owned the (in)famous Demo Factory where a lot of the tracks were laid down. This was around the time I first met Steve. Now mind you I'd heard of the man and his reputation but it was my first chance to really hear his talents. Crap I was blown away! Here was an unreleased album with at least half a dozen solid hits that other acts could only have wet dreams of writing. So being a video type guy I was asked to shoot footage for a track called Sixteen & Excited which got some play on Much Music. TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE, trends change and things evolve, ya can't hold back the river. Great songs don't always mean you'll make it, especially when the new sound was all about clean cut dance beat music without big noisy guitars. It wasn't for lack of trying but Marshal Law couldn't get a release for their album Read 'Em 'N' Weep so Steve put it out as an indie under his own label. Unfortunately it never did very well selling only at gigs or by word of mouth. But the story doesn't end quite there 'cause if ya wait long enough all things old become new again. And by that I mean there's recently been a call in film and television for unreleased classic big hair rock. To which I can somewhat proudly say I've had a hand in helping get placements for some of the tracks through our L.A. agent for both American and Canadian projects. There's still some life in the old corpse, who knows what the future will bring. A NEW MILLENIUM AND A NEW BAND called Prime Rockers with Steve firmly at the creative helm. And once again another set of recordings in anticipation of a release. The music is only slightly tamer than the previous projects but the sense of hooks and melody remains the same. Of course by now we're in the era where only prepubecent boys and girls are getting attention from major labels. So as ya might've guessed it was once again a case of releasing as an indie. This time there's a little help from the great internet sea so if ya want to take a Listen to some tracks follow the link. The band currently plays the southern Ontario region so if you're in the neighbourhood and get the chance you should catch 'em. ITS THE HERE AND NOW BUT THE STORY AIN'T OVER for our man Madden. Steve's got his chops from the era of heavy sounds and big guitars but he's always had a better sense of melody and hooks than most of his counterparts. Sometimes life's a crap shoot and the dice don't fall your way which is something that could certainly be said in this case. So what do you do when you're an older long hair with four decades of experience under your belt? Well you take some of that talent and start writing for other projects and players. And that's where your humble scribe comes into the picture. Besides the video and web stuff, I've been playing for about as long as Steve but never went down the road he travelled. I always figured I needed to link up with someone of his musical caliber and after hearing him figured a little bit of my business sense would make a good match. It took some time and a lot of phones calls but we finally have managed to link up and get our creative juices flowing. We still write material for ourselves and found common ground doing some blues which has evolved into Delta Driver but being the old dogs we are we're keeping an eye out for money. I'd mentioned that we've got an agent in L.A. to shop music for film and television and we're developing new contacts to shop to Country and Pop artists. Don't know where the road will take us but I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a bona fide talent exit the scene without a heap of cash, hopefully taking yours truly along in his wake. The Steve Madden story continues... A LITTLE DISCOGRAPHY
MORE TO COME ... |
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