Even Steven Levee
| Even Steven Levee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Steven Louis Levee |
| Genres |
Hard Rock Blues Jazz Hip Hop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Producer, IT Professional |
| Instruments | Bass |
| Years active | 1964 - present |
| Labels | i-Potato Music |
| Associated acts |
Brad Factor:10 The Slashtones i-Potato Barbara Lee George Gun Hill Lost At Home Malo Life Force Life Source Peter Green Ray Gomez Troy Turner Lost At Home ZRS The Profile Band The Last Band Blue The Hard Way Bluzzion AFU GoodFriends Rhythm Club TV Jimmy Robinson Joy Ryder Roger Bartlett Roderick Kohn Gerardo Velez Phaedra Bill Sims Jr. Wrecia Ford Buzzy Linhart Jim Satin Barry Finnerty Joe Butler Voice OF The People Lez Warner |
| Website | http://BassMasterGeneral.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Even Steven "The Bass Master General" 4 & 5 String Frettless Basses, Michael Tobias Design 5 String, Dan Electro Hodad, Fernadez PJ, Epiphone EB3L, Martin Custom Acoustic | |
Even Steven Levee born Steven Louis Levee, is an American musician, bass player, recording engineer, record producer and former nightclub concert promoter. He is best known for his work with such bands as Lifeforce, ZRS, Brad Factor:10, The Slashtones, The Freak Parade, and his production work with Hedi, Barbara Lee George, MC Magic D and Gun Hill. As a bass player he is known for his diversity, playing with rock, funk, jazz, blues and hip hop artists, and for his use of various fretted and fretless four, five and six string bass guitars. He is also well known within the music industry for hosting premier "all star" jam sessions at various nightclubs in the New York area during the 1990s. Even has appeared on HBO and Late Night with Conan O'Brien during the current century and continues to work in Music and the Information Technology field.
Early life
Even Steven Levee, born Steven Louis Levee (1951–present) in Crown Heights, New York. He attended Miami Dade Junior College in Florida as an Art major while also playing bass in various local bands. His early musical influences of The Yardbirds, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin made his approach to music raw and quite loud.
Lifeforce / Lifesource
After college, Even Steven and future Grammy winning producer Frank Filippetti formed the band Life Force in 1972. Life Force's blend of Rock, Jazz, Classical and Fusion led to their deal with Paramount Records. Unfortunately the Paramount Label folded before their debut album could be released. One of their songs, "Holy Moses" in 1974, was released on Streaker Records as a single, but was wrongly credited as "Force".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlb9G6Qwc4Q
Life Force disbanded in 1974, but Even Steven and some of the other members changed their sound and formed the band Life Source. The group hit the road touring the US and Canada for the next 2 years with their new "Top 40s" sound.
After Life Source disbanded, Even toured for the following 3 years with The Profile Band, an R&B dance band based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Brad Factor:10
Even Steven returned to New York and co-founded Brad Factor:10 (aka "The Yuppies From Hell") in 1987. The band's stage persona was "The worlds first Yuppie Heavy-Metal Band" and their music reflected that. They developed a strong "cult" following performing at major rock venues like L’Amour's, Nirvana, The Cat Club, Limelight, Black Cat, The Chance and many others. In 1988 Brad Factor:10 competed and won the "New York City Rock Wars" contest, beating out Beggars and Thieves, Skin and Bones, The Throbbs and Please (later known as Trouble Tribe). Brad Factor:10 performed with such bands as: The Tubes; Enuffz N Nuff; D' Priest, The Stuttering John Band; Circus of Power; Sophia Ramos; Cycle Sluts From Hell; Electric Angels; Pleasure Bombs; Warrior Soul, Heads Up; and Raging Slab to name a few.
Jam sessions
Beginning in 1989, Even Steven hosted jam sessions at many of NY C's best known rock clubs like Spodee O Dee's, Limelight, Danceteria, Space At Chase, Lion's Den, Boom and others. These jams would include musicians like: Jason Bonham, Chip Z. Nuff, Adam Bomb, Lez Warner, Ryan Roxi, Joe Lynn Turner, Mark O'Conner, LSD; Mark Wood; members of Motörhead, Jon Paris, Andy Bigan, Terry Brock, Ed Terry, Anthony Michael Hall, Herbie Trabino, Roderick Kohn, Martha Velez, Delmar Brown; Lenny Kravits; Steve Farrone; Anton Fig, Bobby Chouinard; Barry Finnerty, Jon Hammond; Paul Sheehan; Grant Green Jr and many others.
The Slashtones
In 1993, Even was one of the original members of the band that would become known as Harry Slash & The Slashtones, later best known for their original works heard on the Extreme Championship Wrestling television programs from 1997 to 2008. Even remained part of the band's rotating live lineup and subsequent style changes that would include current and former members of Raging Slab, Murphy's Law, The Uptown Horns, Zebra, Riot, The John Entwistle Band, Frehley's Comet and others. Even performed live with The Slashtones until 1995, when his need for back surgery forced him to step down from the group for a time. He would return to the stage with them in 1997 and once more in 1998.
Even remained a fixture in The Slashtones rotating studio recording cast. He appeared on the band's 1995 limited release EP "Episode One" and on several tracks heard on the ECW television programs including the theme music for Ravishing" Rick Rude, SuperCrazy and Francine.
Even Steven made a return to the band's extended studio family in 2008, playing the 5-string frettless bass on the band's rendition of "Friends", released on the compilation CD Tribute to Led Zeppelin, "Misty Mountain Hop",
Rattlesnake Guitar
In 1995, Viceroy Music's president, Arnie Goodman invited Even Steven Levee to perform on the Peter Green tribute CD, Rattlesnake Guitar. Even put together the band of himself, guitarist Ray Gomez from the Stanley Clarke Band and drummer (the late) Bobby Chouinard, formerly of Billy Squire. They recorded two songs, "Evil Woman Blues" and "Lazy Poker Blues", with vocalists Pete McMahon and Troy Turner. Rattlesnake Guitar also included musicians from Pink Floyd, The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group, The Animals, Jethro Tull, Savoy Brown, David Lee Roth, The Uptown Horns, and others. Even Steven Levee's work also appears on Peter Green Song Book available via import and This Is The Blues - Volume 1 and 4 released in 2010 on Eagle Records (Fontana). This Is The Blues features performances by Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Savoy Brown, Mick Jagger, Rory Gallager and many other amazing musical entities.
Freak Parade
From 1999 to 2002, Even Steven was the bass player for the band Freak Parade, featuring two original founding members of Utopia, keyboardist Moogy Klingman and drummer Kevin Ellman. The band recorded and released a studio CD titled "Here Comes The" and several live CDs.
Currently
Even Steven Levee continued to play bass with Joy Ryder and Rhythm Club TV (until Joy's untimely passing), Barbara Lee George, The 253 Boys, the recent reformation of Brad Factor:10, Buzzy Linhart, hip-hop artist TRP, and his studio band AFU GoodFriends as well as writing, producing, recording music and voice-overs.
As co-owner of i~Potato Music, Even is producing new Hip Hop, Folk, and RnB artists with partner Arthur Steuer,including: MC Magic D, Gun Hill, AFU GoodFriends, Voice of The People with Joe Butler (Lovin' Spoonful) and i-Potato - The Adventures of Lumpy and Homefry.
Even Steven Levee has also produced, engineered and played bass with singer songwriter Barbara Lee George whose newest CD Protected By Love is due for release early summer 2011. Even recently placed Barbara's song "To Young To Die" in a 10-hour Viet Nam War special scheduled to air on History Channel November, 2011.
In addition Even Steven Levee produced, engineered, played bass and co wrote the music with Don Puglisi on "The Curse", a poem by Florence Kaye. The Curse also appears on Don Puglisi's newest release Goodbye New York. In addition, Mr Puglisi and his song "Stoned On The Range" are included on Goodbye New York and both appear in the major motion picture Taking Woodstock. Don Puglisi is also performing with punk rockers, The 253 Boys.
The Binding force of The 253 Boys is their shared passion for Football (Soccer) & energetic no holes barred Rock N Roll. The Band originated the Soccer Rock sound inspired from the terraces. The name of the band is taken from the old 253 bus route in east london where the inspiration to form a band devoted to the beautiful game and a love of Mod/Punk/Ska/Reggae culture happened somewhere between clapton common and whitechapel. Fast forward a few years to New York, where the idea became a reality at a Johnny Thunders tribute show at CBGBs. The buzz started after gigs at the Continental, Don Hills, The China Club & CBGBs. Within a short time indie radio play was happening and the songs have been heard around the world. The boys were invited to write and produce the original theme song for Fox Football Fone In and recorded the tracks at the famed Village Studios in Los Angeles. The Band recorded their first EP, entitled The Wonderful World of Football which is available on iTunes.com and most major download sites. In addition to songs in English the boys have also recorded in Spanish & Portuguese. The George Best Rhapsody was written as a musical tribute to football legend George Best and is an official song on his foundation website. The animated video for Oh Sweet England can be seen on youtube.com The Band are pleased to announce the release of their new rock opera 'New Day No War' which is now available on iTunes.com. The new single, our version of the classic 'Jerusalem of Gold' is available on iTunes.com The 253 Boys had a great time playing in front of thousands at Autozone Baseball Park in Memphis and headlining at The Soccer Rocks Festival over the summer. We're pleased to announce our original song Lessons from the Road written by Don Puglisi has been selected for the soundtrack of the new documentary film - Houston We Have a Problem! We thank everyone who has got in touch with us and enjoyed the music so far. Wishing All Fans of the Beautiful Game all very best!
Personal life
Hex Lubinger, lead guitarist of The Shipwrecks, is Even Steven Levee's cousin.