Stevie Rachelle, The Metal Sludge Interview, Shawn Card, Penis, Message, Groupie, 20 Questions

full in bloom: I noticed Shawn Card’s name on the “Better Off Dead” video. Can you give us a little history on your relationship?….How far do you guys go back?

Stevie: Me and Shawn met at a Tuff show in Detroit in 1991. He was a fan and a videographer, I guess you could say. He had a camera with him and he was into shooting videos. He made this really funny parody video of himself singing in the Tuff video from MTV. He put on this funny wig and purple headband and sang “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye” and edited himself in the Tuff video. Everytime I was on the screen, he put himself on the screen (laughs). I remember getting off of the tour and we all watched the video and we were all laughing our head off. It was really funny and creative. His phone number was on there, so I called him and said, ‘dude, this is hysterical’ and he says, ‘oh yeah, I did one for Trixter and Bulletboys’.  He told me about all the video equipment he had and I said ‘what do you think about coming to L.A. and doing some stuff?’ and he said ‘sure’. From there we made a plan and he came to L.A. in early ’92 and we became friends. Over the years we have done lots of projects. Shawn and I were very tight buddies and we created all kinds of stuff together and went on tour together. At one point, in the summer of ’98, I had this idea to make this website. I wanted to do this parody website of Metal Edge Magazine and kind of goof on them and call it Metal Sludge. I was always a fan of David Letterman, so I thought we could do a Top Ten list….like Top Ten reasons why Tommy Lee is this, or Mark Slaughter is that. He said, ‘ok, great’. He came up with doing kind of like a Playmate of the Month thing, but we would call it the Sludgette and Sludgeaholic. He got that from ICP who had “Juggalo” and “Juggalette”. Shawn being from Detroit was really into Insane Clown Posse. He was the one that turned me on to ICP and Kid Rock and all those bands from Detroit. Then I came up with doing a Penis Chart, a Hair Chart….he came up with the 20 Questions format. We just started combining all these little ideas….. I think when we first launched the site it was on some Geocities html thing with some blue and red background….I think thirty people looked at it (laughs).

full in bloom: Have you and Shawn talked to each other since you guys split?

Stevie: No I haven’t. I haven’t talked to Shawn in over five years, but for all it’s worth….honestly, I miss him. I would love to talk to him. At some point maybe things will be different and we’ll be in communication again. As far as I know, he has been involved in some acting. I think he has gotten a couple of roles and maybe some featured roles in some commercials. He’s also actively involved with the band Lit. He was involved with them before they had a hit. He’s done a lot with them, their videos and production and stuff like that.

full in bloom: How many daily hits does Metal Sludge get nowadays?

Stevie: It’s well into the thousands. Not 25 or 50 thousand a day, but it is well into the thousands.

full in bloom: What’s the most traffic the site has had in a single day?

Stevie: Sadly when Dimebag died…..Metal Sludge was one of the top two or three music related websites on the entire planet and still today is very, very popular. But when Dimebag was murdered, I think the hits were approaching six figures a day. We were one of the first sites to have news reported about him and a lot of content related to hard rock and heavy metal. That became a really big story globally. Time Magazine called me and wanted to interview me about the music scene and the tragedy that also went along with the Great White situation. Sadly those stories are what had the sites’ traffic at an all-time high because we were one of the few places the mainstream could turn to and get information about Great White. We interviewed like Audie Desbrow (Great White drummer), and various members of the band, through the years, so there was content about those guys on the website.

Metal Sludge Gossip Board

full in bloom: Why did you make the Metal Sludge Gossip Board private?

Stevie: Well, you know the thing is…..as popular as Metal Sludge became….we had over 30,000 members who were registered that were regularly active. But by making it 100% open where people could just make comments…..you know it’s still hard with the way the internet works, with hidden ip addresses, or proxy’s, or whatever this crazy ip crap is…we just wanted to have some type of control that if people are going to log on and view, or comment, or contribute that we had some way to track who might be saying what, or putting random crap on the board. The thing is, people have an opinion, people gossip, people bullshit and exaggerate truth, but at the end of the day there’s got to be a fine line between, ok this guy said some shitty stuff and now he’s posting nude pictures of underage girls…..or saying some really horrible racist hardcore shit, so we just wanted to be able to police it a little bit. By making people sign up, it’s a little easier to do that.

Metal Sludge – Penis Chart

full in bloom: How did the Penis Chart come about? How did you get people to send in the info?

Stevie: Quite frankly, the Penis Chart and the Hair Chart were both my ideas. I was willing to live by the sword and die by the sword. For whatever it’s worth, my information on the Penis Chart would put me in a very good light in most women’s eyes (laughs). I guess I was blessed in that area. But in the Hair Chart, I kind of got the raw end of the deal. I’ve had a bit of a hair challenge over the years and I maybe knew that I would look good on the Penis Chart, but I would be one of the sad Hair Club for Men guys on the Hair Chart. I don’t wear a hair system and I never have, I am follically challenged (laughs) and I have had some hair transplants. I guess it was just an idea I had because I have heard groupies talk about who’s got a big one or a small one, or he’s going bald, or I think he wears a wig. I just thought that these are things that are of interest to groupies. The Penis Chart, even though it hasn’t been updated in a long time, is still one of the top searches for the website.

full in bloom: But at some point, girls are sending in their stories and comments, right?

Stevie: Absolutely. The thing is, being on the road for years and hearing from bands and friends, or girls that I dated, or people that I worked with, or continued to work with, who contributed to the site…..we’d hear stories……I mean, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. You’re from Texas….I remember hearing about Pantera in the earliest stages and hearing ‘yeah, their singer has a ten inch cock and bangs every girl in town’….or ‘how come that guy is always wearing a hat’, or ‘why is David Lee Roth doing this’.

full in bloom: In regards to when you ‘came out’ as the owner of Metal Sludge, I read somewhere that you said the pressure was getting to be too much? Can you elaborate?

Stevie: At the time, Shawn was living in Detroit and I was living here. You know, Shawn was my buddy and he knew everybody too. He had been on the road with us and played with Cherry Street and knew Robbie Crane, been to parties where Jani Lane was at. When he’d come out here to visit, or when we would go on the road out to the Midwest, he’d be with us. I was still Stevie Rachelle, the guy from Tuff. People want to go, ‘oh, Stevie interviewed himself’….I didn’t interview myself. For starters, Shawn essentially interviewed me and at the same time, we had other people who interviewed me. We had people who would contribute questions. It wasn’t just one person, we would have 8, 10, 12 contributors, some who were name rock stars as well. We say, ‘hey, let’s do an interview with Steve DeLong from Sweet F.A.’, or we’re going to do an interview with Frankie from Kingofthehill, or Chainsaw Caine from Slave Raider. So a lot of times we would try to reach out to someone from their area. If we were going to interview someone from Trixter, or Danger Danger…..after Ted (Poley) was no longer in Danger Danger….we would reach out to Bruno or Steve West and go, ‘hey, we’re going to interview your old singer, what should we ask him’. We would reach out to old friends, former bandmates, replacement singers, and ask them ‘hey, what should we ask him’ and they might say, ‘he’s got a drinking problem and beats his wife…ask him about this’. As far as your question about the pressure…..It just became harder…I mean we were selling advertisement, we were selling massive amounts of merchandise, it was all in my house and garage. I was trying to get shirts printed anonymously….we were starting to distribute other products like the Hollywood Rocks book, Metal Skool, who are now called Steel Panther, their cds and dvds. We were distributing and selling to the tune of literally tens of thousands of dollars a year in merchandise alone. Trying to do all of this…trying to set up t-shirts, deliveries, going to the post office. Here’s a funny one, I stood in line once, at the post office in Sherman Oaks, with four bins loaded with 75 packages and as I am standing in line, former Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo is standing right next to me. At that point I didn’t know him, we didn’t say anything. Fast forward a month later, now former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick is standing in line and says ‘hey Stevie what are you doing?’ (laughs), so I’m standing there with all these packages and Bruce Kulick is chatting me up. It was that kind of shit that started happening. I would go out to a club and be standing around watching Metal Skool at the Viper Room and someone would say ‘did you see the interview that was on Metal Sludge today…..I wonder who runs it’. I can’t tell you how many times that happened. It didn’t happen like dozens of times, it happened hundreds of times. I just couldn’t contain it anymore. I would go to a party, a concert, or a barbeque and people were just always talking about Metal Sludge.

full in bloom: Would anyone ever ask you if you were the owner?

Stevie: A few of my close friends knew and a few of Shawn’s close friends knew, but I would say the inner circle of friends was less than a dozen. As far as the contributors, Scott Ian (Anthrax, SOD) was one of them, Rikki Rocket (Poison), Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate), Josie Pearl, Jizzy’s wife contributed….I think Chris Jericho (wrestler) and various other rock stars. Sometimes they go bad. Bobby Blotzer (Ratt) was really a fan and writing the site. He would send us drunken emails filled with crazy comments about other people. At one point we decided to run his emails because he was just so over the top. I mean he was telling us some really crazy shit and we thought maybe we should publish a couple of these and see what happens (laughs). Needless to say, he wasn’t happy. Over the years I would say very few times….the amount of times that someone came up to me and asked if I was involved in the website. Nobody did that. Whether they were afraid to ask, or intimidated, or didn’t want to, or they just figured I wouldn’t give them a straight answer. Nobody asked. But after the fact, most everybody came up to me and either shook my hand, or laughed, or high-fived me, or gave me a thumbs up, or a wink. The response was really overwhelming, very positive. There were only two people that really said anything against me and that was Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) and Bobby Blotzer.

full in bloom: What’s that moment like for you when you step out as the owner? That moment you hit send on the email, or when you posted the news on your website.

Stevie: I felt relieved. People think that it’s just a website, or you make fun of us, or you’re a jerk….you said this, or did that. At the end of the day, I created Metal Sludge to help promote my own band, my own music. At the same time, I wasn’t going to do a website and just talk about me. I wanted to talk about the bands that I thought deserved to get some press as well. This was the mid to late nineties; there was no press for those bands. The only bands that got press were something to do with Tommy Lee with Pamela Anderson, or Poison, or occasionally Warrant, or Sebastian Bach doing those theatre tours. Occasionally they would get a blurb in SPIN or something like that. It was all Marilyn Manson, Korn, Powerman 5000, and Monster Magnet….there was nothing. I wanted to give press because there were tours out there. The Hard 80’s Tour, which was like Bang Tango, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Dangerous Toys….or Enuff Z Nuff and Faster Pussycat and I thought these guys are out there and they’re really killing themselves and they deserve some support. When the site became big, we did talk about Pretty Boy Floyd and Rhino Bucket, Nitro, and Sleeze Beez. Stuff that no one had touched in close to a decade. I wanted to help those bands but at the same time, I wanted to kind of bitch slap the bands that were kind of getting a free pass. If there was an article it was always the same bands. It became a bit goofy too. It seemed like whenever you turned around, Warrant had a new drummer, or new guitar player, or a new singer. L.A. Guns had new singers, Ratt had different members. It seemed like all the local L.A. musicians were now playing in Ratt, or Motley Crue, or Vince Neil’s band. This was not just the opinion of Stevie Rachelle, or Shawn Card, this was the opinion of fans everywhere. A lot of the things we said rang true and hit home with these people, otherwise, we wouldn’t have 10, 20, 30 thousand people from around the world coming to the site every day. We were saying stuff that people related to.

full in bloom: Did Tracii Guns know that you were running the site?

Stevie: No. In fact, no rock stars knew. Not even any of the people that I said contributed. I think a few of them thought I might be involved. A lot of people thought Rikki Rockett might have been involved, the Dr. Rockett column and he came to the Metal Sludge Extravaganza parties…might have even hosted one. The few people that knew were Shawn’s close friends and my close friends. A couple of them were musicians, but very few people knew.

full in bloom: This is the Metal Sludge portion of the interview. Are you cool with that?

Stevie: Live by the sword, die by the sword. Go ahead.

full in bloom: What’s the most disgusting thing you ever did to a groupie besides bang her?

Stevie: Ummmmmmmm. I would say……as I man up here……I am ashamed to say that I once had a groupie give me her phone card and I said that I needed to make a phone call. Then I wrote down all the numbers. When I left on tour, I used the phone card and ran her phone bill up. I look back on that….of course that’s what you do when you’re a dumb, young rock guy on the road……But I look back at that and think ok, that’s pretty disgusting. I’m ashamed of that.

full in bloom: Big fake boobs, or nice small titties?

Stevie: Small titties. I’ve never been into big boobs, or fake boobs.

full in bloom: What are 3 high points and 3 low points of your career.

Stevie:
High Points
1. Getting signed. I set out to get a record deal and I got signed to Atlantic Records.
2. Not only being on MTV but being the number 3 video behind Guns n Roses and Metallica.
3. Flying to London and playing the Astoria, which was like a 1500 to 2000 seater. The fact that people knew me and knew the lyrics…that was a really big deal to me.

Low Points
1. Getting dropped. It wasn’t like I was devasted. It was more like, ‘ok, let’s move on’, but it was a low point.
2. Getting our truck stolen in Memphis, TN in 1991. That was really bad, we lost everything.
3. I would have to say when Todd Chaisson quit the band. Todd was the one who started the band and he quit to join a metal band. We went through our phases and fights but as much as we went forward, he was a part of the original equation.

full in bloom: Have you met all the other Chaisson brothers?

Stevie: Yeah and that was part of the problem too. The family didn’t really like me. Over the years that kind of stuff has been washed under the rug. But yes, I met Kenny and Greg. It’s all good now. For the record, Todd has been back with the band for the last couple of years. We get along better than ever and we used to be fire and ice at one point. He understands and respects me and I understand and respect him.

full in bloom: What rock star deserves a smack in the mouth and why?

Stevie: Well, as of late, Jani Lane (Warrant). I have been friends with Jani the last couple of years. But the fact that he has fallen again, canceling shows and being drunk…..I think it’s pathetic. Shame on him.

full in bloom: He’s all messed up again?

Stevie: Yeah, we got some news that it was going to happen again. I had actually heard that he was in a detox…..he’s a disaster. Everyone else says to say a prayer for him, or they feel sorry for him. I don’t. He’s a grown man…..he’s got children…..dude, man up….time to get your act together. It’s a joke that we’re even talking about it again. He’s been going through this for over a decade and I just find that to be disturbing. I don’t wish any ill will on him but I do think it is absolutely pathetic.

full in bloom: Who has been the biggest jerk to Metal Sludge?

Stevie: We’ve had a few people who have written back and told us to fuck off. I know we have had people approach Sebastian Bach on multiple occasions, people who wanted to interview him or talk to him. People have approached him wearing a Metal Sludge t-shirt on, just a fan who wanted a picture. We’ve done this thing called Captures…..where we say ‘hey wear our shirt and take a picture with a rock star’. Over the years, hundreds of famous people have taken a picture with someone wearing a Metal Sludge t-shirt. Of course, a lot of them already know what it is and will point at the shirt, or maybe give us a finger. Recently, Stephen Pearcy (Ratt) took a picture with someone wearing a Metal Sludge shirt. Stephen is a friend of mine, but he gets it. But I would say, Sebastian Bach…..I wouldn’t say he’s been a jerk but he’s kind of been a baby about it. He’s very upset that Metal Sludge and even more so, me……..it’s funny because he was one of the first celebrities to write us that said he loved the site and thought we had big balls and that he was really a big fan of it. But as soon as he was on the other end of the Sludging, he suddenly turned and he’s gotten very volatile and hot-headed and screamed and had people kicked out if they were wearing a Metal Sludge t-shirt. Pretty much acting like a little brat. Yeah, we’ve talked about him and thrown him around a little bit. But hey, we wouldn’t do stories on Sebastian Bach if he wouldn’t have done some of the things he’s done. Like when he was arrested in New Jersey for drunk and disorderly conduct and had pot on him. Where he told everyone that he was going to go get guns and come back and kill everybody. That was all public record. He was arrested for it and had to pay fines. Similarly, just last year, he had his tirade in a bar in Canada. He smashed a glass off the wall and was arrested. We’re just reporting the news.

full in bloom: What band needs to pack it in and call it a day?

Stevie: I’m going to answer this like other people have answered it. Nobody. There are two ways to look at it. Jani Lane should pack it in and go to a serious rehab for 24 months, or 12 months. But anyone that wants to make music, tour, and do their thing, I support it. Whether it’s Kiss, or Warrant with a new singer or Skid Row with a new singer….whatever. If anyone should pack it in and call it a day, it should be someone who can’t get it together. But for someone like Jani who was just booked on these shows, given a guarantee and a contract, and likely a deposit…..flights were booked and hotels were booked, advertising dollars were spent and people made plans to go see him….and he can’t get it together, then he needs to call it day. Sebastian Bach might be a jerk to me or hate the site, but at the end of the day, Sebastian is the type of guy that’s out there working, recording, and touring. You never hear about him not being able to make a show, or not being able to do his job. I have respect for anyone who is out there playing and performing.

The Zeroes

full in bloom: What band surprised you when they made it and who do you think should have made it that didn’t?

Stevie: I think a band that should have had more success were the Zeros. I really like them a lot. Of course, they didn’t fit the ilk of what was going on at the time. They were too late for the Clash and Billy Idol punk scene and they were too early for the Green Day and Offspring scene, they were in the middle. As far as being surprised about someone making it? Not anybody really….I’m trying to think…..Anybody that had success, didn’t just get lucky. Luck and timing are factors but whether it’s Britney Spears, or Justin Bieber, or Right Said Fred….somebody has put time and energy into making that happen. It’s not like ‘hey, you’ve got great hair, let’s put you in pictures’. There are some bands that I could say are overrated. To this day, I still think Pearl Jam are overrated….I thought they were overrated then.

Shotgun Messiah

full in bloom: Of all the bands you played with, who were the coolest and who were the biggest dicks?

Stevie: I was psyched to play with anyone. I never was like ‘fuck them, I don’t want them on the bill’. As far as the biggest dicks, I would have to say Shotgun Messiah. In about 1993, we were on tour, we were supposed to play the Limelight in New York City, where Tuff was going to open for Shotgun Messiah. At the time, Shotgun Messiah had put out a record that was heavier and more industrial and we got word, from our agency, that Shotgun Messiah said that Tuff was not allowed on the bill. They said if Tuff was on the bill, then Shotgun Messiah would not perform. They said they didn’t want to be on the bill because we were a hair band. As much as we had evolved and changed, they did as well. I was annoyed with that for a few reasons. One, I like Shotgun Messiah, they had a couple of good songs. Two, we’re on the road trying to make it day to day, week to week, and that $250 to $500 is part of our week….we need that to survive. Three, we were really excited to not only play New York City but also the Limelight, which was one of the coolest clubs I have ever seen in my 25 years of touring. I just thought ‘fuck these guys, what a bunch of assholes’. I am sure it’s water under the bridge for them, or maybe they don’t even remember.

The coolest….God, there’s plenty. I remember we played Santa Monica Civic with the Bulletboys, Marq (Torien) was super cool. We played the Orange County Celebrity Theatre with Kix, Steve (Whiteman) to this day is still my friend…..love that band. I want to say we played with Racer X and Paul Gilbert wore a Tuff shirt on stage. There were tons of bands that were cool to us. We played shows with Bang Tango, friends of ours, Wildside, friends of ours, Enuff Z Nuff, Dangerous Toys. We had great times with all those bands.

full in bloom: Have you ever slept with two women in the same week and not bathed between them?

Stevie: I’ve probably slept with three women in the same night and not bathed between them. Probably the most was four in one night.

full in bloom: Not all at the same time, right?

Stevie: All not knowing about the other.

full in bloom: In the last two weeks, have you taken a crap and not washed your hands afterward?

Stevie: Probably.

full in bloom: Have you ever touched another man’s penis?

Stevie: Probably. I remember being on the road and someone would be there taking a leak in the bathroom, or outside. You know, sneak up on him and give him a real hard flick in the nuts.

full in bloom: Have you ever received penis pictures from Brett Favre?

Stevie: No

full in bloom: Have you edited the Metal Sludge Wikipedia page?

Stevie: Absolutely.

Jim Gillette
Proud to be Loud

full in bloom: Be honest. Have you ever sold a single copy of Jim Gillette’s “Proud to be Loud”?

Stevie: Yes. I signed him to a deal to distribute it.

full in bloom: Have you ever beat anyone up that was famous?

Stevie: Well, I almost got in a fight…..I threatened him but didn’t do it. Henrik (Ostergaard) from Dirty Looks. RIP brother, he recently passed away. We were playing a festival show somewhere and they were screwing around and delaying at soundcheck. It was Tuff, Dirty Looks, Wildside, and maybe Bang Tango. There was an argument and I got up in Henrik’s face and I was getting ready to beat him up but Drew (Hannah) from Wildside and Cory Draper from the radio station and a couple of other guys stopped it. Then years later I remember we played a show at Sherlock’s in Erie, PA, where Henrik had been living for the last 10 or 15 years. He came to the show and he kind of looked at me and smiled…..we shook hands…..it was all just stupid kid stuff earlier in our career.

full in bloom: Didn’t you beat up your roadie for telling people you had hair extensions?

Stevie: (Laughs) Robbie Crane (Ratt) broke that up.

full in bloom: How did all that go down?

Stevie: We were playing Bangles in Denver. It was like 1989, we had a tour bus. I was outside meeting girls and giving autographs. I look over and see all these guitars sitting out that hadn’t been put up yet. So I talk to Todd and Jorge and say, ‘hey, all your guitars are sitting out here’, meanwhile the roadie, who will remain nameless, is inside. I was commanding and barking orders. So they went and yelled at him and said ‘hey, put the guitars away, Stevie is pissed’. So as I am standing out there, he starts putting the guitars away and he starts yelling, ‘Nice fucking hair extensions’, ‘Nice hair extensions on the singer’. He was yelling this at the top of his lungs and everyone’s looking and I’m all embarrassed because I was wearing hair extensions. So at some point, I say to Robbie that I am going to beat his ass. He said don’t do it. I started to go at him and Robbie held me back. Then at some point, Robbie forgot about it and let go, so I went running and I jumped and knee’d the guy in the face as hard as I could. He fell down and then I started punching him and kicking him. Then Robbie came over and pulled me off and I went on the bus limping. I had a giant goose egg on my knee from where I knee’d him in the skull. I could barely walk. I went on the bus and took his bags from his bunk and said ‘tell that fucking prick to find his way home from Denver’ and then they put me in the back of the bus and put a bunch of ice on my knee. The next day I woke up and I go to the front of the bus, we were getting ready to stop at a truck stop for lunch. I walked out and the roadie was sitting there (laughs) in the front lounge and he had a bunch of band-aids on his face from where he had been cut and had been bleeding. Only the place they stopped at to get the band-aids didn’t have regular ones, they only had Snoopy band-aids (laughs). So there he was with all these Snoopy band-aids on his face (laughs). They told me that they couldn’t kick him off the bus, that he had to give him a ride home.

full in bloom: While looking at old magazines, have you ever mistaken yourself for Poison’s Bret Michaels?

Stevie: Absolutely. Sometimes I have flipped through a magazine and thought it was me when it was Bret and thought it was Bret when it was really me. I can’t say it happened a lot but it did happen three or four times. As a matter of fact, there’s something online where there’s a pin-up of me in RIP Magazine and a pin-up of him in a similar magazine. The pose, the headband, the hair, everything was identical. You put them up next to each other and we could have been the Nelson twins or something.

Stevie Rachelle
1991

Band Association – The first thing that comes to mind.

full in bloom: Odin

Stevie: Decline of Western Civilization

full in bloom: Pretty Boy Floyd

Stevie: I think of Steve Summers because he’s my friend. We are actually better friends now than we ever were. We’ve become really good friends in the last five years.

full in bloom: Witch.

Stevie: I liked those guys, they were always really cool to me. Punky Peru. They used to play the Troubadour a lot.

full in bloom: St. Valentine

Stevie: Scott Thomas. They were cool but I don’t know a whole lot about them. Scott had great hair.

full in bloom: SIN

Stevie: Was that Rik Fox’s band? I don’t remember anything about them but I remember Rik and he was always a nice guy.

full in bloom: Brunette

Stevie: I love that band. I loved Johnny’s voice. Joey was super nice. The whole band were just a bunch of great guys.

full in bloom: London

Stevie: Nadir D’Priest wanted to beat me up one time at the Rainbow. What happened was they had played the Troubadour and I was there and I said some shit about them. I think I even said it while they were on stage, between songs, I might have yelled something out. Then a few months later, this is probably ’88 or ’89, I walk into the Rainbow and Nadir is sitting there at a table with some people and Slash from Guns n Roses. I walked by and Nadir grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me into the booth and made me sit down. He grabbed my arm so I couldn’t get away, so he’s staring at me and he goes ‘I should fucking beat your ass right here in front of everyone’ (laughs) and I’m like ‘what are you talking about’. Needless to say, that’s all water under the bridge too. Me and Nadir have actually emailed and been kind of friendly over the last five years. I think we even interviewed him a while back….I can’t remember.

full in bloom: Sweet Savage

Stevie: I love that band. Chris (Sheridan) is the sweetest guy ever. I’m still friends with him too. I liked them from the beginning.

full in bloom: Angora

Stevie: John (Corabi) left me a comment the other day on Facebook. Great band….loved that band…loved John…loved everyone in that band.

full in bloom: Shark Island

Stevie: I never really knew about them. Didn’t the drummer Walt Woodward (Shark Island, Sweet Savage, The Scream) recently die?

full in bloom: Long Hair Rocks

Stevie: It was a hair salon. They cut hair and put on hair extensions….I didn’t go there. There was Long Hair Rocks and Antenna.

Club Association

full in bloom: Troubadour

Stevie: It was one of my favorite clubs; we played there all the time. I saw Metallica there….I think those were the first shows with Jason Newsted….they did some special shows at the Troubadour.

full in bloom: The Roxy

Stevie: Played my first show there when we opened for Warrant. Also did our signing parties there when we got our record deal. We had some friends come up that night, Davy Vain and Jamie Scott from Vain came up and we did a couple of songs together.

full in bloom: The Rainbow Bar & Grill

Stevie: The Rainbow was the Rainbow. What a lot of people don’t realize is the Rainbow was a restaurant and bar, it wasn’t a venue you could play at. It was more of a hang-out place and it was always great. Something that stands out…….I remember one night the valet hit the gas instead of the brakes and drove a brand new Mercedes off the hill and it landed on three cars.

full in bloom: The Whisky

Stevie: Tons of great shows there…..saw everybody there. I remember when Skid Row first came out and they were touring with Bon Jovi, they played a show there and I remember being upstairs with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons watching Skid Row play Hollywood for the first time.

full in bloom: What did you think of them?

Stevie: I thought they were great. I loved those first couple of albums. Sebastian Bach is undoubtedly one of the best rock singers, not only of that era but I would say the last thirty years. He’s a great frontman and great singer…….he needs an attitude adjustment but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a great singer.

full in bloom: Gazzarri’s

Stevie: One night we played a show and we had all these lights and at the last minute they told us that we couldn’t use them. So I got on stage and started cussing them out and saying a bunch of rock star shit. The next day, Bill (Gazzarri) came up to me, we were playing two nights in a row, and he said ‘you’ve been in this industry for a long time and the things that you said on stage were hurtful to me and the club’…..he was sad….I would say that he even had a tear in his eye……I felt really stupid……..I felt bad. He was always nice to me. I remember him saying to me, ‘you’re as pretty as some of the girls in here’ (laughs). I went to his funeral…..I remember when I walked in, I was standing by the door and David Lee Roth’s father was talking.. Shortly after that, Axl Rose walked in and stood next to me during the rest of the funeral talks at Gazzarri’s.

full in bloom: The Cathouse

Stevie: Rikki is still a buddy of mine…..we’ve actually become better friends in the last five to ten years than we ever were back then. He’d always let us in….Tuff was a big local draw, people knew us. A lot of people don’t realize that the Cathouse was not a club full-time. They would rent out a venue every Tuesday night and it would just be called Cathouse. It was never on the weekends. The idea behind it was that it was a private event that you would go to and you had to buy a card or membership to get in. It was always fun. As a matter of fact, the first time I went to the Cathouse, I had only been in L.A. about a week or so, and I saw Charlie Sexton standing at the bar….that was the first person I had seen on MTV that was now standing in front of me.

full in bloom: The Country Club

Stevie: Great place. I saw Kix there….Racer X there…..I watched Nitro film part of their “Freight Train” video there (laughs). I also saw Skid Row film “Piece of Me” there as well. I went to an MTV New Year’s Eve party for 1988. They didn’t film it on New Year’s, they filmed it on like December 10th during the day. It was Poison, Robert Plant, Sam Kinison, and whoever else. It was all pretaped. So they’d be like, ‘ok, we’re going to do the countdown’ and Poison is on stage, the confetti would fall and then they’d be like, ‘ok, let’s do it one more time’ (laughs).

full in bloom: Coconut Teaszer

Stevie: I didn’t go there a lot. One of the last memories I have there, I was sitting on the patio and they would serve hot dogs and tacos for $1.00. Duff McKagen was sitting there with his friends and he leaned over and asked me if I had a light and I said, ‘I don’t smoke’ (laughs).

Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who totally sucks a big floppy ball sack and 10 being a vocal God.

full in bloom: Vince Neil.

Stevie: Well, growing up I would probably have given him a 10, but after I got a clue and realized that he wasn’t a great singer….I would say a 6. I love those first couple of records…..as much as I know about Motley Crue, seeing the inside and seeing them live, he’s not a great singer. His style fits the band and for Motley Crue, he’s a 10, but as a singer he’s a 6, live….he’s probably a 4.

full in bloom: Steven Tyler

Stevie: You can’t take anything away from that guy. He’s a 10 on the records, live….he’s a 10 times 10 all the way across the board.

full in bloom: Joey C. Jones

Stevie: I like the Sweet Savage EP. It was a little too nasally for me. His voice still sounded a little too whiny, poppy, candy for me. But for what it was, I know Joey was talented and a good frontman. I would say a 7.

full in bloom: Randy O.

Stevie: I don’t really remember anything about him. I remember him being a big deal around here and everyone thought he was great. I even thought at the time a guy who is sitting in a hot tub saying that he was going to be bigger than Robert Plant and if I’m not I’m going to kill myself…..I remember even thinking then, ‘dude, that’s going to be embarrassing’. I’m sure he’s a decent singer….I would say he’s a 6 or 7 but I don’t know enough about him to really be fair with a rating. I mean I heard the Lost Boys and saw them play live but I wasn’t really into them, so it must not have been something that I was impressed with.

full in bloom: Ron Keel

Stevie: As a metal singer, he’s a great singer. There were some songs on their records that I thought were ok. I wouldn’t say he’s a 10 but he was definitely a really good singer and to this day is still a pro. I would say he’s between an 8 & a 9. He’s an all-around singer, good frontman, good presentation, professional, good in the studio, good live.

full in bloom: Bret Michaels

Stevie: As an all-around singer, I would say a 5 or 6. In the studio, there’s not a lot there, so he can pull it off live. Bret talks his way through a lot of songs. He’s good for Poison and their style. As a frontman and a professional, he’s a 10.

full in bloom: Jani Lane

Stevie: Jani can definitely sing. I would say Jani as a singer is easily an 8. As far as being a professional and a live performer…..I always remembered him as being a great frontman, great performer, very charismatic, very engaging. I would say 8 on the voice and 10 on the presentation. At this point, the last 7 to 8 years of his life, he can’t even put together a string of 5 shows…..so, that kind of takes away. He’s a better pop singer than a metal singer and I think he knows that.

full in bloom: Jim Gillette

Stevie: Well, he’s got an amazing amount of ability; he can get really high and do those screams, but his voice was never really my style….and I’m still friends with Jim today. As far as how he is as a singer….I would say a 7. His abilities are off the chart, it’s a 10 based on his screams and the fact that some of his stuff is not even humanly possible (laughs). I remember being at a rehearsal with Tuff and we were playing some songs, I was singing through a PA and Jim was standing there and was doing some screams while we were playing and his voice was as loud as the PA was. I was just like, ‘are you fucking kidding dude’ (laughs). He had an amazingly powerful voice.

full in bloom: I have always wondered that about him. Hearing him on the Nitro record, his voice almost borders on that King Diamond / falsetto thing. So it’s the real thing, huh?

Stevie: Absolutely. He can really, really scream insanely high, long, loud, and powerful.

full in bloom: Stephen Pearcy

Stevie: Again, one of my buddies. He’s never been great live. I remember seeing them in ’84 and I remember thinking that he wasn’t as good live as he was on the record. But those first 3 or 4 records, I loved Pearcy’s voice. I think he sounded great, he’s got a lot of attitude, he doesn’t have perfect pitch, but I would say Pearcy as a singer is a 7 but the way he sounded on the first few records, he’s a 10 for me. I really loved the way his voice sounded. “Wanted Man”, “Round and Round”, “Lack of Communication”…all those songs are killer to me.

full in bloom: Nadir D’Priest

Stevie: I don’t really remember too much about him. I knew he had a powerful voice, good rock singer, with some range. I would say about a 6 or 7.

full in bloom: Riki Rachtman when he was in the band Virgin.

Stevie: (Laughs) I love Riki, he’s my buddy. As far as a voice, he’s got to be lower than anyone on that list.

The Last of Stevie Rachelle

full in bloom: Last fast food joint you ate at.

Stevie: McDonald’s

full in bloom: Last time you wanted to kill yourself.

Stevie: Probably when I was driving to NAMM last January and I was stuck on I-5 for 3 1/2 hours and I was just like ‘you’re fucking kidding me, right’ (laughs). It would usually take me about an hour to get there and I was on there for 3 1/2 hours…..I was losing my mind.

Bobbie Brown

full in bloom: Last time you jerked off thinking about Bobbie Brown.

Stevie: Yeah…that’s been a long time. I was probably jerking off and thinking about her in 1990 but fast forward to the mid-’90s and that fantasy became a reality. I have already been there and done that (laughs). I love Bobbie…she’s very cool and the little time we did spend together was pretty kick ass.

full in bloom: Last time you had a venereal disease.

Stevie: Ummmmmm. Last time I was at the doctor and that’s been a while, so I should probably go get checked again (laughs).

full in bloom: Last time you slept with two women in the same night.

Stevie: It’s been a while, I can’t recall.

full in bloom: Last time you signed an autograph.

Stevie: I know I did a bunch last fall when I was on tour in Italy, Germany, Sweden, and France. That would be in person, but I would say the last time I signed something would be last week because people buy cds from me every week and I will autograph them. Usually, whenever anyone buys something that has to do with Tuff or Stevie Rachelle, I will usually automatically autograph it.

full in bloom: Last time you saw Vicki Hamilton.

Stevie: The last time I saw her was at the Michael Monroe show at the Viper Room last March. I would say it was March 13th or 14th…..I remember that because Lizzie DeVine quit the band like two days after that show. Vains of Jenna had opened up for Michael Monroe.

full in bloom: Last famous person you shook hands with.

Stevie: (laughs) The last person was the black actor ‘High Top’ from the movie Colors. His real name is Glenn (Plummer), his kid is a schoolmate with my son and I saw him yesterday and I shook his hand. His son and my son are buddies.

full in bloom: Last time you punched someone in the face.

Stevie: It’s been a long time. As I have become an adult…..I don’t want to try to claim that I some sort of badass, but over the years…..in my 20’s I got into a few fights and I hurt some people pretty bad and at one point I said to myself that I have to try to contain myself. You know, you see these things on the news and someone will get drunk at a party and they get into a fight at a party and the guy punches the other guy and he falls and gets brain damage or dies. Robbie Crane…… he always seems to be around when I fight……Robbie was with me at the Whisky one time, many years ago, and these guys were harassing me….after trying to get the guys to chill out, I took my jacket off….they kept on antagonizing me and I finally went over there and beat this guy up really bad. Robbie had to stop it. The guy went to the bathroom with his friends and he’s just covered in blood and his eye was literally about to fall out of his fucking head. That was a long time ago but it was probably the last time I really physically attacked someone……more than ten years…..maybe more than fifteen.

Stevie w/ Bitch vocalist Betsy

If you found this first, make sure to read
Part I w/ Stevie Rachelle