Me: What or who is the biggest influence, musically, in your life?
Steve: I don’t know if I could narrow this down to any one particular thing, and I don’t think that would do it justice anyway. Most bands, or people, I know say that life and all things around them are their influences, and that might be the case for me too (to some degree). But I feel almost like that is a cop out. The real answer for me would have to be when I was a kid (Jr. high and high school) and trying to find out who I was in this huge fucked up world, music came along and really helped define me. It was nothing like it is today; there was no MySpace, no social networking sites, or easy avenues to finding music. You really had to search it out, and if you wanted to hear a band, you had to buy a record or go to a fucking show, no listening on your computer and deciding you don’t like it. Punk and hardcore was a real community and you found out about bands by reading “zines” and from your friends or at shows. That was it. So as I got deeper and deeper into punk/hardcore it really affected the way I lived and still live my life and at the end of the day that is my biggest influence. If I can reach one kid and make him think or help define his life the way the bands I looked up to as kid, then I think it will have gone full circle. I want to give back as much to this scene as I have taken and that is what drives me to still do this.

Me: How old were you when you decided to become straight edge?
Steve: To set the record, I have always been straight edge, meaning I have never touched any sort of alcohol, narcotic, cigarette etc…There was even a point in my life where I would not drink caffeine (which I am currently doing again) or take any kind of prescription drug/pain killer. I even had a tooth filled with no Novocain, because I didn’t want a drug in my body (that won’t fucking happen again though!). I decided to become Straight Edge in Jr. High when I picked up a record called “One Truth” by a band called Strife. I had always felt the way I had felt and I knew bands like Minor Threat and Youth of Today that were straight edge bands…I even knew who Strife was before that record but something about those lyrics and that record just really resonated with me and I went “that’s me, and that’s what I am” and so it began.

Me: When you first looked at punkworldviews.com, what was your initial reaction? This girl is crazy? She’s a genius? What is this crap?
Steve: When I first looked at punkworldviews.com I was like “Oh, fuck, another lame, let’s bash the government, Obama loving website” haha. But to my surprise, it was pretty much the opposite. I was very glad to see that someone was standing on the other side of the fence and voicing an opinion that, especially in the punk world, is going to very unpopular. That was very refreshing. It was very nice to see, because punk rock was never about lining up with a particular political party, it has always been about bringing up social issues and getting people to think for themselves. That is the most important part of it, and to take an unpopular view is way more punk then running with the crowd like most seem to do now anyway. (Me: ooh, burn, Good Charlotte!)

Me: If you were stranded on an island, who would you all vote to eat first and why?
Steve: Whoever is the fattest is the first to go. Not based so much on personality or ability, but more because they would provide the most nourishment and last the longest till we had to sacrifice someone else. To be honest though, I don’t think I could go through with it right away, I would have to be real fucking hungry, and there would have to be no other food around before I could do it.

Me: If music hadn’t worked out for you, what was your next career choice?
Steve: Well music…on the artist side has not worked out for me as far as paying the bills. I mean, I have a day job (in the music industry, ironically enough), which I need to sustain myself and get through. Music is a labor of love and something that I am fortunate enough to be able to do.

Me: The big one: This election is getting out of control. Amidst all your touring, do you keep up with politics? Who are you rooting for?
Steve: I do keep up with politics and it’s very important to me. This election is going to be a historic one indeed. There is either going to be a woman or an African American in the White House no matter what. So I say to all the shit heads of this country that think our government is oppressive or holds people down, open your fucking eyes, this is the least oppressive country in the world. It may not be perfect, and there is always room for improvement. See if you could get a woman on the ballot in a lot of other countries…wouldn’t happen. That being said, I am not going to launch into a whole thing about the candidates and say why I am voting for one over the other. I will simply say this, I am a registered republican who is voting for McCain because I believe in the ideals this country was founded on. Republican is such a bad word in our society right now and I could care less because if you boil it down to what it means to be a Republican it is only good in my eyes. Being a Republican means you believe in less government, that people should be allowed to pursue their lives the way they see fit, and be free to do so without interference. Freedom, plain and simple and how anyone can argue with that is beyond me. Being Republican means earning what you earn and being able to keep it without having to owe someone else a portion of what you have earned. It means being responsible for yourself and making your own way. That is the philosophy I subscribe to. Life is not easy, but I don’t expect anyone to hand me anything and I don’t expect anyone to make my decisions. That’s called socialism…enter Obama. To those that have a different view, I would just love to hear one single thing that he has done that would qualify him to be president. At the end of the day, I think he is going to win because people want “change” even though they can’t even define what that means, or point to any specific thing that he will do that will benefit this country. This shit could go on for days and I could write a novel on why Obama is a horrible choice (McCain would not have been my first choice either though..) but it is like trying to convince someone to believe in God when they are Atheist. It will never happen. Go Dodgers.