Keep up with Steve here:
www.myspace.com/councilofthefallen
I started playing at age 11 w/ rudimentary lessons, paradiddles and the “Synchopation” book. I started playing on a kit at age 12. I started in small bands w/ friends, at age 13. Then, did my first demo at age 13 or 14, at a studio one of my School teachers had in his basement in Freehold, NJ. It was around that age my interest in extreme drumming kicked in. It was ’83/84 at the time and my former bandmates wanted to play Motley Crue and I wanted to play Slayer and Metallica. Needless to say, we parted company…
I moved to Florida when I was 15 (’85) and started playing w/ people immediately. I was in a cover band called Carnage”. We played Slayer, Exodus, Celtic Frost and Dark Angel songs. Around ’86, Carnage was finished an I started writing the early “Amon” songs w/ The Hoffman Brothers (who were also in Carnage). In ’87 we met Glen Benton and started demoing immediately, what were to become the songs from the first Deicide Record. I’ve played in “Deicide” ever since.
Signed with Roadrunner Records in ’89 and was W/ them ’till 2002 or so. Signed with Earache Records in ’03 ‘until ’08. In 2007, I started playing with “Council of the Fallen” and am looking forward to keeping as busy as possible with those and as many other projects as I can handle. I find the older I get, the more I want to work and keep busy.
Steve Asheim Interview:
SD.com: Did you play in a school band or any drum corps?
Steve: I tried out for the band in Elementary School, but there were like 25 other kids who wanted to play the drums, so I got stuck with the trumpet. That lasted about 2 months and I was never able to really pursue drumming in an academic setting. Aside from some lessons I took from a music shop when I was around 12, I’m pretty much self-taught, learning from albums and such… (before the day of the instructional video/dvd)
SD.com: Who are your top 5 influences?
Steve: I’ll try to list them in the order in which I discovered them, not the order of importance to me or my playing….
1. Peter Criss
2. Clive Burr
3. Buddy Rich
4. Lars Ulrich
5. Dave Lombardo
SD.com: Assuming that influences doesn’t mean favorites, who are your favorites?
Steve: I’ll go w/ the top several, but not in any particular order….
Buddy Rich
Clive Burr
Tommy Aldridge
Vinnie Appice
Gene Hoglan
Dave Lombardo
Derek Roddy
and of course, the “Original Blast Master”, as far as I’m concerned – Pete Sandoval
SD.com: Let us know 5 CD’s that are in your current rotation
Steve: Actually, my current rotation is made up of the projects I am currently working on… Various mixes and versions of the new “Deicide” album and the “Council of the Fallen” demo. When I’m working on new stuff, I shut everything else out, as not to be influenced in any way by outside sources. But, when I’m just listening in my Hummer or in the gym, I pretty much listen to the old stuff I grew up on. Old Maiden, Sabbath/Ozzy, old Slayer, old Metallica. All the newer stuff I like, I discover while on the road. Usually the bands I’m touring with, Like Hate Eternal or Psycroptic, two newer bands that pop immediately into my mind.
SD.com: What do you do to warm up before a show?
Steve: Not too much, I just practice some rudiments and rolls on my knee or a chair or something. I don’t like lugging around practice pads or extra kits or rehearsal tools. On the road, I like to traval light, It’s less stuff to lose or get stolen.
SD.com: Can you remember a night you think was your best playing ever? If yes, when and where?
Steve: That’s kind of hard to say, as far as which gig was the best. I can say this for certain…… The best playing I’ve ever done was rehearsing alone, with nobody around to hear it. If I could have captured some of those nights on a recording, my releases would have come out twice as good as they did.
SD.com: Do you have a favorite brand of drums or cymbals?
Steve: I actually did a bunch of research before I bought a good kit, because I had previously bought a lemon. In ’92 the band started making some money and I bought my first brand new kit, a Remo w/ cannon kicks, It looked really Bad-Ass. Turns out the shells were made w/ layers of cardboard. It was a cheap piece of crap and I got ripped off. In ’93 I bbought a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom and that was the best kit I ever owned…. Quality shells, Hardware, everything! I recorded every album from ’95-’06 and every US tour W/ those drums. They look ragged out but I could still use them fro another 10 years easy and they’d still sound killer. In ’07 I got endorsed by Ddrum. They gave me a kit and I’ll use that now. It’s a great looking and sounding kit, really loud and cuts really well. I’ll keep the Yamaha moth-balled. I’m actually too attached to it, to sell it. I got lucky w/ cymbals because Paiste was always my favorite, back from when I started. In ’99 or so I got a deal w/ Paiste w/ The help of Dr.Kildrums Steve Wacholz and Steve Riskin. Big Thanks to both those guys.
SD.com: If you could give one piece of advice to young drummers, it would be…
Steve: My advice would be to learn how to play other instruments and learn to write music. That has kept me in this business for 18 years and still going. w/ the ability to write music, you can write yourself an album to play on every 2 years. If I had not known how to play guitar or write music, I’d of been done by ’93 and this interview would not be taking place.
SD.com: Who gave the best live performance you’ve ever seen?
Steve: It’s a toss up, but I’ll say the drummers that come immediately to mind are Lombardo and Roddy.
SD.com: If you had to stop drumming, what would you want to do with your life?
Steve: I would just write music, play Classical piano, and sign up to be a judge of the Cannabis Cup every year until I die. ( do they still have the Cannabis Cup?)
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