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The history of Stevie Rachelle is thirty plus years long and still counting, so lets start when he did. Born Steven Howard Hanseter on the second day of March back in 1966 the blond hair blue eyed German kid grew up a few miles from lake Winnebago in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Oshkosh is home of the world famous Oshkosh B'gosh farmer apparel & kids clothes, the yearly E.A.A. (Experimental Aircraft Association) fly in convention and the once famous Chief Oshkosh bottled beer. Settling in Oshkosh forever was kind of hard for the boy who grew to love skateboarding and dreamed of California since a very young age. Surfing, skateboarding, palm trees and the year round sunshine took two decades to realize but once it happened it was everything he dreamed of and more. "I moved here when I was 21 years old on a few days notice and never looked back, I still love Wisconsin but California is somewhere I've wanted to be since I was a kid." Growing up on the Southside of a mid sized mid western town helped the self taught musician well, he still holds true to a lot of the traditional values he was raised with. "It may sound weird to some but I love to work in the yard, mow the grass, rake leaves and get dirty in the garage cleaning." Graduating (barely) from Oshkosh West High School in June of 1984 and now eighteen years old "Banger" was ready to get into the real world and experience life. "Banger" was a nickname given to him by classmates, this stemmed from an incident at lunchtime. "We all walked to a local store for our lunch hour and I tried to jump a fence and fell flat on my face, everyone started yelling Handstander, Headbanger, Handbanger and it eventually got shortened to "Banger". Everyone thinks it was because I was dating a lot of girls but that had nothing to do with the nickname." Skateboarding was his first love and it started in the mid 70's, that's when sidewalk surfing started to become popular throughout the world not just California. In 1980 by the age of 14 there was a group of skaters who would make trips to Milwaukee to skate at the Surf N' Turf indoor Skate park. The skaters also experimented with building wooden ramps in their driveways and in backyards to feed their need to be Extreme. This was the most satisfying of any interests to the future Rock N' Roll singer. "I loved skating more than anything. I remember working in a waterbed factory, freezing my ass off in January and listening to the radio and I'd hear "California Dreaming" or "California Girls" and I would day dream of what it would be like to be there and skate all the cool skate parks." At the same time Mr. Hanseter was working these odd jobs he was also starting to listen to more and more music and eventually Rush, Ozzy and a few other bands prompted him to pay more attention. When friends said lets go to see Ozzy in concert the $ 15.00 ticket & the round trip bus ride included seemed like a cool idea. On the way to the concert everyone on the bus was talking about the opening act and saying how great they were. "Motley Crue was a name I couldn't even pronounce the first time I saw it but little did I know that night in March of 1984 would change my life forever!" Spring 1985 X-iter
After a very short period of
garage and basement jam sessions starting in 1983 with several drummers,
guitarists, etc.. "Banger" bought a used Bass from his uncle Ernie
for $ 60.00 and began learning songs off the smash hit Romantics release became
imperative. "I learned "Talking in your sleep" and a
few others but once I got to jam with some other guys they started
playing "Crazy Train" by Ozzy and I was basically sidelined due
to my lack of knowledge and skill when it came to jamming Metal
tunes". Usually these sessions would include 2-3 drummers, 3-5
guitarists/bass players and an occasional keyboard player. Most of these
guys had taken lessons so learning power chords to Sabbath and Kiss songs wasn't
really a problem. However while all these guys fought over who played what
instrument and which guy could (attempt to) do the solos best "Banger"
decided to be the singer/frontman. Early weekend jams included drummer Dan
"Goober" Lautenschlaeger, bassist Mike "Nikki"
Schneider and guitarist Mike Stowe who formed "X-iter" with
another vocalist who fell by the wayside. "Banger" was
summoned back from Florida to Wisconsin to take over and take over he did!
"Banger" had moved to Florida in January 1985 to pursue a possible skateboarding
career and to enjoy the warm weather. By March of that same year a local skate
shop called Ron Jon's Surf Shop & the Kama Kaze Skateboard Company had
interest in 3 skaters one of which was "Banger". A few mentions
of a Steve Hanseter "Banger" skate deck was in the early stages
when "X-iter" called and music became the priority. Upon arriving
back in Oshkosh "X-iter" had already played a few gigs and was
ready for more with their new singer. "The first rehearsal we did was
probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever been involved with. The
Manager was some white trash drunk biker guy with a mouthy girlfriend who both kept on acting like
our "Agents". They knew from the get-go that "Banger" wasn't going to put up
with their nonsense. I told the band that I'm here and they are as good as
fans from now on!" Following the outdoor rehearsal in a backyard in
late March (Wisconsin & March equals freezing temperatures and snow?!)
"Banger" watched the band run through the set while our "Agents" gave commands to the guitarist
to keep playing even though his fingers where frozen. "I soon realized that a
few of the band members obviously showed severe signs of weakness and that
is the reason a JACKASS was booking them." Throughout the next year
"X-iter" became the biggest teen glam/rock band in N.E.
Wisconsin and won a first round in the much coveted local WAPL battle of the
bands. This original line-up came to an end in the spring of 1986 after new members had
been added to "X-iter" due to various reasons. Jim Gypp was the
new drummer , Jason Giordano was the new guitarist and Shawn Sanders was the new
bassist. The entire original line-up was re-placed due to "Bangers"
drive to succeed and second to nobody work ethic. "X-iter"
played several more gigs but soon was at a standstill again. Literally within a day
or two of the "X-iter" demise "Talon" bassist Kirk
Eckholm called to say hey and told of news that their singer was out.
Steve decided to go jam and see what happens. After a few rehearsals Kirk,
younger brother Tony (Drums) and childhood friend Randy All the local
guitar whiz teamed up with Steve and they started playing out. After a few gigs
the guys decided to change the band name and Tony suggested "Tomi
Gunn". "The Jabberwocky" was one of Milwaukee's premiere
clubs in the mid 80s so "Tomi Gunn" decided to hit the big city
and also played "Billy's Old Mill" testing the guys in a much
bigger market with much stiffer competition. Another year went by and
after playing throughout N.E. Wisconsin and the U.P. (Upper Michigan)
Steve talked about Chicago and bigger cities to see where the band could
go. But after the slightest hesitation by other members in the spring of
1987 Steve decided to
leave the band and find a group of hungry guys who all wanted the same
thing. To play music, get a record deal, get on MTV, tour the world, and
of course meet girls! Please click on the Tuff link below to find out the history of Tuff
Stevie Rachelle is proud to have shared the
stage with the following musicians. |
