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- or -  VF: Can you tell us what happened at 3:30 am on February 17, 1997 in Cleveland, Ohio? SW: Is that Guzzinta? VF: You obviously got a special connection to Jason. Explain how the Guzzinta Brothers were created? Who came up with the name? You and Jason used instruments such as a keyboard, electric drum pad and guitar. That must have resulted in an interesting sound, right? SW: Both Guzzinta Bros. and Papa Wheelie are Jason names. I probably would have chosen more 'serious' names, but… Guzzinta was very different sounding. Haven't heard anything quite like it before nor since. We decided to jam together on the “Load” tour on days off. Since we had to travel lightly and do everything in the wee hours of the morning in hotel rooms, everything was electronic – drums, guitar, everything. And there was more than one noise complaint.
 Galvin and Gilroy Guzzinta (picture courtesy of Steve Wiig) VF: Song titles included "Satannie" which is about a 5-year old girl who worships the devil. Very interesting?!?! SW: Tabloid heaven! We had an interesting way of coming up with our subject matter...Ancient Chophouse Secret! VF: Which one are you – Galvin or Gilroy Guzzinta? SW: I forget...Probably Gilroy since he's second. VF: Is "Freak Bitches" the only Guzzinta Brothers release? SW: Or UN-release!
VF: Can you give some details about Papa Wheelie?
SW: Papa is the main project for Jason and I. We’ve been playing under that name for well over ten years now. I used to play guitar - now mostly drums. Jason plays guitar and sings. We've released two CDs - "Unipsycho" and "Live Lycanthropy". Joefus is the other dude - bass player and former bike-shop owner. Papa Wheelie is still kicking. Jason has had some shoulder issues in recent years - he's been recuperating from a couple of surgeries so that has prevented us from jamming recently. However, when he gets healed up and our schedules allow it, I'm sure we'll rock again. [Ed. In October 2006, Jason
 (picture courtesy of ChophouseRecords.com)
 (picture courtesy of ChophouseRecords.com)
 (picture courtesy of ChophouseRecords.com) VF: So, talk about the Chophouse. How does that work? SW: It's basically whoever is in town will come over and jam with Jason and myself. It's just these one-offs. We have TONS of ‘bands’. Me, Jason and Piggy (from Voivod, R.I.P.) had a project called BLOODSICLE – like a blood popsicle! Piggy played bass, Jason played guitar and I played drums. But right now, the Chophouse (and it’s website) is currently in hibernation mode.
 Steve's profile on ChophouseRecords.com VF: You're also in another band, The Martichora. Give us the details (how it started, type of music, other members, does the name mean anything?, etc.) on this band. SW: The Martichora (pronounced mar-tuh-CORE-uh) goes way, way back. It all started with my friend, Rich, who grew up across the street from me in Michigan when I was like 4 years old. We started to make music very early on and anything we create falls under that banner: THE MARTICHORA. Tons of history there...
 (picture courtesy of The Martichora)
 (picture courtesy of The Martichora) VF: So, you play bass, guitar, drums and also sing? Do you have any other special talents? You have some artistic ability, right? You've designed album covers, t-shirts, logos, etc. for your bands, right? SW: I started on piano/organ, then trumpet, then drums, then guitar... I do pretty much all of the artwork for any of the bands I'm involved with... Other special talents include abusing the dressing room signs on tour (see photos below). [Ed. Steve also created the cover artwork for this issue of EFI.]
 Steve banging his drums (picture courtesy of Steve Wiig)
 "Metallica w/ special guest - TOILET" (Foto by Fixxxer)
 The Metalli-kidz have rules too! (Foto by Fixxxer)
 There's that Toilet band again (Foto by Fixxxer) VF: Have you done any artwork for Metallica? SW: Yeah, I do a lot of ‘in house’ stuff – crew shirts, HQ art, etc. I’ve done a few personal things for James. The tour manager asked me to do something for our tour itineraries on the St. Anger tour so I scribbled out the “Madly In Anger With The World Tour” logo quickly and faxed it over. They hadn’t ‘named’ the tour yet and all of a sudden they started calling it that.
 VF: Are you in any other band right now? Have you ever been in any other band before Guzzinta Brothers, Papa Wheelie, Bloodsicle and The Martichora? SW: I'm in a 'secret band' that I can't talk about actually...
 Where do you think Steve learned his "Heavy Metal War Face"? VF: What other bands/types of music do you listen to? SW: As far as the 'heavy' stuff goes - I have a hard time not going back to Glenn Danzig's stuff (I'm a big Samhain fan, Misfits and Danzig). No matter what -- for some reason -- I have always found myself listening to Danzig's stuff. It's really easy for me to listen to them. I could listen to Danzig's stuff endlessly. Especially on international flights.
 SW: I was into Kyuss, back in the day, so I try to keep an eye out for what Josh Homme (singer/guitar for Queens of the Stone Age/formerly in Kyuss) and Queens of the Stone Age are doing. Faith No More always holds a special place in my heart. Mike Bordin (drummer for Ozzy/former drummer of Faith No More) and I have become friends over the years and he’s got a lot of great Cliff Burton stories. They were great friends and played in bands together. He’s also one of Robert Trujillo’s best friends too. We all get together for ‘League Night’ with Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe/Life Of Agony/Another Animal) whenever we can. SW: Let’s see, Mike Patton's (singer for Faith No More/Mr. Bungle) stuff always gets my attention – I just saw him again recently at a Queens Of The Stone Age after party in San Francisco. I liked the early stuff in Mr. Bungle. Although they've gotten a little too far ‘out there’ for my tastes lately, but he's still someone I'll check out musically. SW: I like what Rick Rubin has done: Johnny Cash...Reign in Blood (Slayer)...the System of a Down stuff is fantastic...and Neil Diamond is good too...and I'm saying that with a straight face too (laughing). I had a some people over for dinner and played the Neil Diamond album (that Rubin produced) and they were like "What's this??", and I said, "It's Neil Diamond." My friends were like, "Man, this is really good!" SW: But overall, I'm not limited to anything genre-specific - it's more about the occasion (cooking, driving, travel, romance, etc.)
 Steve (far left) - Relaunch Party - July 2002 (from the Metallica: Some Kind of Monster DVD) (who's the wanker on the far right?) VF: What's in your cd player in your car right now?
SW: Right now, I’ve got a CD in there called "BS". It's a compilation that Lars asked me to put together (for him) of 12 or so cover songs that they were thinking of playing at the Bridge School Benefit Show. It has the original versions of the Garbage song, Brothers in Arms, etc... I can't reveal the other songs on there cause Metallica might play them sometime in the future! [Ed. Metallica played the following cover SW: Another CD I'm listening to is my friend, Jerry Hannan's new album that he's been working on. He wrote the song "Society" which is in the movie, Into the Wild. Eddie Vedder covered the song for the soundtrack. This CD is a rough mix of his album, which is really good. It's more of a singer/song writer/acoustic type of album. In fact, I was just down at The Plant Recording Studio (where I’ve spent countless hours working with Metallica and recording with Papa Wheelie) this weekend laying down some drums with him on some of the new material.
 Steve and Jerry Hannan in Alaska (picture courtesy of Steve Wiig) SW: I'm also listening to "The Lost Tracks of Danzig." There's some really great songs on there. If you're in the mood for some new old Danzig, I highly recommend picking that one up...tomorrow.
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