The Music & Sound Retailer: How did you first get involved with playing music?
Steve Stevens: I grew up in Far Rockaway in New York and every summer, it was kind of like a beach area, so every summer everyone would be out on the beach, playing acoustic guitars and stuff. There was a pretty well-known musician named Phil Ochs who came from Far Rockaway. He was a protest singer in the ‘60s. So I think in my neighborhood it was kind of like a tradition passed down. I had an older brother. All of his friends played guitar so I kind of gravitated toward it. And then my dad bought a really cheap guitar when I was 7 ½. I think he intended to play it himself but that didn’t last long. [Laughs] It was really cheap. It came with a little book. I think the whole package, with the book and everything cost my dad $20 or something.
M&SR: How did it progress to the point where you were discovering instruments of your own?
Stevens: This was around the time when things like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell were happening, so my brother was bringing me to concerts. I pretty quickly picked up a lot of stuff, mostly from his friends. I mean, my mom tried to get me a proper music teacher but he was an older guy wanting to teach me, I don’t know, old people’s music. You know? [Laughs] I wanted to learn Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix and all of that stuff. So I think my brother’s friends were more instrumental in helping me than actual music teachers.
M&SR: Have you tried any other instruments besides the guitar?
Stevens: Not really. I was accepted into the High School for Performing Arts, the Fame school. Although I got in on guitar, guitar isn’t a phonic instrument so they told me I had to pick up another instrument. I tried viola and I was probably the worst viola player you’ll ever hear. So that’s kind of why I lost interest in that school as well, because at that point I’d been playing guitar for quite a while and to start over on another instrument seemed pointless to me.
 M&SR: Once you started really getting into guitar, were there certain retail stores you liked to go to for gear?
Stevens: My high school that I went to was on 46th Street and all the music stores in Manhattan are on 48th Street. Once I discovered that, I pretty much would hang out in all the music stores. You know, I’d take my lunch break at school and never go back for my afternoon class. I’d just hang out. I became friends with all the owners of the stores and stuff. That was the first time I’d seen Marshall stacks and all this stuff. I remember there was one legendary music store called Manny’s and they had all these photographs, 8x10, signed. I kept thinking if I stayed long enough then a rock star would come through the door, which never happened. [Laughs]
M&SR: Was there anything you discovered at those stores that’s played a part in the music you make today?
Stevens: Definitely guitar pedals, yeah. That was when you realize, “wow,” you could really alter the sound of your guitar. There are all these little boxes and they all seem so magical. They all had great names and stuff. It was pretty cool. So I started to get into guitar effects pretty early on.
M&SR: What kinds of effects do you like to use?
Stevens: Well now I’ve kind of aligned myself with a lot of individual guys…who make boutique pedals, which are handmade and custom designed. A lot of the effects I used on my record were things I helped co-design and come up with ideas for. It’s actually a really good time right now for guitar players because a lot of people are really into vintage effects and stuff. Rather than having to spend thousands of dollars on eBay, there are people who are building new versions of them, which is pretty happening.
 M&SR: Where does the inspiration come from when you create custom effects?
Stevens: Believe it or not, a lot of it recently has come more from electronic vintage keyboards and stuff. I endorse Moog, and I’ve loved Moog ever since the first concert I went to. It was Emerson, Lake and Palmer and I just saw Keith Emerson with these mammoth synthesizers, so I was really into Moog synths. So I use a lot of Moog effects for guitar and usually they’ll come from wanting to replicate the sound of a keyboard or something, rather than trying to recreate something that’s already been done on a guitar.
M&SR: How do you find the process of replicating all the sounds from your recordings when you’re out on the road?
Stevens: It’s pretty easy. I mean, the guy who does all my gear for me; his name is Dave Friedman and he’s got a company called Rack Systems. He’s really got it down to a science, so before a tour I’ll kind of figure out, with pen and paper, what I’m going to need and he’ll whip it up. It’s kind of interesting. Now with computers and stuff, I can offload different programs and stuff. If say I’m doing a Billy Idol show and our set changes, I can kind of keep sets in my computer. It’s a lot easier than it was back in the ‘80s.
M&SR: Do you have a particular program you like to use?
Stevens: My record was done with Apple Logic. I use Pro Tools, as everybody probably does nowadays, but typically when I sit down to write a piece of music, it’s usually with an acoustic guitar and Apple Logic.
M&SR: Speaking of guitars, what brands do you like to use? Do you have a large collection?
Stevens: Not that I’m a guitar collector but I have, over the years, acquired a lot of guitars. So I probably have 75 guitars or so. But on Memory Crash I used an acoustic made by a company called Collings. It’s a beautiful guitar. It was actually a gift from a Japanese artist I was working with. And then all of the nylon-string guitar stuff is a Ramirez that I’ve had for quite a number of years. Those are the only two acoustic guitars on the record.
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