EAST PEORIA -- The following piece is by Connie Stepe, who has also written for the print edition of Downstate Story. It concerns her son, 44, who could be the next big star.He now lives in Brooklyn New York, and successfully recruited musicians from an opera company for his latest CD.
FROM PUNK MUSIC TO "CHAOS IN SEASON"-- A MUSICIAN'S LONG JOURNEY
By Connie Stepe
If
you're over forty years old, the name Chopper Stepe may sound familiar
to you. You may remember him as the new kid from Chicago when you were a
student at East Peoria high school. Or maybe you went skateboarding
with him in downtown Peoria. Or you listened to him play an acoustic
guitar in his band "Caustic Defiance" in someone's basement or backyard.
That is, if you liked punk music. It was new to the Peoria area.
Punk
music wasn't new to Chopper. He preferred playing it because he could
create his own music and lyrics. Just a few years earlier, he had been
involved in Chicago's hardcore punk scene. At the age of twelve, he
played in a punk band called, "Negative Element," which had put out its
one and only record that is still sought after today.
After
attending Illinois Central College, he returned to Chicago and enrolled
in a sound engineering program. He also teamed up with some friends
and played in a hard rock band called, "The Kill City Boys."
The band
broke up a few years later. That was to set a pattern for the following
fifteen years: working a full time job during the day and joining
different bands and playing everything from punk, to hard rock, to
country music on weekends.
In 2005, he
settled in Orlando, Florida where he became a machinist and tried to
forget about joining any more bands. It didn't last too long. He played
in a punk band that almost made it. After that, he played for awhile in a
country band just for fun.
Chopper recognized
that Orlando had a very supportive musical community. He decided to form
his own band appropriately called "Chopper Stepe." He returned to
writing his own music and lyrics. This time he wanted it to be
different. Instead of being in the background playing his guitar, he
became the lead singer in his band.
His band
produced two CDs. The Orlando Weekly newspaper described the band as
having a rock and roll sound that's like country music for greasers.
The
second CD earned him the "Songwriter of Year" award in 2011.
Encouraged, he decided to put out a professionally produced CD entitled
"Chaos in Season" which was recently reviewed in the Orlando Sentinel.
All of Chopper Stepe's music is available for free listening/downloading at his Website, chopperstepe.com.
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Woohoo Mrs. Stepe!! You rock and so does Chopper!! Growing up on my high school years with not only Chopper, but the rest of ther Stepe clan made me who I am today. Thanks! The new CD is top notch!!
Posted by: Matt Rousey | December 27, 2012 at 08:41 PM