|
|
|
|
Welcome to Steve Stransky's Music website. The whole purpose of this web is just to make some of the music i have recorded over the last 30 years, available to my family and friends, strictly to enjoy. On the left are links to the different Eras, Bands or Genre's of my music that are available online here. You can navigate from one recording project to another. All these songs are free to download or listen to, several from the Strange Syrkas album are copyrighted, but i retain all copyright and publishing rights, so download anything you want! Just right click the file and "save as" to your hard drives music folder. it's easy to drag the hard drive files to your Ipod too!
Here is a short MPG video of some of my oldest friends and me, jammin' in San Diego last summer (2008), featuring Rick Randle singing "Walkin' the Dog. click on the pic...
NEW... i've been working on some video from Sarge Stransky and Strange Syrkas, recorded on a Live TV show, you can check it out at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0TOhynWm5w
Ok, Here's my Story...
In 1961, my parents realized that all this energy should be harnessed, so they entered me in (Alameda California's) Haight School's 5th grade elementary band. I'd also been listening to my sisters Fats Domino and Coasters 45's and loved the sax, so sax became the first musical instrument i would learn. In 1963, we moved again, to Chula Vista Ca. and right about then my sister started playing rock records by her new favorite band, The Beatles! I was smitten and begged my Mother for a guitar. She was supportive and went to a weekend swap meet at the National City Drive In, found me a $3.00 Stella acoustic and the next phase of my journey began.
Subsequently, i would beg for a harmonica, then lessons, which were for sax, but included some piano as well, then drums and more. Eventually, i became a fairly well rounded all around musician and vocalist. Bands were the next big phase. i was playing Alto, in the 7th grade, at Hilltop Jr. high, when i caught the notice of some of the older guys who had started up a group and needed someone to play sax on Honky Tonk. I was willing, but hesitant, as i expressed my desire to be a singer, with instruments taking a secondary role. I played briefly in a group called The Ordeals, but being the kid in the band was tough, so i left, but i did meet Chris Drake who would later form a band with me called "The Kyds" which placed high in a CV Battle of the Bands and so Chris Drake and I got our faces on the cover of the CV Star... but first, the Ordeals had me frustrated, so in the 8th grade, i started my own band, with some local friends, we called "The Leaves of Grass" , i remember some of the guys in the band, one was Rob Law, lead guitarist and another was David Purdy, our first bass player. We did really well right off the bat, were hired for "Gym dances" and school functions, like the Hilltop High, Junior class assembly, where we played as part of the entertainment and to break up the tedium of an assembly....
We morphed into "The Kyds" when a manager tried to spiff us up, but then back into The Leaves of Grass after that. We participated in many "Battle of the Bands" culminating with a top ten placement in the "big event", the San Diego Community Concourse: Battle of the Bands!
In 1969, my years at Hilltop High were complete and i began to play for money, or "become a professional musician" That just started to work out, when i got my Draft Notice! Well, i had a 2 year hiatus from playing before i finally landed up in the Seattle, Wa. area. The first paying gig i could find was playing harmonica, mandolin, acoustic guitar and washboard, with a Bluegrass band, called Whisky Ridge, who played at Pioneer Square's "Inside Passage Tavern" and made enough money to squeak by until i could make some good contacts, and start a band of my own, which we called "Stumblin' Gold" This was a super fun band , doing Bob Seeger, The Eagles, Steve Miller and Beatles covers... and eventually even writing some of our own material. We played constantly, until 1977, when i left to go on the road with a Tacoma, WA road band called "Canon". I shared the vocal chores with Emi Canyn, and doubled on sax and whatever was needed. I played constantly, for the next 10 years, in road bands,
refining my voice, learning to mimic the singers in the tunes we covered,
getting better on my instruments and seeing the world. Canon only lasted
about a year and i gravitated to a hard rockin' Seattle band called Dillinger. I
was to make some lifelong friends in Dillinger, including Steve Erickson, Bruce
Malmberg, Joe Brown, Lloyd Poole and Mark
Hibbard ~ Sound. After Dillinger, Bruce and I started a new band
called the "Bad Bees"
with Mike Crocker, Marty Kona, Steve Mc Cowen, Kenny Verver, Ernie Calleo,
The Bee's were a super high energy
band, that rocked hard, and had a blast everywhere we traveled to. The Bad Bees ran out of steam about a year and a half later.
Steve Erickson had started up a new road band and gave me a call. We
ended up forming a new group called
"Tight Shoes". It included Erickson, Mel Mandeville, Lloyd
Poole , myself and sound man Dean "Awesome" Onsome. After a couple
years and a trip to Alaska and Canada, Mel and Dean had enough and quit.
I finally retired from the road after "Tight Shoes". I was in my mid 30's and too old to play that many weeks a year on the road. So, i got a job managing a music store and started to play around Seattle, on weekends with the bass player from "Tight Shoes", Hugo Taylor. He and his buddy Vlad were terrific players and really dug the oldies, so we called it "GET BACK"
Later
about 1992-93, i played with Rudy
and the Tubeshakers: All great guys and a very professional group. Doug Pratt lead the band
and kept things together. Doug called it a day in '94 and i talked a
couple Tubeshakers, Doug Hirsch and Mark Black, into some other projects,
"The Circus" and Strange Syrkas, with Hugo Taylor and Bill
Dodge. So this would comprise
my "Original Music" project, which i called "Strange Syrkas". So, then, I was
playing in an acoustic blues duo, with Bob Nelson, we called The Phantoms, when
a phone call from my old
pal Steve Erickson convinced us to form an electric version of The Phantoms.
and we also sit in with "Third
Train Running" at benefits and gigs. I'm singing the lead and usually the harmonies too, on all these songs. All the instruments are being played live, no sequencers, although a few songs have a drum machine, instead of a real drummer, for effect. Sax sections are me, overdubbing, as are the stacked vocal harmony parts. So now, why don't you click on a link, on your left and hear some of my music? I hope you enjoy it! I really hope you have your computer hooked up to a nice set of speakers, or headphones! One last thing, i have noticed the software i use to turn cd recordings into mp3's sometimes does weird things to the mix, or solo's, or? i will be perpetually improving things as i notice them. thanks for visiting, steve "sarge" stransky hit counter html code
|
|
|
June-29- 2010:
Brand New, 
June 2010: Another New One, "
My musical journey started in summer, 1956, my step dad was in the Navy and
we were stationed for a year, in Tennessee. The first time i realized
i wanted to be a singer, was in a Tennessee Baptist Revival church, the choir
was so powerful, i had an epiphany. A year later we were living back in
the Oakland/Alameda Bay Area and i remember my older sister getting a 45rpm
record player. The first record to knock me out was Elvis' EP 
(photo totally photoshopped, my bad ; ) 
The "Shoes" probably worked more often and stayed
on the road more, than any band I'd ever played with. Towards the end of
our 5 year run, we were averaging about 40 weeks a year on the road.
and played lots of Beatles and Classic Rock. That
band lasted about 5 years and was a whole new level of fun.
We've
were together 10 years... now Bob Nelson and i play occasionally for benefits and what
not, as