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Steve Riley is from Revere (Boston) Massachusetts. He was born on January 22, 1956. In the early 70's, after Steve graduated from high school, he moved to Los Angeles and started plaing drums for a band called Pure Funk. Pure Funk formed in the late 60's and changed their name to Roadmaster after Steve joined and the band was discovered by Todd Rundgren. Steve went by Stephen Riley at this time. He played on Roadmaster's 1976 debut album (self-titled, released on Village Records). Steve left Roadmaster in ealry 1977 as he was supposedly going to join Angel but did not and formed the band Empire with Mickey Jones from Angel. Steve was replaced in Roadmaster by Bobby Johns. Steve later joined The New Steppenwolf around 1978-79 and toured with them for awhile. The New Steppenwolf was basically Steppenwolf touring without founder John Kay from 1977-1980. Steve replaced their drummer Jack White and was replaced by new drummer Robbie Roberti in Steppenwolf. Steve also has said that he recorded some music with Steppenwolf, but I don't know of any albums that feature him. Steve Riley went on to played the drums for a pop band called The B'zz (pronounced The Bees), who were from Chicago. They were actually originally called The Bees or The Boyz but changed the spelling of their name to The B'zz. The B'zz made a bit of "history" because they were the first unsigned band to play on American Bandstand. Once they were signed, they only released one album called Get Up in 1980 (or 1982). Get Up contained two small hit singles, but Steve would leave the band soon after. Steve also played in the British band Scarab sometime between 1981 and 1984. In 1983, Steve teamed up with Ron Keel and Marc Ferrari to form a second lineup of KEEL (replacing drummer Bobby Marks), but he departed the band before their album was released (although he did record part of KEEL's The Right To Rock album before he left) to replace Tony Richards in WASP during WASP's first major tour (Steve was replaced in KEEL by Dwain Miller). Steve (and our good friend Chris Holmes) toured for four years with WASP and released three albums in those four years (The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, & Live in the Raw as well as a home video (Live at the Lyceum) and the Live...Animal EP). Half way through that time, WASP had hired bass player Johnny Rod, with whom Steve did not get along with. Inner fighting with Johnny and creative tensions with Blackie Lawless had started to cause a rift between WASP and Steve Riley. He had now made a name for himself, so although he was let go in 1987 (and replaced by Quiet Riot's Frankie Banali), he joined LA Guns later that same year.
Steve replaced Nickey Alexander and LA Guns secured their famed "original" lineup in late-1987. Steve toured behind the LA Guns debut although he had not played on the album, and he then went on to record their next two (and most successful) albums in 1989 & 1991. Steve was fired by Phil Lewis in January 1992 during the band's Hollywood Vampires tour. Supposedly, Steve had been trying too hard to pry into the business end of the band (which actually came in handy throughout the late 90's when he began to manage the band) and finally (supposedly), when Steve hit Phil over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, he was let go. He was replaced by Michael "Mr. Bones" Gershima. Steve then teamed up with former Dokken & Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch to form a band, but the band was axed when Lynch reunited with Dokken. The Lynch/Riley project never released any music, but Steve is featured on a song or two on George's Lost Lynch (or The Lost Anthology) CD. Steve returned for the Vicious Circle tour in early 1995 (as his replacement, Bones apparently didn't work out) and has remained ever since. After Phil, Mick, & Kelly left the band, Steve and Tracii reformed LA Guns and Steve actually began to manage the band throughout the late 1990's. In the fall of 1999, LA Guns reunited and Steve obviously took part. In the fall of 2002, when Tracii left the band, Steve recruited his former WASP band mate Chris Holmes to fill in on guitar (although Chris did not become a permanent member). Steve is featured on most of LA Guns' albums. and is one of the longest running members of the LA Guns. |
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Steve is featured on all LA Guns albums EXCEPT the following: Collector's Edition No.1, Black List, Black City Breakdown, LA Guns, Vicious Circle, Hollywood Raw.
Steve is featured on the following WASP albums: Live at the Lyceum (video), The Last Command, Inside The Electric Circus, Live In The Raw, Live...Animal (Fuck Like a Beast), and the re-issued Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) CD which features both EP's on one CD, as well as the following WASP compilations: First Blood Last Cuts, The Best of the Best 1984-2000, Videos in the Raw (video), & First Blood Last Visions (video).
Steve is also featured on The B'zz "Get Up" and Roadmaster's self-titled debut. |
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