Chapter 6
When We Get There
By Steven Walks On The Grass
And just where have all of you been since August? I know, I’ve certainly been busy too. In fact, I haven’t talked to any of you in a long, long time. So let’s go ahead and have a short conversation while I got a few minutes here, cause I have a conference coming in and I also have my band practice tonight. So here’s the deal.
I’m gonna tell you, since we last talked, I finally got the ankle monitor off on November 21, 2023! Yeah, I told everyone when that happened I would be on fire and to stay out of my way ‘cause I didn’t have a single day to lose to start doing what I’ve been dreaming of doing for years now. In fact, I wrote about it almost a decade ago. It goes like this: I decided that once I was free, I would form a band of musicians that could take me places. I would seek out the most talented people around…but wait! It dawned on me, how the hell am I gonna find these people?
I’ll tell you how. I talked with my beautiful, devoted Janice and she suggested we should go to a karaoke night. So we did, and after a couple, I said okay, now it’s time I went to an open mic. So on October 8, 2023, I went to my first open mic. This was the first time I would take the stage with musicians as a free man in more than forty years!
My thought was that if I could get into open mic nights and make a decent impression, I would be able to draw in musicians who are capable of propelling my visions. Make no mistake, I’m not trying to be a rock star. I may joke a little, but really, I care nothing about that crap – been there, done that and wasn’t all that impressed with it.
What I am trying to do is be an active part of one of the very few things that I’ve truly loved all my life. I want to make music and write songs. I want to express myself through the lyrics and my delivery of the music for you – the people I want to hear me, the people that I want to know me, the people who love me, and even those who don’t understand me – all of you matter, all of you are special. I believe that a man is defined not only by those who love him when he is gone beyond sorrow, but also by those who were his enemies in life. Who are my enemies in life? That’s simple. I, Steven Walks On The Grass, have been my own greatest enemy.
And in this simple truth lies another simple truth. I am also my greatest advocate and benefit to myself. My compulsion is to do better, to be better, to make people proud of me, to be good to people. In short to be a better man than I ever was, even yesterday, even 5 minutes ago. This is what moves me to be my best and work to earn a modest living doing what I know and love to do.
This is why I am awake at three in the morning working, going through the music, building and refining the sets for my band; listening, singing with the tracks. Every day I spend 12 to 16 hours directly involved with my music which includes building my studio and my vision. Let me tell you a little bit about that.
Wrekless Rabbit Studios
Wrekless Rabbit Studios is dedicated to promotion, rehearsal, production, recording, and advocating for artists in the Midwest, particularly central Illinois. I have built a dedicated studio with ambient recording capabilities and mobile recording capabilities as well. Associated with the studio, we have a professional management team including recording specialists, booking and itinerary consultants, production and sales consultants.
We also have enough equipment to provide a PA system in three 14′ X 16’ rehearsal rooms as well as a large ambient living-room studio that is buffered and capable of producing incredible ambient recordings of live productions. On stage, here in the studio my band practices at least one night a week for 3 hours.
On other nights, I go out to different venues with the possibilities of being called on stage to sing with other bands during open mic or any time I go out to see them. Some of these amazing people have been directly involved in my journey. I’ll tell you a bit about them as we go along.
In just three months I have made more close friends than I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve been exposed to some of the most brilliant musicians in the country and they have embraced me as a friend. They have invited me to join them on stage and I have given what I do best – my vocals filled with my heart, my passion, and yeah, my power. In short we have become rock royalty here in Springfield, Illinois.
Even if you have read my book, Long Road Home, a lot of you still might not know that since my earliest youth, both before and during my years of incarceration, I’ve been a rock and roll vocalist and have performed with numerous bands. I do everything from hard rock, some heavy metal, country rock, southern rock, blues – really, anything that has a vocal note that catches my interest.
So fade back to October 2023. I’m still on home confinement, but I’m using my recreational hours every week to go to the open mic, at one of the best live music bars I’ve ever been to. The Blue Grouch in Springfield, Illinois is one of the best kept secrets in the Midwest. Every Thursday from 6:30 to 11 pm, some of the most brilliant musicians in the country filter through this little neighborhood pub for open mic night.
See, this is the one place we can come together and jam, not as opposition or competing bands, not as anyone headlining or opening, but as musicians playing together, doing what we do simply for the enjoyment we get from it. We don’t get any money. We’re not getting paid for these performances but every Thursday you can count on one thing, The Blue Grouch is rocking! The drinks are super reasonable and the waitress and bartender, Kayla, is a sweetheart. She goes out of her way to take care of the fellows making music. A big “Thank You” to Jeff and Amber Bouy, two great people who happen to own and operate The Blue Grouch.
I’ll never forget the first time I walked into “The Grouch.” It was early and the evening was just getting started. I hunched myself over a little bit, kind of shuffled in doing my funny little Ozzy walk thing. I walked up to the guy setting up equipment, “Excuse me, sir, I’d like to sing some songs. Is this an open microphone? Can I sing songs in here?”
The guy looked at me, “Well, I guess you can; you’ll have to talk to Kortney.”
That man was Zach Landes, who happens to be a brilliant acoustic rhythm guitarist and vocalist. He does Southern rock and other genres and he’s an all-around good guy. In fact, I give Zach a hug every time I see him cause he’s my bro, one of many wonderful, amazing people you’ll come to know and get to meet.
Now, Kortney hosts the open mic nights at The Blue Grouch, so when he came in the door I knew who he was ’cause Zach had described him for me. What do I tell you about Kortney Leatherwood? Let me start out by saying he is absolutely amazing, beyond multi-talented. He’s multi-instrumental and vocal capable in several styles of music – and almost capable of backing me up vocally, but he just can’t seem to define the old man. But don’t worry, Kortney, when you grow up you’ll be a singer just like me. Just kidding, brother, you’re amazing, the consummate entertainer as Janice would say. Just don’t try to scream, let the old guy do that.
Anyway, on that particular evening, I walked right up to Kortney. “Excuse me, sir,” I say, “Is this open mic night? I like to sing songs. Can I sing a song too?”
“Well, sure,” he says eyeing me with a bit of skepticism.
I could tell he had a few pre-conceived ideas about this old man standing in front of him – probably wants to sing some old dusty a** song.
He says, “What kind of songs can you sing?”
”Well, I don’t know, I know a lot of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ronnie James, Dio, Queensryche, Ozzy… I know a lot of songs, Kortney, can I sing one?”
For a while he just looked at me, “So you can sing that stuff, huh?”
“Yeah, I can but I will tell you this, sir. I can show you better than I can tell you. Put me on that stage.”
So there I am given a stage, a microphone, and a backline band to sing a song. Can’t You See? Turn The Page? Man in the Box? Something. I don’t remember what I sang. Doesn’t matter. All I know is Kortney was sitting dead in front of me and another brilliant musician was standing on stage with me and I could see the surprise written on their faces.
Here was Brian Arnold, one of the best guitarists I’ve ever encountered. So versatile, so fast with articulation, from concept to fretboard, Brian is by far the guitarist I most enjoy taking the stage with. In fact, I constantly look for opportunities to sing with Brian just so I can come in early and step on his leads, or make mistakes he recognizes, so he will give me that “look” and I just laugh as if to say, “What? You didn’t get the memo? I’m a rock star. I can do what I want, man.” Then we laugh and keep going. This happens on stage in live performances but most people don’t see these little exchanges. You only see what comes off the stage and what you hear.
And I promise you this: In sixty days of doing what I do vocally and musically and in sixty days of getting to know and play with people in this business, in this area, in this town, in this moment I feel like I’m successful. So, I’m getting on with building my own band now. We’ve had a few speed bumps to get over. So far we’ve not played a concert together and I’ve had to restructure the band 3 times. The material is super difficult and finding the right personnel is as well. What can I tell you, dealing with us musicians can be a pain sometimes but as of this writing, I believe we have the right mix of talent and personalities to be successful.
The band, Wrekless, will include rising young talent, Jackson Kirkland on drums and Danny “The Kid” Schroeder on guitar as well as a couple of old rockers and lifelong friends, Roger Carr on bass and me, Steven Walks On The Grass, on vocals. A special thanks to Roger for his standing offer to step up if needed. Roger already plays bass with The Bad Grandpas but he never hesitated when called upon. Roger’s skills and experience with our brand of rock music truly makes Wrekless complete.
Now let me take you a couple dates down the line to November 21st. By this time I’ve already been recognized as a vocal force to be dealt with. People are hearing I’m “someone you need to hear” or “someone you just won’t believe what they’re doing.” Brian Arnold, the guitarist for the musical group, Grounded, is so influential in the music scene around here as is his band-mate and good friend, Kortney Leatherwood… What can I say, I owe them both a debt of gratitude.
So I’ve been singing a few songs in The Blue Grouch on Thursday nights every week. Some of the songs are incredibly difficult and vocally challenging, but I delivered them, nonetheless. Somewhere along the line Kortney and Brian decided they needed to go to Route 66 Motorheads and talk to the people there that produce the John Hall mini concert series open mic’s for professionals.
Motorheads is a nationally acclaimed venue and tourist attraction off of Route 66 through the state of Illinois. It’s right outside of Springfield on Toronto Road. This place is really incredible, you need to go there to see for yourself. I can’t even describe it. The venue rocks there.
So I get a call from these two and they say, “Hey, we need you to come to Motorheads with us. We’ve got somebody who wants to talk to you.” So Janice and I go out there expecting maybe this “somebody” to be a guitarist looking for a band or whatever. What I did not expect was to be introduced to the coordinator for the open mics out there. Now, this is a big deal. It’s for professionals and by invitation only. If they don’t know about you, other musicians don’t put you there. In order to get you there, you have to be good, so I have two of the best musicians in the Midwest taking me there because they want me to be recognized for what I’m able to do.
At the time, I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal. I just thought we were making music and having a good time together. That’s when I determined that these guys were as serious about music as I am. Evidently I was on to something with my musical choices. The conversation went something like this with the coordinator at Motorheads:
“So, Steven, Kortney and Brian tell me that you do vocal warm ups with Queensryche.”
I said, “Well no, that’s not in fact the truth. The truth is, I do vocal warm-ups with Bruce Dickinson’s Air Raid or Siren from Iron Maiden. I just sing a lot of stuff.
At that point the guy looked at me and said, “OK, you’re in. Send us a set list of what you want to do. We’re gonna put you on in February.
Well, a lot has gone on since that November conversation. It’s now February, but I’m not going to play Motorheads this month. A few changes have been made so now in fact, the entire band known as Wrekless, will be headlining Route 66 Motorhead’s Professional Open Mic on March 14, 2024!
And since you all know how I am. My name is Steven Walks On The Grass and I will never surrender my dreams.
Stay tuned for upcoming Wrekless Rabbit Studios Website
& Social Media Pages for the Studio and Wrekless Band.
Photo Credit: The Wreklesss Rabbit in Studio by Mackenzie Sharp
Logo Design: Lance Gregory
Update: Since its inception, the makeup of Wrekless has changed, growing ever more toward the level of dedication, experience and professionalism needed to produce and promote a world-class, all original, hard-rock album. It took months to find the right musicians and as of July 2024, Wrekless is now in production of its first album built around deeply meaningful lyrics written years ago by Steven Walks On The Grass while on his Long Road Home. Editor
Journeys of the Spirit 