In the summer of 2001, after having recorded and released a full-length studio album, IN THE EVENT OF RHYTHM, and after having toured extensively throughout the summer of 2000 and winter of 2000-2001, the band decided that they could better serve humanity—and save their own sanity—by taking an indefinite, but hopefully not permanent, hiatus from STEVE to embark on separate musical journeys. Below are summaries of their experiences and even, in rare cases, achievements since 2001.
MATT JACKSON
Following the breakup of STEVE, Matt suffered through a severe bout of depression lasting 999 days. After finding Jesus in the guise of Tom Waits, he clawed himself out of his bourbon-soaked grave and graduated with Honors from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Special Effects for Film. The next three years saw him designing products, puppets, and masks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2004, after trekking across Europe for sixth months with a puppet on his back and being presented with a world of international possibilities before him, he chose...to return to Wayne County, Ohio and to stack fruit...for months. Fortunately, Nick was there for him, along with an 8-track recorder, a tiny couch in a sister’s house, and the will to do. Soon the beginnings of "Between the Years" were forged, as Matt sought to tell the story of his European excursion through music. As this project grew in scale, so did Matt’s artistic ambitions, and to New York he was soon replanted. In the winter of 2006, he built a recording studio in his Brooklyn garage/home and recorded the musical skeleton for “Between the Years.” Realizing the theatrical opportunities of the project, he backed away from the music to focus on putting the actual adventure to paper. After spending the latter half of 2007 retracing his European steps in order to write his story, he landed in Brighton, England to undergo a writing/development residency at the Nightingale Theatre. As part of the Brighton Fringe Festival, he presented a 20-minute version of this in-progress piece, which included live puppetry and storytelling along with his prerecorded music and projected video. In September of 2008, Matt will begin a Masters Degree program in Performance and Culture at Goldsmiths University in London. In May of 2009, he hopes to return to the Brighton Fringe with the final full-length production. In 2010 he will retire and go back to stacking fruit.
SEAN KAMMER
Immediately after STEVE’s dissolution, Sean moved to Durham, NC in August of 2001 to attend Duke Law, from which he graduated three years later. During his last year of law school, he resumed writing and recording music and began recording what ultimately became a full-length album called STARGAZER, which he finally finished and released in August of 2006 to little fanfare. Sean has enjoyed the privilege of continuing some of the collaborations that made up STEVE: he co-produced a handful of tracks on Nick’s AND SO GOD SCRATCHED OUT THE TRUTH, and he composed and performed piano tracks for David’s DOG DAYS. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in History at the University of Nebraska and plans to continue writing eight-minute meandering instrumentals and performing live as much as possible.
LOGAN RAMSIER
Since STEVE disbanded, Logan has kept himself quite busy: he graduated from Capital University, he began a career in law enforcement, he married his college girlfriend, and together they have had two children. Now owning a house in suburban Columbus, he’s constructed a sound-proof studio for his assortment of drums, including the hand drums that were so central to STEVE’s sound. Recently, this studio was quite useful as Logan performed most of the drum tracks that drive David's album DOG DAYS. Though busy with family and work, he has continued to expand his musical interests and continues to compose songs, many of which (like the song “Chapter Four” that he wrote for STEVE) are reflections of "chapters" in his life. He is currently collaborating with long-time friend Corey Steele on a rock duo called UNDERHUNG. Though its only live performance to date was as the opening act at STEVE's reunion concert “Cabin Fest” in 2004, Logan hopes to find the time to begin recording with UNDERHUNG in the near future.
NICK ROBINSON
While STEVE fans knew Nick mainly as a skilled bassist, Nick has always been a gifted songwriter in his own right. Even before he joined STEVE, Nick fronted several renowned and highly-respected bands, including Enormity, Sara Starr, and Paradigm and the Yo-Yo Crusade, and he has certainly not let STEVE’s demise in 2001 slow him down any. In 2006, he completed and released an elaborate solo album called AND SO GOD SCRATCHED OUT THE TRUTH. His current projects include heading a band called TROUBLED LIGHT PROJECT, collaborating with Scottie Ellis on an experimental project known as THE THUNDERKICKS, and serving as producer for talented singer-songwriter Erin Downey.
DAVID ULLMAN
Having caught the song-writing bug through his work with STEVE, David went on to write and record a solo album called DOG DAYS—a process that took about three years. Immediately prior to starting that project, he had spent another three years cobbling together a 90-minute documentary from the dozens of hours of video footage shot during the STEVE experience. For the past couple years, he has maintained an exhausting performance schedule; just last year, in fact, he performed over ninety shows! Even with all of this, he still found the time to graduate from college last month (a process that unfortunately took much longer than three years) and plans to continue writing and performing songs.
STEVE...your mom called. She said she wants you home before the street lights come on...and to wash your hands before dinner...and to give me a high five...
