by Jack Edstrand

Created on: July 12, 2008

Hells Angel formed rockband in prison and released their cd of pain and memories

In 1989 Steven Yee was looking at close to a life in prison, sitting in a Federal cell in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Used to the freedom on the bike on the roads and streets, life in the fast lane, he had to get busy to "put himself in a better frame of mind", as he put it. Steven wrote among several others the songs "Sister evil" and "Sweet sweet Cleveland" for his The Deadly Synz. The album "Last ride home" was made for success.

- For the most part, once the other prisoners found out who I was they avoided me because of their fear of the unknown. Because of the patch that Id worn on the streets, the system watched med that much more. As the saying goes, beware of the smile on their face; theyre not what they seem, says Steven Yee, songwriter and Hells Angel from Cleveland.

Coming from The rock Capital of the world Steven had always loved music and wanted to learn how to play the guitar.
- I never seemed to find the time when I was out in the streets. In prison I had all the time in the world.
But Steven stumbled upon one obstacle before the other in his making of a dream come true.
- We werent allowed casettes and cd:s hadnt been introduced yet back in -89 and where I was it was impossible to get good radio stations dialed in. I started the process of self-teaching myself the guitar. Family and friends sent me sheet music and I got subcriptions to Guitar world and Guitar One mgazines, wich really helped me a lot. Then my friend Karen sent me some Flamenco and I was fascinated by it, Steven Yee recounts and emphasizes:
- I incorporated that style into my music.
It wasnt until 2002 when the imprisoned guitarist finally got to hear a newer cassette from the outside that a big opportunity presented itself when he got shipped north.
- We could actually have cd:s. I had never seen one before. Now we could our own Cd:s and cd players, Steven explains and continues:
- I kept trying to play with some of the prison bands but there were no openings. Id written lots of songs over the yeras and really had hoped to be able to play them with other musicians. As luck would have it, I ended up sharing space with some other inmates that enjoyed playing and expressing themselves through their music too. Then out of nowhere, the system let us have our own tracking systems in. It was a great opportunity because the people I was playing with had learned a lot of the songs I had written. About that time,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>