{image1}We've got talent in our back yard, and sometimes we don't even realize it. Take Troy Stetina, for example.
For nearly 20 years, Stetina, an astonishingly skilled hard rock/metal guitarist, has been working in Milwaukee: teaching at the Conservatory, writing influential technique books for Milwaukee-based Hal Leonard, running a studio, performing in bands and teaching guitar to the likes of Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge. But, he's hardly a household name here.
When we heard that Stetina put together a new band, Oversoulss, which is recording its debut disc and prepping for a tour with Alter Bridge, we decided it was time to talk to him about the past, present and future. If you don't know who Stetina is yet, you will soon enough.
OMC: Can you tell us a bit about your background in music; how you got started?
TS: Jeez, ancient history! My mom was an opera singer. She tried giving me piano lessons when I was little, but I wasn't into it. Then I asked for a guitar as a young teenager. Guitar was cool. So I went through a few beginner books until I got tired of playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Then I started learning Kiss and Aerosmith songs by ear. Got into a few cover bands in Indy, where I grew up, and started teaching guitar at a music store on the side. At 18, I had a nice scholarship to go study astrophysics, but was just too into music at that point and decided to put off college "for a year." Well, that turned out to be indefinite!
OMC: How did you land the gig at Hal Leonard?
TS: The Hal Leonard guitar author and editor Will Schmid (a UWM music professor and now President of National Association of Music Education) came to the music store I was teaching in, to show us their line of books and all. I said that's all fine and good, but most kids I teach want to learn how to rock! Why don't you have anything that teaches rock and metal? He said, "Good idea, why don't you write that book?" So I did. It became the original "Heavy Metal Rhythm Guitar" and "Heavy Metal Lead Guitar" series that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and spawned a ton of imitator methods. Will later told me that he had heard the exact same thing from at least 20 people before me, but none of them actually delivered a manuscript. I was just the first person that actually followed through!
OMC: Were you surprised at the influence the books had?
TS: Well, I know the methods work. They are honest and direct. There's a lot of inauthentic stuff out there; I mean authors who aren't really into a style trying to cross over to sell more. If it's not authentic, that comes across in the material. Also, a big advantage for my books was that I am a musician first and an author second, so it was easy for me to create an approach that fit this subject matter best, without being burdened by any particular pedagogical viewpoint. You know, "You have to do it this way, or that way, because that's how music is taught." My books did a lot of controversial stuff at the time they first came out, like dumping standard notation among other things. So yes, I am thankful that the opportunity came my way, but I'm really not surprised at the success. The bottom line is that if something is really good, it grows "legs" and keeps on going. These books have done that. In fact, they are selling more copies now than when they first came out, which IS pretty astonishing!
OMC: Did that get in the way of your work playing in bands?
TS: For years I divided my time between authoring books, teaching guitar and playing in a band. But things changed in the mid '90s. Sales of music instruction books really took a dive with the advent of grunge. I mean, who needs to learn technique from a book when you're just strumming a few barre chords? The irony of it is that I actually liked that whole shake-up in popular music. But it wasn't too good for my income. So I started doing other things. I edited a bunch of books for Hal Leonard. I opened a recording studio and started producing local bands. I guess my own band thing sort of fell onto the back burner.
{image2}OMC: Tell us about your relationship with Creed's (now Alter Bridge's) Mark Tremonti.
TS: Mark's a great human being. Even with the tremendous success and all the self-ingratiating sycophants that inevitably come with it, he's stayed remarkably stable and down-to-earth. All the guys in Alter Bridge are, actually. When I first met him a few years ago, Mark wanted to develop his lead playing. It was a personal challenge; he had always wanted to master that part of guitar, but had never really nailed it. He had totally honed his songwriting and arrangement craft; something that had done pretty well for him!
I was in the exact opposite boat, having largely mastered soloing but never fully getting the song and band thing happening. So I started teaching him and coaching his lead work. And he started helping me with songwriting and arrangement ideas. We've learned a lot from each other. His soloing on the new Alter Bridge disc speaks for itself, and I'd like to think that the music of my new band Oversoulss does as well. Now, Mark and I just have a great time playing guitar when we get together.
OMC: Speaking of the band, can you tell us about Oversoulss?
TS: I was hanging out playing guitar with Mark in Orlando -- a week here and there -- and I started wondering why I wasn't pursuing the whole band thing. I mean, this guy is having a blast! Dammit, I want to do this, too!! I pulled together some top talent locally and started working on material. I'd take music down there and play it for Mark and he'd say, I like this and that, but I hear this arrangement wants to move this way or the melody could be more like that. And then I'd take it back and we'd rework it. It went back and forth like that for a while. It also took awhile because we went through a few different vocalists. It was only recently that we finally found the right guy in David Rangel. The drummer, Eddie Shapaske, has been on board with me since the beginning. He was in the Milwaukee prog-metal band Bent, which is how we met: I produced the Bent albums in my studio. The bass slot is actually still changing even as we speak!
OMC: And you're touring this summer with Alter Bridge. How did that come about?
TS: I started doing some guest appearances with Alter Bridge occasionally... doing a little "guitar duel" onstage with Mark and then joining the band for a cover song. Then when Oversoulss was finally ready in February, we played as an unannounced opener for them at The Rave. It was actually his manager that suggested doing a regional tour with them this summer, since our songs are fairly well in line with what they are doing. You don't have to ask me twice. Just tell us where and when!
OMC: Any interest yet from labels? When will there be a CD?
TS: We could shop it first. But management suggested we do the CD first, since we have a studio at our disposal, and put it out regionally before the tour. When interest is demonstrated by real Soundcan sales, shopping to labels gets a much better deal. Of course, the bottom line is about whether people like it. We've had a very positive response so far, so we're anticipating that all will fall into place.
Troy Stetina's Web site is stetina.com. The Oversoulss' Web site is oversoulss.com.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
