Steve Soto from the Adolescents
One of the great byproducts of this blog is having the opportunity to talk with people that I admire. So when I reached out to Steve about doing this interview and he said, “Sure, man. I’d be happy to,” I was pretty stoked.
It was the late 90s and I was on the Warped tour. I often saw Steve around the festival site and mixed his band, 22 Jacks, on a few occasions. I’m sad to say that I didn’t get to know him. It’s not like he wasn’t approachable. Exactly the opposite. If you ever have the opportunity to be in his presence, I am sure you will agree that he is probably one of the most friendly persons you will ever meet. I guess in some dumb-little-way I was intimidated by him. You see he was the bassist in one of my favorite childhood bands: Agent Orange.
When I was 15 years old, I played drums in a band everyday after school. I’d hitch a ride over to my buddy’s place where we practiced constantly. For you young kids downloading sample packages, “practicing,” is what actual musicians do to hone their craft. In our attempt to write good songs we’d cover those bands we loved and Agent Orange was one of them.
…And then there is the Adolescents. After being around nearly my entire life, you’d think by now they would start putting out lame records. At least that’s been my experience with long lasting bands – but their new record, Manifest Density, is killer; especially my favorite track, Silver and Black. Do yourself a favor and go buy the record. You won’t regret it.
Until then, Steve Soto…
Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?
S.S. Turkey and Swiss with avocado…mustard, no mayo. My favorite place to get them is at Grounds Bakery & Cafe in Long Beach. But I also make ’em pretty good myself!
Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?
S.S. Cheese Enchiladas. My dad’s mom taught her how to make them before they got married. They are better than any enchilada I have had at a legit Mexican restaurant.
Q: How did you meet your best friend?
S.S. I had a drafting class in high school. It was 1979 and a couple of weeks into the school year this guy in my class rolls in with a fresh punk rock haircut. I thought to myself, “what a poser ” because I had a whole year of punk rock under my belt and had already been run out of one high school for it. (Damn! I was already a punk snob in ’79) Anyway, we had some big assignment and it turned out he and I were the last two guys to finish and we were way behind everyone else in the class. So he comes over and says, “Hey, we should time this so we both turn this in at the same time so one of us doesn’t look totally lame.” Anyway, it sounded like a good idea to me and we have been bailing each other out of trouble ever since.
Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?
S.S. My cousins gave me a couple Beatles LPs when I was 5. I got the bug early. I never wanted to be a cop or a fireman.
Q: How did you pursue it?
S.S. We moved to Orange County when I was 12. The first day we were here I heard a band rehearsing down the street. I ended up becoming friends with one of their younger brothers – a kid named Carlos who also was a total music fan. We spent the next year talking about starting a band and I went about getting a bass and trying to figure it out. He had a Moog synth. We became friends with Mike Palm who played guitar and that was when we started what would become Agent Orange. My favorite part of all was how we got our drummer, Scott. He randomly called Carlos one day and said, “What’s up?” And Carlos said, “I’m with Steve and Mike and we are trying to find a drummer for our band.” Scott said, “I’m a drummer, let me try.” So Carlos asked, “Can you come next Saturday?” Scott said, “Sure!” The kicker is that Scott didn’t even have a drum set or know how to play. It just sounded like a good idea, so he bought a kit and spent the next week trying to figure how to play before we met up.
Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing what you wanted? Who were they and what did they do for you?
S.S. I’d say it was more interaction with our peers. The punk scene was so new that even the older guys were just figuring it out too. It was more like if someone figured something out about the music biz or said how to play something or whatever, you would share the knowledge with your friends and vice versa. And Mike Patton from Middle Class was always there to help us out and point us in the right direction.
Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it? If so, what is the goal?
S.S. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do so I’d say the goal is to keep it fun and interesting. I love writing songs with Tony and the last three Adolescents records are my favorites of everything we’ve ever done. I also love writing and singing my own acoustic stuff and I’ve been doing more of that.
Q: What would your 15 year old self say to you now?
S.S. I did an acoustic tour with Kevin Seconds and I joked one night about how if you would have told me as a teenager I’d be doing an acoustic tour with a straight edge guy when I was in my 50’s I wouldn’t have believed it. So, yeah… 15 year old Steve would probably yell out, “Hey Steve, you’re not Jim Croce! Play something faster!!”
Q: If life were a person, what would you say?
S.S. Get off my lawn.
Q: If you were in charge of the world and you had no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?
S.S. Understanding. We form opinions on entire groups of people without really knowing them or what they are thinking.
Q: Has morality disintegrated to the point that we now need Yelp for people?
S.S. Haha! Maybe so. Things have changed so much. I mean like the morals of our grandparents compared to what is acceptable now. Personally, I think the important thing is honesty. I could care less about someone’s sexual proclivities or whatever. I’m not here to judge, but honesty is a deal breaker. I distance myself from people I can’t trust.
Also… at the end of the day, the Golden Rule of “do unto others ” still seems like the way to roll. The American Indians word it differently – “nothing greater, nothing lesser than me. ” Same thing. Be cool. That should be inherent. We shouldn’t need an app for that.
Q: How is society getting things right?
S.S. Hard to say. In the US we just elected Trump, so things don’t feel so right to me… more like we are going backwards. But that’s not to say there aren’t great people out there who are not caught up in the “me, me, me” lifestyle – people who care about others and go out and do something about it.
Q: What do people need in order to see each other as equals?
S.S. An open mind.
Q: Do we still need religion?
S.S. Personally, I need faith and a connection with God and most definitely grace, but I don’t need a group looking over me and passing judgment on my actions. It’s a personal thing between God and me.
Q: Do you have hope for the future?
S.S. Of course! I’m a “glass is half full” guy.
Hot topic of the week: This is an open discussion. Could be Gay marriage or Confederate flag, Donald Trump, for example.
S.S. Trump has been the hot topic for weeks. I’m not a fan.
Q: What are three things that work for you: For example, I can’t find a good razor. Because of the need for massive profits I find that many products don’t live up their advertising. What works for you?
S.S. Grants Golden Brand medium blend pomade. A Goody hairbrush. And my barber, Brandon Campbell.
