Steve Isaacs
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| Steve Isaacs | |
|---|---|
| Born | Steven Wendell Isaacs June 18, 1969 United States |
Steve Isaacs has been a musician, singer and songwriter since 1988. From 1988 to 1989 he attended the Music Institute in Hollywood, California, where he studied guitar.
In 1989 he became the co-owner of the Mad Hatter's Espresso Bar in Los Angeles, where he performed and also promoted a very popular "open mike" show that featured spoken word, singers and songwriters, performance artists, and other live performances. In late 1990, he left the Mad Hatter's Espresso Bar to host and open mike at Highland Grounds Café in Hollywood, California. While at Highland Grounds, he started his first band, American Psycho. It is also at Highland Grounds where he was discovered by an MTV talent scout who asked him to provide for him a screen test for a position as a VJ (video jockey). He became a VJ in September 1991 and moved from Los Angeles to New York. As a VJ, he hosted, amongst many other shows, Top 20 Countdown, The Daily Most Wanted, and the live show called Hangin' with MTV. Isaacs left MTV in April 1993.
After MTV he performed the lead role in The Who's Tommy and toured with the show from 1993 to January 1995. He played "Pinball Wizard" for The Who's Pete Townshend. The play toured 32 cities and they performed over 500 shows, including a show for President Bill Clinton at the Kennedy Center.
Isaacs settled back in Los Angeles after touring Tommy. In the fall of 1995 he formed the band Skycycle, which consisted of bassist Kelly Castro, guitarist Sven Shenar, and drummer Rob Brown. Named for the rocket-powered vehicle Evel Knievel famously attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in. When they first started, they handled their own promotion and booked their own shows. Although a few labels approached the band, there was no serious interest by any label until the fall of 1997. On October 31 of 1997 Skycycle was offered a recording contract by MCA records. Isaacs thought people were joking when they called it "The Music Cemetery of America", but was mistaken. The band released an EP called Breathing Water (produced by Ken Andrews), but was dropped before the release of their completed full length CD, Ones and Zeros, which remains unreleased. One of the most popular Skycycle songs was Ramona the Palm Reader, a song from Isaacs' unrecorded Rock Opera Strawberry - written while on tour in Tommy.
Isaacs then went on to use his skills as a web designer to produce many film and music websites for a living. Whilst earning a living through web design, he often played solo material at various clubs in L.A. for enjoyment, more than anything else. It was at one of these acoustic shows that a common friend of he and Dave Navarro's was in attendance. She brought Isaacs' music to Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Chris Chaney's attention, the three most recently serving as the muscle behind Jane's Addiction, who had been searching for new musical possibilities. Isaacs never imagined those early jam sessions would become an entirely new band, as he was just pleased to have the opportunity to play with some of his musical heroes.
The Panic Channel and "Breating Water" from Skycycle are Steve Isaacs' only commercially available music to date. Isaacs relocated to New York in the summer of 2007 and is also recently engaged. Future recordings from The Panic Channel have not been confirmed nor spoken about other than briefly on Navarro's site 6767.com. The band is currently on a hiatus but according to Dave Navarro, should be back in the recording studio.
