About me and my music


I was born and raised in the Midway area of St. Paul, Minnesota in 1966.
My first favorite musician was Johnny Cash. What a great song writer!
Then around age 10 (thanks to my older brother Bill), I started getting into BTO,
KISS, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper. And thanks to my cousin Jeff who turned both my brother Bill
and I onto guitars and good music.

***BEFORE 1982***
Cousin Jeff                                                        Me
                                                                          Brother  Bill




***AFTER 2002***
       Cousin Jeff                          Me                              Brother Bill





 
Not long after that I started getting into the hard rock of that time: Zeppelin, Sabbath, UFO, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, AC-DC etc.; too many to list, but you get the idea. I really don't consider many of those bands heavy metal but more hard rock.

At the young age of 14 I joined my brother's band Blitzkrieg as the bass player. What a great time that was playing different bars around the Twin Cities. The rest of the band was about 3 years older than me. Don't ask me how we got into the bars. Our set list consisted of UFO, MSG, Judas Priest, Scorpions, AC/DC and OZZY. This lasted for about 2-3 years before we broke up.  I never  played out live after that aside from stuff we did in high school.



The good old band playing days


 
Up until the mid 80's I was still huge into music. Then it seemed it was time to grow up (not that you have to be out of music to grow up), but that's what seemed to work for me. Going to school, getting a job and married.
 
I didn't play much from 86-95. Although I did own a 1979 black Explorer during that time and that's what I learned how to play on. Then I got back into guitars and music big time. In 1998 I bought my first Gibson Flying V and the rest is history.
 
Obviously Michael Schenker and UFO were the biggest influences on me. I once drove 13 hours to see Michael Schenker play with UFO (my all time dream). They are # 1 in my book.  There are so many great bands and talented musicians out there. I can appreciate any talented band or artist. I am still stuck in the 70's - in my opinion the greatest era for music and guitar playing. There again I could list a ton of bands and artists from that era.
I'd have to say my top 5 favorite albums are (1)Strangers in the Night (2) Lights Out (3) Obsession (4) Force It (5)Phenomenon. I think my favorite song may be "I'm a Loser". So, no, I'm not partial towards UFO at all.  lol
 
My first concert at age 13 was the Scorpions and Ted Nugent.  Ironically, in Nov-04 I took my son Tyler, age 13, to his first concert and it was the Scorpions, also.
 
As mentioned above I bought my first Gibson Flying V in 1998.  It was a 1991 white '67 reissue.
The Flying V addiction has not stopped since. Thanks to the WWW it has really fueled the Flying V Frenzy.
Since 1998 I've really enjoyed playing / collecting / buying / selling Gibson V's. I've made tons of great V friends along the way. Through selling a 1981 Black Gibson V on Ebay my wife and I met our great friends Dave and Rose in England. We have since visited them in England and they've visited us as well. All this from a Flying V Ebay transaction.

 My son Tyler with a 75 V - he was about 10 in this pic


Aside from music and guitars, I remarried in 1998 to my perfect match and great wife Becky. I also have my son Tyler who is 13  -- he has a great taste in music too (like he had a choice), Ha.


The spoiled one and the boss


We are the proud owners on the most spoiled Golden Retriever dog in the world, Jake. We like to spend our vacation time and weekends up at our lake near lake Mille Lacs.

Yes we spoiled him!!

 God bless our Jake Jake - he passed in early 2008

The new puppy (Milo - A Bernese Mountain Dog)  2 months


4 months


15 months



 
Thanks for taking the time to look at my site.
Keep on rockin and enjoy that Flying V hunt!
  email @
Steve Byland
home