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For a couple years in the mid 60's, pre-psycadelia, pre-Woodstock, Jeff and the RF's ruled the airwaves with their three chord, accessible rock music. One of the key members of that group was bassist Steve "STEVEN!!" Youngs, who joined the band literally weeks before they shot to national stardom. "Jeff and the guys had been playing up and down the west coast, mostly in the Northwest, doing their party rock thing, but the records weren't selling. They needed a couple things to push them to that next level. Number one, they needed national exposure on tv and radio; Number two, they needed a rock solid bass player that wasn't afraid to put the smack down!"
The national exposure came via Richard Clarkbar's daily afternoon music show, "High Action" (sort of a spin-off of his highly successful "American Dancestand"). "STEVEN!!" (as his mother called him), provided much of the comedy and entertainment with his voice impersonations of fictional characters like Johnny Ash, and his compelling bass playing. "Before I joined the band, Jeff had never had a compelling bass player that could play those compelling bass lines compellingly. I was compelled to play those low notes in the most compelling style I could." Which was? "Bass lines that compel the kids to get up and dance!"
Steve angrily denies rumours that the RF's did not play on their own records. "All that talk got started by Ron Fowler (RF's lead singer), he was real tight with our producer, Jay Donahue, and they thought they could do it all, just the two of them. Me, Jimmy "James Earl" Coin (drummer) and Paul "Pauline" Savanka (lead guitar)thought that was bull$#**. We played every d@%! part, every f?!=in' bass part, every d@%! bit of guitar, drums, we were the foundation of the f#$%in' band."
As much as he enjoyed the studio side of things, he found even more to enjoy in the live shows. "What's not to like? You've got an auditorium of teenage girls screaming for you, and we were teenagers at the time. Some really stacked chick would be standing in front of the stage, and I'd invite her back to the hotel for a good time!"
Steve developed a reputation as the prankster of the group. "I'd be out on a hike with Jeff and Ron, and i'd find a long stick, and rub it in dog dew, and chase them with it!" He also liked dropping his cat Whiskers from his second story window, "to see if she would land on her back or not".
Despite having gold albums in his collection, and good paying road gigs, Youngs quickly became dissatisfied with the whole grind. "I wanted to get more of my songs on the albums. We weren't playing my type of favorite music. Ron listened to my songs and said "they're not very good", i said "SO!" Jay told me "they're not commercial enough", and i said 'IN YOUR OPINION!" They let me do a couple, just to shut me up, Ron thought he had to have all the songs on the albums, and Jeff went along with that, so even though I was getting more fan mail than anyone in the band, I was pushed to the back."
In spite of their squeaky-clean image on tv, Steve says the RF's were quite different off stage. "We didn't drink, smoke or swear, except for Jeff. His mom was always threatening to wash his mouth out with soap because he was always cussing. Right during the middle of a show, he'd make a mistake on his organ, and i'd hear him cussing about it, so i'd warn everyone "JEFF SWORE!" The song would stop, and we'd have to start it over again."
Things started to change when Steve discovered marijuana. "Jeff said no one in the band could smoke pot. A beer now and then was okay, but no dope. When i first joined the band, i agreed with him, i told him "i'd never smoke pot", but things changed. I said "what I do on my own time is my own business, it's for medicinal purposes". I couldn't stay in a band where I couldn't be myself, so I quit" - taking Coin and Savanka with him, to start a new band, Fatherhood. "We wanted to play harder rock and roll. Ron said "the harder rock and roll is still beaten", and Jeff said "from what I've seen, I believe him". I said "that sounds like horse$#it! It's your bubblegum rock that is beaten, beaten down into the ground along with all those 8 year old girls at your concerts! IT'S TRUE!"
Fatherhood never had a chance to take off. "Jeff sued all three of us for quitting the band. We ended up with nothin', absolutely nothin'! After Fatherhood broke up, I sold all my gear, and lived in a tent behind Evergreen State College. All the girls with big knockers would come by...and you know what I mean by 'come by'! My friend Gomm was there, and we'd smoke a bowl, and, uh, we'd, uh, eat out."
Eventually, Youngs returned to music, singing bass and playing bass in various cover bands. "I had a band called A.S.O.L. in the early 80's, we were recording an album for a major label, it took a long time to record, because i would have to leave the sessions to go f#%$ my girlfriend. Then the other guys quit the band, they wouldn't agree with me that we should only have 4 songs on each side of the album. I said "most modern albums only have 4 songs on each side". I didn't see the point in having 5 or 6 songs on each side if they weren't any good! So I quit that band and got a job as a schoolteacher."
Youngs hasn't seen the current lineup of Jeff and the RF's, and he has bad memories of their one attempt at a reunion, in 1997. "Jeff wasn't even there, it was just me, Jimmy, Pauline, and Ron. We got together at a park in Burien, right around the corner from the Fire Whistle Cafe. Ron had some teenage girlfriend with him, she kept saying stuff about the earth being flat, and i said "it's not the world, it's you that's flat!" I think that hurt her feelings, but i said "IT'S TRUE!" We didn't play much music that day, i was too busy smoking a bowl with Jimmy, and Pauline was playing with the motordrive on his camera."
So what is Youngs like as a schoolteacher? "I teach the kids the important things, things like Bob Dylan is the worst cording artist ever... recording; 2 black and white tv's are better than one color tv; and Jeff Fowler is a liar, a liar, and a liar."
Steve Youngs can be reached at his website, http://www.foursongsperside.com.