Randall "Randy" Steffes is a Canadian musician and manager. As a musician, he has played with

Bif Naked Beth Torbert is a Canadian singer best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada. Early life and education Bif Naked was born in New Delhi, India, to teenage parents a ...

's early band Gorilla Gorilla and the

skate punk Skate punk (also known as skatecore and skate rock) is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a m ...

band

SNFU SNFU was a Canadian hardcore punk band formed in Edmonton in 1981, relocated to Vancouver in 1992, and disbanded in 2018. They released eight albums, two live records, and one compilation amid many lineup changes and several temporary breakups. ...

. He has also worked as manager, tour manager, guitar technician, sound engineer, and additional musician for

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a ...

,Kjersti Egerdahl. ''Green Day: A Musical Biography''. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press, 2010, pg. 80. Good Riddance, and

The Real McKenzies The Real McKenzies is a Canadian Celtic punk band founded in 1992 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are one of the founders of the Celtic punk movement, albeit 10 years after The Pogues. In addition to writing and performing origin ...

Chris Walter Chris Walter was a photographer of classic rock and pop musicians, who began working in London in the early 1960s, photographing mainly rock musicians. He initially began the company South London Photo Agency (later The London Photo Agency), co ...

. ''Under the Kilt: The Real McKenzies Exposed''. Vancouver: GFY Press, 2015, pg. 166.

Career

Gorilla Gorilla

Steffes grew up in

Beausejour, Manitoba Beausejour () is a town in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is 46 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, just west of the Canadian Shield and Whiteshell Provincial Park. The French name means "beautiful stay". The town is surrounded by t ...

and attended the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

punk rock scene in the late 1980s. Singer

, later a successful solo artist, fronted the band beginning in 1989. Gorilla Gorilla relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

the following year. There they recorded a demo cassette tape with Cecil English and Craig Bougie (both noted for their work with

NoMeansNo Nomeansno (sometimes stylized as NoMeansNo or spelled No Means No) was a Canadian punk rock band formed in Victoria, British Columbia and later relocated to Vancouver. They issued 11 albums, including a collaborative album with Jello Biafra, a ...

) and toured alongside The Wongs, a short-lived project featuring

singer

Ken Chinn Kendall Steven Chinn (October 19, 1962 – July 16, 2020), known under the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, was a Canadian punk rock vocalist and artist born in Edmonton and long residing in Vancouver. He fronted the hardcore punk band SNFU from 1981 un ...

. They disbanded in 1991.

Work in management

Steffes later began working for the punk rock band

. He relocated to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

while working with the band. Steffes initially had several positions with Green Day, including guitar technician. Green Day experienced breakthrough success with their 1993 album ''

Dookie ''Dookie'' is the third studio album and the major label debut by American rock band Green Day, released on February 1, 1994, by Reprise Records. The band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo, it was recorded in late 1993 at Fantasy ...

''. In October 1995, and on the eve of the release of the follow-up album ''

Insomniac Insomniac or The Insomniac may refer to: * A person who has insomnia Music * ''Insomniac'' (Green Day album), 1995 * ''Insomniac'' (Enrique Iglesias album), 2007 * "Insomniac" (song), a 1994 song by Echobelly * "Insomniac", a song by Billy P ...

'', the band cut ties with their previous management company and promoted Steffes to manager. The band cited their desire to be "self-managed" and employ a close member of their organization, rather than a traditional music executive. In August 1996, Green Day replaced Steffes with manager

Bob Cavallo Bob Cavallo is an American entertainment manager, producer, and business owner. Cavallo worked for Walt Disney Studios from 1998 through 2011, during which time he reorganized the company's recorded music, music publishing and concert operations ...

, known for his work with such artists as

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

and

Earth Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

. Steffes became the band's tour manager. Steffes also acted as tour manager and roadie for SNFU and Good Riddance around this time. In 2007, Steffes began working with

as tour manager and sound engineer. He played with the group as a guest member on several occasions, including the acoustic sessions yielding the '' Shine Not Burn'' live album in which he played banjo. He also played guitar on their 2012 album ''

Westwinds ''Westwinds'' is the seventh studio album by Canadian punk rock band The Real McKenzies. It was released on Fat Wreck Chords in 2012. Track list References {{Authority control The Real McKenzies albums 2012 albums Fat Wreck Chords alb ...

''. He worked with the group for six years before leaving his management capacity in 2013.

With SNFU

In 2014, Steffes joined SNFU as guitarist, composing a new lineup of the band alongside Chinn, bassist Dave Bacon, and former Real McKenzies guitarist Kurt Robertson. The reconstituted group toured in support of their new record, '' Never Trouble Trouble Until Trouble Troubles You''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steffes, Randy Canadian punk rock guitarists Living people Musicians from Manitoba People from Eastman Region, Manitoba SNFU members Year of birth missing (living people)