Looking back at this interview
Steve Whiteman is about as high energy as they come. Kix was slugging it out for many years before they finally broke through to the MTV and radio masses. By the time they finally broke through to some mainstream success, they had already put in years of touring and made several albums. They were no overnight sensation. At the time of this interview Steve was happily rocking with Funny Money. The band concentrated most of their shows in Maryland and the surrounding areas. The Funny Money albums are fantastic. We interviewed everyone that was in the band at the time. We even had a whole page of our old website dedicated to the band. We sold out of the autographed editions of Funny Money CDs but did recently find a bunch of promotional mini posters for the “Skin to Skin” album. If you would like to purchase one of these, please contact us.
Steve Whiteman (2003)
For some of the newer fans, can you give us a brief rundown on how Funny Money formed?
At a fundraiser Billy Andrews, the original guitarist for Funny Money, approached me and asked me what I was doing and I said teaching, that’s about it. He invited himself to my house and we sat down and started talking about the possibilities of putting a band together. He had some good people around him that he knew he could bring in. He liked some of the material that I had written for Kix that never quite made it to an album. So we put a band together surrounding that material (which is now the first Funny Money cd), some cover material, and a little bit of Kix stuff,
which turned into more Kix stuff as fans kept coming out. They wanted to hear more and more.
How does the new Funny Money album “Skin to Skin” stand up next to previous Funny Money releases?
I think it’s the most straight forward rock n roll cd that I’ve done. I’m not one to sit down with a formula and write. I just write whatever the hell comes out of me and that’s what you get. I was actually helped out some this time. About five of the tunes are co-written by some really good song writers who are now in the band. For those people that loved what I did before, I think they’ll really love the new cd.
Your Kix bandmates Ronnie Younkins and Jimmy Chalfant make a guest appearance on the the cd.
How did you guys wind up back in studio again?
Ronnie is in a band locally called “the Blues Vultures”. Ronnie called one day. Knowing that I was out and about playing, he wanted to know if I could turn him on to any rooms to get his band started up. I invited him out to do some openings for us, to get acquainted with the club owners. So he would come out and he would open for my band. We just jointly agreed that I’d come out and do a few songs with him and to get the crowd enthusiastic about his band. Then he’d get on stage with us and go through a couple of Kix classics. The people were just blown away by it. Eventually Ronnie talked Jimmy into coming out when his drummer couldn’t make it. So there were shows where Jimmy , Ronnie and I were doing Kix tunes again. I just asked them if they’d be interested in coming into the studio again and they jumped at it. Jimmy , I actually believe, plays on 4 or 5 tracks on the new “Skin to Skin” album
What tracks on the album are your personal favorites and why?
I really like the first cut “Bad Luck” because Jimmy, Ronnie and I got a chance to collaborate on it. That was a song I had written probably about 10 years ago towards the end of Kix. It’d once again just got overlooked for a Kix album. I just think it’s good high energy rock n roll.
How did the recording/songwriting process for “Skin to Skin” differ from previous Funny Money albums?
This material has actually been lying dormant for about 2 years. Funny Money has gone through some regrouping. Towards the end of the first era of Funny Money that material was ready to be recorded, but I knew we were going to be going through member changes. So it literally took awhile to get the new boys in the band and up and running. Then I brought in the new material.
Our bass player (Mark Schenker) brought in an old band mate of his, Rob Galpin, who now is in Funny Money, just because of the contribution he had on the songwriting. The overall ability this guy has is going to improve the band immensely.
How’d you hook up with Dean Cramer?
When I met Dean he was a student. He’d come to me for vocal training and I always knew he had an ulterior motive. He was obviously a big Kix fan and when he caught wind that I was putting a new project together he was really, really interested. I was going to try to do it with just one guitar player. When we went into rehearsal I just realized that the material I was writing and the material I did in Kix did not sound good with just one guitar. So I said, “Let me call this guy up (Dean) and bring it to the band. It’ll be a band decision. If everybody likes him I think he would really be a good asset.” Dean came in very well prepared, he’s a great player and a really great guy and he fit in perfectly.
Kix gained success through slugging it out,
building a great live reputation without a massive push
from Atlantic records. How’d you do it?
From day one the band was just relentless in our approach. We never really let much get in our way. We were just endlessly touring in a relentless pursuit. You know we had heard from other people that at Atlantic there was that magic button and when that magic button is pushed you will know it. We prided ourselves on surviving from our live performances because we knew we were popular from Florida to Boston, on the whole the east coast. Periodically we could go to Chicago, Detroit, Texas and hit the bigger cities and we could do well.
Donnie Purnell seemed to have a majority of the power within the Kix structure. Is this more of a fact or just an outsider perception?
That is reality. It was Donnie’s band from day one. He recruited everybody. He was the mastermind behind it. He was very adamant about things, doing it his way or the highway.
He was pretty much of a control freak. But 90% of what he went after was good, it was effective and it worked out. There was a lot of things that maybe people didn’t agree with the way the guy did things, but the bottom line is he got things done. We all just got used to working that way and dealt with it.
What’s been interesting in listening to Funny Money is seeing the songs you’ve been able to put out and the fact that you can write. That’s something that seemed to get lost within Kix.
Exactly. I wrote a lot of songs in Kix but I was lucky to get one or 2 per album. That was just Donnie’s influence on the people he had to pick the material. I mean obviously, he was the main songwriter and he was really good at it. But he didn’t really like to share the songwriting with any of us, really. I would have to force his hand and say , “Hey , look I need to get at least one of these songs on the record”. He went in kickin’ and screaming. It was not a good relationship as far as songwriting in the band.
From a personal/career standpoint, how do you compare life with Kix versus life with Funny Money?
Well life with Kix was a career. Life with Funny Money is a hobby. I’m not out pursuing record deals. The name of the band says it all. I just wanted to have some fun and make little bit of money, so it’s Funny Money.
It seems like the pressure isn’t there with Funny Money.
There’s no pressure. It’s all about having fun and enjoying it now. Where as before Kix was a pretty pressure packed band to be in. We were always doing something. Even when there was nothing to do we got together to do nothing.
What are your touring plans for the new cd?
You know there is really no reason to take this band out on the road. For one thing all of us have other jobs throughout the week. It wouldn’t be condusive to schedule around that. Nobody wants to leave their “real” jobs. There are some areas that are playing the cd, a couple of area radio stations, and it’s getting good reviews. There’s no reason to go out and shove Funny Money down everyones throats if they’re not interested.
What can fans expect when they come to a Funny Money show?
High energy. That’s what I’m known for. I pride myself on being the consummate performer. I take every show and make it a good experience.
Are you still giving vocal lessons ?
Yes. I had to do something when Kix broke up. I was sort of dabbling in it before the end of the band. When were out on the road with bands like Ratt and Britny Fox and they would come to me and say, “How in the world do you keep your voice night after night?” I would show them some of things I did, so I thought when this band goes that’s something I could do.
What do you emphasize to your students?
Well first and foremost it’s to warm your voice up and do it properly. Don’t go out on stage unless you’re prepared.
Every musician has their personal favorite “Jam Songs” Whether it be the last call, open mic night, or you call up a buddy from the audience. What are your top 5 all time “Jam Band Songs” ?
Jam band songs…, that’s a tough one. I’m a student of the seventies. I mean obviously things like “Train Kept a Rollin”, I mean everybody knows that. A lot of the old Alice Cooper stuff like “Eighteen”. I’m never really much for jamming ‘cause I’m such a preparation freak. So I’m really not much of a jammer.
You have 5 songs (spanning your entire recording career) to put into the “Steve Whiteman Time Capsule”. What 5 songs are in the time capsule?
Wow,..Well you gotta put “Yea, Yea, Yea” in there
Absolutely ! That would be on our list.
That’s the stupidest song I’ve ever done and fans love it.
Funny Money doesn’t really have a song we’re known for yet.
I’d say the biggest hit of our lives (and Kasey Kasem said my name on his show), “Don’t Close Your Eyes” All the rest of them really lump together. Songs that I really love like “Cold Shower”, just for the fact that I can still go out and hit that high note night after night. “Midnite Dynamite” comes to mind because one night I set a girl’s hair on fire with a sparkler!
That sounds like a good story!
She had a little too much hair spray on and I got a little too close and it was FLAME ON !
I guess “Blow My Fuse”, that was a big album and a big song and probably the highlight of the whole entire Kix career, that whole album .
Besides setting a girl’s hair on fire, what was your “Spinal Tap Moment”?
That was probably it! You know I’ve got a great Spinal Tap story. The night we actually saw that movie as a band we were playing at the Brooklyn L’Amours. It was one of those situations were you do a 6 o’clock sound check then you’re off until like 2 in the morning. That’s a lot of time to kill. We’d heard about the movie “Spinal Tap” and that every band member should see it. So we go off to Manhattan and we watch this movie, which was so damn true. Everything we saw we just kept looking at each other and going, “Yep, that’s happened!” . We just related entirely with it. We come outside, it’s pouring down raining, our van is parked in a mud puddle about a foot high. We had to change a tire in a big giant mud puddle and went on to have one of the worst shows we’ve ever had.
You have only 5 albums you can listen to for the rest of your life. What are they? no greatest hits, live albums, or box sets
I gotta think about these.
Alice Cooper- “Love it To Death” that was a big one
Grand Funk Railroad- “Closer to Home”
Aerosmith- ”Toys in the Attic”
Deep Purple- “Machine Head”
AC/DC –“Back In Black”
Dream Band. You get to put together the “Steve Whiteman Dream Band”. Who is in it?
Mick Jagger- I don’t know what Mick would do other than breathe, I just want be on stage with that guy!
Angus Young
Joe Perry
Jimmy Chalfant
I need one more..bass player…I’ll take Donnie Purnell !
Do you think Donnie would be up for it?
Probably not, he hates me !
Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk with us, buddy.
Take care
Keep Defending The Faith Steve !
ARTIST UPDATE 2019:
Funny Money put out a subsequent album “Stick It!” after the release of “Skin to Skin”. Former Kix members, Jimmy Chalfant and Ronnie Younkins found their way into the Funny Money family. As time went by the time was right for a Kix re-launch with Funny Money bassist Mark Schenker filling the bass duties in place of original bassist Donnie Purnell. Kix released a new cd in 2014.
The band performs frequently at various festivals and concerts. Steve is as high energy as ever ! For the lastest updates on Kix check out their website and Facebook page.
kixband.com
Official Kix Facebook
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