INTERVIEW WITH STEVE CHOI FOR THE EIY HANDBOOK
STEVE CHOI, 29 (Long Beach, CA)
MUSICIAN (Rx Bandits)
YEARS IN MUSIC: 12
ON THE WEB: twitter.com/rxchoi // twitter.com/rxbofficial
CURRENT PROJECTS: RxBandits, Peace’d Out,
Machines, Accidental Sounds
ROLES: RXB: Guitar, Keys, Vocals, Aux. Drums
WHO FIRST GOT YOU INTERESTED IN MUSIC AS MORE THAN JUST SOMETHING ON THE RADIO? It was definitely Nirvana. I had been exposed to a lot of underground music at a very, very young age because of my older sister, but seeing Nirvana was the first time I was moved enough to want to play my music.
DO YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIGURED OUT WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE? It wasn’t so much a moment for me, as it was a collection of moments. By the time I was 16 or 17, I looked back at all those moments up to that point and realized that was what I was meant to do.
WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WHEN YOU STARTED? I was really into the Bay area punk scene, and indie music in general, when my musical ambitions started taking shape, so I was very passionate and integrity-driven. Everything had to be about the love for the music, the people surrounding it, and had to exist in spite of profit or commercial success. Ah, youthful zeal.
HAVE YOU ACHIEVED THOSE GOALS? Absolutely. My band is not famous, nor are we huge, but we have already done so many things that are waaaaay beyond what I could have imagined as a young kid.
WERE YOU ALWAYS ON THE PATH THAT YOU’RE ON NOW? I decided on music and I never looked back, never changed course and never regretted one second of it. It has been a kinked and overgrown path, but it was good to me, and, although slowly, has lead me where I wanted to go.
WHAT HAVE YOU HAD TO SACRIFICE IN ORDER TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE? As a touring musician, you sacrifice your ability to be present in the lives of people whom you care for most. It can be more of a problem than one thinks.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU ON A DAILY BASIS? I think I have a full staff of blessings, frustrations, goals, and moods that all keep me moving in different ways, for different reasons, at all times.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR SUCCESS HAS COME FROM LUCK? TALENT? HARD WORK? Our band has definitely had good fortune, but none of it came in the form of furthering our band’s success — that was all hard work and passion. Our luck came in the form of our health and not dying in some of the crazy situations we’ve been in over the years on the road.
HOW HAVE YOU MEASURED YOUR SUCCESS? I measure our success through my feelings towards our band overall. My happiness with where we are is most of how I perceive our success. Now… respect, popularity and money all influence that, but I look to the sum of the parts rather than individual aspects.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS? Bit subjective, innit.
DO YOU HAVE ANY REGRETS? No regrets, no surrender.
DO YOU THINK THE BEST BANDS IN THE WORLD TEND TO GET FAMOUS, OR TEND TO STAY UNDISCOVERED? I wish I could say either way, but I think it tends to be pretty even both ways, and pretty random. The factors involved make it far too complex to even try and think about on my own.
DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE (as-of-yet) UNDISCOVERED BANDS? All my friends making amazing music that few will ever hear.
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Read Steve’s answers to 50 questions about music and the music business in the EIY HANDBOOK, available in print or eBook version at www.earnityourself.com
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