Stevie Rachelle (Tuff) Interview

The 80s metal band Tuff has reunited and released their 7th CD, Live In The U.K.. Stevie Rachelle, the frontman for Tuff, grew up in Wisconsin as a skateboarder, and eventually got into music. He was in a few garage bands, but then decided he wanted to hook up with a band with greater aspirations.

Tuff was started in Phoenix, Arizona in 1985. Back in Wisconsin, Stevie saw a flyer that said the band was looking for a new singer. He flew to L.A., had great chemistry with the rest of the band, and Tuff had a new lead singer. After playing the club scene for a few years, Tuff got a record deal in 1990. After a couple of major label albums, the group didn't have the success it wanted, especially due to the rise of grunge and the decline of 80s metal.

Rachelle has been keeping very busy with different projects like Cheeseheads With Attitude, a parody style band; Shameless, with Bruce Kulick, Gilby Clarke, Mike Fasano and others, who released an album in 2001; and the metal cover band Motley Priest. Rachelle also reformed Tuff, and the band is touring and recording again.

Chad Bowar: Are all Tuff and your solo CDs in print and available from your site?

Stevie Rachelle: Anything Tuff related, along with my solo CDs, T-shirts, home videos, the CWA product and more can all be purchased directly from me at my site http://www.Tuffcds.com

How did the Tuff reunion come about?

It had been several years and I felt like playing with a hard rock band again, and supporting the name & songs that I helped build for a decade! I contacted the original members but they were not really interested to pursue the re-union thing, but gave me their blessing.

What kind of response did you get to the single "American Hairband"?

The response was better than I had anticipated. I had people coming up to me and expressing their excitement for the song from fans, to industry types to the very musicians I plugged. I heard positive feedback from Tracii Gunns, Lonn Friend, Rob Jones at KNAC.COM to name a few. I had major P1 stations nationwide playing the tune to rave reviews which created a frenzie, next thing you know I had phone calls from about a half dozen major labels and distributors all interested. Kid Rock even said some really great things about the song. I was very happy to have the song go over so well.

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic