A Birthday toast to the kid I have known longer than any other. We met in a playpen, as our band bio used to say…
At first we shared our love of books & toys; Uncle Wiggly, Zippy the Chimp, army men, G.I. Joes…and then it was TV shows, Batman, Mission Impossible… and football, especially The Buffalo Bills! (We lived in Buffalo – and OJ was a superstar back then).
Musically, we listened to what our parents had; jazz records & classical music. We made up characters and dances that fit with the way each piece sounded. It was clear that we loved music.
Then came the Beatles – and everything changed. It became ALL about music; Beatles, Stones, Simon & Garfunkel & 60s AM radio pop & bubblegum hits.
We started our first band together – Onestep – recording our all original 1st & 2nd albums in the family living room, then changed our name to the Apple Corps and played the Middletown Folk Festival in NJ before disbanding (we were 10 & 11 years old for all of this).
I had started playing drums at age 7 and shortly thereafter John got his first guitar, but at around age 10, I left the drums behind after picking up John’s guitar and discovering I could write songs. That somehow became his cue to switch to bass which is a damn good thing because he’s not only one of the best bass players in NYC – he’s one of the best in the world!
In our early teens, we discovered Monty Python and made our own “radio show” on reel-to-reel tape at home, incorporating character voices, wacky interview & news programs, using a wide variety of jazz, classical & pop records as theme music.
Around the same time, The Conte Brothers acoustic duo came about, playing the local talent shows, church and library concerts. And then there were the electric bands; Trilogy Plus, Sundown…gigging at the swim club, teen center, school dances & battle of the bands in & around Matawan, NJ. We thought nothing of mixing Zeppelin and Skynyrd and Kool & the Gang.
In addition to The Beatles, we were obsessed with Led Zeppelin, we even addressed our Christmas presents to each other one year, “from Jimmy page to John Paul Jones” and vice versa.
When the 80s arrived we adored The Police, wrote songs inspired by them, played in a rock trio…and driven by our thirst for knowledge, we both dedicated ourselves to the study of jazz. And it was with that musical vocabulary that we were able to back up our mom on the bandstand, transposing jazz standards at a moments notice.
But when the desire to make a name for ourselves began gnawing, it was back to pop music and original bands; Lip Service, the Bachelors, the Movies. We played the clubs in NY & NJ and started hanging out in NYC, showing up for jam nights at clubs to make connections … Kenny’s Castaways, the Bitter End, Rock and Roll Cafe & The Red Lion.
John always pulled me in on a gig when a guitarist was needed and I would do the same for him. When he scored a gig with the legendary Blood Sweat and Tears, who needed a guitar player – I was in! We got our first touring & TV experience together with that band & shared a lotta laughs.
After the BS&T gig ran its course, a desire to play simpler music returned. We went deep into the blues and with our band the Hudson River Rats, backed loads of music legends in New York City and got our foot in the studio scene door. It was with that band that we both got to share the stage with our childhood hero, Chuck Berry.
Then, the dream – we got signed to Mercury records with our original band, Company of Wolves with singer Kyf Brewer. We shared our first experiences of triumph at radio, disappointment in sales, playing arenas, traveling in our own tour bus, and fans worldwide who were aware of The Conte Brothers & what we did together; playing, singing, performing & writing music.
And when band that dissolved we transitioned into a new band of our own, Crown Jewels – which morphed into the Contes when we decided to stop hiding behind band names.
We toured the US, showcased for labels, put out our own records, got our co-written compositions used in films & TV shows, etc. All the things a band is supposed to do, I experienced with brother John.
We had “nearly made it” so many times that in 2004, after playing music together for 33 years we made a conscious decision to stop having an original band together and just play with other people for awhile.
But our break from each other didn’t last too long. We were back together in a gig soon after – playing a football (soccer) stadium gig in England with the New York Dolls.
Around that same time, I started pursuing my solo career and eventually, John would record some of the albums with me; STEVE CONTE NYC, Bronx Cheer and my latest solo release, The Concrete Jangle as well as The Earls Of Babylon project. He made them sound and feel exactly how I envisioned them, with the musical vocabulary from both of our childhoods.
I can’t think of any other living musical partners besides maybe Mick & Keith or Ray & Dave who have been through so much together musically, over so many years. We play telepathically, empathetically, and while we know what kind of thing each other will play, we still manage to surprise each other!
Our friend Rich Pagano has a theory that people work well together when, “they grew up with the same record collection”.
Well, that’s for sure in our case.
Love you bro – Happy Birthday!
x ♥️
Steve
