Autograph’s Steve Lynch criticizes former bandmate Steve Punkett’s past moves

Autograph’s Steve Lynch criticizes former bandmate Steve Plunkett’s past moves

Autograph guitarist Steve Lynch was recently interviewed by Melodic Net and did not mince words when it came to his former Autograph bandmate and frontman Steve Plunkett.

The following are excerpts from Melodic Net‘s interview where Lynch mentions Plunkett:

“CRISS: How was it when you first met Steve Plunkett? How was it working with him later on?

STEVE: It was good working with him at first because the band was based on a democracy in which everyone had equal say and creative input. That changed rather quickly when Plunkett started writing with outside people without our knowledge of it. It put a wedge between him and the band because he was trying to take a more leadership role, which we all disagreed with….

CRISS: Autograph‘s songwriting was all about Plunkett. Was it either something natural or something the other guys in the band just had to accept?

STEVE: We just had to accept the fact that Steve Plunkett was writing behind our backs with other writers and wasn’t giving credit to the songs that were either ideas of our own or full band ideas. When the albums came out without our names on the credits for the writing we were not pleased at all to say the least….

CRISS: What was the real reason for the original Autograph line-up to disband? Was it any kind of turmoil among the band members? Any bad feelings towards anyone?

STEVE: The drummer Keni left to be in the band Dirty White Boy, so we got the drummer Eddie Cross who did an excellent job filling Keni‘s place. Unfortunately, the decision was made to move on without Steve Isham in the band, which Randy and I were totally against, but Steve Plunkett was adamant about it. At that point I lost interest in the band as well as Randy did. We were at rehearsal and I just put my guitar in my case and said I was done. Randy immediately followed suit and that was it. Autograph was an 80’s band and the eighties were over. It was literally December of 1989 when we disbanded.

CRISS: What can you say about the late Autograph keyboardist Steve Isham?

STEVE: Steve Isham was a great keyboardist, writer and a genuinely good person all around. I knew him from the Seattle days, when he was in a band called Bighorn and I was in a band called Silverload. Both bands were very popular in the northwest. It broke my heart when Steve Plunkett decided to fire him from Autograph. I still hold a sore spot in my heart for him doing that.

CRISS: How do you feel about the “Missing Pieces” album, which was released long after the original Autograph had called its quits? What’s your opinion about this album, since there are so many great, then unreleased songs on it?

STEVE: “Missing Pieces” was made from demos we were recording for Epic Records, who we were going to sign with after our RCA deal was up. It was released in 1997, without my knowing about it. To say the least, I wasn’t happy about Steve Plunkett doing that without my permission either. Especially since I wrote 7 out of the 11 songs that are on that release. It was just another thing he decided to do without our knowing about it.

CRISS: You must have listened to the “Buzz” album that Steve Plunkett released as an Autograph one some years ago. What did you think of it? Did Plunkett approach you at any time to be on that album? If not, how did you feel about it?

STEVE: I was asked to play on the “Buzz” album but turned it down because the songs were already written and there was no room left for my creativity. It was basically just another Steve Plunkett solo album without the creativity of the new band members who were all top notch players. I think the album didn’t do very well for the reason that Plunkett didn’t allow the other players input.

You can read the rest of the interview at Melodic Net.