VH-1 Behind the Music: The Lounge Axe (Pt. 2)

 
It was time for the band's next album. There was enormous pressure to follow up on the success of their first offering, and there was a new twist. It was called Nirvana. The Seattle band had descended on the world, and the world's eyes were on them and the new sound they brought. Already it was beginning to look like the ears of music fans were tuned to this new revolution, and the Lounge Axe was no longer the latest and greatest. They would have to fight, for the first time, for their place in the hearts of fans.

Rich and Mike at the Viper Room in Hollywood

As the songwriting began, getting all the members together at the same time was tough enough. Social engagements drew them in all different directions, as did side projects that seemed to pop up for each of them. In the midst of this, the first scandal struck.

Stuart O'Connell and Ken "Snowman" Wood in Miami

Mike's twin brother--and co-manager of the band--Stuart was suddenly under F.B.I. investigation. The I.R.S. was looking into his holdings and some business dealings he'd been into, all while the money was flowing in for Vega Management. Stuart was seen in the company of reputed Miami drug kingpin Ken "Snowman" Wood. Their connections in their business arrangements were being probed. Vega was now under a microscope, and the taint of that naturally reached back to the band.

But the scandals hadn't stopped. News broke of lead singer Mark Tackett's political affiliations and his ties to certain groups. He had started moving in circles with certain questionable activist organizations, and one night, CNN led the evening report with word that Mark Tackett had joined the Communist Party. Band mates were shocked. Contact between them outside of engagements and recording sessions had been slight, and no one knew what he had been doing with his off-time. He had been studying Marx, and attending rallies, and channeling his plentiful monies into movements and charities of the Communist cause. Efforts of band mates to try and understand, to question, were met with only defensiveness and anger from Tackett. They realized how little they'd really known about his life before he joined their band.

Mark Tackett photo taken at a meeting of the People's Revolutionary Coalition

That lack of knowledge was brought finally and forcefully home when press background checks on Tackett turned up involvement in pornographic films before the band had formed. Tackett was underage when he'd made the two films. The blanket of scandal covered him, and the band, completely. Two days after that story raced through the media, RCA executives gave the band an ultimatum. Mark Tackett had to go. Tackett made the decision easy on those who had risen to stardom with him. He walked away from the band, and from music, and disappeared.

News of Tackett's early involvement in underage porn surfaces

A new album was due, and the band was now left without a singer, one that was a key reason for their success. They met with each other, and with RCA execs, to look for solutions, for a way out. The record company wanted the album, for they had already poured substantial resources into it. The band was contract bound. RCA told them they needed a new lead singer. And RCA ended up choosing the singer for them.

New Lounge Axe lead singer Aaron Storck

Aaron Storck, a lounge singer from San Diego, was under RCA contract and considered an up-and-comer in the wake of Axe's success in the genre. He was brought in for talks with the band, and seemed likeable enough, and certainly talented enough. No one in the band argued his election. Though things had changed, the band had to go on. Doubling their resolve, the group went through marathon studio sessions, working and reworking new material. To their surprise and relief, the old magic was back, and better than ever. Storck brought a new energy to the mix, an exciting singing style that punctuated the music, and a stage presence that rivaled, and in some ways surpassed, Tackett. They had taken their lumps, and weathered the scandals. The Lounge Axe was back, and ready to take back what was theirs.

The new album, "Last Call for Seconol", was considered by many critics to be a breakthrough, artistically superior to their first. There was a new maturity in their music, a new daring, perhaps inspired by all they'd been through. Tracks like "Ride" and "Listen To The Moon" were powerful and haunting. Revamped standards like "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" and "Witchcraft" had RCA drooling and optimistic for the band's reemergence. "Seconol" was released, and the band began touring again, with Metallica opening for them. New videos were shot. Promotion was heavy. Expectations were high.

The Lounge Axe's follow-up CD

But for all the hope, it was too little, too late. Record sales were well below projections. Despite his scandals, Tackett was still seen by many fans as the voice of Axe, and many rejected Storck, despite his talents.

"It was the whole Roth/Hagar thing all over again," Mike laments. "Fans were totally divided. Right at a time when we needed them behind us. Seemed like it was either/or with people. Those who loved Mark couldn't accept Aaron. The Aaron fans were huge fans, but there just weren't enough of them."

There was another reason for that. It was grunge. Nirvana, and all the bands that followed in their footsteps, were now everywhere. Again, rock and roll had changed, had evolved. Lounge metal was seen now as quaint, almost amusing, like the dying hair bands that saw their own sales drop, their own tours cancelled. The band fought hard, but they seemed to take two steps back for each critical and commercial victory.

"You can't imagine," Rich says. "The critics say this is your best stuff yet. You pour your heart into it. But suddenly, no one buying records cares. You're yesterday's news. You feel betrayed. But it's the way of the business. We weren't the first band to ever go through it. It's been that way since they started selling records."

Kris's gambling problem was well documented

Disappointment hit the band hard as tickets sales plummeted. This led to bad times. Band members, good friends for so long, started to turn on each other. There were more incidents of heavy drinking and fighting. Joel smashed a monitor at an MTV appearance. A nasty war of words started between A.T. and Eddie Vedder. Kris developed a gambling problem, and lost much of his earnings in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Mike began putting on weight and losing himself in his solo project, a piano and spoken word album that received neither commercial nor critical acceptance.

Mike during the "Piano Talk" solo project recording sessions

And on the heels of all of this, the final blow. Not being businessmen, the band had left all their handlings to Stuart O'Connell and Tim Watts. It started with bad business decisions during the making of the second album. Then all the facts came out. Stuart had embezzled millions and channeled them to his drug connections abroad. Watts, while not doing anything overtly illegal, had set things up to cheat the band out of huge profits while making himself rich. A fatal break between the band and Vega Management came quickly, and a massive lawsuit that still hasn't seen resolution to this day. The legal problems tarnished the band's image further, with Watts spewing as much dirt and bad spin on the band as he could. Stuart, meanwhile, Mike's own twin brother, fled the country and disappeared into South America. To this day, his whereabouts are unknown.

Tim Watts and Stuart O'Connell cashed in big...on the band's money

The band tried to hold things together, but the end was already in sight. Aaron Storck caught the worst of the bad press as the outsider, ridiculed by Tackett loyalists and blamed, somehow, for Mark being gone. His own drinking problems increased tenfold. Some of the few concert dates they could still manage were cancelled when Storck either showed up drunk or didn't show up at all. He finally checked himself into a rehab center just before a Lounge Axe Chicago show. At this point, the rest of their tour was cancelled. Two months later, a band meeting was held at a resort in Scottsdale. They all had to face the truth. The Lounge Axe was finished. That night, the band that had come so far, so fast, was dissolved.

Aaron Storck passed out in his limo before a Lounge Axe concert

"It was the hardest night of my life," Kris says. "We'd put so much of ourselves into the band and the music. It felt like we were quitting. But all we were doing was acknowledging what had already happened. We yelled some. People gave speeches. But by the time the sun came up, we all agreed. It was over."

Grunge rolled on, and hip-hop would replace rock and roll as the national obsession. It wasn't long at all before no one even remembered lounge metal, or The Lounge Axe. They had had their time. They had stepped in at the perfect point in music history and changed it all...only to see it change again and leave them behind.

The band mates didn't see each other for a while. It was all still too hard at first. Eventually, the friendships mended. Each of them had financial worries. They had huge debts and legal fees, and no new records to bring in income. The mansions were gone. The sports cars sold. No more trips to Europe or Japan. No more celebrity friends. The boys from northern California were back where they started. They'd had their moment in the sun. And the moment faded.

Mike, Rich and Kris vacationing together in 1995

Now, over ten years later, they can speak of it with perspective.

"It's just music," Rich Straub shrugs. "It's the business. We had our shot, and it was an amazing ride."

Aaron, Rich, A.T. and Mike at the Lounge Axe band reunion weekend, 2001

Sitting across the table, Mike O'Connell nods sagely. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. Hey, very few get famous and stay that way. We had it better than most. We've got the memories. We've got the magazines, the award show tapes. I have a huge collection of tour pictures that I like to take out and look at from time to time. I can do that now. It's not painful anymore. Now I can look back and smile."

Kris Kanas looks nervous. "What kind of pictures?"

The three friends from Carmichael, California laugh, much as they probably did in their old carefree days in that three-bedroom house on Stollwood Drive, where together, they created a sound that, just for a time, made the world stop. And listen. And love.

Mike O'Connell is a piano teacher in Tempe, Arizona. In his spare time he records music that he provides free of charge on his web site, michaeloconnell.com, and plays at resorts and hotels.

Rich Straub is a successful record producer in Los Angeles, having shepherded some of the most successful albums of the past three years. He is also called often by the Los Angeles Superior Court as an expert witness in music-related trials. He is married and has four children.

Kris Kanas is a youth pastor in Sacramento, California. His church's music program is considered one of the best in the nation. Seen here with his wife Tamara, Kris has 3 kids of his own, and many more in his youth program to take care of. In 1997, his Christian rock band, All That Matters, sold 400,000 copies of their award-winning CD.

 Kris's original Lounge Axe guitar, which recently sold on eBay for $9,850.00

Joel B. Levy owns a computer game company with his business partner Ben Bellot. MAGIC Games produces some of the best-selling games in the PC and MAC markets. He has sold 5 novels and won numerous awards for these and his short stories.

Aaron "A.T." Thompson is a successful club owner and promoter in Hollywood, California. His club, The Mandarin, is one of the hardest in L.A. to get into, and is a regular host to post-Oscar parties. He manages several bands, including Like A Glove and They're Not Stolen.

Aaron Storck left singing after the band dissolved and used his remaining royalties to invest in a number of extremely successful dot com companies. A billionaire by the end of the 1990s, Aaron purchased the ailing Sacramento Kings NBA franchise in 1999 and built a team that went on to win the NBA finals. He splits his time between his homes in Sacramento, New York and Las Vegas.

Mark Tackett, the original voice of The Lounge Axe, disappeared from public life after his numerous scandals. Reports have him living in Tibet under an assumed name, where his friends and band mates hope he has found inner peace.

Stuart O'Connell has not been sighted since the 1990s, when he fled to South America. His brother, Mike, has not heard from him, but hopes his twin will return home and face the charges against him. Numerous federal warrants are still active on him.

Tim Watts, former co-President of Vega Management, still maintains his innocence in the Lounge Axe financial matters. Various lawsuits with the band and RCA are still ongoing. His autobiography, I Did It For The Music, sold a dismal 14,000 copies. He currently works in real estate speculation and lives in Newport Beach, California. He has never married and is currently involved in a paternity suit with actress Heather Thomas.

__________________________________________________________________ 

The story you have just read above is about 67% total bullshit. 

This is a transplant, a thing I'd written on my original pre-blog web page years ago.  It was quite popular with the people involved in it, so if only for them, I decided to reprint it here for their future viewing.

This all started one day when I was looking through some scanned photos I had of me and friends of mine from the good old days.  I remember laughing and thinking, hey, that's weird, if you look at a few of these together and in the right order, it kind of looks like we were all in a band.  That suddenly sparked a very strange idea in me, and with such force that I stayed up all night cranking the thing out.  I became very excited about the creative challenge of using photos to work with words to tell a story, and to let the photos guide the story.  By the next morning, there was the Lounge Axe.

This story is filled with truths, half-truths, and wholesale bullshit.  The facts that are true are that the people in the pictures are all friends of mine, and these are all their names.  Rich and Kris and I have known each other since high school, but never lived together at the house on Stollwood Drive (which was my house, and we did hang out there a lot at the end of high school and into college).  Kris and Rich actually are musicians.  I'm a guy who wanted to be one, bought a keyboard, learned to play a bit but eventually sold the keyboard to pay the phone bill.  We never formed a band of any kind, though Rich and Kris had a two-man band called Sneaky Peter that they recorded tracks for, must of them comedic tunes.  Joel did not play drums.  I have one photo of him messing around with a drumstick, so that's how he became the drummer for the Axe in this tale.  AT can actually play bass, but was never in a band.  Neither Mark Tackett nor Aaron Storck are singers.  How did they become the singers in this story?  I had pictures of them with microphones.  That simple.

Also, I do not have an actual twin brother named Stuart.  He's made up.  Tim Watts is not a music agent, but is another of our good friends who would have probably ended up in the band if I'd had a picture of him holding or standing near an instrument.  He and Stuart do not run Vega Management (a company named for the Vega that Tim used to drive when we were young), and they only appeared in the tale because that horribly cheesy pic of Tim and I holding up money during our shared mustache period suggested a couple of slimy agents.  

If you just finished reading the whole story, you PROBABLY figured out that it was fictional.  Especially since you probably never heard of this apparently world-famous band or the lounge metal movement (and you're pretty sure that Aaron Storck doesn't own the Sacramento Kings).  Pretty obvious, right?  Not necessarily.  I got some emails from people who found it on the web who were convinced it was true, including one from a guy who once lived on Stollwood Drive and was trying to find out if we were still playing dates.  I love the internet.

Also, the "Where Are They Now?" stuff is filled with lies based on partial truths.  Elements are in them that are truisms of the people involved, but no one has actually ended up in any of the lives I described there.  Again, my old roommate does not own the Sacramento Kings, and as far as I know, Tim never banged Heather Thomas.  Lots of little in-jokes are throughout those bios, Easter eggs for those in the know.

This little fantasy was just a fun writing exercise for me, and a little gift to a few of my friends that have been in my life for decades and deserve a little gift once in a while for being so awesome.  I hope you enjoyed it, too.

Coming Soon?  VH-1 Bands Reunited?  We'll see.