User talk:Gcollier

Step Above
Step Above was formed in 1987 by High School friends Jason Lane, Donald Smith (guitar) and Scott Turner (Drums), aiming to start a straight edge band that harkened back to the early days of Minor Threat. Sighting musical differences Jason was replaced by Gordon Collier who drew on heavier musical influences such as Corrosion of Conformity, Metallica and Black Flag. Jason soon after formed the Hard-Edge band Set Straight. Having difficulty finding a bassist Taylor Steele the vocalist for one of the most well known Straight Edge bands in Richmond at the time “Four Walls Falling” played bass guitar until a long term member joined. Step Above was able in a short period of time to forge a unique sound early on that mixed the simplicity of Minor Threat with heavier distortion and frequent tempo shifts. Over this could be heard lyrics—mostly written by Collier and Turner—about being positive, taking action and believing in ones self.

Collier has remained active in music to the present and went on later in life to play drums for Mistaken Identity an eighties metal band and later Light in August. When he joined Step Above, he brought a different, heavier style than Jason Lane and blended a nearly goofy sense of positive thinking and value based living. He was a powerful singer, who usually as most Hardcore vocalist did at the time, scream the lyrics. By the summer of 1988, however, Colliers voice was worn. He had no formal training or previous experience as a singer, and had severely strained his voice. Later in life Collier went on to found Grayland Vine a three piece acoustic group where he played guitar, sang and wrote most of the material.

Although the band was short lived (1 year) they were part of the first wave of early Richmond, Virginia punk rock, and are considered a key stack holder in helping to develop the early Straight Edge movement in Richmond. Together with bands like Touch Down, Fed Up, Four Walls Falling and others Step Above was an inspiration combining the message of Positive Thinking and Straight Edge with energetic and fast hardcore. When asked why people still talk about Step Above Collier said this:

“You know I’m not really sure. The band was only around for about year. I think we were simply a part of something much bigger at the time, something bigger than ourselves. We were all striving to make life mean something and re-capture our innocence as kids that we felt we had lost. Most of us were from broken homes and lacked people in our lives who cared. We needed something to hold on to…We found Straight Edge.”