Steve Asheim (born January 17, 1970) is an American drummer and primary songwriter for the

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...

. Asheim endorses Pearl, Paiste, Vater, Axis and is known to collect guns, which can be seen in Deicide's DVD '' When London Burns''. Asheim also plays guitar on the album '' Till Death Do Us Part''. On November 20, 2007, Asheim joined the St. Petersburg, Florida-based death/black metal band

Order of Ennead Order of Ennead is an American extreme metal band formed in Tampa, Florida. It includes two members of the death metal band Deicide, and the student of a former guitarist of the band. Order of Ennead have released two albums to date. History O ...

as their drummer.

Biography

Asheim was born in Freehold, New Jersey and is of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

descent through his grandparents who were from

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. His first instrument was the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, but after a few months, he started playing self-taught drums at age 11 and began to play in small bands at 13. He did his first demo in a studio of one of his school teachers in

Freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

, New Jersey. In that period, he developed his interest in extreme drumming. He left his former bandmates because they wanted to play

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

, while he was interested in playing

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

and

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

. In 1985, he moved to Florida and joined "Carnage," where he met Eric and Brian Hoffman. "Carnage" covered Slayer,

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metalBukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal''. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43 and avant-ga ...

and Dark Angel songs. After Carnage disbanded in 1986, Asheim and the Hoffman brothers started writing the early "Amon" songs. In 1987, they met

Glen Benton Glen Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American death metal musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Deicide and was also a part of the band Vital Remains, where he has performed in recording sessions ...

and started demoing. Later, they changed the band name to

Musical influences and tastes

Asheim was inspired by bands such as

, Dark Angel,

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...

, and Sodom. and his main drumming influences include

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. Criss establi ...

Clive Burr Clive Ronald Burr (8 March 1957 – 13 March 2013) was an English drummer. He was a member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982. Career Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979. Auditioning and joining ...

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician best known as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his ...

and

Dave Lombardo David Lombardo (born February 16, 1965) is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of American thrash metal band Slayer. He is currently playing drums with Testament, Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle ...

. Asheim also plays lead and rhythm guitar, bass guitar and piano. He listens to classical piano to derive a better idea of what is possible in constructing songs and music.

Legal issues

On 25 January 2007, when making a trip to a bank in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

to make a deposit from Deicide merchandise sales, Asheim was arrested on suspicion of connection with a recent bank robbery. Staff were perplexed by his appearance and attire, as well as the fact he was handling money marked in red dye. Detained by police in the local station, he explained the banknotes were legitimate proceeds from touring, and that he had a leaky pen in his pocket which was responsible for the money's discoloration. He was released without further charge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asheim, Steve 1970 births 20th-century American drummers American heavy metal drummers American male drummers American multi-instrumentalists Death metal musicians Deicide (band) members Living people Musicians from New Jersey Musicians from Tampa, Florida 21st-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American people of Norwegian descent

Biography

Musical influences and tastes

Legal issues

See also

References