Blessed to grow up in the golden age of rock music (Buddy Holly, Shadows, Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and DIre Straits), Steve was a late learner, starting with "cowboy chords" learned on holiday at age 18.
Driven by this passion for the guitar based rock genre, Steve's first band Careless Comments featured drummer Clive Stracey, lead guitarist Stefan Bogatko with Sean Wrycraft on bass guitar.
Though playing strictly rhythm guitar, he was quietly learning the basics of lead guitar from watching Stefan rip up the fretboard.
Steve eventually took the the lead guitar role with Thursdays Child, formed with brother Andy on bass and drummer Mark Nichols.
The band went through various iterations over the years augmenting the sound with keyboard players (Paul Howell and Sean Saint), female singers (Jennifer Stracey and Cat Lewis).
Clive Stracey replaced Mark on drums for a while before the band finally joined forces with Rob Stannard (aka Rob Stevens) in the hot seat.
These three formed the consistent core of the Thursdays Child line up at the height of its popularity on the London "new music" scene.
Andy's solid bass and creative drive combined with Rob's virtuoso powerhouse back beat merged to complete the rock steady rhythm section, a signature of the Thursdays Child sound.
Eventually earning a publishing deal with Southern Music, which provided some free recording studio time, and a subsequent management deal with MCM, which led to the band evolving its visual image and recording a video, the band worked hard and went from strength to strength.
At this time, their management company ran a successful rock venue in East London called "The Out Club". The club featured on the Time Out "Hip List" and served as an excellent home venue when not booked elsewhere on the London circuit.
After years of hard work, critical acclaim, but without financial reward, the band suffered a bitter blow with the demise of MCM management.
Unfortunately, this was timed just before the scheduled release and launch of the single and video for "Out to Play".
Though a prospective alternative management deal was subsequently sourced by Andy with promoter and entrepreneur Larry Page (formerly manager of the Kinks), morale was at an all time low, and with no financial guarantees offered within the contract. This proved to be the last straw and the band broke up.
Calling all archivists
Sadly the band's demise occurred prior to the onset of the digital era and so singles and the "Out to Play" video are not currently available on YouTube or anywhere else on the internet.
If you know the location of any original recordings, please contact steve@stevepatten.com
After Thursdays Child
Without the pressure of management company (and the constant requests to "play free for exposure"), Steve hired a bass player and drummer for the purpose of playing paid gigs under the Thursdays Child name for a couple of years before moving away from London with a young family.
Away from London, there were very occasionally stints playing in cover bands and random jam sessions, with the next band of any consequence was "Unhinged" upon the move to Ireland.
Unhinged quickly acquired a weekly residency in a local pub, playing playing mostly covers of country classics, Irish ballads (with occasional classic rock covers thrown in for good measure).
The popularity of the residency lead to a number of other venues offering regular gigs in the local area.
The band featured James O'Donnell on guitar and vocals, Geraldine Patten on piano accordion, using midi based drum tracks, and with Steve on lead guitar and vocals.
After a couple of years of regular gigging the pressures of family life saw the demise of Unhinged and focus on other priorities for a while until almost a decade ago when the the idea of a one man classic rock show under the name "Journeyman" (a nod to the album by Eric Clapton) emerged .
With Journeyman the focus is well and truly back on Irish and English guitar based classic rock hits and anthems. Particularly selecting from classic hits from the golden age of late 60's through to 70's and early 80's.
