Steven “Ace” Acker -LAW Interview
Tell me about growing up in Warren, Ohio. Can you tell me about your childhood and how you initially got into music, more specifically the guitar? Was music relevant around your household, or was this something you found entirely on your own? Do you have any siblings?
Blame it on Elvis. I clearly remember my mother calling me down from my room in 1956 to watch Elvis on a Saturday morning TV show. I was only five years old, but I instantly fell in love with Rock and Roll. A few years later, I heard Chuck Berry’s “No Particular Place to Go” blast from the big speakers mounted atop telephone poles at a local recreational park. I loved that guitar sound! I also loved Broadway soundtracks and the pop hits of the day. The week before entering the 7th grade in September 1963, my mom took me to a music store for a trumpet and lessons so I could play in the East Junior High Marching Band. With trumpet in hand and lessons arranged, the wise store owner, Mrs. Bell, asked me, “Steven, do you really want to play this trumpet?” “No,” I answered, “I really want to play that guitar in the window.” So, I left with a Gibson acoustic guitar instead and started taking lessons from Mr. Fink. Four months later, The Beatles broke and that was it for me. Nothing else mattered. I was going to be a rock star.
Prior to forming Law, I understand that in the fall of ‘64 you played your very first gig with a group called The Evolution at East Junior High Talent Show in Warren, Ohio where you guys played the tune “Wipeout”. Can you tell me about how this outfit came to be and what those early days were like?
That was for the school talent show. I and another guitar player in my class played through a single Fender Princeton Reverb amp. We had a drummer, but no bass player. We played “Wipeout” and my first original song; an instrumental that sounded like “Wipeout” played backwards.
Around the time you attended Harding High School, you started your own band at the age of 16 called The Collection. Can you tell me about those days and that outfit? When and where would you guys rehearse, and can you tell me about your first live performance and what that experience was like for you?
This was in 1967, a pivotal year for world music and culture, when garage bands began to become hit bands now and then. The Collection was just that—a garage band. We rehearsed in our garage. They were like block parties then. It is hard for young bands today to imagine, but in those days, teen dances were a huge thing. Church basements, music halls, teen clubs. The Collection was playing 4, or 5 paying gigs a week in the summer. We all were. It was our training ground. Today’s teen bands just don’t have that opportunity much anymore. Warren and Youngstown were in the heart of the then-prosperous Steel Belt, midway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. There was full employment. The drinking age was still 18. When the whistle blew and the workday was done, it was time to party. And the only thing more essential to the party than Pabst Blue Ribbon or Rolling Rock beer was the band. I worked constantly for the next twelve years.
What initially led to the decision forming Law around ‘71? How did you meet your bandmates (If they weren’t in any of the groups above already) and were your first impressions of them? When and where did you guys first get together to jam/rehearse and what was the immediate chemistry like between everyone?
Between The Collection and LAW, I played in two other Youngstown bands. The first, Hard Willow, was notable for our drummer, Myron Grombacher, who went on to play with Pat Benatar for her entire run of hits. Watch any of her music videos and you’ll see Myron. The second was a very good ten-piece horn band called My Uncle’s Army Buddies. By the end of 1970, I had acquired quite the reputation in NE Ohio. In January 1971, the Army Buddies had broken up and I had moved back home in Warren. One day, I got a call from Y-Town bass player Mickey Williamson, who I knew only by reputation. He had a three-piece band called Senior Runner and the Half-Moons, and they were looking to replace the guitar player. We got together the next day at a hip Youngstown club called The Green, where I met Mickey and drummer Steve Lawrence. They were both five years older than me. We started jamming and the magic was almost instantaneous. We knew—this was it. “I’m in,” I told them, “But that name has got to go.” Usually, coming up with a band name was a lengthy process. Mickey and Steve moaned and groaned a little about that. But the club owner was there, and he said, “Steve Lawrence—L. Steve Acker—A. Mickey Williamson—W.” “You are L.A.W.” And so, we were.
Tell me about going to the legendary Peppermint in ‘72 to record the band’s first six songs (which will be released soon!). Can you tell me about writing and recording that material and what those studio sessions were like for you guys?
L.A.W. was a 60-40 original band from the git-go. I had been accumulating material, while Mickey and Steve had already forged an original style that I fit right into. One of the first songs I remember us playing was “Day Tripper,” but theirs was a hard rock arrangement in half time. Two originals that came early on were perennial opener, “Ain’t Been Here in a Long Time,” and closer, “Backbeat Boogie” Both are on the Peppermint EP. These were my first recording sessions. I had been heavily influenced Jimi Hendrix and it shows in “Long Time.” We recorded “Boogie” live in the studio with an audience of 30 friends. It captures our live energy quite well. L.A.W. quickly became known as a “Boogie Band.” We were a huge regional hit almost immediately. It was profoundly exciting.
There were some lineup changes during this time with Ronnie Lee Cunningham and John McIver joining the group. The band moved away from the initial tone and sound they started off with and moved towards a more commercial, if you would, sound. Can you tell me about writing and recording the band’s self/titled LP in ‘75? How did the deal with GRC come about?
It was unplanned evolution, borne of necessity. In December 1972, a month before our second anniversary, Mickey Williamson called a band meeting on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. We thought he was going to tell us that Warner Brothers was going to sign the band; instead, he quit the band because of a critical family situation in California to attend to. It was a devastating moment. I had become friends with Ronnie Lee Cunningham in Youngstown, and he had just left his band, Brainchild. I called him immediately, and he agreed to fill the gap. Had he not been available, that would have been the end of the story, right there. We changed the name to LAW (no periods) and carried on without missing a beat. By then, we were playing almost all original material. We had developed quite a following in Atlanta. A friend introduced us to bass player John McIver, who showed up at Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom one night… And never left. We never actually asked him to join the band. He just never went away! John was a badass. So, now we were a hard-edged funk rock band. Throughout this evolution, we never lost the stadium rock energy that kept propelling us. It was then that we came to the attention of GRC Records owner, Michael Thevis, who signed us immediately. Thevis was one of wealthiest men in Atlanta. His mansion would later become home to Dave Justice and Halle Berry.
What was the first order of business once the album was released? I imagine you guys toured to help build traction for the record. What were some of the most memorable gigs from that time period and why?
We never got to tour much behind that album. Short form story: Thevis was indicted on interstate pornography charges and incarcerated without bond at Lexington Federal Prison to await trial. We did a show for him there, in the prison courtyard. It was surreal. He lost all interest in GRC and LAW. Now this is when the story gets interesting. On Thanksgiving Eve, 1975, after playing a miserable gig at a disco in Tampa, Florida, Roger Daltrey discovered the band quite by accident. He and the Who’s manager, Bill Curbishley, signed us to MCA, and put us on tour with the Who in 1976.
Your readers can read the full story here.
The band played with groups such as Rush, Alice Cooper, Black Oak Arkansas, JGB, Morly Grey, Poobah and so many others! Can you tell me about gigs like ST. Jude’s Children - One Beautiful Picnic, Primo Showbar, WMMS and the WPIC Radio Starshine gig?
A month after our first gig, we got booked onto a show in Youngstown opening for Brownsville Station (“Smoking in the Boys Room”). The promoter, Gary LoConti, offered to manage us that night. Gary’s family owned the legendary Agora clubs in Ohio. The Cleveland Agora was the most important showcase in the Midwest. We accepted the offer. Because of his connections with national booking agencies, especially Premier Talent and Frank Barcelona, Gary was able to get us booked as the opening act for virtually every major 70s band. Long before our first record deal we were playing stadiums and arenas. I once tried to count the world-famous band we played with and got as high as 350. One Beautiful Picnic in the summer of ’72, which benefitted St. Jude’s, was a highlight of my life because we got to back up Chuck Berry. It was fantastic!
The band would go on to record two more records and a near half a dozen shingles from ‘75 to the band’s untimely departure in ‘77. What initially led to the breakup of the band in December of 77?
By the time we finished recording our third album, “Hold on to It,” in Cleveland in the Fall of ’77, I had become disenchanted with the band and our management. I felt that we had squandered our opportunity; I was not happy with other members’ work ethic and I was not happy with the album. I quit the band in early December after playing with Golden Earring in St. Louis. That was our last show.
I imagine you continued to play music. Can you tell me what your next move was around this time?
My family had moved to Jackson, Mississippi in 1972. My dad was Director of Southern Operations for General Motors. So, I moved to Jackson to start a new life.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I worked as a producer for a few years in a Jackson studio and scored a few regional hits while also writing for a local newspaper. In 1992, I discovered advertising. I became a copywriter, jingle producer, and creative director for ad agencies in Jackson and Nashville. In 2007, a producer and studio owner in New York City signed me to SST Studios. It was a development project. Today I am the studio’s marketing director. In January 2020, a brilliant recording artist and longtime LAW fan who goes by the name of Sun King Rising signed me to produce his first album, Delta Tales. His record label (PeacockSunrise) released our second production, “Signs & Wonders” on October 1, 2022. It is garnering rave reviews and airplay around the world. I am currently writing a book with SST owner, John Hanti.
