Steve Sandberg

Steve Sandberg

Trombonist Steve "Southside Psycho Stevie" Sandberg brings the wisdom of a century of jazz to the band. Steve grew up on the Southside of Chicago upstairs from his father's shop, "Sandberg Second Hand Plumbing". He spent his childhood years working with his father where, even at the tender age of four, he would amaze customers with his ability to play the popular tunes of the day on any drainpipe, faucet or radiator. His family being too poor to afford an actual trombone for young Steve, he fashioned one out of the workings of a cadaver sink his father had salvaged from a local mortuary.

Steve helped his family survive the Great Depression by playing in various dance bands. His fondest memory from that era is playing at the Democratic National Convention that put forth FDR for his third term. He survived a stint as a WWII POW by being the only one in the camp who could both repair plumbing and play "La Vien Rose" every night for the camp commandant. In the fifties he led a brass band that played Elvis tunes. The group eventually called themselves the "Hound Dog Brass Band", and has an un-credited appearance in the background of Elvis' film "Blue Hawaii". Through the years Steve has managed to make his trombone fit into any musical context. Frank Sinatra and the Beatles in the sixties; the Bee Gees in the seventies; Madonna and Quarterflash in the Eighties; even an appearance with Nirvana in the early nineties. But he has always hung onto his jazz roots. At the close of the twentieth century Steve decided to retire to Minneapolis, crafting sousaphones out of old urinals and joining the Southside Aces in 2003. When asked how he manages to appear so young at the age of 94 Steve said, "It's definitely the music. Although I never could fully get the taste of embalming fluid out of my trombone."