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Steve Lynch On Autograph, Touring With Van Halen, Turn Up The Radio, & Other Confessions

The Hair Metal Guru | March 12, 2026



Steve Lynch just published one of the best rock autobiographies I’ve read called Confessions of a Rock Guitarist. He came on the channel to talk about the book, his career in and out of Autograph, touring with Van Halen and Motley Crue, the murder of Keni Richards, the incident that almost ruined his ability to play guitar, the two new Autograph albums released on FNA Records, and so much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Buy the new Autograph albums released by FNA Records!
https://fnarecords.net/

Buy Steve’s book Confessions of a Rock Guitarist (you won’t regret it):
https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Rock-Guitarist-Steve-Lynch/dp/1964686326

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https://www.facebook.com/autographband

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https://www.facebook.com/stevenllynch

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https://www.instagram.com/stevelynchofficial/

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https://www.instagram.com/autographband/

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Written by The Hair Metal Guru

Comments

This post currently has 41 comments.

  2. @v2vroth

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Met Steve at the NAMM show in 92. He took time out of what he was doing to chat with me. We talked about Autograph and his books. -100% class act! 🎸🎶

  4. @Metalforce11

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    I love these interviews you do with bands and band members, and all the shows you've done with your metal colleagues but the one thing that always bothers me is that the interviewers never ask about any of a bands videos stuff like will there ever be a dvd with all their music videos and maybe some live concerts or even some tv appearances or interviews and documentaries. I do love all the enthusiasm the interviewers have on a bands albums, books and other projects and releases and I appreciate finding out about a bands releases and maybe some stuff that may be released in the future album wise but why is there no love for the video stuff? Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of your show and many other show's and I'm a big metal fan! I hope I'm not offending you, but it's one thing that is always missing in these types of interviews. There is not much talk about any home video/dvd releases. I would love to know if Autograph is planning on releasing something like this and so would a lot of fans. Also Autograph released a lot of music to movie sound tracks and I don't see any of them released on any albums, it would be nice to know if Steve Lynch will ever release these on an album at some point. I'm sorry if I offended you in any way but this was not my intention but as a fan of this genre and as much as I love the albums from a band I love their videos releases just as much! Knowing that there could be some future videos releases in the near future gets me excited!

  7. @Taylor_315

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Steve is such an underrated player. I always thought the stuff he was doing with the tapping, was harmonically more interesting than what Van Halen was doing with it. To me, he is the king of tapping. Fantastic interview!!!!

  13. @zpc9225

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Really enjoyable interview. I first learned of Steve through the REH guitar video. I must say Network 23 is phenomenal. I was blown away by the quality of music. Very original and strong song writing along with plenty of amazing guitar solos. Plus that guitar tone…just wow!

  14. @keithpowell5336

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    This was awesome! I loved "Turn up the Radio" when I first heard it. I used to play with some cool tapping stuff as a young guitar player, but never really pursued it much more than that. I got to meet Steve one time back around 89 or so and he was doing a clinic at a local music store using a Crate 40 chorus amp, lol. He made that thing sing, and he showed us the tapping thing for "Turn up the Radio" and gave out full tabbed version and exact finger to use… I was never that good, but I still have a copy of that lesson, slightly tattered and worn.

  15. @heatnationwpb

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    My very first concert – I think I was 13 – was Heart with Autograph opening the show. So Autograph was my very first, proper live music experience.

    It was magical.

  18. @BP-wd2wq

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Great episode, Sign In Please is one my all-time faves, Loud & Clear and That's the Stuff are awesome too. Such a great underrated band that is perfect for driving!

  22. @CB3Music

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Another great interview! Steve is a super nice guy and a legend in rock. I have a lot of ties to that band. In 2021 I proposed to my now wife on stage at an Autograph show in Wilmington, Ohio, at the Murphy Theatre. Randy Rand was my friend and he stopped the show after 5 songs and brought me out to propose. It was the best day ever. Fast forward to April of 2022, and Randy and his wife Regina flew to New Orleans for our wedding. Randy was going to walk my wife down the isle. Tragically he had a fall the previous day and his leg was badly swollen. He did not make it to our ceremony, but my wife and I went to visit him that night. He was in a lot of pain, but was still joking around with us and talked rock n roll stories with us. Never in a million years would I have thought he would die a day later. We were some of the last people to see him alive. My wife and I were heartbroken and felt a lot of guilt for his death, because he would not have been in New Orleans and had the accident if it were not for our wedding ceremony. He was truly the sweetest guy, a rock n roll mentor, and a great friend. RIP Randy Rand!

  26. @cd-vq6dz

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Wow. By the time I got to the end of this interview I had to comment again. Lynch is so spot on. When I heard Plunkett's new version of Turn Up The Radio the first thing I thought was "it sounds like a Country pop version" of the song.

    And if there's one f*****g thing the world doesn't need more of, it's GD Country music.

    Love Steve Lynch.

  28. @cd-vq6dz

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Glad that Steve made reference (indirectly) to Eddie Van Halen's MASSIVE ego. All the fools have believed for years that only Roth has an ego. Well "King" Edward went through 3 singers, reunited with 2 of them, and had the audacity to sing LEAD on a track by the time he got around to his 3rd vocalist. Eddie also claimed in an MTV interview once in the early to mid 80's that he had never heard anyone play the way he did (the tapping) before he did it. Total BS. Steve Hackett of Genesis was doing it way before Eddie. And as Steve Lynch said, there were others as well. I even remember Eddie saying he had gotten bored with guitar by the time Roth left and that's why he started playing keyboards more. As if he had taken guitar playing as far as it could go. I couldn't believe he had implied such a thing.

    Even Alex VH in his autobiography references the idea that Eddie wouldn't take advice from anyone. Eddie even blamed his tongue cancer on putting guitar picks in his mouth and holding them there while he tapped on the fretboard, and of course all the while he was smoking cigarettes up a storm, even refusing to quit after he had been treated for cancer. What a putz.

    Eddie never did anything memorable after David Lee Roth left VH. They continued to sell well with all of the power ballads, but it was never VH after 85. That's why they've sold 34 million albums with Roth as opposed to 18 million albums with Hagar.

    I'm just so glad that someone has the guts to (respectfully) point out that Eddie was no saint.

    And for whatever it's worth I'd rather listen to Hammerhead over Eruption any day of the week.

    Eruption is great, but Hammerhead by Steve Lynch is like being transported to another galaxy. It's like hearing something that is otherworldly.

  29. @deankinney4083

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Keni richerds what's a great friend of mine when he was talking about Facebook friends he was talking about me I believe because I'm the one that actually had to reach out to the band and let him know that he had died

  35. @RichardOConnor-d3h

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    I worked at ocean way recording studios in the 80s and 90s and I remember when autograph came into studio 1 to do the loud and clear album with Andy johns around 1986 (I was 19). I recall that they decorated the whole control room with centerfolds and pictures from hustler magazine, penthouse, oui, etc so it was pretty raunchy in there. But it was a fun session – they were still riding high from turn up the radio. I was one of the runners at owr back then. Lots of debauchery ! Lol

  36. @deankinney4083

    March 12, 2026 at 8:00 am

    Great interview Anthony Steve Lynch is a great friend of mine and I'm good friends with the whole band the original band not the auto scam Steve is the best hands down one of the best people I know great interview

Comments are closed.

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