Drew Steele
(August 6, 1957)-(October 5, 2021)
By Harvey Kubernik
Drew Steele, co-founder of the Surf Punks, performance artist, painter and voice over and collage artist died in Hawaii after a heroic 2 year battle with cancer.
Steele is survived by his wife Jill Steele, children Shelby Steele and Jade Steele, mother Patti MacLeod, brother Tommy Steele and sister Stephanie Zalin.
Andrew Kenton Steele was born in Lewes, Delaware. The family subsequently moved to West Los Angeles and the Pacific Palisades area. He is a graduate of Pacific Palisades High School and attended Santa Monica City College.
A former AFTRA and SAG member, as a pre-teen, Steele appeared in national television commercials and TV shows, including Nanny and the Professor.
During the late seventies and early eighties, Steele worked at Euphoria Records in Malibu, California. He often said “that besides performing as a musician the Euphoria job was his favorite job of his adult life.”
Steele formed the pop punk band Surf Punks in 1976 with fellow Malibu/Zuma resident Dennis Dragon, who engineered and produced their first recording, “My Beach” b/w “My Wave” recorded in Dragon’s Rear Entry studio. It was issued in Australia by Malibu resident Denny Cordell on his Shelter Records label.
The Surf Punks made their live band debut in 1978 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Steele and Dragon teamed for a debut self-titled LP, Surf Punks on their independent Day-Glo Records label, garnering radio airplay in Southern California on FM stations KROQ-FM and KXLU-FM. In 1980 Epic Records signed the band and reissued their disc.
In 1979-1982, the Surf Punks aided by additional musicians and friends performed at the Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy Theatre, Starwood and then at the Aloha Stadium Jam in Hawaii along with Foreigner and Joan Jett.
“Drew was a nice guy and easy to work with. I saw his humorous band the Surf Punks which featured all manner of mayhem and wild abandon live,” offered photographer and writer, Heather Harris.
Photo Credit: Heather Harris