Baltimore Police Kill Rocker Steve Mach

He Rocked Until Until He Dropped

by Tom Warner (Baltimore or Less)

BALTIMORE, MD – On October 2, Baltimore police shot and killed former Vamps and Skin & Bones bassist Steve Mach, 52, in his South Baltimore home after he allegedly pointed a pellet gun at officers responding to a distress call. According to the (pre-paywall online subscription) Baltimore Sun, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that the police received a call shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday evening “from a person inside a house in the 3600 block of St. Victor Street in the Southern District, saying that another person in the house was armed.” That person turned out to be Mach’s roommate, who was concerned for his own safety; when responding patrol officers entered the Brooklyn house, they found Mach sitting on his bed with a weapon they claim he was asked repeatedly to put down. When Mach turned to face them with what turned out to be a pellet gun, he was shot by four-year veteran officer Joseph Schanamann (who was involved in a prior shooting from 2009 when a police dog attacked him). Mach was later pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospial. As per department policy, Schanamann is on routine administrative suspension while detectives investigate the shooting.

Steve Mach

According the the Sun’s October 5 “Update on fatal police shooting in Brooklyn“:

There’s been an outpouring of grief among friends of victim Steve Mach, stretching from Baltimore to New York City, where he worked for years as a lighting tech at the famed CBGB’s rock club. Before that, he played in a few glam rock bands, including a local group called The Vamps.

“It’s a shock to us all,” said Jackie Luther, who worked with Mach at CBGB. “He was a very gentle person. I can’t see this happening – it’s very out of character.”

Luther said Mach had moved back to Baltimore a few years ago after the death of his mother. He was an animal activist who worked with BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter, and owned several cats, she said. He did not have a criminal record here.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers were called to Mach’s home in the 3600 block of St. Victor St. after his roommate called police to report that Mach was armed and said he was fearful for his own safety. Officers entered the home and went upstairs, where they found Mach sitting on his bed. The officers demanded that he drop a weapon he was holding – police describe it as a pellet gun that resembled a .45 caliber handgun – and fired at least one shot when he refused to comply.

“You have to follow police commands, especially when you’re holding a weapon in your hands,” Guglielmi said.


Fans quickly created a R.I.P. Steve Mach Facebook page for the departed Baltimore musician. Friends posted information stating that Steve Mach had no living family and were “asking everyone to please help so that he may have a proper burial.” Until a donation memorial fund website is set up, donations can be made via PayPal using Duchess627@aol.com.

I had never heard of Steve Mach or his bands (Charm School aka Skrap, Pillbox, Skin & Bones – a band he formed in New York in the ’80s with Billy Idol’s former drummer – and local glamrockers The Vamps, aka Vamp City, who played a reunion show last December at the Recher Theater in Towson) until I was clued to his identity by local musician Adolf Kowalski (nee Ross Haupt of Thee Katatonix), who said he was attending his memorial service. But apparently the Vamps – formed in Baltimore in 1982 and later relocating to New York City and morphing into Skin & Bones – were a big deal in the ’80s in their respective glam-metal circuits (Girard’s and Maxwells here; Cat Club, Limelight and The Ritz in NYC). The Vamps/Vamp City line-up was: “Johnny Vamp” (Johnny Vance) on lead vocals and harmonica; “Jimi K. Bones” on lead Guitar, “Pete Pagan” on rhythm guitar; Gregg Gerson on drums; and Steve Mach on Bass.

Skin & Bones

Guitarist Jimi K. Bones, who played with Mach in both the Vamps and Skin & Bones, talked to Love-It-Loud.com regarding the tragedy and paid tribute to his close friend as follows:

“I met Steve Mach when I was seventeen-years-old. He was standing in his basement covering himself with fog from a dry ice machine he had just made out of an old fifty-five gallon drum and dryer hose. I thought to myself, “I’ve got to be in a band with this guy”.Steve and I worked together over the next twenty years in several successful bands. We first came together in The Vamps, which later morphed into Skin & Bones. We travelled to Europe and all over the States, having one crazy moment after another.

Steve was one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Politically incorrect, outrageous, and was brilliant. He is a light that will truly be missed by many. I am honoured to have had called him a friend. Rest and Rock in Peace!

A memorial benefit show was scheduled for October 23 at the Surf City Bar & Grill in Perry Hall, with support from numerous local bands (including various members of The Ravyns, Face Dancer, The Vamps and, yes, Adolf Kowalski) as well as the NYC Punk Collective.

Surf City hosts the "We Love Steve" memorial benefit

There are a bunch of videos for Mach’s various bands on YouTube, including one for the Vamps on the Baltimore late-night television dance program Shakedown – a show Kowalski’s Katatonix also appeared on (Shakedown was also one of John Waters’s favorite shows):

Watch the Vamps play “Charm City” on Shakedown (1980s).

Watch the Steve Mach Tribute (photo montage set to Skin & Bones’s “Cover Me with Roses.”

Watch Vamps’ bassist Steve Mach and singer Johnny Vance play “Strangers” at the Recher Theater renion show.

Watch the Vamps play “Fast Dance” at Maxwell’s (1987).

Watch The Vamps play “Straight From You.”

For more Steve Mach videos, see singer Johnny Vance’s YouTube channel.

Not a Pretty Sight (Equinox, 1990)

Steve Mach was also revered across the Pond, as UK music magazine Black Velvet (www.blackvelvetmagazine.com) published an obit for him, “R.I.P. Steve Mach” (October 5, 2011). Small wonder, as Skin & Bones moved to England in 1990 to record Not A Pretty Sighton Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor’s Equinox label. Released in 1990, the album was engineered by Mike Fraiser (Aerosmith, AC/DC) and co-produced with Taylor (later of Power Station).

Finally, as fans and friends alike shared their shock, outrage, condolences, memories, and love on Facebook and other social network sites, Darlene Harris – manager at BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter where animal activist Steve Mach worked – updated supporters about the status of Mach’s only surviving family members: “As far as Steve’s cats they are right outside my office, have been fully vetted and are being given tons and tons of love…I will not let ANYTHING happen to his cats, and am working to get them to good homes where they will be loved as much as Steve loved them.”

Harris added perhaps the perfect coda to the Steve Mach tragedy when she concluded, “In the midst of sadness, I have found beauty in meeting so many wonderful music and animal lovers. Thank you, Steve, for adding these amazing people to my life.”

This entry was posted in 1980s, 70s Rock, 80s Rock, Baltimore Babylon, Baltimorons, Bizarre Deaths, Crime, Deaths, Entertainment, Music, Punk / New Wave, Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Baltimore Police Kill Rocker Steve Mach

  1. Grace says:

    My brother Richard introduced me to Steve during band practice in our basement when we were in our early teens. Steve has always had a kind and genuine disposition, along with being a fantastic musician that helped to form the band “The Vamps” along with my brother and a few other musicians. Our basement rocked! We stayed in touch here and there through the years. I was able to see him one last time at Surf City for “Bands for Japan”! It was a wonderful event that Steve gave his time to support. His time in our world was definitely too small for a heart as big as his!

  2. Stephanie Wilson says:

    Steve Mach was my dear friend. My Fiance Jeff Chance was also in The Vamps with Steve – they knew each other like brothers for 30 years. We owned the house he was “murdered” in by the police – Steve needed a place to stay when he moved back to Baltimore from NYC and helped him get back on his feet here. Steve LOVED cats, as do I and I spoke with him on the phone for over an hour – just 2 hours before he was killed. Jeff and I have made it our mission to find justice for Steve in this UNNECESSARY tragedy. We have filed an official complaint with the Civil Rights Administration and are hosting a Memorial Benefit and Gathering for his friends/family on Oct 23rd at Surf City in Perry Hall, MD. We hope this event will give everyone the opportunity to be able to pay their last respects to Steve. We are still raising money to make Steve’s final wishes a reality and to create the legacy he so deserves. Our Paypal account is Duchess627@aol.com. Steve was a kind soul, a gentle soul and that is what makes this tragedy so hard on everyone. The roommate has been evicted since his inflated 911 call set off a chain of events that resulted in Steve’s murder. Thank you to everyone who has donated on behalf of Steve and thank you for the kind words that truly depict what a wonderful man Steve Mach was. God Bless and I pray that justice will prevail. Nothing will bring Steve back to us – but this does not need to happen to another family because of a poorly trained, trigger happy police force.

    • anonymous says:

      I don’t think it’s fair to blame the roommate or the police. What was he doing pointing a gun at anyone? I can still feel sorry for his loss but that doesn’t mean I would be laying blame on someone else. I have had a gun pointed in my face it’s not a picnic, I was held up at gunpoint in an elevator. I don’t like guns or people who point them at other people. When the cops say to put it down you put it down or you’re going to get shot.

  3. pawlee plushkatz says:

    gonna miss this guy, he was hilarious as all get out at the maxwell reunion a few months back, had the greatest time…. used to love goin to girrards down in b-more to support the vamps back in the day.. Steve will be missed by all who ever knew him!

  4. Sue Hodges Grant says:

    I met Steve when I worked for Maryland Musician and then wrote consistently about Skin & Bones when I was the Managing Editor of ROX. Years before I was lucky enough to have met him, I would go to Girard’s and hang out in the back, listening to the music and watching Steven sling his bass as low as it could go and hold down the bottom end. He was truly an awesome bassist but, more importantly, he was a genuine person whom I was lucky enough to befriend. His laughter filled a room and your soul, and his acerbic wit was delivered with a sly smile. I hope the Baltimore City cop who took his life is made to read the tributes to this amazing and compassionate human and realizes the dis-service he did to the many who loved him and those who will not have the opportunity to know my friend Steve.

  5. Sher Bach says:

    Someone just posted an old picture of me and Steven Jonny and Jimi and memories came flooding back. Steve was one of my best male friends, he stayed in my apartment many a night, we slept in the same bed, but we didn’t have THAT kind of relationship. I remember him during his hair black in my all white bathroom and watching him desperately trying to clean it up with bleach the next day. He was a sweet sweet man and although we lost touch for a few years after I moved away, we picked right back up when I moved back to the NYC area. I was simply devastated when I got the call that he’d been killed. I agree that this was a tragic accident, Steve had been drinking quite heavily and the last few times I spoke with him, after his mom passed away, he seemed to have reached a wall he just couldn’t seem to get over. I haven’t read any reports on the toxicology, but I’m quite sure he was inebriated. As crazy as he could be sometimes, he would have never have attempted (or threatened) to hurt someone when he was sober. If there are computers on the other side of the veil, I know Steve would
    Be smiling at everyone’s memories of him. Miss you my rock and roll brother!

  6. David Fuselier says:

    I was taking guitar lessons in 1974 when Steve walked up and asked me to join a band with him. We played Iron butterfly, Kiss, Deep Purple and Cream at high school graduations, malls, and roller derbies. It would be easy to understand his devastation when his Mom died. She was a really nice lady. We practiced at her house and she always left food in the kitchen for us. Steve was a good guy, a good bass player, and a good friend. His death haunts me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.