According to fellow axeman Phil, whose task it was to interpret the guitar parts Steve had written for Adrenalize, Steve's drinking problem began five years ago. "It got worse and worse, and there was nothing we could do. He went to loads of clinics. Then he'd get depressed and escape by attacking the bottle." Rick A. observes, "He was a really nice guy, but he had major psychological problems. He was just really unhappy. Some days he'd be really up, so we could never figure out what was wrong, which makes it even more difficult. If you don't know what somebody's problem is, there's no way you can really help. I guess if we'd been the kind of band that did an album and tour every two years he probably would have been able to deal with it better," he muses. "There were obviously very deep-seated psychological problems from childhood that he never dealt with and I think that's what got him in the end."

Joe remembers that Steve had trouble playing his guitar "because he had the shakes. He thought he was letting everyone down and he'd go off and have a drink and consequently his playing would get worse. The more he drank, the further away he was getting from contributing to the album. We said, 'If it's the pressure of the album that's getting you down, what we suggest is a very informal six month leave of absence. Come back in February and see how you are.' He never came back because he died in January."

The new song "White Lightning" was inspired by Steve, but as far as Sav is concerned, the lyrics are "pretty dark and dismal, and Steve should never be remembered in that light. I remember him as being a very affectionate, very funny guy. I remember him on stage as being the typical showman. He was a very shy, a very funny, and a very warm person. There were so many more happy moments that we shared with him than we shared bad moments. We wouldn't want to leave the impression with people that that's all his life was about 'cause it really wasn't. He brought a lot of happiness to millions of people. He also brought happiness to us and that's what we want to remember him by. We certainly remember him with a smile on our faces. Obviously there's regret - we wish he were still here. He wasn't a bad person. It was just that he had a drinking problem, a disease. He probably spent a lot more happy days than people give him credit for. The last couple of years were particularly bad, but he had happy times as well. His life wasn't all doom and gloom by any means."

Sav believes that Steve would like Adrenalize "from a band point of view. Steve always had a little bit of a left-field attitude toward our records. If he had complete control, he would have preferred to make them sound a little different. He was the least member of the band that was into the heavy production side of it - he liked things a little more spontaneous. We tried to keep that within our records but he heard it in a bit more precise way, and sometimes that would frustrate him. But he also liked being in a band that sold lots of records."