The Distance

BIOS

Steve Butts- lead vocals and bassist.
Steve began  his musical journey singing in church  at age 5 and  by  8 , after his family had moved to Springfield, Ohio, had begun studying to be a concert bassoonist, practicing 2 hours each  day and taking 2 lessons per week. By age 10 Steve was playing 8 different instruments . His father was a professional musician and his mother was a singer who  along with performing live both ending up teaching  music at Wittenberg University until  their retirements. His father was also a well known conductor and played  saxophone with a "whos who" of national artists from 1955 to 1995 including Louie Prima, The Temptations , Rod Stewart and the Moody Blues.. At 12  Steve began playing guitar & bass in rock n' roll  bands and within a few years was the lead singer and bassist in several  working regional bands. By the age of 18 Steve was playing bassoon in national honors bands/ local professional symphony orchestras and was touring with rock bands as a singer and bassist. By 22 he had worked with or opened for many national acts like Leon Russell, BTO, Golden Earring, Lee Michaels, Tina Turner, Montrose and Johnny Winter.  He did a stint in the  supper club business " crooning"  6 nights a week   in a black tuxedo  and teaching music  at  the college level during the day. During that time Steve also appeared with Dionne Warwick, David Brenner, Freda Payne, Barbi Benton etc.  After 5 years of the "supper clubs"  he felt  rock n' roll "calling him back on the road" . He answered  the call and has never looked back. Steve  now has over 6,500 career live shows behind him in night clubs, sheds and arenas. He has extensive radio, TV and recording experience with over 52 recording credits. Steve is a veteran of several very popular regional bands ,"The Dinosaurs", "Airborn" ," Cornerstone", "Fallen Angels" and " Time Machine". Note;  while in the "The Dinosaurs" , Steve  played with artists like " Dave Mason", "The Vogues",  "The Crystals" and "Leon Russell". Since starting "The Distance" in 2014 he has also performed in the "Double Eagles Tribute Band ", "Three Aces" and  with "Tommy Tutone" ( Jenny Jenny -  867-5309) . 

Greg Bell- lead vocals and guitarist.
Hailing from Muncie, Indiana, Greg began taking piano lessons at age 6 and quickly became frustrated by the old-fashioned structured lessons as well as the slow progress of learning to read sheet music, so he came up with a plan. He promised his parents that if they bought him a guitar and stopped piano lessons, he would still learn to read music. The deception worked and he received his 1st guitar that Christmas. As he progressed rapidly on guitar, reading sheet music became a small speck in the rear-view mirror. His 1st rock band was made up of fellow 6th grade friends and their 1st public show was an elementary school festival where they proudly "smoked the 7th grade band". He continued to "smoke" other guitar players and by age 17 was playing 5 nights a week in the local Muncie bar scene with a band called "Ultimatum". From there it was on to Ball State University and performing in college bars and bigger shows in Indianapolis. From 77 to 79 he was a member of "Telegraph", a five-state regional touring band based in Indy. During the 80's Greg was in various blues bands like "Richard 'White Boy' Jennings and the Dynatones", "Spunk", and the "Blues Torpedoes". After moving to Dayton Greg continued to play in various bands such as the "Usual Suspects" and helped found "Blind Karma" in 2008. With his extra attention to tone and detail, Greg is known as "a guitar player's guitar player". While he continues to play with "Blind Karma", he joined Steve and Mark (from "Time Machine") to form "The Distance" in 2014 and continues to "smoke" our audiences in performance after performance.

Mark McFarlan- drums. 
Mark's earliest musical memory was  as a 6 year old kid growing up in Beavercreek , Ohio where he began playing his cousin's drum set. He was soon playing along with 70's funk  music tapes and by age 9 his parents decided "he was serious enough" to start taking  private  drum lessons. He was active in school band from start to finish at Beavercreek and began playing in a church gospel group in middle  school. This gospel group , beside the normal church performances, also appeared at La Comedia  and opened in front of a crowd of 10,000 for Andrae' Crouch, the father of modern gospel. After high school Mark began playing in various local soul, country and rock  bands in clubs all over central Ohio. He spent a year touring the world with the USO playing  drums at military bases in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and the  Aleutian Islands. While back in Dayton Mark has played with several original project bands  such as , "The Henchmen", "Real Lulu" and " Clemmer" performing live as well as recording. He has opened for national artists like "7 Mary 3" and is a past member of assorted local groups, "Edge", "Cotton", "8 Up", 'Flashback" and "Time Machine". While drumming with "The Distance  Mark also  currently appears with  Steve in "Three Aces". Mark , Steve and Greg are the  3 original founding members of "The Distance" and continue to please crowds where ever they go.