Steve Almaas was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father emigrated to the United States from Norway and worked as a salmon fisherman in Alaska before settling in Minnesota to marry and raise a family. His mother was from a Danish farming family and was working as a nurse in Minneapolis when she met Steve's father.

Steve played piano and violin in grade school, and began playing the guitar and bass around age 12. His first working band, the Suicide Commandos, was the first punk rock group in Minneapolis/St. Paul. From the Commandos' pioneering performances and recordings grew the thriving alternative rock scene which later produced the Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum and so many more.

At the end of the Seventies, Steve moved to New York City. He worked briefly with a post punk trio called The Crackers before forming a new country-influenced band called Beat Rodeo. This group released two albums, Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo (1985) and Home In The Heart Of The Beat (1986), on I.R.S. Records and successfully toured the U.S. and Europe.