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Steve Gattermeyer
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Local singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Gattermeyer was doomed by the age of 6 to a life of Rock & Roll. That's when he first discovered the devil's music, fittingly, via four scary, demonic looking cats in ghoulish make-up.
To this day, Gattermeyer -- whose "self-titled" band is currently getting ready to release its sophomore album, Pop Machine -- says that KISS is his biggest influence, along with bands like Cheap Trick, The Cars and knack, "a lot of that late '70s skinny-tie stuff."
Just a year after discovering KISS, Gattermeyer -- who also played cello and viola for several years -- received the gift of music from his parents, who bought him a guitar. That, along with an encouraging sibling, sealed his soul in Rock & Roll.
"I have an older brother who, at the time, was a DJ for the high school radio station and was always getting free records," Gattermeyer says. "I must say that I couldn't play anything on guitar at that age, but it sure beat the tennis racket I was using at the time!"
Gattermeyer played in bands in junior high and high school, which presented him with his first forays into songwriting. But his hormones had different ideas.
"At that age, it was just cool to tell your female classmates that you were in a band, so we resorted to learning a lot of the day's popular Rock tunes," he recalls. "Come to think of it, we weren't very good at playing those either!"
After a few years playing with area band Monkey Biscuit, Gattermeyer wanted to write more and started his own band. In '97, he recorded the album Rock and Pop to Bop To, featuring his drummer to this day, Roger Cottle. Bassist Jamie Cook now rounds out the Steve Gattermeyer band.
The new album, Pop Machine, continues in the energetic, hard Pop/Rock format of his debut, though people have told him a few songs stand out as different from the first record.
"Maybe those tunes are a little more aggressive than the last," Gattermeyer says. "But I've always dug bands who could make you snap your fingers with one song and make you feel like you're having a heart attack with the next."
Being someone who is into melodic Rock & Roll, Gattermeyer has a lot to say about the current state of Rock, which is littered with bands who value aggression and groove over melody. While it certainly has its place, Gattermeyer doesn't like what he sees.
"I just think that the over-saturation of anything is bad," he says. "A lot of the Rock bands who are 'on top' right now are the bands like Creed, Godsmack and Korn ... anything the big record companies can milk and then dispose of. To me Rock & Roll is not about what the record companies or corporate radio think it's about. It's about outpour of energy and emotion. Not the quotas of what a 15-year-old will buy -- 'Gee mom, I already have the Creed T-shirt. I can't go to school without the lunch box!' "
Gattermeyer and his band have developed a strong following in the past couple of years by playing a wide variety of local clubs, including some that don't frequently host original music. While he laments the "old days" of, oh, two years ago, when anyone had a shot at a gig at Sudsy Malone's, he didn't wait for something to pop up. Instead he approached owners of clubs that didn't usually support original bands and convinced them to give him a shot.
"A lot of places that book cover bands aren't interested in music, just alcohol sales," he says. "That's just business. 'How many people will show up and get blasted?' So I knew what I was getting into when I started playing the places we've frequented as of late. We managed to convince one club owner in Fairfield to give us a Friday night. We did pretty good and actually sold several CDs. The next time we played we had a lot of the same people return, and they brought friends. And so on and so on. At this point we have a bit of a following, and we're quite proud of that."
And he doesn't buy the argument that the majority of music fans in this city aren't interested in original music.
"When I play a place that mainly hosts cover bands, and the club owner later tells me that he's impressed that an original band can draw a crowd, it tells me there's a demand," Gattermeyer says.
Gattermeyer has already written his third album and recording will commence soon at both Backstage Studios in Covington and in Milwaukee at a friend's home studio. He hopes to be at this Rock & Roll thing for a long time, and he'd love to make a living at it. But if that doesn't happen, he's content to just keep on writing and playing songs and having fun.
"As long as I have my guitar and my health," he says, "I'll be happy!"
THE STEVE GATTERMEYER BAND plays at the Red Frog in Fairfield on Friday. Check www.stevegattermeyer.com for more info on the band.
