Daryl Stuermer
As recently as 2007, guitarist Daryl Stuermer was standing onstage in Rome, Italy performing with prog-rock legends Genesis. The band was playing to what was arguably the largest crowd ever gathered for a rock concert – 500,000 people. Stuermer told the Daily Times this week that he, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford couldn’t see the end of this mass of humanity.
Watertown’s Riverfest venue will obviously be much smaller when Stuermer plays it Aug. 6, but that only means the audience will be treated to a more intimate show the guitarist said he is excited to present. Stuermer plans to perform many original compositions from his recent solo albums when he comes to Watertown, along with select instrumental interpretations of Genesis classics. He made it clear he is putting considerable thought and effort into preparing for the show.
A polar opposite of the over-the-top production of a Genesis concert, Stuermer said he will bring stripped-down production and a bare-bones band comprised of Russian keyboard player Kostia and bass player Eric Hervey to Riverside Park. It will be an excellent opportunity to witness the complex musicianship of Stuermer, who has long been one of the state’s most accomplished and respected guitarists.
Stuermer has been a mainstay on the Milwaukee music scene for decades. He got his start after being exposed to the music of The Ventures, Elvis and The Beatles as a boy growing up in St. Francis. Stuermer took up guitar at age 11, and as a teenager studied the solos of jazz guitarists including Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, his influences soon became Jimi Hendrix, Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin. He said he is also a fan of blues guitarists Albert and B.B. King, and Eric Clapton.
Stuermer said this week he was “discovered,” in a club in Milwaukee in 1975 by George Duke. Duke was keyboardist with Frank Zappa’s band, which was on tour at that time. Duke stopped into the club and ended up jamming with Stuermer and his band, Sweetbottom.
Later that year, Duke recommended Stuermer for an audition in Los Angeles with jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. At age 22, Stuermer went on his first world tour and recorded four albums with Ponty.
“I just don’t think that would happen in the music business today,” Stuermer said of the sort of networking from which he so richly benefited in the 1970s.
In December of 1977, Stuermer’s good fortune continued when he met with Genesis member Mike Rutherford in New York City to audition for the role of guitarist/bassist for the upcoming “And Then There Were Three” tour. This began a 32-year relationship with Genesis that continues to this day, placing Stuermer firmly in the international spotlight.
When Genesis singer/drummer Collins formed his own group in 1982, he selected Stuermer as lead guitarist and made him a permanent, touring, recording member. In addition to touring, Stuermer has played on all of Collins’ solo albums and shares writing credits on numerous Grammy-winning albums. Stuermer has co-written “Something Happened On the Way To Heaven,” “I Don’t Wanna Know,” “Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore,” and “Only You Know and I Know,” with Collins.
In between touring with Genesis and The Phil Collins Band, Stuermer began writing and working on his own music. After finishing a 1987 Genesis tour, he took the opportunity to record his first solo instrumental album, “Steppin’ Out” on GRP Records.
The 1990s brought a diversity of experiences to Stuermer’s career as a writer, producer and performer and he said he believes his participation in the 2007 European and U.S. Genesis reunion tour was among the most valuable and interesting experiences of his musical career.
“When you are in a band as long as I was in Genesis – 1992 was the last time we had played together – when you get back to playing with the band again you realize how much fun you had,” he said. “They didn’t do the reunion tour for money, every moment we had onstage we cherished. We’re older now and we don’t take it for granted. We played better than ever before on that tour and the music really inspired us. We noticed how much we missed that bonding of friends.”
A 3-disc Genesis’ DVD titled “When In Rome,” was released in 2008 and depicts Stuermer’s performance during the band’s 2007 show at the Cirrco Massimo, which was attended by a half-million people. Stuermer said another Genesis tour is possible, but there are no plans for one at this time. For now, he said he is enjoying his time in the recording studio, fine-tuning his own songs and working on rearranging Genesis compositions as instrumentals he will present in Watertown.
Stuermer takes the Riverfest stage Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
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