Kurt Deimer

In a world that seems to spiral further and further out of control every day, Kurt Deimer is just trying to create order in the chaos.

“There’s too many people trying to tell everyone how to be today,” says Deimer, drawing on a cigarette and pausing before continuing his thought… “I’m just a simple guy. I support the people that make my life better, and I try to make their lives better in return. If we all just worried about that and not everything else that we can’t control, the world would be such a better place.”

Despite making his mark in the business world, Deimer didn’t feel complete - so at an age when most people start thinking about slowing down, he started to speed up. Inspired by the artists that helped shape him - Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and AC/DC, to name just a few - he started writing song lyrics. And inspired by his love of movies and acting roles in films including the 2018 ‘Halloween’ remake and John Travolta’s ‘Trading Paint,’ he started hashing out a movie concept he had bouncing around his hyperactive brain.

To call him a Renaissance man would be a bit melodramatic, but in the few short years since - armed with an inability to take no for an answer, a drive to constantly improve his craft, and an insatiable desire to network and keep expanding his rolodex - Kurt Deimer has filmed a feature length movie aimed to launch his ‘Hellbilly Hollow’ horror franchise, recorded more than two dozen songs with legendary producer Chris Lord-Alge, whose credits include Green Day, Joe Cocker, James Brown and the Rolling Stones, and is co-managed by Andy Gould, the former manager of Rob Zombie and Guns N Roses.

“I saw something completely different in Kurt, and that was the lure for me,” says Lord-Alge of his musical partnership with Deimer. “He isn’t a typical rock or country artist - I love hearing him talk and narrating a story, and I was drawn to taking those stories and helping turn them into music. He’s a personality, he’s someone you want to talk to, and his combination of narration and singing really works for me. He can tell a story as well as anyone I’ve ever worked with. I love that we aren’t working within a certain format or architect - I like being outside the box, that’s what makes it fun.”

Those are huge accolades coming from the Grammy Award winning producer - and the sentiments are audible on “Have A Cigar,” Deimer’s rendition of the Pink Floyd classic that couples his unique delivery with a band that fires on all cylinders, a hard rock muscle car driven by lead guitarist and musical director Phil X. The same Phil X that Bon Jovi recruited to fill the shoes of Richie Sambora.

“I’ve worked with so many artists on so many different levels, it’s nice to be in a situation where you feel full creative freedom, and that’s what I’ve found with Kurt Deimer,” says Phil X of their partnership. “It started with recording ‘full-on Phil X’ uncensored guitar parts - ‘Have A Cigar’ was one of those and, yes, I just used my name in the third person! - and has evolved into writing music that would have never materialized if Kurt hadn’t sent me his lyrics in his style.”

The cover track - recorded and mixed in Lord-Alge’s studio, the same place where Pink Floyd recorded ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’ - offers a quick introduction to Kurt Deimer, but it’s the Cincinnati native’s debut EP, set for a fall release, where he really ushers us into his world and invites us to get comfortable. He’s a beat poet for the modern age, and a throwback to a simpler time when troubadours traveled the streets and sang about what inspired them.

In the case of Deimer, that inspiration is making the world a better place one song at a time, singing about the ills of the 21st century and offering solutions instead of excuses. Promising change instead of cataclysm. And delivering hope instead of hubris.

America will meet his missives this fall, when Kurt Deimer supports Geoff Tate on an expansive cross-country tour that will highlight material from the forthcoming EP, which includes a duet with Tate and a trilogy of music videos directed by Scottish filmmaker Paul Boyd [Sting, Deadmau5, The Cult] that spotlight Deimer’s cinematic vision and charismatic presence.

“When people listen to my music, I want to help them decompress and feel better after a brutal day. That’s what music always did for me, and that’s what we need more of today,” says the frontman, taking another long drag off his cigarette… “After a long, hard day of work, just come to my show and jam. We need this in our lives to the fight the stress. We work hard all day, we deserve to rock hard.”

And rock hard Kurt Deimer does.