Matthias Röhr

Matthias Röhr (2019)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Barra da Tijuca   DE 54 11/09/2007 (1 week) Lightning Thunder   DE 17th 02.09.2011 (2 weeks) Refuge from the storm   DE 21st 03/15/2013 (2 weeks)

Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr (born April 16, 1962 in Frankfurt - Bockenheim ) is a German guitarist who became known as a member of the Böhsen Onkelz . His nickname Gonzo is the album title Double Live Gonzo! borrowed from Ted Nugent , which he always carried with him in an aldi bag. In his solo appearances he calls himself Matt Roehr or Matt Gonzo Roehr . In his autobiography, published by Hannibal-Verlag in November 2019, Matthias Röhr describes that his nickname and artist name Gonzo was not only found on the record Double Live Gonzo! goes back, but mainly to a girl named Tanja within his youthful circle of friends at the time, when Matthias Röhr gained his first musical experience in the rock band Sinner in the late 1970s. That young woman assigned the character names from the puppet television series The Muppet Show to the individual band members for fun , with Matthias Röhr being given the name Gonzo .

Life

Röhr grew up in a Catholic family in the Taunus in the greater Frankfurt area. The four siblings rarely saw their father, Joachim Röhr, as he was busy during the week in his grocery store and later in his own kiosk in Frankfurt. Matthias Röhr is the oldest of four brothers. Röhr's family often changed their place of residence, but always stayed in the Frankfurt area. From the fifth grade onwards, Röhr attended the secondary school branch of the Eichendorff comprehensive school in Kelkheim , from which he graduated from secondary school in the summer of 1979. After completing his school career, Röhr trained as a universal milling cutter . At the beginning of 1981, the Röhr family moved from the Oberliederbach community to the Bonames district of Frankfurt in the Ben-Gurion-Ring , a high-rise estate with prefabricated buildings that is considered a social hotspot. From then on, Karsten Röhr, Matthias Röhr's youngest brother, began to consume drugs and alcohol at the age of 13. Karsten Röhr died in 2016 as a result of his extreme drug use. His military service made Matthias Röhr, in the hope of know a little the wide world, from late 1982 to the Navy of the Armed Forces from, after three months of basic training in Kappeln on the Schlei first on the destroyer Hesse in Hamburg, then on the destroyer Bayern in Wilhelmshaven. Because of a conflict with a comrade who had hit Röhr in the face with his fist, he had to spend the last three weeks of his military service under arrest in custody. Thereafter, Röhr left the Bundeswehr with the rank of private.

On January 31, 1997, Matthias Gonzo Röhr married his childhood sweetheart Verena (nickname Vreni) at the registry office in Schmitten im Taunus . Their first son, Vincent Röhr, was born on September 18, 1997. In the fall of 2001 a second son named Melvin was born. Vincent Röhr performed together with the Böhsen Onkelz on August 29, 2019 as the live keyboardist of his father's rock band on the Waldbühne in Berlin .

After Matthias Röhr emigrated to the Irish capital Dublin with his three Böhsen Onkelz bandmates in January 1999 due to his increasing social fame to protect personal privacy , the Röhr family moved to Ibiza in September 2003 . A few weeks after the Onkelz farewell festival in June 2005, Matthias Röhr and his family emigrated to the South American country Uruguay and built their own home with a guest house and recording studio in the city of Colonia del Sacramento within a year. At the beginning of 2012, the Röhr family returned to Germany to live in the municipality of Herrsching am Ammersee, southwest of Munich .

career

At an appearance with the Böhse Onkelz (2018)

Böhse Onkelz

When he got into the Frankfurt punk scene in 1980 , in which the youth center JUZ Bockenheim, which no longer exists in the Varrentrappstrasse, was a central meeting place, he had already played in several bands. The most famous and last band in which he played before joining the Böhsen Onkelz was called Antibody. The rehearsal room of the punk band Antibodies was located in the top floor of the JUZ Bockenheim. In 1981 he became the fourth member of the Böhse Onkelz , where he initially played bass. Even before the first releases of the Böhsen Onkelz on the sampler soundtrack for Untergang 2 , he switched back to the guitar. Stephan Weidner then took over the bass game. In almost all songs Röhr insisted on a solo on his part, which was contrary to the punk music of the time, whose level of play was not always high.

He played with the Onkelz from 1981 until the decision of the four band members to break up the band in 2005. On June 20, 2014, the Böhsen Onkelz gave a comeback concert at the Hockenheimring under the title Nothing is given for eternity .

Solo career

At a gig (2012)

After the temporary end of the Böhsen Onkelz, Matthias Röhr, with the support of the Live Nation concert agency and industry expert Daniel Lieberberg as management, planned a new band project called Puritanzz and Pioneers , consisting of Kevin Russell as singer, Röhr as guitarist and Jason Newsted , who from 1986 was a member of the metal band Metallica until 2001 when it was supposed to compose bass. A few days after the Onkelz farewell festival at the Lausitzring in June 2005, however, singer Kevin Russell canceled his participation, which is why the band project was not realized.

In 2007 Röhr finished the recordings for the album of his first solo project. It is titled Barra da Tijuca and was released on October 26, 2007. In this, Röhr combines musical elements from different styles of music such as jazz , blues , funk and hard rock . Trade magazines such as Metal Hammer and numerous music websites praised Röhr's work, which he produced himself and for which he also wrote the lyrics himself. He was supported by the musicians Charlie Huhn (vocals, including Gary Moore , Ted Nugent , Victory), Glaucio Ayala (drums, including Engenheiros do Hawaii, Linox), Marcelo Linhares (bass) and Stephan Weiler (guest player on the keyboard of Böhsen Onkelz) . He came to Germany in January 2008 to present his album. The Barra da Tijuca tour started on January 6, 2008 in the Dortmund Live Station. The live album UHad2BThere was also created on this tour ! - Live Bootleg Vol.1 . The CD contains recordings of the concerts in Hanover and Berlin and, as a bonus, three videos that were recorded in Neu-Isenburg (Huguenot Hall).

In April 2009 Matthias Röhr and his band recorded the second studio album Out of the Great Depression in Chaton Studios in Phoenix (Arizona) . He had a music video shot for the single Fuel into the Fire as a tribute to the film Easy Rider for the 40th anniversary of this road movie. It was also produced in Arizona. The album was published by Edel on March 5, 2010 as a 52-page mini-earbook and, in addition to photos by the photo artists Daniel and Geo Fuchs, contains a personal text by Matt Roehr on the subject of depression .

In spring 2011 he recorded his third studio album Blitz & Donner with Ferdy Doernberg and Michael Ehré , for the first time with German-language texts. Röhr also wrote an English-language version of the single Freiheit with the title Rock Your Liberty .

In 2012 Röhr signed a contract with Rookies & Kings , the Frei.Wild label . On October 12, 2012, the EP Everything Changes was released, the first release on the label and on March 1, 2013, his fourth solo album Refuge before the Storm was released.

On November 26th, 2013 he founded EINS GmbH together with his band colleague Peter Schorowsky in Memmingen .

A little later, Matthias Röhr founded VIER Ton & Merch GbR, also together with Peter Schorowsky. Röhr and Schorowsky took over the management of both companies until mid-2015.

Discography

Böhse Onkelz

→ Main article : Böhse Onkelz / discography

Studio albums

• 2007: Barra da Tijuca
• 2010: Out of the Great Depression
• 2011: Lightning & Thunder
• 2013: Refuge from the storm

Singles

• 2007: Hasta un Cualquier Dia
• 2010: Fuel Into the Fire (only available as download)
• 2010: Fire and Gasoline (featuring Lovies)
• 2010: For What It's Worth (only available as download)
• 2011: Freiheit / Rock Your Liberty (only available as download)
• 2012: Everything Changes (EP)

Live albums

• 2008: UHad2BThere! - Live Bootleg Vol.1

Sampler contributions

• 2012: New German Rock ( Himmelsstürmer )

Works

• 2006: My last 48 hours with the Böhse Onkelz . Edited by Ralph Larmann, IP Verlag Jeske / Mader, Berlin, ISBN 3-931624-36-6 .

swell

1. ↑ Chart sources: DE
2. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: In: Böhse Onkelz, Thanks for nothing. 1997, ISBN 3-00-001743-7 , p. 33.
3. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 40 f.
4. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. pp. 64 + 46
5. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 67 ff.
6. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 108 ff.
7. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 187
8. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 189
9. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. pp. 266 + 282
10. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 283
11. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 314
12. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 343 f.
13. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 83 ff.
14. ↑ Böhse Onkelz - Teaser 3 - 2014 . onkelz.de, January 30, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2014.
15. ↑ Nothing lasts forever - Böhse Onkelz: Comeback concert at the Hockenheimring . Metal hammer. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
16. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 325 f.
17. ^ Extract from the commercial register for EINS GmbH

Web links

• Official homepage of Matt Roehr