Peter

It must have started in the womb as the late, great Jan A. Payer played live radio back in the 40’s. He played Mandolin, Banjo and Guitar and would sing authentic folk tunes in four different languages.

Peter Jr.’s music career began when he first pulled his Dad’s pre-war Gibson acoustic-electric guitar off the wall and it bonked him in the head. (You can still see the mark to this day.) It was fourth grade when Peter began experimenting with all kinds of brass instruments until he settled in with the trumpet as his specialty. He made All City Band, 2^nd chair soloist, of the Lake Junior High Jazz Band.

In high school, he discovered the hard-hitting sounds of AC/DC, Van Halen and Black Sabbath, arguably the Great Triad of American Hard Rock. It was a sound he wanted to emulate. He looked down at his trumpet and saw that he would probably have a little trouble recreating those sounds with it. To his father’s dismay, he dropped the trumpet. And started playing Guitar.

Still a freshman in high school, his dad bought him his first guitar and amplifier. It wasn't an entirely altruistic gesture. (His dad was tired of him of thrashing his pre-war Gibson.) Peter's first setup was an Ibanez Les Paul copy and a Ricky Ricardo amplifier. After adding a Ross distortion box, he found his first real rock and roll groove.

The next step was obvious: get into a band. His first band in high school was “Helicon,” where Peter started maturing as a guitar player. He expanded his knowledge by adding "guitar roadie" to his young résumé, touring with the band Assault. It all started to come together; this was his turn in the road as a guitarist. With guitar virtuosos Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen as his role models, and watching bands like Iron maiden, Anthrax, Metallica, Motley Crüe, Judas Priest and Megadeth, he honed his playing style.

His next thought: "I want to be on stage."

The early 90’s, he had a taste of road life with his first tour Death Watch. It was the Top Ramon tour. Twelve shows later, after a night of bad beer in Wyoming, he moved on from Death Watch. Peter did some rhythm guitar for a couple of album projects, some studio work, and lots and lots of practice.

His big break came when he joined the band The Pain. Bandmates included Jim Messina (currently with Love 45), Steve Montez (currently with Asylum), and Porter Royer (now retired). The Pain opened up for Trixter in a soldout venue at the Ogden Theatre in Denver Colorado. Peter and The Pain rocked the place to the ground—to the mild chagrin of Trixler. Like most bands in the tumultuous soup of the rock and roll scene, the members of The Pain soon went their separate ways.

Bands where like girlfriends for a few years after that, with Peter performing in Dead Jester, Dark Horse, Thousand Foot God... and plenty of other bands that came in and out of Peter's life like waiters flowing through a restaurant. Then came Hollowpoint, a classic cover band. But after three years with Hollowpoint, Peter separated again, this time to start recording on his own. It was about that time that Peter first heard of Jaded Poet. The old drummer of Hollowpoint told Peter they were looking for a rhythm guitar player, so he decided to see if they where ready for him. For his first audition, he wore his classic, tiger-striped, rock and roll, T-Bar and chaps. He had the look and the talent, but things were a little chaotic for Jaded Poet at the time, who were touring, recording, and making business rearrangements. The time was not right.

The one experience that was missing for Peter was the affect that fans can have on a professional musician. As good as it sounds, having crazy women paw at you during a public performance can be distracting. Thoughtfully, Pete auditioned for—and won—a spot as a dancer with Chip and Dales organization. This extended the use of his tiger striped spandex pants, and he got plenty of experience in the spotlight performing for horny, screaming ladies of all types. He learned to sharpen his focus while everything around him was crazy.

One year later, he received a phone call from Jaded Poet asking if he wanted to audition again. To the dismay of his many fans at Chip and Dales, after another short audition, everything came together for him and Jaded Poet this time, and Peter Payer became Jaded Poet's rhythm guitarist. His first show with the band was in front of 13,000 fans, opening up for Robin Trower. And it was awesome.