When you talk about Peer, you are talking about music, music promotion, real estate, carpentry, travel, writing and wasting too many years in public education. His loosely run organization, Reversing Recordings is located in Ellsworth, Maine. He is an ally of the undervalued, and a card carrying member of the rock'n'roll underground. The first single he purchased was "Bus Stop" by The Hollies and his Mom took him to his first rock concert.... Paul Revere and The Raiders. He was a trained marching band drummer who played in a jazz quartet at the age of 10, only to abandon that immediately upon seeing Mitch Mitchell with Hendrix and Keith Moon of The Who. It was rock band after rock band, as Peer loved psychedelic rock, hard rock, Brit rock, glam rock, and prog rock. With various school mates Peer played in Kentucky Stone, The Roustabouts, Farm, and many bands who did not even last long enough to acquire a dumb band name. In the mid '70's Peer started TV Toy with Rob Barth and Dreux Bassoul, the trio pioneered original "new rock music", with elements of what the press called "punk" and "new wave" rock. Four singles were released on Permanent Records and Peer also released 7" singles featuring Fast Car and The Tourists on his other label, Vacation Records. During this period, Peer helped construct the second and larger stage at CBGB's with sound man Charlie, and got to be friends with members of Tuff Darts, Talking Heads,The Fleshtones, Orchestra Luna, The Feelies, Mod Fun, Blackfoot, The Bongos, WKGB, The Royals, Television, Gary Wilson, The Ramones, The Shirts and Fingerprintz. He also had the opportunity to share the stage with Chuck Berry, John Cale, Dirty Looks, Jan Hammer, Southside Johnny and Bill Bruford, Captain Storm and Mountain. In an effort to sign TV Toy to British management or English record label, Peer inadvertently sold himself to Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe, who was putting together his new band, Red Noise. It would be a year of UK touring and recording before he returned to his band mates in New Jersey and released three more singles over the next two years. A worsening national economy, the state of pop music and the lingering of disco convinced the lads to break up the band. Peer responded to the break-up by purchasing a four-track home recording studio and continued to record a variety of "second generation" punk bands in his bedroom. This fresh batch of punk rockers were inspired by Black Flag, The Minutemen, and The Smiths. Peer was also staying busy by playing in a wedding band and other pick-up bands. While he continued drumming, he was also becoming more snared to his day job, picking up graduate school classes and reluctantly transforming into a more responsible adult. In a state of frustration, Peer moved to the coast of Maine and was instantly recruited by Custom Made Country. The story goes that Peer was one of the architects of punk rock, due to his being in both New York City and London during the seminal days of this musical revolution, however this is not the case. Peer was often dressing like a girl, and has never had a piercing and only recently discovered the value of wearing all black. Although he may not have hung out with The Clash or The Stranglers, Peer did combine his punk and new wave sensibilities with the very traditional country and western sound of his new band, Custom Made Country in Lubec, Maine, and did spawn one of the first "cow punk" bands in America...or at least the easternmost "cow punk" band in America. Since the late '80's Peer's country punk has been sold down the road as "Americana", to a larger and less discriminating audience. While in Lubec, Peer continued to record with his country band, and invited punk bands from New Jersey to vacation and work in his new oceanfront recording studio, aptly called "The Observatory". With no light pollution, the night sky was filled with stars, meteorites and flying saucers. Living on the Canadian border allowed Peer to listen to late night Canadian(CBC) radio. After 11pm, bands like Skinny Puppy, The Tragically Hip, Sloan, The Pursuit of Happiness and Stompin' Tom Connors dominated the airways. Even this level of radio excellence could not keep Peer in this charming fishing village. He moved a hundred miles west and rediscovered rock'n'roll, hard driving blues, rough pop, and retro-rock. As a drummer, he was also enjoying the machine music of techno, electronica, trance and the more powerful rap and dance recordings. It was all good. The international scene was alive again. Stuff was happening. Britain was 'alive and well' with Guitar, Miasma, Feedback and grimy Grebo bands. Other sub-genres such as Art, Industrial and Goth bands were also finding an audience. The whole "alt-indie" scene, 10 years in the making, was finally here. It was in 1993 when Peer decided to go "corporate" and start the anti-corporate, "Reversing Recordings".....Inspired incidentally by the mighty Reversing Falls in the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The label started out as a means to promote Maine artists, and the first two compilations did just that. Peer did several other promotional compilations putting Maine on the international musical map. Most recently he went global with Steve's Theme Park...his 39 piece rock band consisting of players from around the world, and most ambitious project to date. The album "It's A Global Rock Thing" is loaded with ear worms and remains on indie rock charts since it's release in 2022. Meanwhile back in the jungle of Maine, Peer continues to tour with The Crown Vics, The Shitty Rolling Stones and Trisha Mason Band, produce low budget rock and travel videos and eagerly work with anyone with a fun idea and the desire to work hard.
