Dennis Peters
Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals
A native of Staten Island, New York, Dennis says one of his earliest memories is seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. He was two years old. With their music in his head, he began playing the guitar at the age of nine. By the time he was a teenager, he was already in a band and playing locally. During the formative 70's, Dennis was influenced not only by the Beatles, but others such as Cream, The Who, Jeff Beck, and much later, Stevie Ray Vaughn. The turning point he says, was
"When I first heard the opening notes of Eric Clapton's Let It Rain. "I had a bass in my hands. I put the bass down".
It is to Eric Clapton that Dennis gives total credit for influencing the bluesy style that would eventually become his trademark. He has said, "I wouldn't be a musician if it weren't for the Beatles, and I wouldn't be a guitar player if it weren't for Clapton". Dennis played with several bands during the 80's and 90's, most notably fronting a Clapton tribute band called The Journeymen for two years before relocating to New Jersey in 1994. In 1999, he formed Bluesday, which gained popularity along the Jersey shore Blues circuit. Dennis departed Bluesday to pursue an original Blues project, forming The Dennis Peters Band, in early 2005 with his old friends and bandmates, Russ Deinstadt and Dan Christie.
Dennis uses Fender Stratocasters, Taylor and Gibson acoustic guitars and Fender amps.
Russ Deinstadt
Drums, Backing Vocals
Russ had the pleasure of growing up surrounded by music and very talented musicians and was also born and raised in Staten Island, New York. His father and two brothers were all musicians and they would host frequent day long jam sessions with numerous other players and singers. These sessions were primarily driven by jazz, and he occasionally sat in on the drums when he was between 5-7 years old. However, the rock and roll bug was definitely present. "In the early years and still to this day I admired the timing and unique feel of Ringo Starr's playing. Although he was a relatively simple player, he had a unique sound, flavor, and feel. I don't think a drummer exists that hasn't influenced my drumming in some way, but the ones that are special in my view are Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, and Ringo Starr."
Russ was always a drummer first but he also tried his hand at playing sax, violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and piano and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. In fact, he frequently utilized the piano and guitar as tools when writing, but he always came back to the drums. "Dennis and I met in Kindergarten and we've been playing and/or hanging together ever since. We had a love for music in common and we enjoyed listening, learning, and playing all the same material. In the earlier years, we enjoyed playing the Beatles, The Who, Cream, and Eric Clapton, and that is just what we did. We also performed in several cover projects and also wrote, recorded, and gigged in and around the New York/New Jersey metro area together for the majority of my career. We have experimented with different musical styles, but we have always been true to our roots."
Russ uses Tama Drums, Remo Pinstripe Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, Drum Workshop (DW) bass pedals, and Vic Firth sticks.
Dan Christie
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Dan Christie was born in 1964 in Queens, New York. He is a descendant of a musical lineage that has lasted generations. His great-grandfather, Charlie Orlando was a professional piano player whose work included silent films in the early 1900's. He picked up the guitar at the age of 8 then switched over onto bass guitar at 16. His early influences were The Beatles, Yes, Cream and The Who. For the next 15 years he developed his own craft of playing rock & roll, blues, jazz, and fusion rock. In 1994 through 1996 he released 2 albums with the instrumental-fusion band called the Sons of Infinity;"Time is against us" and "A journey through infinity". He since then has performed with many other original and tribute bands.
He is currently with the U2 tribute band 2U. They are on a 2005 American Tour which also includes shows in Puerto Rico and an upcoming european 2006 tour starting in Ireland. Dan is also involved with long time friend and guitar player Dennis Peters in "The Dennis Peters Band" which includes Russ Deinstadt who is also a long time friend and drummer. They as a trio have been working in the studio on an album for their upcoming tour. Dan also collects vintage guitars one of which is a 1952 Gibson Les Paul signed by the famous Les Paul himself.
Dan uses Fender Precision and Fender Jazz bass guitars.
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