Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr (born 16 April 1962) is a German musician who has been the guitarist of the rock band

Böhse Onkelz Böhse Onkelz (), sensational spelling of ''böse Onkel'' (German for "evil uncles") is a German rock band formed in Frankfurt in 1980. The band reunited in 2014. Despite mass-media criticism concerning their past as skinheads, several of their ...

since 1981. His stage name derives from ''

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'', an album by

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. When Böhse Onkelz split up between 2005 and 2014, he was known as Matt Roehr.

Early life

Röhr grew up in the area of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in a strictly Catholic family. The four Röhr brothers and sisters rarely saw their father due to his work schedule in a grocery store and later in his own kiosk in Frankfurt. The family moved often within the Frankfurt area.

Career

Röhr began playing the guitar at age 12. Despite his strict education and his youth, Röhr discovered what was important in his life. The repetitive church visits and the ministers, who always tried to make him a better man, were not parts of the life he wanted, but the music was. He and his friends pooled their money to pay for guitar lessons. After a few weeks he left the lessons, because he wanted to play "real" music and not folk music or endless scales. Soon after, he sold his guitar, bought an electric bass guitar and joined a school band. When he entered the Frankfurt punk scene in 1980, he had already played in several bands. In 1981, he joined the Böhse Onkelz as the bass guitar player. After the first album, ''Soundtrack zum Untergang 2'', he switched to guitar and played it until the band split up in 2005. In August 2006, he played guitar for

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice ...

at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

for the deceased Peter Wells. In April 2007, Röhr began recording his first solo album ''BARRA DA TIJUCA'', which took him four months in studios in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and the U.S. (Miami, New York). He joined forces with the rock singer Charlie Huhn (

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English rock band formed by guitarist and singer Steve Marriott in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first supergroups of the late 1960s and found success in the early 1970s with songs such as " Black Cof ...

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

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) and Brazilian and German top musicians. The album was released in Europe in October 2007 by GonzomusicRecordingCo (GRC). In 2010, Röhr released his second studio album ''Out of the Great Depression''.

Discography

''For the Böhse Onkelz albums see Böhse Onkelz discography.'' *2007: ''Barra da Tijuca'' *2008: ''UHAD2BTHERE! Live'' *2010: ''Out of the Great Depression'' *2011: ''Blitz & Donner'' *2013 - ''Zuflucht vor dem Sturm''

Books

''Meine letzten 48 Stunden mit den Böhsen Onkelz'', Matthias Röhr,

External links

Official websiteBand website of Böhse Onkelz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohr, Matthias German rock guitarists German male guitarists 1962 births Living people