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 (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 later records ...

since 1981. His stage name derives from ''

Double Live Gonzo! ''Double Live Gonzo!'' is a live album by the American hard rock guitarist Ted Nugent, released as a double LP in 1978. In addition to live versions of songs from previous albums, this double album also contains original material played live, in ...

'', an album by

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the le ...

. 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 am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

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 Pub rock (Australia), 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' R ...

at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal 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 ...

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 music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

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 music, heavy ...

Foghat Foghat are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1971. The band is known for the use of electric slide guitar in its music. Their best known song is the 1975 hit "Slow Ride". The band has released 17 studio albums, including ei ...

) 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''.

Personal life

Röhr and his wife Verena lived in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

from 2015 to 2020.

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,

References

External links

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