Birthdate: 5/13/63
Hometown: Hamburg, N.J.
Now lives in: Scotrun, Pa.
Marital status: In a new Relationship
Years playing guitar: 32+
Bad Influence - C'mon, it's obvious isn't it? They even let me play with them!!!!
Eight Days Gone - They wrote and recorded my favorite CD and I am lucky enough to know them!
Mr. Steve Perry - THE VOICE!!!! Still waiting for him to call!
Steve Klusener - Bass Master and Bosom Buddy!
Bobby Fortunato - Anything with strings and bullets!
Steve "Scrappy" Berlen - Drummer for Spitshine and friend of Bad Influence
Randy Rhoads - Who knows what great things he would have done!
Queen - Four of the most talented people - EVER!
Al Pitrelli and Chris Caffery - Guitarists for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Savatage - Visionaries and all around great band!
Dream Theater - Amazing band!
Steve Vai - Proof there is a God!
My life story or the making of a Psycho!!!! (Just ask me)..........
I was born in 1963 in Passaic, NJ to Larry and Pheobe Schnorr. I grew up in Hamburg, NJ and have always wanted to play guitar as long as I can remember. At 3 years old I had a plastic toy guitar and I used to set up a stick (held up by rocks) for a microphone and sing and strum my guitar.
I actually started playing guitar at age 12. I took lessons for about a year. It seemed that I was learning more by ear than I was by Mel Bay Guitar Method. My brother Larry would burst into my room and say "you can't play guitar unless you can play 'Stairway to Heaven'". So I'd wait until he left the house and borrow his Led Zep 4 album and scratch the hell out of it in order to learn the mysteries encased therein. "You aren't a real guitar player if you can't play 'Eruption'". Larry would leave the house and it was "Hello Van Halen album!"
I've always loved hard rock. I was always attracted to bands and musicians who strived for real production. Bands like Rush, Boston, Aerosmith, and Ted Nugent were my world. Even now I listen and learn from bands like Savatage and Dream Theater (and their many side projects). I would learn whole albums at a time. Along the way I eventually forged my own style of navigating around the fretboard. I formed a friendship with a guy named Dave Robertson in my senior year in high school and since then Dave has become much more than a brother to me. He and I would jam for hours and hours to Rush albums. Dave's Mom is like a 2nd Mom to me. They are my family.
Anyway, after a 3 year Army extravaganza I floated around in several bands and drank heavily. I was in various bands (Tempest, GLAS, Van Ace, Etc.). I sobored up after a 1990 rehab stay and started a band called First Rank. We gigged locally and recorded a couple of demos. I then joined this great band from Brooklyn, N.Y. called Black Cat Crossing. This is where I met Bobby Fortunato - Guitarist Extraordinaire! Bobby plays slide guitar like he was born to do it. Oh, yeah, he's a great friend, too. This is also where I met my fellow DWD bandmate, drummer Bobby Ventura. Black Cat recorded a great CD but soon I was forced to part with the band. I hooked back up with First Rank and we evolved into Jungle Rooster (named after singer Dan Perrelli's pet name for his How-do -you-do). Bobby V. played drums and eventually the band just wasn't. Dan moved to San Jose, Ca. and started a new Jungle Rooster.
Bobby V. and I started looking for a bass player to start a blues band. In walks Steve Klusener - Bass Master! Steve looked like he was going to pull out a huge triangle pick and would play quarter notes all night. Steve plugged into a crappy rehearsal studio amp and a torrent of sound came out. My first thought was "this guy is too good for us". Fortunately, Steve wanted to hook up again. Good thing for me as Steve has become one hell of a best friend. Love ya, Brother! This was the birth of the Dirtwater Dogs.
I stayed with the Dogs for about 6 years playing about 100 plus shows a year. Eventually the need to play different music was nagging at me. I told the Dogs that I was looking for something else and I found it..............
BAD INFLUENCE
I went to a couple of auditions with some bands. Some were good, some were not. I heard that BI were looking tfor a new guitarist but I was too intimidated. I went to see them at the Pocono Pub one night and Mark (who was leaving the band) and I were talking. He suggested that I audition for the band. I did (see the Latest News Page for details) and was asked to join Bad Influence. The rest is history in the making!
I am lucky to have a passion for the guitar and an outlet for music with Bad Influence. I plan on doing this for a long, long time!