The story of Steve’s Theme Park begins at The Engine Room, a studio in Ellsworth, Maine. With the assistance of fellow drummer and recording engineer Jeff Crossman, Peer laid down drum tracks, accompanying himself as he sang the tightly arranged songs in his head. Once the drums were complete, Peer added clumsy and crude guitar and vocal parts to the drum tracks, hence creating demos to share with his compatriots around the world.

Having been active in the underground scene music during the days of alternative and punk rock music of the early ‘70s, Peer had a Rolodex full of friends who were eager to hear what he dreamed up since the days of him playing with TV Toy and Bill Nelson’s Red Noise and hanging with Talking Heads, The Feelies, Television and Mountain.

Hoping initially to recruit local (and more convenient) talent, Peer struck out.

Not only did the COVID lockdown in March 2020 limit the availability of players, but to his dismay there was little local or regional interest in doing anything as daring as he was proposing, so he moved onto the international stage and started looking up old friends.

Peer was offering rock ‘n’ roll merriment, skylarking and a bit of celebrity in exchange for guitar, cello, vocal tracks — and essentially “what have you” — in hopes of creating an album that would be as fun and as varied as a theme park— with the working title of this fledging project being Steve’s Theme Park.

While playing CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City in the mid ‘70s, Peer was friendly with everyone. Sharing the tiny stages at both venues was always bedlam as equipment flew on and off the stage and tempers often flared with everyone being a bit frantic for fame. Peer described The Shirts as the friendliest of the CB’s bands, Chris the drummer of The Heads as a real gent, and Television (for whom Steve was a roadie when not gigging himself), as the most daring of all the NYC bands at the time.

He also got to know John DeSalvo, the bass player in Tuff Darts. He had great admiration for this band that was a bit more refined than most of the bands who worked the lower Manhattan circuit. Like his band TV Toy, Tuff Darts got left behind on the Bowery, while other bands like Blondie and The Ramones moved onto bigger venues and sold punk rock to the masses.

Having this kinship with Tuff Darts, Peer reached out to the guy in the band who he had never spoken to, lead singer Tommy Frenzy. “Yeah, of all the people I could have asked to help me make this album, I thought of Tommy. Not only is he a solid singer, but I knew he was an overlooked and fantastic rock ‘n’ roll guitar player”.

With a bit of reservation Peer sent Frenzy a Facebook message. “I almost felt dirty. Facebook? How uncool. Facebook is for 50-year-old women who take pictures of food or their feet in the sand at the beach”. However, within 45 minutes Frenzy and Peer were talking on the phone. “We did a bit of reminiscing. Tommy had no recollection of me, and he barely remembered sharing bills with TV Toy, but we swapped stories, had a laugh, and I sent him my first tune, ‘Dandy Man’. He nailed the vocals and guitar, and he went on to contribute to four other tracks”.

As it turns out, one of Peer’s Maine-based party shock rock bands, The Larks, covered the Tuff Darts single “All for The Love of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and this version is the final track on the STP album. “Tommy enthusiastically approves of the rendition,” states Peer with a bit of pride.

In May of 2020, STP was still just a blurry vision of speculation and delusion. Peer had recorded some drum tracks and found a veteran from the days when rock ruled Manhattan, but he had not yet established a stable of players that would help him achieve his fanciful notion of recording this frenetic rock album.

With panic in the world, it was evident that more people were wasting time on the Internet and musicians complained that there were no gigs. Even Peer found himself reminiscing, living in the past, pondering the future of music, and wondering if rock music was taking its last gasp. As it turned out, with the immediate future looking a bit dreary, others were being nostalgic about the glory days of rock music.

Word was out that Peer was cooking something up and it did not take long for him to hear from two fans of TV Toy via the band’s Facebook page. One fan reminded Peer that he was on the NJ/NYC scene as a very young player, had seen the band many times, and had gotten friendly with Rob Barth, the front man.

The other admirer went so far as to send Peer a video of himself performing a song from his living room in Asbury Park, NJ. “The performance on the video was outstanding,” says Peer. The tag line said, ‘A song for Chris Isaak’. I could hear the similar falsetto occasionally in the song, which was reminiscent of Isaak, but the song itself was pure pop artistry sounding like Cheap Trick or Badfinger and it hooked me right away. Of course, I reached out to the guy with no intention of recruiting him to play on my stuff, but instead hoping that I could join his band”.

Peer ended up enlisting both “fans”. Joe Fasano contributed classic rock style guitar and bass to tracks and Stan Steele found his way into singing and playing acoustic and electric guitar on many of the tracks and engineering and mixing a few as well.

Steele was a chief recording engineer at the Power Station in NYC. While at the Power Station, he worked with Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, John Mayer. Steele also knew a teenage custodian at the studio, Jon Bongiovi, later known as Jon Bon Jovi. They wrote a few songs together and recorded a few demos at the studio. A bond and band were quickly formed, a tour was planned, and Steele found out he was soon to be a dad, the band, and Bon Jovi moved on without him. Steele remained tight with all the Jersey Shore boys, including Jon and Springsteen, and continued as a successful and sought-after engineer at the Power Station for 20 years.

Steele reached out to Peer during the pandemic because he remembered seeing him as a drummer at the many battles of the bands and Catholic Youth Dances popular in the late ‘60s in suburban New Jersey. He wondered if he was still playing music. “Fuck yeah!” Peer blurted out during their first phone call. An alliance was instantly formed.

Having a few fans in the UK who may have been more interested in reaching his former band leader Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise, Peer thought about the Nelson admirers who were also musicians. Peter Cook came immediately to mind. Not only was Cook well versed in everything Nelson, Be Bop and Red Noise, but he had been a player during the fledging years of punk rock and new wave in London, a member of Richard Branson’s innovative business team and the author of the book Sex, Leadership and Rock ’n’ Roll, where he skillfully synthesizes diverse viewpoints about business, communication and creativity, while using his background, both as an academic and musician to make for one kick ass read!

It took one email and Cook was on board. In his home studio, “The Basement of Cognition,” Cook recorded the guitar for “Dandy Man,” the opening track on the album. Under Peer’s direct instruction, Cook respectfully borrowed the opening riff from “Pretty Vacant” by The Sex Pistols, which provides a fun warning of things to come.

Spanning the globe, Peer contacted Captain Storm in Paris. Having met the band 15 years ago in a Parisian wine bar where they were performing striking interpretations of American and British rock tunes, Peer brought the band to the US for a series of shows, and they have remained friends ever since. With Peer’s polka/Texas two-step drum track, members of Captain Storm contributed the vocals (“en anglais”), guitar, bass, accordion, and mandolin to the only polka track on the album, “Rockin’ Senorita”.

Members of TV Toy also contributed to this unlikely collection of players and tunes. Rob Barth and Dreux Bassoul joined Peer on the track “Chip” and just for fun, Hokee Tala, from Manchester, UK, tossed on a backing vocal recorded at Cook’s UK studio. At this point Steve Sporn joined in the fun by contributing a King Crimson inspired violin and engineered this session.

Barth went on to lay down the guitar solo in “Sister Supersonic,” which features Lily Mastrodimos, Danielle Earthly and Olivia Partridge. “These ladies are the 21st Century ‘Indigo Girls’ and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to remotely bring them together,” explains Peer. “Not knowing one another, with each of them living in New Jersey, Georgia, and Maine, respectively, I thought it was quite an accomplishment to bring their voices together for this track, and Anna Högman adds ethereal flute to the track all the way from Sweden”. To top it off, Richard Ford plays bass guitar on the track. Ford and Peer met as members of Bill Nelson’s Red Noise, and since then Ford has played with Joe Jackson and Bram Tchaikovsky. Today Ford is best known as an Emmy winning music editor and executive music producer for film and has worked on many Oscar winning movies such as Sideways, Argo, Blow and Hidden Figures.

Bob Solberg, also a member of TV Toy and The Royals, an American power punk quartet, wrote “You Didn’t Want Me” and invited Peer to lay down the drums, Mike Townsend of The Punsters to add bass and keys, and singer-songwriter Caleb Jolley, originally from Steuben, Maine, to step up as the lead vocalist. In the spirit of this remotely recorded amalgamation, Tommy Frenzy offered up some spirited backup vocals to the track.

Solberg was a member of the heavy art rock band Puzzle Monkey that re-assembled to do “Nostalgie”. This track features Zara (singing in German), Laurie Jones on vocals and Frederick Hanke on bass and cello. UK producers/DJ’s, Richard Vermeulen and Antti Uusamiki engineered the mix, which is loaded with sonic nuggets.

Enter Harley Fine, multi-instrumentalist and owner-operator of Super 70 Studio in Beacon, New York. He and Peer have a 40-year history that began with bumping into each other at punk rock shows. Even after moving to Maine in 1982, leaving the NYC metropolitan area behind, Peer stayed in touch with Fine and others who remained active in the indie music scene. “I knew that Harley and our buddy, Rich Bloom would do justice to “Subterranean Suburban Rockstars,” because we all lived this story of saving our coins to purchase our first Danelectro guitars, played high school dances, strip clubs, punk dives and pressed our ‘limited edition’ vinyl 45s. Rich had to bail out on this go around, but he encouraged Harley and I to finish the tune together, and we did!”

At the eleventh hour, Peer recruited bass player Bob Strete from “America’s Favorite British Rock Band,” Mod Fun. “Bob was a life saver. Some of the tunes had adequate bass parts, but in the final listens, Crossman and I realized that the bass on a few of the tracks was sadly lacking. The playing was good, but we were not paying enough attention to the bass tone.  Some of the tunes were boomy and lacked definition. With his knowledge of Brit pop and punk, all I had to say was ‘Jean-Jacques Burnel,’ and Bob knew that I wanted that snarly bass sound of The Stranglers. He did not disappoint!”

As difficult as it was to enlist regional talent, Peer had the good fortune of working with vocalist Gregg Mitchell, keyboardist Jay Lundstrom, front woman Annie Schwartz and bassist Frank Richards. Laughing out loud, Peer describes Mitchell as a “maniac”. “This guy does not hold back. He is unmedicated and out of control”.

“Motorcycle Ceilidh” tells the tale of a Celtic party on the coast of Maine or in the Canadian Maritimes, and Mitchell captures the vibe of a ceilidh with humor, an intoxicated spirit, and a mix of Irish, Scottish and New England brogues.

“I can’t help smiling listening to what Mitchell brings to the tune. The reference to The Rolling Stones incident at Altamont, dancin’ and drinking ‘til dawn and ‘living on the dole’ accurately describes what life can be like surviving on the coast of the North Atlantic”.

Chris Gray brings a bit of dignity to the track with his skillful playing of the bodhrán and uilleann pipes. His mastery of these ancient instruments is worth the price of admission; however, he may not have known what he was getting himself into.

Keyboardist Jay Lundstrom shows up all over the album. Jay “one take” Lundstrom knows just what to do. He can channel Brian Eno of Roxy Music, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the more pompous Rick Wakeman. Peer describes Jay as the “co-anchor” of STP. “As the drummer, I try to provide rhythmic bedrock. Jay brings the musical and subtle tone, mood and character found in many of the songs”.

Having worked with Peer for years, Schwartz was hanging back before stepping up to join Steele and Tala in tackling the vocals of “New World”. She knew Peer lived in a weird musical wonderland and his expectations can be hard to understand and even more difficult to execute. Regardless of the potential challenge, with the help of Steele, Schwartz brought her soulful voice to Peer’s sci-fi musical romp.

Frank Reynolds was brought in very early in the recordings and proved to be a very reliable and tolerant talent. He never questioned Peer’s craziness and simply got the job done.

Gregg Mitchell continued his rock ’n’ roll shenanigans teaming up with the London singer Gemma Parr-Smith on “The Famous Transatlantic Dance Band”. Smith tries her best to temper Mitchell on this over-amped dance arty tune, however, quickly acquiesces and joins in the foolishness, making this track very lively, turbulent, and irresistible. Icelandic rocker David Bourke keeps the train on the track with his understated John Entwistle style bass playing, while international jazz and recording artist Greg Abate gets on board with the “dance band” by lending a soaring rock ’n’ roll sax solo reminiscent of the late Bobby Keys. Voted No. 2 in the 2020-21 Downbeat Readers Jazz Poll, “Abate was a saint to lend his talent to a rock record,” states Peer. “Abate has been a friend for a decade or more and I knew he would do whatever he could to help on the album. He is an artist and top-drawer musician, but he is a friend first and foremost!”

Peer covers his own tune, originally done by The Crown Vics, “Cheshire Moon (The Dead Boyfriend Mix)” which is eloquently performed by Stan Steel who makes the apology from the grave as the abusive lover, and Peer reveals the second installment of the “Cheshire Moon” trilogy.

As sad and as painful as it is to have another rock star give up the ghost, Peer and his Theme Park conspirators put a respectful and rockin’ spin on the daily deaths of our idols with “No More Heroes”. “In no way am I putting a smiley face on losing a rocker every day of the week. Instead, I am toasting their passing with respect and celebration,” stated Peer in a very serious tone.

“I have experienced every aspect of this profession, from the bottom to the top and back to the bottom. It’s a dirty job that can kill ya’. My plan was simple. I just wanted to record a pile of songs as fast as possible, do a few quick and gritty videos, and have a CD to give away to anyone who might be interested. Everything else I am leaving to chance to see what happens once STP goes global”.