A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, Peter Stroud resides in Atlanta, Georgia, lured by the southern city’s active music scene. Growing up, he listened to bands like The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Faces, and Led Zeppelin, while he copped the riffs of his axe heroes Jeff Beck, Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix and Billy Gibbons.
A firm believer in the “less is more” style of guitar playing, Peter is highly regarded as “a songwriter’s guitarist,” complimenting songs with tasteful hooks, dead on rhythms and memorable solos. Peter gained international prominence in the ‘90s playing with Pete Droge who he met through producer Brendan O’Brien. Their first show was Germany’s Rock am Ring festival. Peter found himself standing in front of 40,000 fans, never having played a note together with Droge. But it must have worked, because over the following three years, Pete Droge & The Sinners recorded two critically acclaimed albums and toured extensively.
It was during this period that Peter met Sheryl Crow. In late 1998, she asked him to join her band in support of her third release, Globe Sessions. This musical relationship has lasted for over eleven years, where he eventually served as Sheryl’s music director. Soon after the conclusion of the Globe Sessions tour, Peter joined Don Henley in 2000 for his Inside Job tour.
Peter remained active touring with Sheryl up until late June 2010. Immediately thereafter and to date, he has taken on guitar duties for Sarah McLachlan’s band, touring in support of her latest release, Illusions Of Bliss.
In addition to his busy touring schedule, Peter is also hard at work on a band and album project intended for release soon. Peter has been interviewed in numerous music industry publications including Vintage Guitar, Premier Guitar and is featured in the July 2010 issue of Guitar Aficionado. His album credits include Pete Droge, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, The Dixie Chicks, Kid Rock, The Wallflowers and Shawn Mullins.
Not content to merely be one of the world’s most in-demand guitar players, Peter is the co-founding partner of 65amps, manufacturer of handmade, boutique tube guitar amplifiers. He started the company in 2003 with longtime friend Dan Boul. Originally the idea was to serve Peter’s personal need for a low-powered amp solution for Sheryl Crow's lower stage volumes. The results were the first 65amps models, loosely patterned on the legendary 18 watt Marshalls.
Joining Peter for this Q&A is Dan Boul. A graduate of Musician's Institute, and a professional guitarist for 12 years, Dan's early career was in Information Technology and Software. Dan applied the same rigor and analysis to amp design that he previously employed in his IT work. Today 65amps offers a variety of guitar and bass amplifier models used by professionals and “pro-sumers.” Dan also does a weekly webcast which has become very popular with tone freaks who draw on Dan's 30 year love affair with guitars and amps. Dan currently does the odd gig with his retro rock band “The Dung Beatles.”
Dan Boul, left, with Peter Stroud
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Peter Stroud and Dan Boul to the Seymour Duncan User Group Forums!
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