By Daily Press staff
Bob Schneider, a musician who has been dubbed a “daredevil of versatility,” takes the stage in Hollywood this weekend at the Roxy Theatre to give the fans something to remember.
Suffrajett opens for Schneider, who was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and raised in Munich, Germany. Not that it should matter, since Schneider will never ask where you were born and doesn’t care. He only wants you to dig his music and rock your ass off at his shows. And the odds are very much in his favor that you will do both.
Performing since he was a tot, generally for the amusement of his parents and their friends, Schneider gained his first real professional experience while backing his musician father on drums at numerous moonlighting gigs throughout Germany.
After he developed his talents, Schneider moved to Austin to pursue the dream. With Joe Rockhead, Schneider established his reputation as a frenetic and engaging lead singer, performing with a wild abandon, aggression and lack of pretension on stage, which he will be the first to admit is pretty much the opposite of his offstage self.
After Joe Rockhead disbanded, Schneider devoted his immensely diverse songwriting talents and trademark stage presence to the Ugly Americans, a freeform soul-rock group that eventually signed with Capricorn Records in 1995. Always in need of at least one side project as an outlet for his hyperactive creative energies, he formed the raunchy party band The Scabs in 1996, the live performances of which became infamously popular and spawned four albums between 1998 and 2001. In 1998, Schneider ventured into more introspective singer-songwriter territory with his solo outfit, Lonelyland, which led to a deal with Universal in 2001.
These days, the Bob Schneider Group, as he and his band are now called, plays weekly shows in Austin and tours extensively.
People expect to see a straight-up rock god when they go to rock shows, and Schneider delivers. Schneider manages to embody and simultaneously lampoon every single persona you can think of within a two-hour show. When it comes to musical styles and genres, he is a daredevil of versatility — able to go from twangy country crooner to spit-screaming punk, from Latin salsa king to mellow reggae mon, from funk soul brother to white-boy trash rapper, all with perfect fluidity and commanding virtuosity. In addition to his chameleonic tendencies, Schneider has the ability to persuade audiences to enjoy a kind of music that they may have detested previously such as bluegrass, perhaps, or polka.
Doors at the Roxy Theatre open at 8 p.m. The Roxy is located at 9009 West Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood. Call (310) 278-9457 for more information.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 2, 2005. Read the original PDF.