Kurt Deimer Drops Excellent Debut EP, "Work Hard, Rock Hard"

Rock storyteller Kurt Deimer shines on his debut EP, “Work Hard, Rock Hard.” His narrative style, insightful lyrics, and unique, deep-toned vocals position Deimer to be a long-term presence on the scene.

“Work Hard, Rock Hard” has an impressive pedigree: Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X is in Deimer’s band and his work is mixed and produced by legendary studio wizard Chris Lord-Alge. The EP also features a guest appearance by the inimitable Geoff Tate.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kurt Deimer.

Tell us about your debut EP, “Work Hard, Rock Hard.” How are you feeling about the album?

I’m very happy with the collection. It was really hard to choose the songs because we have so many songs and we keep writing more. It’s not an easy task to pick six songs but I felt that those six give a good introduction and insight into how my lyrics are conveyed to the listener. I think it’s a good first step. We have a good feature on there with Geoff Tate singing on “Burn Together.” We were very blessed to have him do that and then have us out as direct support on his tour last year. We have a new EP coming out in August and when you hear that you’re going to be more blown away.

Tell us about your vocals and lyrics. Your voice has an intensity to it that, along with your narrative style, make for a memorable listen.

I didn’t want to get back into one of the failures I had before back in the day when I decided to leave music behind and suppress my creative side for many years, which was I was doing cover songs and trying to sing like other people. I know I have a unique voice, I know it’s deeper. I know people will not like it and many people will like it. I just bring my style and I stay true to it. That is what you’re hearing.

Lyrics are a very important element of yours songs, and they have such great hooks and big choruses that both the music and lyrics sink their teeth into listeners, especially on songs like “Only Time Will Tell” and “Naïve.” How do you set about writing lyrics?

It’s really a simple process with me. I’ve been through so much in my life. I care about people so much that I like to share things and maybe help them so that they don’t suffer consequences in making the mistakes I made in how to make it in this world. So usually it’s at night alone in my studio or at a bar alone on a patio, I like to be alone, and a verse will come into my head or just a sentence and I write my notes in my phone. The next thing you know I’m saying, “I don’t want to forget this,” so I’ll write a song in like 10, 15 minutes and I’ll send it over to Chris and Phil and we’ll tweak it and revisit it. It’s like I’m going through a therapy session with myself and putting it on my notepad and sending it to the guys.

How did you come to know Geoff Tate?

He’s always been iconic to me and in my brain I always have that vision of him on MTV doing “Silent Lucidity” with the orchestra and how cool that was. My management knows the Tates. They reached out to Geoff and the Tate family and we all had dinner together in LA. That’s how we all met. Geoff kind of took me under his wing and we’ve been good friends ever since. He’s helped me immensely. Geoff’s register is one-of-a-kind. I picked the song “Burn Together” because it features me in the low register and Geoff Tate is coming in with the Geoff Tate register, which is one-of-a-kind. I thought it would be a good blend. Being in the studio with Geoff and Chris, with these legends, was very surreal.

The songwriting core is yourself, guitarist Phil X (Bon Jovi) and famed producer Chris Lord-Alge. How did you all come together?

I had gotten back into music in 2018 and I get out to LA in 2019 and my manager at the time said he still wasn’t happy with the way the demo sounds. He reached out to some people and he never thought in the world Chris Lord-Alge would want to take the appointment to do that. Chris took me under his wing right away. He presented (Pink Floyd song) “Have a Cigar” to me and I heard the solo and fell on the floor. That was Phil X and we met to do the video for it and we’ve been off and running ever since. The three of us can’t stop writing.

EP closer “Whatcha You Sayin’”, in which you pray for a better world, is the most emotionally heavy track and a musical highlight as well.

I was stuck out in LA when COVID hit and I finally got back to Cincinnati where my studio compound is. I was sitting on a porch by myself and thinking about how messed up the world is, all the negative news we were hearing every day, and the phrase my Lord whatcha sayin’ popped into my head.

You’ve received huge accolades from mega-producer Chris Lord-Alge, who said that you can tell a story as well as anyone. What do you think when you hear that?

It’s really hard to believe. I gave it up at 20 and said I’ll do it again someday if I can fight my way through the business. People said you’ll never get Chris Lord-Alge to mix your demo or Phil X to play in your band and here we are. It’s destiny.

Describe your live show. What can people expect at a Kurt Deimer concert?

We bring it the whole time. We come out hard. We do play “Whatcha You Sayin.’” I like to dedicate it to front-line workers, first responders and our military, so that’s always a big highlight of the set. We’ve been ending our set with “Naïve,” which is pretty much about how I’ve been taken by people in my life in the music business and how you can’t take everything on the surface. We’re very energetic. We win fans everywhere we go. People say we’ve never seen you guys, and they want pictures and they’re buying the CD. We’re off to a great start. We have a new single called “Hero” (which came out earlier this month) and on Father’s Day (June 19) we have a new song, “My Dad,” coming out that we think is going to go all over the world. About a month or two after Father’s Day we’ll drop our second EP.