Bob Reuters Alley Ghost, Thunderhawk, White Trash Blues Revival

Friday June 7th, 2013
Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost is a group of raw rockers backing the godfather of the St. Louis scene. Bob began playing rock and roll when in early 1966, and has since preformed in a long series of garage rock, punk and soul bands. In 2009, while in the hospital Bob was visited by Mat Wilson, a fan of Bob’s radio show, Bob’s Scratchy Records. The two shared their stories and Wilson decided the time was right for Bob’s rediscovery. Big Muddy label head Chris Baricevic enlisted the help of Mat to co-produce a record what would re-introduce Bob to the world and to the younger generation coming up. Musicians were pulled from the roster of Big Muddy’s bands and “Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost” was created on reel-to-reel in Bob’s kitchen. The folk-punk-folk tinged album was released locally to warm reception. The project was successful and Bob was awarded the Riverfront Times’ “Best Songwriter of 2010.”

In 2011, Alley Ghost, as the band had become commonly known, had adopted a sweat-drenched proto-punk sound and released the album “Born There.” In support of the album the band began touring through the Midwest and the South in an effort to introduce themselves to the rest of the United States.

During this period through a number of personnel changes, the band moved even further in a more electric rocking direction, while still making their main focus the presentation of Bob’s many original songs.

In 2013, Alley Ghost is releasing their 45 single “Dana Dew,” on Big Muddy Records and will be touring in support of its upcoming release.
Bob Reuter probably ought to be dead by now. But he comes from a time when rock and roll was still dangerous and he cant let it go. He began playing out in the garage rock era of 1966 – his bands played teen clubs, frat parties, soul dances, in parking lots,dance halls, biker bars and a world of other dumps and punk basements.

In 1978 his punk ass St. Louis bar band, The Dinosaurs released a seven inch 45 single of his songs “Rock and Roll Moron” b/w “It Might Be Rose” – In 1980 his Syracuse NY band, Serious Journalism cranked out loud fast, hard and aggressive melodic rock and roll for the art school crowd. In 1982 Bob put out a second 45 single under his own name and then spent the rest of the decade hating everything about the 1980’s….

Cut to 2009, Bob in a hospital bed, his cracked chest just wired shut, blood pumping into one arm, morphine into the other. He meets two visitors, two young men who had just founded St. Louis’s Big Muddy Records. “We’d like cut a record with you.” They said, “Could you empty my pee bottle?” Bob asked. Well, they did and they did. The back up band was as talented a group of young rockers as the city of St. Louis could supply, culled from the ranks of other Big Muddy bands. It was recorded in Bob’s apartment’s kitchen. That recording and a Big Muddy Release of ultra lo-fi lost Dinosaurs tapes began garnering bob attention among the late teen and early 20’s demographic of the St. Louis’ south side. “I’ve had this man’s pee on my hands!” said Big Muddy’s Doormat Wilson.

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“We are part of an ancient tradition, resurrected every other generation, older than dirt and they cant wipe us out. We’re like weeds or the roaches. Just by being who we are, we’ll warp the levers of their machines, from the inside out.”
– The Alley Ghost Credo

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In 2011, Alley Ghost, as the band had become commonly known, had adopted a sweat-drenched proto-punk sound and released the album “Born There.” In support of the album the band began touring through the Midwest and the South in an effort to introduce themselves to the rest of the United States.

During this period through a number of personnel changes, the band moved even further in a more electric rocking direction, while still making their main focus the presentation of Bob’s many original songs.

In 2013, Alley Ghost is releasing their 45 single “Dana Dew,” on Big Muddy Records and will be touring in support of its upcoming release.