Guitarist Stuermer helps Phil fill bill

Friday, Aug. 27, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

Guitarist Daryl Stuermer first teamed up with Phil Collins in 1978, when Collins was with Genesis.

The Milwaukee native has been with the British pop artist (off and on, more or less), ever since.

"It's funny," Stuermer said during a recent telephone interview in Los Angeles. "Now it's like all of our fans bring their children. We have a new fan base."

Although Stuermer left Genesis in 1992 and Collins left it in 1995, the two artists have gotten together from time to time for recording projects and post-Genesis tours.

Their last major event was a world tour in 1997.

And now comes Collins' "First Final Farewell Tour," which arrives at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday.

"He's looking at it like a last farewell tour," Stuermer said. "It will be the last time he will tour on this scale, performing in huge arenas on multiple nights.

"If he does something in the future it will be a little more scaled down. He would love to do a theater tour with specialized dates -- specific types of dates. That's what he's looking at."

The tour, which recently completed its nine-week European leg, is a massive undertaking that involves 85 people -- including backup singers and musicians, technicians, crew and other staff members.

"It's the largest group we've had so far," Stuermer noted.

While Collins and the musicians travel by private jet, the rest of the entourage go by bus. But despite the headaches of traveling with such a large group, Stuermer is enjoying the concerts -- and he doesn't have a problem with the fact that it's a nostalgia tour.

"What's great about the tour is basically we play all of the hit songs," he said. "Fans will recognize all of them. It's sort of a greatest-hits tour."

Stuermer has been a key player on all of Collins' world tours and most of his recordings throughout the years. The guitarist played on Collins' debut solo album in 1981, "Face Value."

During their long association Stuermer has co-written six songs with Collins, the most popular being the two-time ASCAP award-winning tune "Something Happened On the Way To Heaven."

Another reason Stuermer is enjoying the tour is that he has timed the release of his latest CD album, "Retrofit," to take place in the middle of the cross-country concert.

The CD's official release date will be Sept. 7, but Stuermer is selling it during the concert dates, right along with Collins' merchandise. It also is available through Stuermer's Web site: darylstuermer.com.

"Retrofit" is Stuermer's fifth solo recording, the fourth since launching his own Urban Island label in 1998.

"It's not smooth jazz," Stuermer said. "It is a little bit of an edge to it, a rock edge, with some crossovers to smooth and some progressive rock."

He described the central theme of the album as "what I felt about music in the '70s, when I was starting my career. I was into that era, and the songs I wrote on this album fit the same feeling. I wrote them as if I were writing back in the '70s, but putting a little bit more of a modern spin."

Stuermer says he wrote seven of the nine songs in a two-week period.

"So I stayed in the same attitude, the same vibe and context," he explained.

Even though the feeling is from the '70s, Stuermer said it is not dated.

"It's taking the kind of melody from that era and bringing it to the 2000s," he said.

This is Stuermer's second album in two years. Last year he released "Sweetbottom Live: The Reunion Recording," which was recorded during the 25th anniversary reunion concert with Sweetbottom, the original jazz-fusion band that Stuermer formed in 1973.

Stuermer owes a lot to Sweetbottom.

In 1975, after hearing the group in a Milwaukee nightclub, Frank Zappa keyboardist George Duke recommended Stuermer to violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, who was auditioning guitarists for his own band.

Stuermer, 22 at the time, was with Ponty for three years before meeting Genesis member Mike Rutherford, who was auditioning guitarists for Collin's "And Then There Were Three."

There seems to be a lot of renewed interest in Sweetbottom, which was considered a Midwest regional band when it was created by Stuermer.

The 25th reunion went so well, Stuermer says there will be more.

"We are planning, every year, to get together for a concert," Stuermer said.