-------------------------------- Interview with Matt Dudenhoeffer -------------------------------- By Sarah E. Stanley, Entertainment Editor Red & Black, November 1998 "I remember when I was 5 years old and playing with my tiny record player. I have always known I wanted to be involved in music in some aspect," Matt Dudenhoeffer recalled. His premonitions were good. Dudenhoeffer, 30, is now the lead guitarist for Gravity Kills, a band often labeled as a local band gone "big." Dudenhoeffer was born in Jefferson City. An '86 graduate of JC, his band The Trend played the parties in high school. He then acquired his master's in public administration and his undergraduate in industrial engineering from MU, still playing in college. He then pursued music after college with the full support of his parents. "They bought me my first guitar when I was a kid. When I wanted to be a musician after college instead of something else, they were behind me." The current line-up of Gravity Kills was established in 1994, which includes Dudenhoeffer on lead guitar, Jeff Scherr on vocals, Kurt Kerns on drums and Doug Firley on keyboards, all of whom graduated from JC. After 10 years of playing local gigs, the band had its first break with a song called "Guilty." It was recorded as a demo and sent to a local radio station in St. Louis. "Our song was chosen as one of the songs to be included in a compilation disc by The Point. It was played on the radio, and it became the most requested song of the year." Then followed record companies flying to St. Louis to check out the new talent known as Gravity Kills. They signed with TVT Records, and their first album was released in March '96. Soon the band's videos were all over MTV; they were included on soundtracks and topped modern rock charts all over the country. "It was pretty surreal," he recalled. "Seeing your album on the Billboard 100 was like "wow, look at that,' It was great." But even after all the success (the band just released their sophomore effort, /Perversion/), Dudenhoeffer believes that there is a higher level of success in the music industry and hopes to attain it. "There's always that next level. [The band] is well-respected now by other successful bands and record labels, but there's always that platinum [record]. To get that is a difficult task," he said. Despite not yet achieving platinum record sales, the band has worked hard to get where they are now. "In our first release, [the band] toured 300 dates in 14 months, including two months in Europe. Our last album took eight months to record. It's a lot of work," he said. Amidst all of the hard work, though, Dudenhoeffer admits there are a few perks to being in the music industry. The band has toured with the Sex Pistols, Stabbing Westward, Korn and No Doubt to name a few. "Hanging out with Johnny Rotten [of the Sex Pistols] was cool," he said. "We have some good times on the road." Despite the places music has taken Dudenhoeffer, he encourages those interested in music to look at the hard aspects of the industry before pursuing it. "Realize how difficult it is to make it and make money at it. If you're writing and recording, and it's good, and you're trying to get it out, believe me, the record companies will find you," he said, adding, "I got into [music] knowing how difficult it would be. Just be aware of that, and have that education in case it doesn't work out." But he doesn't discourage going into music as a way to make a living either. "We're living proof that it can happen. If it's something you really want, keep pursuing it." Fans can be assured, though, that the life expectancy of Gravity Kills in the music world will remain as long as they can. "As long as we can make a living at it, and as long as the people want it and it's relevant to music, we'll keep doing it." [All copyrights are property of the owner. This article is reposted on this site because the original owner does not have it on the web. All typos are original to the version I found (i.e. not caused by me), like the fact that Jeff's last name is "Scheel", not "Scherr" as above. This copy is stored at "Perverted" - Gravity Kills fan site http://grantb.net/perverted/index.html -> "Articles" ]