Steve Schmitz aka Skubz. I am an acoustic guitar player who has slowly realized I am a singer/songwriter. Feel free to drop me a line if you like what you see or just want to leave me a comment, like you suck or something equally as creative. Like the writing of any song this site is a living breathing thing and will continue to evolve.

I am originally from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area and have recently relocated to Clearwater, Florida to pursue another passion of mine, wakeboarding. Since moving I have discovered a great many singer/songwriters in the area and have started attending open mics. I feel I have come to the point where I need to add other musicians in order to fill the spaces in my music. I am of course hesitant, because any time you add someone, you also lose a little bit of control. In the end, however, if I find the right people, it should open up my creativity even more.

Growing up definitely the first musician that I really liked and wanted to be like was Elvis. I remember my parents playing the old reel-to-reel often on Saturdays while cleaning the house; listening to an old Elvis interview documentary. It had clips of Elvis talking and parts of his shows. We would watch his yearly bio movie on his birthday.

After that, there were too many to name that I enjoyed; like: Rush, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen (with Sammy not David), Triumph and a host of Blues Musicians, The Beatles, Steve Winwood, and numerous others.

As far as influences when I started playing, I would have to say Stevie Ray Vaughn all the way. When I really started learning how to play I was listening to him a lot. I loved his style and the smoothness of his voice. I couldn't play like him so I found myself frustratingly working away at the guitar. I think that's how I developed my style (if I have one). As I got better at being able to duplicate certain phrases on the guitar, I incorporated some of what I liked back then. I still can't play like Stevie Ray, but he will always be someone that has had a huge impact on the way I play.