There’s no straight line to where Kurt Deimer is right now—and that’s exactly what makes his story work. From building successful businesses to stepping into film and carving out a presence in hard rock, Deimer has taken a path that doesn’t follow the usual script. With his new album A Grog Is Born set for release May 8, 2026, he’s pushing further into a sound and identity that feels fully his own. I had the chance to catch up with him over Zoom on April 6, 2026 to talk about the new record, the evolution of his songwriting, and how everything—from the music to the stage to the larger “Grog” concept—is starting to come together in a much bigger way.
Stage Rush Music (SRM): How’s… how’s the day going for you?
Kurt Deimer (KD): Well, it’s good, man. It’s been hectic, it’s just a lot going on, and trying to keep up, man.
SRM: I appreciate you taking the time to do this. I looked at some interviews and find you to be a fascinating person, so I…jumped at the chance to meet you, and I appreciate you taking the time.
KD: Well, I appreciate you, uh, wanting to take the time to get to know all about me, man, because without you, and other folks, and the world wouldn’t know what I’m all about, so…
SRM: So, one of the things that intrigues me is when I see people do things in many different areas and become successful at all of them. I know you had a rough beginning, but you went into the corporate world, and then started your own business. For introducing this to people who may not know you, is there a good way to describe your path from wanting to be in a band when you’re in high school to how you transitioned to the path you are on now.
KD: Yeah, yeah, I was always that guy who liked to work. I had a yard business in Houston where I lived when I was, like, in middle school, and I was making, like, $400 a week cutting lawns. Had a trailer behind my moped, and I did telemarketing. I had anxiety and panic disorder, which I didn’t know, so I’d self-medicate that with drugs and got into all that. I moved 11 times before I got out of high school, because my dad got moved all the time in the oil business. I ended up at University of Illinois, and I was doing that evil white powder. I called my dad, said, I’m gonna die if I stay here. So, I ended up in Cincinnati with my grandma, who lived to be 106, who’s like my other mom. I was her first grandson.
SRM: Wow.
KD: And ended up there, got into the band, I was playing around in the band, and we were doing covers, playing local bars when the Afghan Whigs were coming out of Cincinnati, and…I’m just like, I can’t… we’ll fail at this, and I’ve got anxiety, and panic, and I don’t know why, and I just feel… I mean, I felt worse in my late teens and 20s than any… ever in any other part of my life.
KD: My kids’ mom was one of those who are the bossy kind, you know, as I came to find out, but I had 3 beautiful sons, got my Bachelor’s degree with honors, you know, after not even caring about studying. And then I got a master’s degree paid for by Chevron when I got into the corporate world, learned all I could about the oil business. And, I, continued to do that, realizing I still had panic and anxiety. I hated it. And I just kept thinking that whole decade of when I was in my 20s, like, what can I do to make money? I want to work for myself.
KD: And, then I finally figured out my brain didn’t make serotonin and I figured that out on my own. No doctor figured that out for me, they just wanted me to go get therapy and whatever. So, I figured out, took a serotonin uptake inhibitor, that changed my life. I started buying and selling rental properties and fixing them up on my own while I was working for other people in the oil business, learning all that.
SRM: what was your role in the oil business?
KD: At first, I was collecting Chevron credit card payments… that’s how I got my foot in the door out in California, and did that on the overnight shift. And then I got into the lube business, moved to Louisville, got promoted into a job putting in lube orders for Chevron lubricants. So that’s when I really learned that. Then I became a district manager. And learned all that, and how to deal with the jobbers. Then I left Chevron, went to Spokane to work for a jobber setting up Chevron McDonald gas stations.
KD: And my ex-wife didn’t like living up there, so I called a headhunter, moved back to the Midwest. So I got a job with ValveTech, a diesel additive company, so I learned all about high margin diesel additives. And then a customer I was selling that to, called Earhart Petroleum hired me to run their lube department at a local jobber up in Dayton. And I did that while I was buying and selling houses, and raised about 40 grand, put it into a checking account.
KD: And I left that job, and I started Coolance Plus above my garage back in ‘99. I just kept growing. I was just buying and selling oil from point A to point B. Kept putting my money back in the business, and now I have just built our own facility in Fairfield, OH. I bought a blend plant for 2 bucks on a crazy deal up in Pennsylvania and we blend our own oil, have our own lab, and now, those two companies run themselves, and we sell oil all over the world, and do millions and millions and millions of dollars when the bank told me back when I had 40 grand that your business is gonna fail like everybody else does, so…
SRM: And that’s Starfire?
KD: Yeah, that’s Starfire. Starfire.com, and then my other company is Pennstar.com.
SRM: Right, yeah, I took a look at the website. It looks like you have a massive new facility in Cincinnati.
KD: Yeah, we just built that. I bought the land, and I built the building, and my right-hand man, Gabe, I cut him in on ownership, because he’s been with me all these years, and we started putting Starfire into some movies. Like it was in Sonic and stuff like that, and this movie with John Travolta Trading Paint. I said we’d do it, but I wanted a cameo in it, just you know, for fun. So I went down, and I ended up getting offered a speaking role in the last scene of the movie, working with John Travolta and Shania Twain and all these people, and I became a member of SAG, because it was a SAG movie.
KD: And then I got into Halloween in 2018, got killed by Michael Myers. And I go, okay, I’ve worked my ass off, built this business, my kids are raised. I love this movie stuff, it didn’t faze me at all. And, I want to start my own franchise, Hellbilly Hollow, so that’s coming out this fall. I get Scared To Death that just came out with Lynn Shaye and Bill Mosley, where I play a horror icon called the Grog.
KD: And while I was doing all this movie stuff, I was in Alabama shooting some smaller stuff, just honing my chops, because I’d never gone to acting school or anything. And, I met Ben Trexel, and he had a few songs at the studio I was hanging out with Kevin Wayne, who plays Tickles in Hellbilly Hollow, my brother. I said, well, I haven’t sang in so long, but I have a unique voice and we did these songs, then we kept writing songs, and it was just alright, I’m gonna do music and movies.
KD: I always used to go to rock shows and I’d go, I can do that someday and win the game despite everybody else. I’m gonna do it and, I told Darren run the companies, I’m gonna do this and we’ll tie it all together and I’m just gonna enjoy the rest of my life and go into phase 3. And here we are today, talking.
SRM: So you still own the business, but you have others running it.
KD: Yeah, I own Coolance Plus, I own the Starfire brand, I created that. I own the facility that you’ll see at Pennstar, I own that whole building, and I rent it to the company. And I own the majority of that company as well, so yes, I own… I own all those companies, and Darren runs them, and uh… I do movies and music and promote Starfire. And I’m very proud of everything I’ve created, and now I’m gonna win the Rock and Roll music and movie games, despite everybody trying to keep me from doing it, so…
SRM: So, with all of the things that you do. If someone is meeting you for the first time, how do you introduce yourself?
KD: Yeah, just Kurt Deimer. I’ve always been just Kurt Deimer. I’m not the president, I’m not the CEO, I’m very humble, and I’m just Kurt Deimer, I’m just a human being like everybody else and I’m all about peace and love and kindness and taking the high road and spreading, you know, a little bit of light in this dark world and just bringing people hope and writing about all the things I’ve been through to share it with others, and I just want everybody to have fun, have a good time, and just chill and hang out, because I’m a very chill, laid-back guy. I get on stage, I go nuts, or I’m in a movie, I go nuts with the character, but…this is me, you know.
SRM: So, I read in one of the interviews you did that you consider yourself a man of the people, and you feel that you can help others avoid pitfalls, obviously learning from mistakes and experience.
KD: Well, I just… I want people to know…It’s okay to wake up every day, go outside, say hi to your neighbor, help somebody cross the street. Always look to do good things for your fellow man instead of all this hate that’s online. My song, “Back of the School” is about people being mean to other people on the internet, for instance. Only time will tell so you can’t worry about what’s going to happen in your future, which many people stress about, because only time will tell. I wrote that years ago with Ben, and it’s just about when we were going through a bunch of stuff with the COVID and everything, just have hope.
KD: Love your neighbor, respect each other, thank all the people, all the people that sacrifice their lives for us. Don’t take our military for granted, our veterans for granted, don’t take our first responders for granted. Because we all couldn’t do what we do without them. They’re all heroes. “Naive”. I wrote about getting taken advantage of when I got into the music business. And people in life get taken advantage of every day, because there’s money-hungry motherfuckers in the world all around us. And just be careful what you ask for, and just don’t be naive. So that’s what I try to write about all that.
KD: “Live or Die”, you know, on the And So It Begins album, live your life every day, do what you want to do, what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen. Take those risks, you’re gonna live or you’re gonna die, you know, it’s that simple. And just trying to just help people be strong and courageous and kind and full of peace in this crazy world we live in.
SRM: So, how did you end up connecting with Chris Lord Alge. I mean, he’s legendary, he’s worked with some of the best. How did that happened that you connected with him?
KD: When Ben and I did our demo under the name Bald Man, and it had about 10 songs, and we took it up to David Bendeth up in New Jersey. And he did some work to it, to this demo. But I just didn’t feel like he really did much, nor believed. But then Ted Jensen mixed, or mastered his demo. Ted said Bald Man, sounds like a crash test dummy on steroids, and I liked that, and Ted’s mastered all my stuff since then.
KD: But I just took a chance. I went out to L.A. and rented a house to make a little studio and just get around the scene. And right as COVID was hitting, the guy managing me at the time, who ended up stealing from me, called around to get some other people to look at mixing these demos we had. Chris was one of them. We never thought he’d even respond, and he did, and said he would definitely love to help me. Could see potential in my vibe. And him and I then met for dinner one night. And he started working with me on it, took me under his wing. I couldn’t, you know, sing a pitch or anything at the time, because I hadn’t sung in so long. And he basically took me under his wing, we’ve become best friends, and we do personal life stuff together, and hang out all the time, and we’re on a mission to prove everybody wrong together, and to have him in my corner is amazing, and it was just part of the journey, and to have him as the best friend, too, is, uh…remarkable, so I kind of got two great things in one, but I wouldn’t have if I didn’t go out there and take the risk, you know.
SRM: Sure, and I mean, you don’t know my story, but…I tell people that luck happens to those that put themselves in a position to be lucky. Like, this stuff just doesn’t happen to people. You have to put yourself in a position to meet these people, to have these things happen, to learn what it is you need to learn, but nothing’s gonna happen if you’re sitting on the couch.
KD: No, you gotta go… you gotta go get it, and you don’t know. I mean, you could fail, but, you know, that’s life, and I tell Darren, who runs my other companies, I go, these are great companies now and you’re kicking ass running them. I, you know, I make the big decisions. It’s very simple, but, I also remind them that if I didn’t take a chance with two little kids and put 40 grand in a checking account, which you never would have done, we wouldn’t be here today. But I took the chance, you know? Then I worked 18 hours a day to build it, and you can’t get any reward in life without taking risks. That’s a big part of my mantra.
SRM: So the Grog character…Did you find that, or did that find you?
KD: Uh, Paul Boyd, who directed the movie, Scared To Death had written that years ago. And he was already talking to Lynn Shaye and Bill Mosley and passed a few years ago about being in it. And Paul did my “Burn Together” video with Geoff Tate, and my “Naive“ video, and my “Big Toe” video. And we met then, and we just started creating some stuff together, and he’s said, I’d love to shoot a movie. I go, well, give me some of your scripts, and I liked the Scared To Death script.
KD: The Grog wasn’t even in the movie, but he goes, I envision you being a horror icon. And just being who you are on stage or in everyday life because you are the grog. And I… that’s how that all came about, and I became the Grog, Lynn became the Head of the studio, and Bill became something he’s not in other movies, Felix, the comedic straight lace guy and then Bill and I and Lynn just kept ad-libbing and throwing stuff off each other and I’m like, how am I in a movie with Bill Mosley, who I loved in Devil’s Rejects.
KD: When you see Hellbilly Hollow, I modeled my trippy, crazy, psycho character Bull after Bill, because we’re a duo, Bull and Tickles, and then Lynn Shaye, I loved her, in Something About Mary, Kingpin, all that stuff, Insidious, and…She was always somebody I thought of very fondly, and to act with them, and for them to put me in a room with them, I’m like, what better way to prove I can do this than to be alongside two people I fully admire, and now we’re all great friends, so…
SRM: And you had mentioned in one of your interviews that you always try to hire better than you, or something to that effect. But… it’s kind of how it’s a path to success, is to surround yourself with good people.
KD: Yeah, surround yourself…One of the things I learned young when I was lost, I read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Took all the notes and everything, and learned successful people surround themselves with people that can do this… well, I’ll tell you how this ties to the acting. With people that can do things that you’re not necessarily good at, but you need. I don’t want to be a CPA, I don’t need to be my own CPA, I don’t care, I hate math. I don’t want to be a lawyer. I hate lawyers, but I have to have lawyers. You gotta surround yourself with people you trust to watch your back. So I built that in the corporation, in my business world.
KD: But then in movies, what good is it to go be in a movie and not be with some of the best in the business, and then people will see that. Okay, well, now you’re one of the best in the business, because you’re in this movie with them…I mean, otherwise, why would people even care or want to see me? I gotta expose myself.
KD: And, that’s why, I think that’s why Scared to Death came out before Hellbilly Hollow. Kevin Wayne, who I starred in Hellbilly Hollow, he’s been in stuff, but he’s not Lynn Shaye and Bill Mosley, and Lynn Shaye and Bill Mosley allowed me to introduce myself to the world, and then here’s Hellbilly Hollow. Here I am as the rancher in Andy Gould’s next big movie, um, Pandemic Sex Party. I kill all the degenerates that are taking our world down to filth, and now I’m the next, you know, Michael Myers, or, you know, Jason, and I did a, uh a movie called Relapse that’s coming out. I play the dad of a drug-addicted up-and-coming pop star girl. And I’m a rock star dad and we bring attention to fentanyl and we’re gonna donate money to help Music Cares and just bring awareness to it, so… and then I’ve got another movie. You know, now It’s just snowballing, and we’re right here. We’re climbing that big hill. And we’re just… we’re just gradually getting to the top, so you can’t stop till you get there.
SRM: So, was the role the incentive for the album and the material, or were you writing things that were similar to the…
KD: No, the album and material, Chris and I have, you know, we have about 40 songs that we’ve been working on as I trained vocally and was in his studio all the time. With And So It Begins we unleashed about 16 of them, but we still have a ton more good songs, and ones that I even like better than what’s on that. And, we’ve got the second album ready. And I’m sitting in my bar one night, just chilling. You know, like I always do, having a little vodka water and some smokes and I’m just like what are we gonna name this second album? And the Grog is already coming out. And, it’s kind of being introduced to the world. And I thought of Barbra Streisand, A Star is Born, back in the 70s.
SRM: Yeah.
KD: How big that was, and I wanted a 70s feel to the font and all that, and I’m like, told my management at Regime, I go, I got the name of the album, it’s A Grog is Born. And I got these great classic photos of me and my parents, you know, who are both in heaven, actually my dad passed 10 years ago today, and I was with them and watched him pass away, so that’s… today’s kind of rough that way. But, uh, so I had this classic picture, and stuff my mom had saved. She passed a couple years ago. And I said, we’ll just put the tickler, they call this the tickler from little baby Kurt, and it’s A Grog is Born, and here it is.
SRM: I love it.
KD: Thought it, at least, it’s gonna draw attention to it, you know? People be like, what’s this? You know, even the haters just hate on it, or whatever, I don’t care. It’s A Grog is Born, it is what it is.
SRM: I think it’s cool. I think what impressed me the most was the kind of the growth of your vocals from the last album to this album, and wondered whether it was intentional. It just seems like you’re more singing than speaking, more melodic than…
KD: Yeah, it’s like a lot of those songs we went back to, I talked more originally, because that’s all I could really do 5 years ago. And Chris and I just kept working and working and my range got bigger although I’m still more comfortable singing lower. But I also have another octave or two that I didn’t have then, and I’m on pitch all the time, and he’s just always like, wow, wow, and then I’m very good at layering and all that.
KD: But I had to retrain myself, and that took a few years, and now we brought these songs back that were still good the other way, but now more people can relate to it, and now I tell everybody, you’re gonna see a big difference from our first to second album how we’re growing, and our band is growing and evolving, and it was tough to find the right band, bandmates, too. You know, I had people that just wanted to take advantage. But I mean, now I’ve got a killer band, they’re all loyal, and we’re just so excited to get out on the road and just keep growing this thing, and we had great runs with Tesla, and Sebastian Bach, and Skid Row, and now it’s time to just go out there, even if there’s 100 people, let’s just keep building it, and keep the momentum going.
SRM: So, is the recording band the same as the touring band, or did you…
KD: Uh, not up until now. I mean, my band will be more involved probably in the future, but pretty much on everything you hear, it’s me, Chris Lord Alge, Brian Tichy on drums, and Phil X on guitar and bass. And, you know, some… a little bit of others here and there, but that’s me, Phil, Brian, and Chris.
SRM: So, were they all actively involved in the songwriting and arrangement, or was that more that you brought it to them and they worked at your direction.
KD: Well…”Have a Cigar”, the first one we did where Chris set up, this is… I didn’t want to do that, Ben wanted to do it, who I originally wrote with. And, Chris showed me how we were gonna do it. That’s how I met Phil. And, Phil laid that solo down in one take, and we’ve played that song every show we do. People are just tripping on it now. But, it’s pretty much I write lyrics at any time of the night, and when I write the lyrics, I put a voice memo together with the vibe of the kind of music I want with it, then it goes to Chris and Phil. And then they put all the rest together and we all work on it together and then, you know, we fit in the verses and the vocals or change any of the words. You know, there’s not many that get changed, but we have, and we craft the song.
SRM: Are there any songs that got completely transformed, that you just couldn’t believe the way it ended up from the way you started?
KD: Oh, pretty much this whole album. You know, “No Tomorrow” was a song that Bald Man did, it was totally different. “In Deep”, that’s on the radio, me and Josh Todd. That used to be a song called “He Was Good To Me”.
SRM: Wow
KD: And, uh, it was about girls getting taken advantage of by men. Then when Josh decided to collab, I knew the riff and everything was fucking amazing, and a radio riff. And, he rewrote the lyrics for it a month after we got off tour with Steel Panther, and we went to CLA‘s studio, and now it’s been top 40 on mainstream rock radio since November.
SRM: Oh, it’s a great song. I mean, It’s catchy. And I can envision that being a great sing-along at a concert. You know, getting the crowd, uh…
KD: Yeah, yeah, we’ve been playing and we get them going with it… and Josh is like, let’s do it, that’ll be great live, and like, yeah, I mean, it was a total collab, “Pringles” on the new album, or “Take It In” used to be called “Acidic Fizz”. And I used to talk it, and it was more reggae-ish, and… because I love reggae, too. Yeah, a lot of what you hear on the second album is stuff that I wrote that was totally transformed, so it’s kind of, you know, you could call the album Transformations, but that, you know, that’s what it is.
SRM: And that there’s even a song that, uh…I mean, “Bombs over Birmingham” that has a funky guitar. I mean…
KD: Yeah. That’s one of the original songs, Ben and I did. And it’s just sat in the vault, and now the world’s gonna hear it, and I think it’s gonna be a hit.
SRM: I think you have a handful on here that are hits and “Pringles”, I just think it’s like a stoner anthem.
KD: Yeah. Or you could put me in Pringles commercial, “Where’s the Pringles”? Could be a new meme. “Where’s the Pringles?” But yeah, I just wrote that, sitting in my studio late at night, smoking a little weed and drinking… you know, I was drinking beer at the time I wrote that one. And I just thought, there’s probably a can here. I’m like, okay. Why you get so high? Why not? Or… why do people always question what we do? I mean, like, Kurt, why do you do this? Why…And I always say. Why? Why not? I mean, why does it matter to you? And that’s how I wrote that song.
SRM: And, I think the other thing, like you said, You’ve introduced some styles or genres of music that…I’m just wondering if your next album is going to be even more country? Or could be fun to see something that’s more reggae.
KD: Well, you know, I got a song that I think’s gonna be really big in country rock, or country radio I wrote called “Chillin’ in the Country”. And it’s so very catchy and chorus-y and Chris is getting a bunch of Nashville players on that one, and we’ve been sitting on that for a little while. And, uh, got a song about America that’s gonna be kind of an anthem for America. strength, and uh…I mean, we’ve got… there’s, like, 3 or 4 others, a song I had done called “Sunflower Girl” that’s now turned into a different song. I just cut the vocals, too, that’s really catchy. So, it’ll have more of a country vibe on the third, and then after that, we’ll just keep doing what we do. I mean, I don’t want to be pigeonholed, and I just want to do things the way I do it, and you either like it or you don’t, that’s the way it is with any artist in life.
SRM: And the way it should be, um…
KD: Yeah. I mean, you want to hate on it, but if you don’t, and you like it, great. I mean, that’s life for everybody.
SRM: Um, so given the visuals that you do with the film and video, what’s the live performance like on this tour?
KD: Yeah, we’ve got a show in Florida at a bike fest at the end of April, but then we’re just gonna start going all over the country. We’re gonna go back up into Canada. We’re gonna be doing some stuff tied to Scared to Death. We’re gonna be doing stuff tied to Hellbilly Hollow coming out this fall. And, uh, you know, hopefully be going to more horror conventions and stuff, and doing shows there. And just building, but continuing to build. We’ve had 3 good years building the band and our following as an opening act, but, you know, we need to be able to play 75 minutes for you to really know who we are.
KD: And our show is all turnkey. I own everything, and we, uh, show up, we got great, cool video walls, light package, you know, so we can adapt to any side stage, and we’ll just add to it as we grow, and…You can expect a high-energy show that is all full of positivity and peace and love, and it’s just a high-energy rock show, and we do it the way we do it, and people are like, man, never heard of you, but you’re one of my new favorite bands, now you’re different.
SRM: Do you end up playing it heavier on stage than recording, or does it vary?
KD: Um, we add stuff to it, we add jams to it, it’s heavier. It’s heavier, it’s full of energy, everybody in the band’s full of energy, and people pay to come to a show, they… they want to see a great rock and roll show, so we’re just doing rock and roll the way we do it, our music the way we do it, that’s the best thing is, what is it? That’s just Kurt Deimer brand of music, and people really, uh, the more people see it, the more we keep growing, so it’s just a matter of getting the word out there and continuing to plug away at that.
SRM: Well…I really hope this album is a success. I think it’s really positioned to be. It’s got great songs and lyrics, I think the choruses have nice, full vocals, I don’t know if they’re multitracked or what, but the…
KD: Yeah, most of the vocals are… we redid, did a lot of defilling, and uh…Phil X, and it’s me and Marco, who’s my guitarist, and he sings all the highs along with my low on stage, which I think you’ll really love live, because you don’t see many bands like that, that just play rock, you know, the way they want to do it, so…
SRM: Yeah, and the other thing that immediately struck me with your singing is that you pronounce every syllable. Your words are so clear that every word is understandable. You know, having come up in the grunge era where every word was a gurgle. It’s already…
KD: The Eddie Vedder era. No, I think it’s important. I mean, it always drove me nuts when I didn’t, uh… couldn’t tell what somebody was saying, because I want to know what they’re trying to convey to me, you know? But I think I’ve settled into a more relaxed, um…preciseness, and just kind of vibe it the way I vibe it, you know?
SRM: Well, any kind of closing message that you want people to know about the new album?
KD: Yeah, just that A Grog is Born is coming out. You can pre-order, pre-save it at KurtDeimer.com. Um, you know, call your local radio, that always helps, and keep requesting the songs. Everything will be on Touch Tunes, just like And So It Begins is, and uh… I think, you know. This album has a chance to make a lot of noise in this industry this year. Because it’s, pretty unique, and, uh, you know…the more people share it, the more people follow me on everything, the more it helps, you know? YouTube, all that kind of stuff, and Instagram, and…it’s the world we live in, so just want to build the buzz and spread it all over the world, man, and just Google Kurt Deimer, you can find everything.
SRM: Well, again, I appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you on tour, and hopefully I’ll be in the photo pit.
KD: Well, anytime, man. Tell us you want to come, and you’ll be there, and we’ll welcome you with open arms, and you can photograph the whole set, man.
SRM: Appreciate it.
With A Grog Is Born set for release on May 8, 2026, Kurt Deimer is clearly hitting a new stride—both as a songwriter and a frontman. The record feels like a step forward in every direction, not just in sound but in identity, tying together his music, live performance, and larger creative vision. If this album is any indication, Deimer isn’t easing into this next phase—he’s pushing it forward at full volume, with plenty more still to come.
