Pete Roller  Bio |
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“I was always a real musical kid,” says Pete Roller, the founder of and major spokesman for TSR. “I took piano lessons, and I could always sing a harmony part to any song I heard. Then I taught myself how to play the ukulele and used to serenade my little girlfriends over the telephone.” After graduating from high school in Wheaton, IL, Pete spent one year at Baylor U in Waco, TX where he had a football scholarship. He did not like that university experience and left in January of 1959. But Pete had learned to play guitar in TX, and took his inborn musical talent to DePauw U in Greencastle, IN where he pledged Delta Tau Delta fraternity and started a little band. “We played the rock and roll of the late 50s. My lead guitar player was nothing short of phenomenal. I did most of the vocals passably well.” After 2.5 years at DePauw, Pete got married (’61) and finished his BA in history and education at North Central in Naperville, IL. He taught U.S. History at Lake Park HS in the Chicago suburb of Medinah. He began working on his Masters degree which he received in ’69. |
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| Now, while all this was going on, he continued to play music. His frat house band was called The Rumblers and their theme song was "Rumble" by Link Wray and the Wraymen. When he got to NCC, he started another band called The Satins. “We later became ‘Fabulous’ and then reorganized into The Post-Grads. Here’s what I looked like in those years when I was young and foolish. |  |
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“Actually, that little band, The Satins, was pretty good. Arlie Faulhaber was our drummer then and is still my best friend. |
| Russ Pagen played entirely by ear, as did Arlie and I. |  |
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Then we added two horns. Lee Beavers was fresh out of high school and Jerry Wolf was at North Central College finishing his music education degree.
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Our lead vocalist was Tommy Polzin and we had a lot of fun entertaining the crowds.”
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Then Lee formed his own band and we “A few years ago we got together again. We remembered all of the old charts. It was great.”
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“I always liked the nightclub scene the best. Dance bars are not favorites of mine because a loud jukebox can do just as well. But nightclubs are great because they’re places where folks can go and sit and listen to a band that entertains them. It’s fun watching what the band is going to do with a particular song and how they will perform it. I love that type of atmosphere,” he said. “And if people want to dance, they can.” After moving to northern WI in 1969, he became involved in the musical scene once again (see History of TSR). The group has performed in every year since 1971. “This is me in 1971. I can’t believe it either,” he laughed. |
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Pete sings either the bass or third part of the harmony and occasionally the lead. He plays bass guitar most of the time, but sometimes he plays guitar. On the TSR 3-horn arrangements, he plays the keyboards. Many of the medleys the group features are of his invention. But he still considers himself to be the weakest member of the quartet because he does not read music. You’d never know it. In his non-music life, Pete taught U.S. History to high school students for 23 years. Then he worked in SD and WI for the teachers’ union in those states for another 17. Today he is retired except for writing historic novels and selling tipi poles. “Tipi poles. Yeah, it’s a niche market,” he says with a grin. You can contact him at pete@TSRBAND.com |
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