Pete Studtmann is a Wichita-based bassist with a variety of credits, including stints in bands such as Lather and, most recently, False Flag ICT.
"When I turned 18 I could start going to bars in Wichita to see shows. There was a local band called the Roach Egg Invasion. I latched onto them right away. They were very open and supportive fun people. They had house parties every so often and I went. I asked the bass player, ‘Tommy, can I play your bass?’ He said, ‘Sure!’ where some guys would say, ‘Don’t touch it.’ They’d go, ‘Keep playing, keep playing.’ It was just this encouraging environment that I was in.
"I was hooked. I really enjoyed it, the good or the bad of it. I did play with some wonderful people. Of all the people that I played with, there’s no one that I hated. I learned something from everybody. That’s what was really cool about it. Somebody would go, ‘What are you playing?’ I’d say, ‘This’ and they’d say, ‘Why don’t you try this?’ I was always receptive to learning something or I’d watch somebody else play and go, ‘That’s really cool.’ Then go home and see if I could do it. Sometimes I could."
