Bio
John Schroeder has been playing guitar and singing ever since the picture beneath this bio was taken. He comes from a very musical family - his father is a drummer, his mother and brother are singers and his uncle is Russ Freeman, the leader and guitarist of the popular contemporary jazz group The Rippingtons. John was born in London but was untimely whisked away to Minnesota before developing a charming English accent. He grew up outside of Minneapolis in the town of Orono and graduated from playing Raffi tunes (his version of Baby Beluga was known to bring a grown man to tears) to Tom Petty and Eric Clapton after receiving an acoustic guitar from his uncle Dan Freeman at age nine.
For several years John struggled to play this guitar with little success. Big strings > small fingers. But then several things happened. 1) John saw his uncle (Russ) jam with the exceptional blues guitarist and singer Mike Schermer at a family gathering. 2) John saw the movie Back to the Future and the scene where Michael J. Fox plays Johnny B. Goode. And 3) John started taking lessons with local guitarist Doug Dressel and was introduced to the music of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. He became interested in rock and blues, bought an electric guitar and amp and formed a band with friends from school and his cousin Eric Benedict on drums. They (eventually) called themselves Invasive Species, played their first gig at their seventh grade dance and soon began gigging all over the Twin Cities and Minnesota. The band continued to play until its members graduated from high school and fanned out across the country. In the spirit of being proud of one's past, there are a few Invasive Species recordings on the music page of this site.
In high school John began taking lessons at the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. He studied guitar with Chris Olson and Craig Anderson and voice with Carole Hofstad-Lee and Thaxter Cunio. At MacPhail he was the first graduate of the Certificate Program for Performance and also a member of the Prelude Singer/Actor performance lab for two years. He was chosen as the guitarist for the 2004-2005 Minnesota All-State Jazz band and also spent the summer before his senior year touring the US and Cuba as a guitar tech and stage manager for The Rippingtons.
In 2006 John moved to Los Angeles to study at the Thornton School of Music at USC on a full scholarship. There he began gigging around LA and studied many styles of music from some of the finest guitarists and musicians alive such as Adam Del Monte, Bruce Forman, Morten Lauridsen, Aaron Serfaty, Steve Trovato, Pat Kelley and Carl Verheyen. He graduated in 2010 with a B.M. in Studio/Jazz Guitar. He also began playing with the band Pinot, a funk band made up of USC jazz students. They started out playing at house parties (John's first gig with the band was at a block party that was broken up by a SWAT team) and went on to release three albums of original material, tour the country multiple times and play alongside acts such as Juno What??, The Doobie Brothers, Dumpstaphunk, Lettuce, The Original Wailers Band and The Motet.
During John's last year at USC he auditioned for the lead guitar chair in rock-and-roll hall of famer Frankie Valli's band. He was given the gig and went on the road for the next four plus years. Some highlights included playing at Royal Albert Hall in London (and meeting Jimmy Page after the show), playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing on Broadway for two weeks and touring Asia, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. John has also had the honor of performing with artists such as Al Jarreau, No More Kings, Patrice Rushen, Grace Kelly and the Steve Miller Band and appearing on the TV shows Glee, The Glee Project and MissGuided. Since leaving Frankie Valli's band John has toured as the opening act for and in the band of the indie-duo Pomplamoose, joined the guitar faculty at Musician's Institute, released his first solo EP "Wild Sound" and released a full length record ("High Noon") with his duo with harmonica player Ross Garren: the Sheriffs of Schroedingham. John also has had a hand in building Blue Dream Studios in Los Angeles where he records daily and is set to release another record with the Sheriffs in 2016.
Clients and Collaborators Include
Ray Chew
Frankie Valli
Ross Garren
Dancing with the Stars
The Fliptones (Chaz Mishan and David Delazyn)
Magnus Fiennes (Death in Paradise on BBC)
Josh Goldberg
Devin Hoffman
Keith Armstrong
Chelsea Williams
Rhodes Rollins
Alex Goose
For several years John struggled to play this guitar with little success. Big strings > small fingers. But then several things happened. 1) John saw his uncle (Russ) jam with the exceptional blues guitarist and singer Mike Schermer at a family gathering. 2) John saw the movie Back to the Future and the scene where Michael J. Fox plays Johnny B. Goode. And 3) John started taking lessons with local guitarist Doug Dressel and was introduced to the music of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. He became interested in rock and blues, bought an electric guitar and amp and formed a band with friends from school and his cousin Eric Benedict on drums. They (eventually) called themselves Invasive Species, played their first gig at their seventh grade dance and soon began gigging all over the Twin Cities and Minnesota. The band continued to play until its members graduated from high school and fanned out across the country. In the spirit of being proud of one's past, there are a few Invasive Species recordings on the music page of this site.
In high school John began taking lessons at the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. He studied guitar with Chris Olson and Craig Anderson and voice with Carole Hofstad-Lee and Thaxter Cunio. At MacPhail he was the first graduate of the Certificate Program for Performance and also a member of the Prelude Singer/Actor performance lab for two years. He was chosen as the guitarist for the 2004-2005 Minnesota All-State Jazz band and also spent the summer before his senior year touring the US and Cuba as a guitar tech and stage manager for The Rippingtons.
In 2006 John moved to Los Angeles to study at the Thornton School of Music at USC on a full scholarship. There he began gigging around LA and studied many styles of music from some of the finest guitarists and musicians alive such as Adam Del Monte, Bruce Forman, Morten Lauridsen, Aaron Serfaty, Steve Trovato, Pat Kelley and Carl Verheyen. He graduated in 2010 with a B.M. in Studio/Jazz Guitar. He also began playing with the band Pinot, a funk band made up of USC jazz students. They started out playing at house parties (John's first gig with the band was at a block party that was broken up by a SWAT team) and went on to release three albums of original material, tour the country multiple times and play alongside acts such as Juno What??, The Doobie Brothers, Dumpstaphunk, Lettuce, The Original Wailers Band and The Motet.
During John's last year at USC he auditioned for the lead guitar chair in rock-and-roll hall of famer Frankie Valli's band. He was given the gig and went on the road for the next four plus years. Some highlights included playing at Royal Albert Hall in London (and meeting Jimmy Page after the show), playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing on Broadway for two weeks and touring Asia, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. John has also had the honor of performing with artists such as Al Jarreau, No More Kings, Patrice Rushen, Grace Kelly and the Steve Miller Band and appearing on the TV shows Glee, The Glee Project and MissGuided. Since leaving Frankie Valli's band John has toured as the opening act for and in the band of the indie-duo Pomplamoose, joined the guitar faculty at Musician's Institute, released his first solo EP "Wild Sound" and released a full length record ("High Noon") with his duo with harmonica player Ross Garren: the Sheriffs of Schroedingham. John also has had a hand in building Blue Dream Studios in Los Angeles where he records daily and is set to release another record with the Sheriffs in 2016.
Clients and Collaborators Include
Ray Chew
Frankie Valli
Ross Garren
Dancing with the Stars
The Fliptones (Chaz Mishan and David Delazyn)
Magnus Fiennes (Death in Paradise on BBC)
Josh Goldberg
Devin Hoffman
Keith Armstrong
Chelsea Williams
Rhodes Rollins
Alex Goose
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