About the Artist
Peter Varkonyi was officially inducted into The Grund Club as a songwriter in February 2015 but he had already jammed with The Grund Club BAND at the September 2014 show and in 2013 at the “Songwriters in the Grund” events. Peter writes songs that feel good to play and sing respectively and is one of our most prolific songwriters in the sense that every song he has brought into The Grund Club Song Catalogue has been learned and played many times by the The Grund Club BAND.
Peter was born in Hungary and got a guitar from his parents for Christmas when he was 12 years old, spent the next decade playing around the house, taking it along on school trips and sometimes taking lessons. After finishing law school in Budapest, he joined his first band, a couple of younger kids who called themselves Syntax Terror. Unfortunately, Syntax Terror wasn’t really Peter’s thing and in 2001 he got a word that 4 guys he knew from the law school were putting a band together. They took Peter on board as their lead guitarist and were surprised to learn that he had been writing some original songs all those years, as a bedroom musician. The band’s name was Szegényanyámhalátna (which translates as Mypoormotherifshesawme) which performed regularly in Budapest and also secured decent stage slots at the famous European Sziget Festival.
In 2004, he was offered a job opportunity at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and Peter took it. As he started looking for a new band in Luxembourg, he stumbled upon a bunch of eccentrics from Esch/Alzette who called themselves The Clandestinos. By 2007, through a whole lot of trial and error and line-up changes the group eventually morphed into Radio Daze, who began playing at bars in and around Luxembourg. After Radio Daze fizzled out, Peter formed Fixfire. And this time the emphasis was on Peter’s songwriting and guitar playing.
Peter is currently writing and recording on his own and plans to revive Fixfire in the near future. He is heavily influenced by the work of singer-songwriters from the late 60’s and early 70’s including Neil Young, Lou Reed and Gram Parsons. His guitar playing is anchored in the blues tradition as he has spent much of his formative years wearing out the records of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, soaking up their licks. He continues to contribute new songs to The Grund Club Song Catalogue and regularly joins the stage of The Grund Club events.
