Michael Weber: Retro Rock, Raw Energy & Bold Style

You can’t take your eyes off of Michael Weber. Clad in colorful, retro-inspired custom suits, the guitarist, composer, record producer, singer and songwriter explodes with transcendent energy onstage. All movement and emotion, Weber, a 27-year-old self-taught musician, wails on the guitar and belts out tracks born of a wide variety of musical influences, including ‘50s blues and ‘70s punk.

“You have to have some sort of character that you play that’s a hyper version of yourself,” says the Michael Weber Show frontman. “I want to deliver. I want to put it all out there.”

Performing since the fourth grade, Weber has shared the stage with acts such as Ace Frehley, Gin Blossoms and the Wallflowers. He was the winner of MTV’s “Amazingness,” hosted by Ohio native Rob Dyrdek, in 2018 and has composed film scores for projects such as “Last Night at Terrace Lanes” and “Satanic Hispanics.”

“I focus on the idea of trying to be the best version of myself and deliver every single night to the most powerful degree,” Weber says. “I make music from a perspective of … I have to do it because it’s who I am.”

Singles include “Society’s Crush,” a moonlit bite of psychedelic rock, the bubbly, nostalgic “Rear View Mirror” and the driving, guitar-heavy “Golden Days (Slipping Away),” which has over 23,000 Spotify streams. Weber has released several albums and EPs, including 2024’s “Up Until Now” and “Stereogram.” He is currently working on a new record.

“The only way that we can live forever is to create something and have that be our voice for generations to come,” he says. “I kind of see my creations as being my voice in perpetuity. And hopefully, I can create works that are good enough that they can last. That’s the dream.”

Akron Life sat down for an interview with Weber in his Hudson studio, discussing showmanship, inspiration and the meaning of making music.

See the Michael Weber Show live Aug. 30 at Akron PizzaFest at Lock 3 and Sept. 6 at the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival in Akron.

Akron Life: How did you first become interested in music?

Michael Weber: I feel like it found me as much as I found it. I come from a line of back line technicians. My dad, whose most successful gigs [were] touring with Mountain, opening up for Deep Purple in the ‘80s. … My dad eventually went on to work for Wham! on their big ’85 stadiums tour. … My uncle has been doing it since then. He’s currently on the road with Bruce Springsteen. So, there was always people that had involvement in music that were around — not necessarily musicians, but there was always a guitar that would be leaning against the couch somewhere.

AL: What did you listen to growing up?

MW: I had watched so much of these VHS tapes of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix and stuff like that, that my parents ended up buying me my own television with my own VCR. They could watch regular television, and I could watch these live concert performances over and over and over again. … When I was a baby, my parents would play “Angie” by the [Rolling] Stones, because I would sob every single time they’d play it. … I’ve always felt something with music, I still feel something with music, and I’ll quit playing when I stop feeling something.

AL: What’s going through your head while you’re performing?

MW: When it’s good, absolutely nothing. Onstage is the only time you’re absolutely cleansed from any thought, good or bad, because it’s kind of like, when you’re playing well, the world is working at half-speed. … You’re just letting it pour out of you.

AL: What does being an artist mean to you?

MW: At the end of the day, being an artist is just making something. … As long as it’s you, and you’re putting yourself into it, then you’re essentially an artist. … Realistically, I think the world would be a great place if everybody was an artist of some kind.

AL: You have a unique sense of style.

MW: I’m definitely a fan of vintage fashion, being a certain amount of the golden era of rock and roll music has always been an inspiration to me. Glam rock and psychedelic rock and stuff like that, where people dressed in really bright and flashy clothes, I found that to be visually appealing. … Sometimes you’re playing a place and it’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s bright out, so no light’s gonna have any impact. … You have to kind of carry the aesthetic on your back. … That’s why I care a lot about the fashion of it, because I can’t always control my environment, but I can always control the way that I visually represent myself.

AL: What does inspiration feel like?

MW: It’s the reason why we do this. I don’t do any drugs, I’ve never done any drugs. But the drug that every artist chases after is the feeling when you finally write something that you at least deem good enough to share. The inspiration — and trying to work and develop and foster that inspiration — that is the highest of highs that art can create.