As rock and roll music swept into Middle America, Seiter began absorbing many of his earliest influences from that era, which included the music of Bill Haley, Sam Cooke, Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley. High School provided Seiter with exposure to many more like-minded musicians and he would spend much time hanging out at music rehearsals with his brother Joe's big band style dance band. Seiter's elder brother John Seiter achieved success as a drummer, recording with Spanky and Our Gang in 1967.