The album 'Roam' is very eclectic, but I guess that comes from having lived in so many places. Tell us how you came to settle in New York City and the musical influences you picked up along the way.

I have probably moved WAY too many times in my life. Everywhere from Australia to Canada to Colorado to New York. I've been travelling ever since I was in the womb (a trip to Hawaii and Bali), so I think it's in my blood. But I always seem to come back to NYC. That's not to say I won't be travelling and living in other places soon...
Influences? Man, everybody influences me. Mainly I've been in love with the great lyricists - Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty. The Police were a huge influence on me, as well as the standards like the Beatles. My father's a great jazz pianist, so I also grew up knowing Duke Ellington and Bill Evans and Billie Holiday.
These days I get influenced by the people and bands in the New York scene. I've luckily tapped into this great bunch of people - all of whom rock. Joe Brack, Don Everett Pearce, Steve Tannen, Jodi Sheeler, Emily Curtis, Doublewide, Redtime... There's just amazing, amazing stuff going on here.

Were you in other bands before you started out on a solo career?

I've always had music in my life, one way or the other. My first band was in high school - "Talking To The Wall." We actually made it into the studio to cut a demo...and then high school ended. I followed that up with a band called "Waiting For Randy", and then moved out to Boulder, Colorado to do music with my brother Steve in a band called "The Kahluas." We also cut a demo, called "Love, Love, Love."
I'm very proud of all of those names, by the way!

Have you been happy with the way the album turned out?

I've been STUNNED at the response. You have to understand - "Roam" started out as a 3 song demo, and we just kept on recording because it was going so well, and the studio I was recording at had a lot faith in me and a very generous heart.
And now it's gotten airplay, and won me awards, and gotten me great gigs, and gotten articles in places like "Performing Songwriter" and I'm about to do another printing of it. Really, I couldn't be happier with the response.
Of course, it's time to start recording the next album, too...

How do you write your material? I mean, your songs (especially Everything I Said' and 'Back On The Bus') are so evocative, they are almost like mini stories interwoven with the music. Are they autobiographical?

This is always a tough question. Yes, they're all autobiographical...to a point. Songs, for me, are composites. You have moments you're writing about...and then you come up with better moments, or ways the moment should have gone, so you write about that. But I hate talking about what my songs are about - I've had too many songs I love ruined for me by finding out what the musician was really writing about. You know, I just don't want to know that "Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker. "Everything I Said" means something completely different for me than it does for someone else.
Did that answer the question? Hmmm. Yes, in all of my songs there's at least a little autobiographical stuff in there. I DO have a few songs that are incredibly specific and NOT composites, but you ain't getting which ones they are from ME.

'Lucky This Time' in particular is many people's favourite tune from the album. What's the background behind that one?

Ha! I plead the fifth. I will say that it was written at a dark time in my life, just very down, and then I wrote "Lucky" and it picked me up out of it. The musician's version of therapy, I guess...

You have a great band on the record, with people like the Benelli twins and Don Everett Pearce appearing on it. Did it take long to record and write?

Not really. It would have taken less time if I wasn't so anal about every little thing. The atmosphere really was a little giddy...just friends coming in and playing great music. But the Benellis and Don and Richard Hammond and everyone did a tremendous job.
The songs I'd had for about 6 months...besides "Back On The Bus", which was written right before I went into the studio.

You have your separate carers, but you co-wrote the song 'Vegas Baby' with your brother Steve. Do you write/play together much?

Not as much as we should, probably. But we're trying to avoid, as we say, "Everly Brothers Syndrome." We're two very strong personalities, and we're sure that we'd clash eventually if we recorded and played together more. That said, it's always in the back of our minds. If someone wants to book both of us on a tour, we'd jump at it. But we're both really enjoying our separate careers now, and we both sing back-up at the other's gigs...It's a lot of fun.

That song recently picked up a John Lennon Songwriter's Award. What did that honour mean to you?

It's amazing. Who doesn't know about the John Lennon award? I'm very proud of that one, and really happy that it was a song Steve and I wrote together.

You are a regular performer at places like the The Bitter End in NYC, but you have recently completed a college tour haven't you? How did that go?

Ummm...well "tour" is probably too strong a word for it. I played some colleges around the area, as much as I could as a totally independent artist. The response, actually, is a little over-whelming. College kids are the BEST audience. I'm going to tour more colleges, hopefully, in the very near future.

Obviously, 'Roam' has been out nearly a year now. Have your thoughts turned to making/writing for a follow up record yet?

Like I said before, I'm about to go into the studio to begin work on the next album. Tons of song titles...with songs to back them up, too! This is material that myself and the band has been playing for a little while now - so it's ready to be recorded. You'll hear, hopefully by the end of the year, "Coney Island, Mid-July", "Annabel's Falling", "Just Across the River", "Concrete & Steel" and a whole album's worth of other stuff. I'm psyched for it.

Is your aim to get noticed by a major label and make a breakthrough that way, or would you prefer to find a minor label which would afford you more freedom and creative control?

SUCH a tough question. Ideally I'd love to do what someone like Aimee Mann is doing...be totally independent and have the major label distribution as well. However, that's a rough road for someone who hasn't been in 'Till Tuesday. I love being independent. I definitely do not want to give up any control over my music. But what will I really do when a major label dangles international distribution, tour support, beautiful studios and top-notch exposure? That's a tough one. My plan, so far, is to do as much as I can by myself - to just make my music and play to as many people as possible, and see what comes. Who knows?

Finally, if you could play with any five bands past or present, who would they be and why?

Ahhhh. Finally an easy one!
The Police (I grew up on them, and they're easily one of the best bands of all time in my mind)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (one of the best writers and best performers ever)
The Beatles (of course. Beatlemania baby!)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (one of the most underrated lyricists of our time...and they rock in concert)
The Grateful Dead (just for the experience...how cool would that be?)
Bob Dylan (he's written some of the best songs in the world...I don't know if I'd want to play with him, but maybe I could just sit back and watch a lot)

Thanks for your time (and patience) Greg!

You too Andrew...!

Check out our Review of Greg Tannen | Check out our Review of Steve Tannen | Check out Greg's Website | Listen to and buy @ CD Baby