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Greg picked up the Fender bass in 1970 and immediately knew it was the instrument for him. Then in '73 he heard Tower of Power live in Bloomington, IL. and stood in line for a Soul Vaccination! In '73 Greg attended U of I and traveled to Charleston twice a week to play (un-officially..) in the EIU jazz band. What a break! Not only did they (and still do) have an excellent jazz program, but concurrently, 8 of the jazz band members put together a band and called it Time Machine. Over the 1st year they went through several players, but after the dust settled, the 'band' consisted of Eddie Cole, Upshaw Briggs (who can also be heard on the soprano solo on "Call His Name") Tim Bales, Cliff Beaver, Lee Hager, Vince Ashby, Dennis Ostermann, and Deener. This band hit the road in the fall of '74 (minus Oster...) and remained together until '79. In early '75 Vince left the band and they were fortunate to be greeted by Jeff Worrell on guitar. They played the Florida, SC, NC, Georgia circuit mostly. Then in 1977 Bob Gable of the CC Riders joined the band for a period of 7 months. The band made a quantum leap with the mentoring of Bob. His influence remains to this day in Greg's individual playing style, and more than likely, rest of the band as well. "Prior to Bob joining the band, we had gone out to hear the CC Riders about 4 times. It was a humbling experience... If you were lucky enough to have heard them, you know exactly what I mean. They were the real deal for sure! I didn't hear them with Jaco in the band, but David Lee Watson was groovin' HARD, and immediately became one of my mentors. What a great player he was." Things were going well, however Time Machine always thought that LA was the big "pie in the sky" so in '78 they worked their way to the West Coast, only to find the support for 8 piece bands was shall we say, used up by local musicians. Being a road band, they traveled extensively from Seattle to San Diego. In '79, while in Hawaii, the band decided to pursue individual interests. Eddie Cole left to join his cousin, Natalie, and after a short while, became her musical director. Soon afterward, Jeff landed the guitar spot with her show. Yours truly landed in Seattle in September of that year to rejoin the remnants of Time Machine. We had a funky 6 pc band, but it was never to be the same again. Greg began working locally in Seattle over the next 10 years with many very good players, including Gordon Yancy (Freddy Pink), Paul Fessenden, Rob Usher, Robbie Jordan, Steve Swanson (who was a member of the CC Riders himself!) Gene LaConnan (sp?) Claude Autry, Amiel Wilson, Larry Washington, Mike Eades, Paul Purtle, Tim Breene (sp?), Rick Osborn, Charlie Lee, Freddie Lee, Paul Martinez, and more.
In 1986 Greg picked up job with a guitarist named Danny Baker. "The female vocalist and I liked each others style... and have been together ever since. My life partner and musical partner, Patti Deener is the vehicle which allows the rest of us to do what we love - groove hard and rock behind a superb vocalist and front person who takes total control of the audience!"
In addition to working with their band, Greg does much freelance work, most recently with various Central Illinois bands and musicians.
