Greig Taylor heads for "The Roaring Twenties!"
The fact that singer Greig Taylor is often cited as one of Scotland’s hardest working musicians was borne out by the ex GT’s Boos Band and Brian Rawson Band front man having, pre-pandemic, not one but four significant projects on the musical go.
In 2018 The Greig Taylor Blues Combo put on an impressive Band Launch show at The DreadnoughtRock in Bathgate; that same year Taylor released his primarily stripped back covers album #Songbook1.
Greig Taylor, with his band, was also part of the Celtic Blues and Gospel Show performances at the 2018 Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival with Grammy nominated American singer Earl Thomas.
Those performances directly led to a vocal role as part of Thomas’s A Capella group on The Gospel According 17 date European tour.
Taylor also found time to put together a collaborative project with gifted slide player Iain Donald as The Blind Lemon Gators, resulting in 2019's excellent and rootsy Gatorville album.
Then the blues came calling in a completely different form, courtesy of the Corona Virus Pandemic.
With some light now at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel however it’s back to hard working business for Greig Taylor, starting with a newly filmed video to promote his vibrant interpretation of the Depeche Mode classic, 'Personal Jesus,' which first appeared on #Songbook1.
The video, featuring award-winning acrobatic dancer Miriam Wolanski, doubles as a taster for #Songbook1 (which never got the promotional reboot it was geared to receive in 2020 when the pandemic arose) and to confirm Greig Taylor is very much back for "the roaring twenties!" (as Taylor passionately describes the more hopeful future, as we recover and rebuild from lockdowns and isolations).
In 2018 The Greig Taylor Blues Combo put on an impressive Band Launch show at The DreadnoughtRock in Bathgate; that same year Taylor released his primarily stripped back covers album #Songbook1.
Greig Taylor, with his band, was also part of the Celtic Blues and Gospel Show performances at the 2018 Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival with Grammy nominated American singer Earl Thomas.
Those performances directly led to a vocal role as part of Thomas’s A Capella group on The Gospel According 17 date European tour.
Taylor also found time to put together a collaborative project with gifted slide player Iain Donald as The Blind Lemon Gators, resulting in 2019's excellent and rootsy Gatorville album.
Then the blues came calling in a completely different form, courtesy of the Corona Virus Pandemic.
With some light now at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel however it’s back to hard working business for Greig Taylor, starting with a newly filmed video to promote his vibrant interpretation of the Depeche Mode classic, 'Personal Jesus,' which first appeared on #Songbook1.
The video, featuring award-winning acrobatic dancer Miriam Wolanski, doubles as a taster for #Songbook1 (which never got the promotional reboot it was geared to receive in 2020 when the pandemic arose) and to confirm Greig Taylor is very much back for "the roaring twenties!" (as Taylor passionately describes the more hopeful future, as we recover and rebuild from lockdowns and isolations).
The 'Personal Jesus' video, filmed & produced by Greig Shankland at Viable Creative in Falkirk, was based on a concept Grieg Taylor and his right-hand music man, drummer Dave Cantwell, came up with, as Taylor explains:
"We had the idea of putting together something creative for our fans as well as promote the fact we are still trying to create new music by raising funds for our new album – I’m so thrilled Greig Shankland at Viable offered to be part of this collaborative process; he’s been amazing actually!
Personal Jesus was the perfect song as right now we are all looking to our own personal Jesus – whether that be religion, political preferences, leaders, iconic music or movie stars – to get through this pandemic and the recent lockdowns.
Music is a powerful and positive tool and my forthcoming solo album will be full of songs that represent the more positive aspects of where we are as a society, rather than looking at things negatively.
For musicians, doing something creative is spiritually very positive as we head to the roaring twenties!"
Adds Miriam Wolanski:
"Taking a musician’s idea of what they visualise and how that translates onto stage can be challenging but also a lot of fun! Personal Jesus evokes thoughts and feelings of faith and channels that faith into what or whomever you believe in – to me it embodies resilience and specifically, in this point in time, the connection of everyone who works together for that same vision.
We have had to dig deeper for that faith than ever before; despite all the odds we are still creating art."
To coincide with the release of the 'Personal Jesus' video Greig Taylor has launched a Go Fund Me campaign for his second solo album (and fifth studio album overall) The Awakening, for which most songs have now been written (by Taylor, guitarist Dave Stewart and keyboardist Gill Hunter).
Dave Cantwell (John Martyn, Big Dish), a core member of the ever-evolving Greig Taylor Blues Combo and part of The Blind Lemon Gators project, will feature on the album, as will Gill Hunter and noted 5-string bassist and ex Zal Cleminson’s Sin’Dogs member, Nelson McFarlane.
Guitarists Dave Stewart and Gregor McPhie (who will record the new record at his HQ Studios in Glasgow) feature on the video but for The Awakening Greig Taylor will be joined by Glasgow guitarist Brian McFie (Lola in Slacks, Big Dish, Marianne Faithful).
The singer has also made mention of featuring "some guest players on the record, with one eye on my blues future..."
On that bluesier note, Greig Taylor is also looking to write a more rock / blues-focused originals album, with announcements made in due course as to who will be joining Taylor for the next GT's Blues Combo record.
It is also the singer's desire to collaborate again with producer Wayne Proctor on upcoming projects, having worked with him so successfully on the Gatorville album.
Greig Taylor and his band also recently performed a Live For Strathcarron session for Central FM; the set included a performance of a brand new track, '3 Chords & The Truth.'
(Written by Greig Taylor & Dave Stewart, the song will also feature on The Awakening).
You can listen to the live version of the song (which has already received much airplay in the Netherlands and Cyprus), recorded at Viable Creative, here: https://soundcloud.com/greigtaylormusic/3-chords-the-truth
"We had the idea of putting together something creative for our fans as well as promote the fact we are still trying to create new music by raising funds for our new album – I’m so thrilled Greig Shankland at Viable offered to be part of this collaborative process; he’s been amazing actually!
Personal Jesus was the perfect song as right now we are all looking to our own personal Jesus – whether that be religion, political preferences, leaders, iconic music or movie stars – to get through this pandemic and the recent lockdowns.
Music is a powerful and positive tool and my forthcoming solo album will be full of songs that represent the more positive aspects of where we are as a society, rather than looking at things negatively.
For musicians, doing something creative is spiritually very positive as we head to the roaring twenties!"
Adds Miriam Wolanski:
"Taking a musician’s idea of what they visualise and how that translates onto stage can be challenging but also a lot of fun! Personal Jesus evokes thoughts and feelings of faith and channels that faith into what or whomever you believe in – to me it embodies resilience and specifically, in this point in time, the connection of everyone who works together for that same vision.
We have had to dig deeper for that faith than ever before; despite all the odds we are still creating art."
To coincide with the release of the 'Personal Jesus' video Greig Taylor has launched a Go Fund Me campaign for his second solo album (and fifth studio album overall) The Awakening, for which most songs have now been written (by Taylor, guitarist Dave Stewart and keyboardist Gill Hunter).
Dave Cantwell (John Martyn, Big Dish), a core member of the ever-evolving Greig Taylor Blues Combo and part of The Blind Lemon Gators project, will feature on the album, as will Gill Hunter and noted 5-string bassist and ex Zal Cleminson’s Sin’Dogs member, Nelson McFarlane.
Guitarists Dave Stewart and Gregor McPhie (who will record the new record at his HQ Studios in Glasgow) feature on the video but for The Awakening Greig Taylor will be joined by Glasgow guitarist Brian McFie (Lola in Slacks, Big Dish, Marianne Faithful).
The singer has also made mention of featuring "some guest players on the record, with one eye on my blues future..."
On that bluesier note, Greig Taylor is also looking to write a more rock / blues-focused originals album, with announcements made in due course as to who will be joining Taylor for the next GT's Blues Combo record.
It is also the singer's desire to collaborate again with producer Wayne Proctor on upcoming projects, having worked with him so successfully on the Gatorville album.
Greig Taylor and his band also recently performed a Live For Strathcarron session for Central FM; the set included a performance of a brand new track, '3 Chords & The Truth.'
(Written by Greig Taylor & Dave Stewart, the song will also feature on The Awakening).
You can listen to the live version of the song (which has already received much airplay in the Netherlands and Cyprus), recorded at Viable Creative, here: https://soundcloud.com/greigtaylormusic/3-chords-the-truth
Additionally, Greig Taylor recently announced a GT’s Blues Combo appearance at the Callander Jazz ‘n’ Blues Fest in October.
There will also shortly be an announcement about a full live band/ recorded studio show at Viable Creative with eight-piece band The Soul Non-Pareil, in aid of the Eilidh Brown Memorial, a charity set up to create a holiday home for children and families suffering from cancer.
To this point Taylor has already raised over £4000 for the charity during the pandemic, adding to the work he does throughout the year with his own charity The Dancing in the Dark Project, which aims to highlight the positive effects of music and dance with regard to mental health.
You can donate to the Go Fund Me campaign for The Awakening album here: https://gofund.me/678bc179
Greig Taylor official website: www.greigtmusic.com
Miriam Wolanski website: www.wolanskispolefitness.co.uk
Viable Creative: https://www.viablecreative.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/viablecreativescotland
There will also shortly be an announcement about a full live band/ recorded studio show at Viable Creative with eight-piece band The Soul Non-Pareil, in aid of the Eilidh Brown Memorial, a charity set up to create a holiday home for children and families suffering from cancer.
To this point Taylor has already raised over £4000 for the charity during the pandemic, adding to the work he does throughout the year with his own charity The Dancing in the Dark Project, which aims to highlight the positive effects of music and dance with regard to mental health.
You can donate to the Go Fund Me campaign for The Awakening album here: https://gofund.me/678bc179
Greig Taylor official website: www.greigtmusic.com
Miriam Wolanski website: www.wolanskispolefitness.co.uk
Viable Creative: https://www.viablecreative.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/viablecreativescotland