Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Barton.
Hi Greg, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
All of my childhood friends seemingly started playing instruments around the same time. I wanted in on the fun, so I picked up the drums! I played in a rock band all throughout college during which I learned about crafting a show, writing and recording songs, building a fanbase, and the business side of things. I moved to Nashville in 2021 on a whim and fell in love with the music scene. Being around so many passionate and talented people really elevates and inspires you to create more. In 2022, I was shocked to hear about the death of Foo Fighter’s drummer Taylor Hawkins who was one of my first influences. I came up with the outlandish idea to livestream a play-through of their entire discography in one take as a tribute. I enjoy physical and mental challenges and this was a nice blend of the two. I made the mistake of telling my friends about the idea, which only further motivated me to actually do it. While all of this was going on, my grandmother was battling cancer. It felt like the perfect opportunity to raise money for a cause everyone could get behind. So we called the livestream “Foo Fighting Cancer”. On June 7th, I made it the full nine hours with a sprained wrist, a few hand spasms, a strained right calf, and four very sore limbs. I couldn’t be more satisfied with how everything turned out. The story got picked up nationally, and our campaign raised over sixteen thousand dollars for the Cancer Research Institute.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Facing and overcoming challenges is what makes life rewarding, and I’ve had more than my fair share of them. My senior year of college marked the beginning of a dark period in my life. In the span of a few months, I fought off a home intruder, was dead broke, moved to a city where I didn’t know anyone, dealt with a bad breakup, and developed chronic wrist pain which prevented me from practicing or even wanting to play music. I hated my job and struggled with crippling anxiety and depression. My life was imploding, but I never gave up.
When things were tough, I always tried to identify which one thing would help the most. I believe any problem can be solved if you break it into small enough pieces and figure out a way to gamify it. In this case, I needed to figure out how to take care of myself. I poured hours upon hours into reading about exercise, nutrition, sleep, nervous system regulation, emotional and spiritual health, and more. I found people who cared about these things too. Growing up, we trust the system has our best interests in mind. As an adult, I knew no one was coming to save me, and that I could only elevate my quality of life through hard work and education. Eventually, I completely eliminated my wrist pain and started playing again. I started to thrive. I can confidently say I am the healthiest I have ever been, and this is the only reason I was able to complete the nine hour drum-a-thon.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m mostly known for coming up with tasteful and interesting drum parts! I love writing and recording just as much as I love playing shows. Crafting the perfect drum part requires playing off of the rhythms and melodies of the other instruments, the mood of the song, and factoring in the opinions of the group. This, in turn, requires strong communication, open-mindedness, and countless hours of tinkering in the practice room. I love exploring how many different directions a song can be taken in. I’m currently involved in 3 acts here in Nashville, and I do some session work on the side. Would love to chat sometime at a show!
Horizon – https://www.instagram.com/iseemyhorizon/
Psybin – https://www.instagram.com/vibinpsybin/
Kesley Bou – https://www.instagram.com/kesleybou/
Some of my strengths are creative problem-solving, idea generation, and building order out of chaos. Prepping for this 9 hour livestream required a lot of that. I used AI to isolate the original drum tracks and studied each song like I was studying for an exam. In three hyper-focused months, I memorized every song, built a color-coded Ableton session with cues and notes for the difficult sections, taught myself how to play most of the songs left-handed to increase my stamina, ramped up my cardio through longer practice sessions, and analyzed every aspect of my technique and ergonomics. Over-preparing allowed me to relax and enjoy the session with confidence. Trusting and out-sourcing the video and audio production to my very talented friends helped me to stay laser-focused on the task at hand, and gave us all a sense of camaraderie.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Investing in your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being is the single most impactful investment you can make. If more people focused on this as a starting point, they would be more empowered in their art, their relationships, and in their own personal development. Secondly, surround yourself with people who have your best interests in mind and who elevate you. Life is too short to waste time on people who sap your energy or make you feel less than. Find people who challenge you to do, be, and create more. Aspire to be that person for others.
There were many times where I felt like giving up on the project completely. “It’s too weird or niche”, “It will cost too much”, “I waited too long for it to be relevant”, “What is the point of all this”. Ultimately, it became a passion project—Something I wanted to do just because it was difficult. I had no expectations for people to see or care about it at all and was more than humbled by the amount of money we raised. Expect to see an even more ambitious drum play-through sometime in the future, for another cause close to my heart. For the time being, I’m super excited about crafting a killer live show for my new project ‘Horizon’!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gbdrummin/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjYTfoc–EE&t=9002s
