Greg Upchurch – Skin To Skin
Greg Upchurch has played drums on many albums that you probably have listened to, at some point. He is the drummer for the rock band 3 Doors Down, so if you’re a fan of the band, you know who he is. He’s also played with Chris Cornell and appeared on Cornell’s first solo album – Euphoria Morning. He played on Eleven’s Avantegardedog and was responsible for the stellar drumming on my personal favorite Puddle of Mudd record – Life On Display. The point is, he’s a pretty incredible drummer.
What you may not know is that Greg Upchurch is a multi-instrumentalist and has written a new song that also features him on vocals. In the true spirit of being isolated from the rest of the world during the COVID-19 crisis that is affecting people worldwide, he wrote and recorded – Skin To Skin. The song directly addresses what many people may be feeling during this time in history. The opening line:
I look outside and there’s no one left to play with me
Everybody’s locked inside their cage
Nowhere I can go, just be left alone
They tell me to relax and take it day by day
But everything around here’s changing
Life is getting so frustrating in every way
Greg is not alone in his thoughts. In that way – we are all together.
He explains how the song started to take formation. Upchurch tells Sound Vapors, “I thought of my son, who’s 14 and he’s locked inside. All his friends in our neighborhood and all of them are inside. There’s no school. They’re all right around here and they can’t see each other. So that’s where that first line came from. I look outside and there’s no one left to play with me. That’s what that line is and I was like, there you go and it just took off from there and I started writing. I started writing exactly how I felt when I went to the grocery store. Exactly how I felt when I had to go get gas and get the pump. I just wrote exactly how I was feeling with all of this stuff going on. How I’m scared, I’m frustrated. I’m hopeful. I’m trying to be positive. You know, you have to be positive. It was such a therapeutic thing for me to write this song.”
I think others will also find it therapeutic. I told Greg that I know his intention wasn’t trying to write a hit song but this thing is one of the most catchy, radio-ready tunes I’ve heard in a while. It really has all of the elements of a rock radio track. The intro that that is building toward something bigger. The verses that are head bobbing worthy that seamlessly go into a chorus that seems to widen the song even further.
I asked him if he initially had any plans for the song outside of just recording it. He says, “Oh, I never intended on releasing it. I never did. We finished it and I sent it to a couple of my friends I’ve got back in L.A. Most of them aren’t musicians. I usually don’t send my songs that I write. I’ve never done this. I’ve never sang before. All of my friends are like, “who’s singing?” I’m like, that’s me. “What??” But I tried to send it to my friends that aren’t musicians because those are the opinions I want. I want the people that are just listening to the song. Because when I listen to a song, I don’t listen to the lyrics. It’s like the 3 Doors Down songs. I don’t even know what they’re about. I just know how it goes.” It such a great point that Greg raises. Getting the opinion of people that could turn it off in ten seconds if it isn’t catchy enough, is important. Getting those people to listen to the whole thing goes a long way.
Since this was just Greg playing all of the instruments, this will be the easiest band write up ever. GREAT JOB. Everything down to his vocals are done perfectly. Drums (and that snare tone), Ampeg’d bass guitar and guitars that have the perfect rock tone for the song. His vocals really give the song another personality. I especially love the harmonies and double tracked verses. Everything just sits nicely in the mix.
We can thank his friend, Marshall, who engineered and mixed the song. It’s so professionally done. Greg says, “Marshall, he’s.. the kid, I’m telling you, he’s a bit of a wizard. He’s young but he knows (what he’s doing). He’s also the monitor engineer for a country artist Craig Morgan. I think he’s more excited about this than I am. The fact that he’s engineered and produced something all himself.. it was on the radio here in Nashville last night. They’re playing it in Mississippi, Oklahoma. He’s excited about that, it was just me and him. He’s the guy behind the.. it’s the first time he’s ever done that.” I was surprised to learn that this was the first song he’s done in this capacity and that’s he’s not doing more projects. Yet. I believe we’ll be hearing something else Marshall has worked on in the near future.
Prior to Greg recording and releasing this song, he was actually on track to open a coffee shop. The effect that the Coronavirus is having on people and businesses all across America has put these plans on hold. But it definitely sounds like something that is near and dear to his heart. He was going to open it inside of a building that his Mom left him. A place that would’ve house the many gold and platinum records Greg has received over the years. Grammy Award, memorabilia and a collection of vinyl records for people to listen to as they sip their coffee and chatted away. We started our conversation talking about that building and the plans to open the coffee shop. So at then end of it I re-visited the topic once again. I asked, once this thing is over, are you going to open that coffee shop? “Yeah, man. That’s still my goal. I was still trying to get financing for this thing. How awesome would it be if I was able to make enough money and buy an espresso machine with this song?”
If enough ears get on this song, it’ll happen. It’s just that damn catchy.
You can hear my entire conversation with Greg Upchurch by clicking on the link to your favorite place to listen to podcast or by watching the video version on YouTube.
-Tommy Marz
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