Greg Laswell

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Greg Laswell
Born April 26, 1974 (1974-04-26) (age 35)
Long Beach, California
Origin San Diego, California
Genres Singer-songwriter
Occupations Musician, songwriter, recording engineer, producer
Instruments Vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Years active 1998 – present
Labels Vanguard Records
Associated acts Shillglen
Website Official site

Greg Laswell is a musician, recording engineer, and producer from San Diego, California. To date, he has released three studio albums: Good Movie in 2003, Through Toledo in 2006, and Three Flights from Alto Nido in 2008, as well as several EPs and special singles. Many of his songs have been featured in films and television shows.

Contents

[edit] History

Greg Laswell was born in Long Beach, California in 1974.[1] He moved to San Diego and attended Point Loma Nazarene University starting in 1993.[2] From 1998 through the early aughts, Laswell was frontman for the San Diego-based band Shillglen. Members of the band included Chad Lansford (backing vocals and guitar), Justin Skeesuck (guitar), Michael de Neve (bass), Marcel de Neve (drums) and Matt Mintz (lead guitar).[3] The band released one album, titled Sometimes I Feel, in late 1999[4] and had some moderate success when the band was nominated for Best Alternative Album and Best Alternative Band at the San Diego Music Awards in 2000.[5] By mid 2001, Shillglen had over 400,000 downloads of their music through MP3.com. However, Shillglen quietly disbanded in October 2001 after Laswell suggested the band take a break. The band mutually agreed, but never regrouped.

Laswell released his first solo album Good Movie in 2003. It was self-funded and self-released on his own label All the Rest Records, and won the award for Best Local Recording by the San Diego Music Awards in 2004.[6] Following the album's success, Laswell signed to Vanguard Records, and then recorded and released his second studio album Through Toledo in July 2006. The album was written during Laswell's divorce from his wife; he stated: "It's basically a breakup album...but the biggest surprise has been when you resurface out of the dark little studio. On this tour, people have been coming up to me and telling me about what they've been going through. It has nothing to do with anything that I originally wrote about. So it's become a full circle, healing thing. I'm just lucky to be in the loop."[6]

In spring 2008, Laswell joined the European leg of the Hotel Cafe Tour, hosted by Tom McRae. He released an EP titled How the Day Sounds in March 2008, which proceeded his third studio album Three Flights from Alto Nido, released in July. Several songs from the album, including "Comes and Goes (In Waves)", "How the Day Sounds", and "And Then You", have been featured in the television shows Grey's Anatomy, True Blood, Castle, 90210, and Dollhouse. Laswell's single "Off I Go" was written specially for the season 5 finale of Grey's Anatomy. Laswell also contributed his cover of Cyndi Lauper's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to the soundtrack for both Confessions of a Shopaholic in early 2009; and to the soundtrack for "My Sister's Keeper", also in 2009.

In October 2009 Laswell released a new EP entitled covers featuring five cover songs. Laswell is also set to release a new full album in late 2009 or early 2010.[7]

He has toured with several artists over the years, including Ingrid Michaelson, Matt Costa, Sia, Tim O'Reagan of The Jayhawks and Amy Millan of Stars. Laswell has also scored several short films, including Longbranch: A Suburban Parable in 2001, and Deacon's Mondays in 2006.

[edit] Record labels

Vanguard Records Sony/ATV

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] EPs

  • Dead Air EP (2006)
    1. "Do What I Can"
    2. "Amazed"
    3. "Come Undone"
    4. "Sing, Theresa Says"
    5. "What a Day"
  • How the Day Sounds (March 11, 2008)
    1. "How the Day Sounds"
    2. "Salvation Dear"
    3. "Days Go On"
    4. "Embrace Me"
    5. "High and Low" (with Edison String Section)
    6. "What a Day" (2008 version)
  • Covers (October 6, 2009)
    1. "The Killing Moon"
    2. "In Spite of Me"
    3. "Take Everything"
    4. "Your Ghost"
    5. "This Woman's Work"

[edit] Singles

  • 2006: "What a Day" (iTunes single)
  • 2006: "Sing, Theresa Says" (iTunes single)
  • 2007: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (iTunes single)
  • 2008: "What a Day" (2008 version) (iTunes single)
  • 2009: "Off I Go" (iTunes single)

[edit] Song appearances in films and television shows

From Through Toledo
From Three Flights from Alto Nido
Non-album tracks

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] San Diego Music Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
2000 Shillglen Best Alternative Band Nominated
Sometimes I Feel Best Alternative Album Nominated
2004 Good Movie Best Local Recording Won
2006 Greg Laswell Best Alternative Artist Nominated
2007 Through Toledo Album of the Year Nominated
"Sing, Theresa Says" Song of the Year Won
2008 Greg Laswell Artist of the Year Nominated

[edit] References

  1. ^ Greg Laswell Photo Gallery
  2. ^ Making Loma Proud; March 6, 2008
  3. ^ ""Billboard - Biography - Shillglen". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?&pid=446383. 
  4. ^ ""Indie-Music.com - Shillglen~Sometimes I Feel". http://www.indie-music.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=586. 
  5. ^ ""Encyclocentral.com - Greg Laswell Famous Singer Writer And Producer". http://www.encyclocentral.com/15211-Greg_Laswell_Famous_Singer_Writer_And_Producer.html. 
  6. ^ a b Laswell does a nice balancing act | The San Diego-Union Tribune
  7. ^ UnravelTheMusic.com Interview July 24th 2009

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Laswell"