The Greatness + Band in Redondo Beach, CA

SEEKING

ABOUT

What is the Greatness? The greatness is whatever you enjoy the most. For some, it is the female genitalia. For others it may be recreational use of mind altering substances such as alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana. For some weirdos, the greatness could be chilling at home watching reruns of Laguna Beach but for the three lads of the Greatness, a power trio from Redondo Beach California, the Greatness is the joy of making music.

The Greatness formed on 4/20/06, when JRo, Stephen Philp, and Shane Wood jammed for the first time in his cramped spare room beside his garage. The walls were lined with empty forties displayed as trophies, the floor was scattered with cigarette butts and porno mags, best of all the record collection was full of 70s hard rock bands Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Blue Cheer.

"There was also a Styx record, but nobodys perfect. Besides, we smoked the same cigarettes, and his house was almost as messy as my own," said guitarist/vocalist Philp, "it was a match made in hell by the devil himself."

They started by jamming on Zeppelin and Beatles tunes, before moving on to the original tunes that Philp and Jro had been writing for years together.
"We already had more than a hundred songs written, so really it comes down to choosing the best, and I think weve done that," said Jro.

While they insist that their influences are very broad, ranging from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Television and back, they tend to model themselves after the gang attack style of the Beatles. Both Philp and Jro write and sing songs. Both have a style that favors strong melodies and sharp lyricism, so the comparison is easy to make.

"Everybody is trying to be the fu*king Beatles, thats not what makes us stand out. What makes us stand out is that we admire their work, but we arent trying to duplicate it," says Wood behind a half-smoked Chesterfield, "Ive really never heard anything with quite the same sound as us."

The boys recently self recorded eight songs for their demo, and expect to record an LP professionally before the year is out. The LP is to be titled Ten Hits of the Greatness, as for now they plan on playing shows throughout the summer and getting their demo listened to by as many ears as possible.

any last words? "Come out to the shows, bros. We love to party, and theres a good time to be had for all."

Screen name:

th3b3nds

Member since:

Jun 19 2005

Active over 1 month ago

Level of commitment:

Very Committed

Years together:

1

Age:

years

Influences

The Beatles, The Beach Boys, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Fela Kuti, Robert Johnson, Blockhead, Willie Dixon, Fiona Apple, Devendra Banhart, Del, Bod Dylan, did i just say bod?, Aesop Rock, Animal Collective, Nirvana, The Pixies, Radiohead, Miles Davis, Bjork, Beethoven, Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith, young Elvis, Sage Francis, Jeff Buckley, John Lennon on Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, and parts of Mind Games, Paul McCartney on nothing he did post Beatles except Jenny Wren, George Harrison on All Things Must Pass, Zeppelin I-III, Ornette Coleman, The MC5, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, the furious Frank Sinatra, the White Stripes, the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath before they got gay, Chopin, the 22-20's are alright, the Shins are pretty cool, the Mars Volta get gayer every time I listen to them, Queens of the Stone Age, Refused, Thelonious Monk, the bird, the Byrds (not really, but I just thought of them), Sid Barret era Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols (why not?), Tom Jones (dude has some pipes), Sublime, R. Kelly (actually, I should put that under movies), The Strokes on Is this It?, Wolf Mother have a catchy single, and John McLaughlin.
Non musically, we're influenced by life (duh), girls, relationships, drugs, dependency, jealousy, happiness, sleep, dreams, sadness, the ocean, beer, and my skateboard.

Members Of Band

Stephen Philp - Lead guitar, Vocals
Shane Wood - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Jonnathan Romero - Bass, Rythym Guitar, Vocals

MUSIC