Greg Brice Trio live at Temperance, Leamington Spa, UK in November 2022
Band: Greg Brice (vocals & guitar), Jack Thomas (bass) & Aron Attwood (drums & backing vocals)
Blues guitarist Greg Brice, from Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, UK hosted his debut album Launch at Temperance, Leamington Spa on 3rd November 2022.
As he said before the event started “I am nervous but excited and will be better when I get behind the microphone and start playing and singing”
Greg was brought up in Weston-sub-Edge, Gloucestershire before moving to Shipston-on-Stour six years ago. He started to create the songs for this album entitled “Greg Brice”, while he was studying for a Zoology degree at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has continued to create new songs and adaptations of blues and roots classics during his time in Shipston-on-Stour, supported by his wife Steph and immediate family.
The Temperance café, which was opened by Adrian Gaines in 2019, has become a go to venue with its intimate atmosphere in its small but effective space with great lighting and audio, managed by James Knight of local blues band The Swaps.
Due to funding issues, Greg held a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised him £5000 for him to record this album. He was greatly assisted by the Stroud, Gloucester band, The Achievers who offered their recording studio The Sweet Shop as well as backing Greg with their rhythm section of Aron Attwood (drums) and Jack Thomas (bass), along with general support from the band’s Lead Singer and guitarist Steve Ferbrache.
The evening was broken up into two sections with Greg playing solo in the first section with a range of songs from established blues and roots artists. For the first group of songs, he played an acoustic guitar with the final songs of the section on an electric guitar.
The songs played included Windy and Warm (Chet Atkins), Bitter Lemon (Jeremy Spencer), Red River Blues (Henry Thomas), Lady Madonna (The Beatles) and Belly of the Blues on acoustic guitar and Why Won’t you Come, My Babe (Little
Walter), Hallelujah I Love Her So (Ray Charles) and Zydeco Shuffle (Sonny Landreth).
After a short break to get another drink and chat with the audience and band Greg came back on stage now with Aron Attwood on Drums and Jack Thomas on bass (both from the Stroud-based band The Achievers.
Then Greg with his excellent rhythm section then went and played all the songs from his new album, plus a few more that he had written, though not in the same order, as he played the acoustic versions first and then followed that with the songs with electric guitar.
The running order included, with Greg on Acoustic guitar was Tipitina (music by G Brice and lyrics by G Brice and H Carr), Together but Long Distance (Music and Lyrics by G Brice), Come On (Music and Lyrics by G Brice), My Life (Music G Brice and Lyric G Brice/G Carr) and on his electric guitar the session included Minus Twenty Grand (Music and Lyrics (G Brice) which was about his time at The University of Aberdeen and the student debts this incurred, Saturday Night (Music & Lyrics (G Brice), It’s All Over Now (Music and Lyrics G Brice) after his wife Steph and making sure he didn’t cheat on her. It finished with Brother (Music and Lyrics (G Brice). Then after tumultuous applause, he played a blues jam led by drummer Aron and supported by bassist Jack with Greg showing off his great blues guitar playing.
Then the audience stayed to chat and buy a copy of the album.
Thanks then went from Greg to Adrian Gaines (Temperance cafe owner) on hosting the album launch and James Knight for managing the sound, and the Carr family for help with lyrics.
Great stories are for everyone even when only written for just one person. If you try to write with a wide, general audience in mind, your story will sound fake and lack emotion. No one will be interested. Write for one person. If it’s genuine for the one, it’s genuine for the rest.
