A new album from Gregg, who is playing a set of live gigs to share his songs, sounds and words and stories. In conversation with Alan Dearling.
‘Working-class psych-folk-rock’ is one of my thoughts about Gregg’s album. It starts off with an amazing musical punch. Round One to Gregg. An atmospheric first song, ‘All said and done’:
“I didn’t mean to do it…never meant it that way…when all’s said and done, you know, I never want to hurt you…never want to lose you.”
Complex, emotional, powerful. Gregg calls it ‘Space-folk’. And it’s quite a musical palette that Gregg has created. I’ve only listened through the album twice, but many of the ear-worms have embedded themselves. Gregg describes the background to the creative process behind the songs:
“Most of the songs were written in the 1990s during my busking years in London. When composing these songs, I had no specific genres in mind, but many of the subjects and themes were shaped by my experiences of city life, and hence the light and shade feel of the album”
That’s exactly how I feel about it. Gregg makes extensive use of repetition, drones, melody lines. His music reminds me of many artists, of festivals, Travellers, life on the roads often hard-travelled. In the body of the track, ‘New Horizons’, I am minded of the musical collective, Rinky Dink, who recorded their music and ditties employing bicycle, sun and wind. “Follow your heart, time to find, a time to go.”
I may not be right, could of course, be wrong, but I sensed the presence of musical shadows from the Incredible String Band, Dick Gaughan, Christy Moore and sound structures nudging in the direction of the ambient musical creations of Philip Glass and the pastoral whimsy of Virginia Astley. That’s especially true in the final track, ‘A woman like you’. ‘Sacred Space’ took me on a spacey, trippy, gentle instrumental journey. In a totally different excursion, ‘Charlie don’t mind’ is edgy, but psychedelic, a bit like a mirror image of the Lewis Carroll ode in the ‘Jabberwock’ song recorded many moons ago by Boeing Duveen and the Beautiful Soup. Yet, the words are very much grounded in the reality of the bar-room at the end of the day… “But Charlie don’t mind, he’s playing guitar again…When the hat goes round, he’ll be hammered at the bar again!”
‘Motherless Children’ possesses a tinkling character, with a macabre, slightly unsettling quality to it. Powerfully fraught with an undercurrent of tragedy. It also provides a fine example of Gregg’s originality, hypnotic, dream-like Eastern drones. Tribal repetition, bass-lines, ambient – and like many other tracks such as ‘Time to go’, it provides an inducement to sway and dance. A space-dance! I found myself rushing off to grab a couple of my jaw’s harps in order to join in and play along!
I think it’s a strong collection of songs and tunes. Over the years, I’ve met Gregg at festivals, especially when he’s performed with the band, Paradise 9. He’s very much a musician’s musician. The album is a fine tribute to the individual and collective ensemble playing. There’s lots going on. Gregg provides the vocals, various guitars, including glissando, clarinet and synths. There’s a lot of Martin Litmus in the album too. He is the producer, and also played bass, keyboards, synths, mellotron, guitars and drums. Then there’s Nick Pynn and Eugene McClouskey on violins on tracks like ‘One more touch’ and ‘Face in the crowd, Jeanette on backing vocals, along with Tyrone Thomas from Paradise 9 on lead and slide guitars.
Impressive! I will ask Gregg a bit more about his life (or lives) and his music…
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Alan: Thanks for your time, Gregg, and best of everythings with the album. I notice you now live in Brighton and your album launch is taking place in Hove. I was born close by in Shoreham and spent my first seven or eight years in the shadow of the docks and stench of the power station in the harbour at Southwick! Tell me a bit about your life and travels or travails!
Gregg: I’ve actually been living around Brighton since 2005.
Alan: So, your early days were…
Gregg: I grew up in a small village near Aylesbury. At 18, I moved to the town, and my first incursion into music was promoting at a pub called the Britannia, where myself and my flatmate Mick ‘Smiffy’ Smith would put on local bands. We put on bands like Marillion and Solstice. I then started playing in a few bands in Aylesbury, with the last band there, The Presence, opening for Marillion and Ozric Tentacles in the ‘80s.
Alan: I think I first saw you with some of the old Stonehenge bands in the late ‘80s or in the ‘90s when I worked at and was involved with a lot of the Traveller and Road protest events.
Gregg: I relocated to London in 1987, and again played in a couple of bands before starting a band called Image Wot Image? The band came into existence in 1994 after I decided to busk the subways of Hammersmith and Notting Hill, and was started with fellow busker Jeanette Murphy. Jeanette also guests on the new album.
We went out playing songs from us both of us, and a couple of co-written songs. Sadly the band folded, and after a while in 1997 I went on to form a couple of new bands, being Dreamfield, with Poppy Gonzalez (Mojave 3/Sing Sing). The band was a kind of alternative indie, trip hop affair and musically was an intriguing journey for me and we got to play in Estonia, and record in the States. We released a couple of Ep/singles, one single ‘Take Me With You’ getting to No.1 in the Indie download charts staying there for many weeks. The other band of course, was Paradise 9, which came out of playing songwriter open mic nights. It was at the ‘Acoustic Revolution’ in West London where the band formed, with Wayne Collyer on drums, Andy MacDonald on bass and Steve Teers on djembe and keyboards. Wayne left to travel to Australia and was replaced with Carl Sampson.
Alan: I sort of got to know you a bit through Paradise 9. We’ve decided that I must have shared pics with you guys from Kozfest or one of those psych fests.
Gregg: At the end of 2005, I relocated to Brighton. The band continued, and after a few years of line-up changes, Tyrone Thomas (from Alterative T.V) came in to add a punkier edge, Neil Matthars replaced Matt Szul on bass and Wayne rejoined in 2015 replacing Jonas Golland (who was recruited by The Tiger Lillies). This has been the same steady line-up for the last 10 years for Paradise 9.
Alan: Paradise 9 is a popular festi band, especially amongst the old-skool Travellers. How active have you been in recent times?
Gregg: Paradise 9 is still active, we’ve quite a busy year gigging and we just played HRH Prog in November. We will sadly though, be losing Tyrone Thomas, our lead guitarist, early next year. His decision to leave is an amicable one and we respect his decision to retire from the band after 20 years’ service. He plays his last gig with us at The Half Moon in Putney on Sunday 10th February 2026, where we’ll be opening for Here & Now. The band will then take some time out while we look into replacing him, and I’ll also be taking the solo album out on the road next year.
Alan: Can you explain the genesis of this solo album, please?
Gregg: I had been working a lot with Martin Litmus on the annual Real Music Club Judge Trev Thoms Memorial gigs in Brighton, where we would sort out the music that would feature in the Judge Trev band and Nik Turner Band. Nik would come down and perform these annual charity gigs, and we would put together a couple of scratch bands featuring Kev Ellis (Dubbal/Space Cadets), ex-Inner City Unit members, Dino Ferari and Nazar Ali Khan, P9’s Wayne Collyer, Tyrone Thomas, and the last few gigs, Richard Lanchester, ex-Hawkwind, Ron Tree and Damned keyboardist, Monty Oxymoron (to name a few!) and Miss Angel Flame. When Nik passed, we extended the memorial gigs dedicating them to Nik as well.
The solo album came out of these when I mentioned to Martin I had all these songs, that weren’t really Paradise 9 material, but good songs nonetheless. So Martin offered to record and produce the album and the rest as they say……
Alan: It certainly seems to be a very personal set of songs, and nicely rich and diverse in terms of styles and sounds…you’ve said that it echoes your life…
Gregg: All of these songs were written during the ‘90s throughout my 14 years of busking. So the songs are obviously shaped from those experiences of life in the city, some of which reflect the underbelly of city life. While they may sound autobiographical, I’d prefer to say they are emotional and social observations. They are a snapshot of life in the city in the ‘90s, but I think, themes that still resonate today.
Alan: In my little review, which you’ve read, I’ve suggested some possible musical influences and comparators…now tell me I’m completely wrong, and tell me who you have been influenced by, and loved!
Gregg: Well, I think you got the flavours right, and from stuff I’d listen to in my formative years. It was lovely that the Real Music Club put on Mike Heron from the Incredible String Band a few years ago. But I guess my real early influences were from bands like early Hawkwind, like Dave Brock’s finger-picking style on the early albums, Nik Turner’s sax playing and Robert Calvert’s lyricisms. But you also pick up styles from great artists as the years roll on, so the songs of Nick Drake, and I’d add The The’s Matt Johnson for social and political lyricisms. A bit of an odd mix I know! Also the many talented performers I’ve seen over the years from buskers, open mic nights, to big events. There’s just so many though and all aspiring and inspiring!
Alan: What are your plans for promoting the album? Are there a lot of live shows on the agenda?
Gregg: We are doing a CD launch gig on Sunday 7th December at the Brunswick pub in Hove, where I’m delighted to say that all the contributing guests on the album will be there: Nick Pynn and Mr Eugene on violins, Tyrone Thomas on guitar, Jeanette Murphy on backing vocals, myself and Martin Litmus on bass, keyboards and synths, and Wayne Collyer on drums and percussion.
Alan: You’ve told me that you’ve come through surgery and treatment for prostate cancer. I gather you are actively promoting PSA testing…
Gregg: Yes, I am a volunteer for PcaSO (Prostate Cancer Support Organisation) a charity that’s run by Pc survivors, based in the south. When I was diagnosed with the disease, a friend suggested I check this group out. The other thing I’d add, is that prior to having this test, I had absolutely NO symptoms. I was lucky that my GP suggested I have the test (a lot of GPs don’t, citing the test gives false positives). Had I not had the test, I might not be here now.
So I now urge all guys over 40 to go to their GPs and request a PSA blood test. And if they refuse, INSIST on having (over 50s can legally have this test and shouldn’t be refused).
Alan: Tell me a bit about your own recordings and bands you’ve worked with live and in the studio…
Gregg: I have got to play live, and record, with many of my influences and heroes over the last 20 years.
On moving down to Brighton at the end of 2005, I became friends with Judge Trev Thoms, who was the co-founder with Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit. So when they reformed, I was invited to play guest clarinet with them at their first reformed gig at Vikrams in Slough.
Alan: Like you I worked with, and helped promote, Judge Trev’s releases. Met up with him a few times around Portsmouth.
Gregg: I joined the committee of the Real Music Club, of which Trev was a co-founder, and again and in 2011 when the legendary International Times counter-culture journo-writer and singer Mick Farren returned from the States, relocating to Brighton, he teamed up with his The Deviants/Pink Fairies mates, drummer Russell Hunter, bassist Sandy Sanderson, guitarist Andy Colquhoun and along with RMC’s Slim Tim Slide and Jaki Windmill played a few shows as Mick Farren and The Last Men Standing.
Alan: Mick gave me an original, and rather legendary, signed Pink Fairies’ poster.
Gregg: Following those gigs, Nik Turner invited me to guest at several of his Space Ritual shows, and I was part of his Outriders of the Apocalypse at Alchemy Festival.
Alan: Many thanks, by the way, for putting some info and links together to your musical outputs.
- In 2011 and 2012 I got together, playing clarinet and synths with Cardinal Biggles (of That Legendary Wooden Lion) on Synths, and Steve Swindells (of The Hawklords/Hawkwind/DanMingo) on keyboards playing 2 gigs with the RMC as an ad-hoc jamming band, where the line ups included bassists Guy Pratt (Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets), Dale Davis (Amy Winehouse), Bruce Knapp (who played guitar on Steve Swindell’s first album, ‘Messages’) on guitar, Adam Bushell (Faithless) on drums. https://www.reverbnation.com/theplasticsturgeons?popup_bio=true
- In 2013, I guested on synth FX with Steffe Sharpstring’s Sentient which was recorded live at the RMC, and still available at the Planet Gong website: https://www.planetgong.co.uk/
- In 2018, I was invited to record some guitar and glissando guitar on Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock album ‘An Alien Heat’ on the track ‘To Steal A Space Traveller’, where all the tracks were recorded remotely. The tracks also had Blue Oyster Cult brothers Joe and Albert Bouchard, ex-Hawkwind Harvey Bainbridge and Adrian Shaw and Groundhogs’ Ken Pustelnik, with Michael Moorcock & Don Falcone. https://spiritsburning.bandcamp.com/album/an-alien-heat
- Presently, apart from Paradise 9, I am also playing with ambient dub combo Rubber Bus, who have just released their latest album ‘Welcome to Karmic City’. https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-karmic-city
- In The Glissando Guitar Orchestra we perform Daevid Allen’s ‘7 Drones’, and also have guested on clarinet with SpacedOgs and The Decadent Dayze (and guested on their last EP, ‘3, 6, 9, I’ve Got Time’: https://thedecadentdayze.bandcamp.com/album/3-6-9-ive-got-time
Alan: Where on-line can folk find links to the album, perhaps some other links and videos.
Gregg: I’ve now set up a new website: www.greggmckellamusic.com and also: https://greggmckella.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-underground-2
I’m presently working on a video of a track off the album, and here’s a promo video for the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5XsQSHhVZY
And some live stuff: https://youtu.be/lgpK22YUlII?si=6nTfbVRO5XXb7b3s
Alan: Cheers for your time. Best of luck with it. If I was you, I’d feel very pleased with what you’ve created. Nice One!
Gregg: Thank you Alan! And thanks for the interview. Hopefully we’ll catch up in a field again soon.
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