My Reading Interview With Randy Gregg Bass Player From Almost Queen

Intro: Hi everyone welcome to anther episode of WeWillBlogYou am your host Hannah & joining me today you all know him as the bass player for Queen tribute band Almost Queen the one & only Randy Gregg! Thanks for coming back on the show Randy its been a long time since you been on here.

Randy Gregg:Thanks for having me on Hannah, it’s a pleasure to be back!

Question 1: Randy how you are today?

Randy Gregg:I’m doing great, thank you. Every day is a good day if you choose happiness.

Question 2: Randy can you tell us alittle bit of yourself like a little friendly intro for our audience who doesn’t know you?

Randy Gregg: Sure, my name is Randy Gregg and I am the bass player for Almost Queen. I also do a lot of managerial work for the band, which has kept me very busy every week for the last 19 years. I was born in Queens, New York. My favorite band is Cheap Trick, my favorite color is purple and oh yeah, I love Star Wars.

Question 3: Randy when did you get into music & when did you started playing bass?

Randy Gregg: I got into music at a very early age. As the story goes, around the time I was in kindergarten, I had a neighbor who used to play records for me. One day he played Tie Your Mother Down by Queen. This apparently affected me as his response was “oh, you like this???“. He then played Bohemian Rhapsody and I was hooked. Queen wound up being the first band I ever fell in love with. After that came The Beatles followed by KISS. Although I was very enamored by music, theater was what I had my mind set on throughout elementary school. It wasn’t until sixth grade that I began to take a swing at music. I started out as a singer, but then moved to guitar in seventh grade. By the eighth grade, I just wanted to perform in a band and a friends band needed a bass player. After auditioning I decided that they weren’t right for me so I went back to guitar but by the 10th grade, I again felt the want to play in a band and lo and behold, the same band needed a bass player. This time I decided they were right for me. So it wasn’t really that I chose to play bass but more that bass chose me.

Question 4: Randy who were your music influencers?

Randy Gregg: After growing up on Queen and The Beatles, KISS was the band that I cut my teeth on learning to play bass. By that time it was early 80s and bands like Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe had caught my interest. As things became more serious, it was Led Zeppelin and then Jellyfish. But for me, it was always Cheap Trick. Always. Tom Petersson who invented the 12 string bass guitar had become my hero. I felt his style of playing an innovation was something that truly spoke to me. It’s still does to this day.

Question 5 : Randy before you were in Almost Queen, you were in Thin Lizzy could you tell us how you got to join Thin Lizzy & just your days in the band?

Randy Gregg: I knew their tour manager at the time, they happened to have needed a bass player and he put me forward. By his recommendation auditions were bypassed and I went straight into rehearsals with them. I had played with a few bands prior, but this was some of the first real big touring that I had done. It was an incredible honor to be in such a highly regarded and respected group. I had already been a fan of them for years, so I knew most of their music which made it easier for me. It was also an honor to play with such legends like Scott Gorham and Michael Lee on Drums, as well as John Sykes. On two of those tours we had opened for the mighty DEEP PURPLE. Not only was it incredible to finally be playing arenas and legendary theaters, such as the beacon theater in NYC but getting to know and tour with the guys in DEEP PURPLE was an absolute thrill. On one of the final shows of the tour, I was invited up on stage to perform Smoke On The Water with DEEP PURPLE. Fun times for sure.

Question 6: Randy were there other bands you were in to or just Thin Lizzy?

Randy Gregg: I had an original band called GARLIC. We had released two CDs, one in 1998 and one in 2000. GARLIC, fittingly enough, sounded like a mix between Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jellyfish. We did well on the local NYC scene but unfortunately, we couldn’t seem to take it any further. After that I had joined the reformed ANGEL, Casablanca recording artists who were originally out from 1975 to 1981. I had also grown up on this band and was a very easy fit. I performed with them on and off for about eight years. During those years I played a few shows with DEE SNIDER of TWISTED SISTER before joining THIN LIZZY. After the Lizzy tours I immediately joined ALMOST QUEEN. A few years later, I received a call to perform with a solo artist named LAUREN HARRIS who turned out to be the daughter of Steve Harris from IRON MAIDEN. We eventually became main support for a multiple IRON MAIDEN tours, which included two world tours on IRON MAIDEN’s very own airplane. These tours took me around the world and elsewhere playing venues I had only dreamed of like The Budokan in Tokyo, Japan and Earls Court in London, and of course, the first entry on my bucket list, Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Question 7: Randy could you tell us your journey on how you joined Almost Queen?

Randy Gregg:It was the very same tour manager of THIN LIZZY that knew a few of the guys in ALMOST QUEEN. Early on, the time came that they needed a bass player and he had also put me forward for that position. When I was asked if I would like to plan in a Queen tribute band, I thought I had come full circle. Here is the first band that made me fall in love with music and now I have the opportunity to play some of the greatest music ever written. My answer was an immediate yes! I had literally gotten off the plane from the final THIN LIZZY show and walked in to an ALMOST QUEEN rehearsal the next day. Growing up on this music, I had known it all too well, I was immediately able to perform 15 of the 20 songs on the set list that was given to me. After the second audition, I had gotten the part. It was a long road ahead trying to learn and absorb both the music as well as the vocals, all of these songs are very difficult to perform. I felt it took years to get settled into my role. Now, after 19 years, it has been such a blessing to perform these songs every weekend.

Question 8: Is there anything new with Almost Queen you want to share?

Randy Gregg: ALMOST QUEEN has been doing great, especially the last few years. We have been performing at such legendary venues and selling out most of them. We are all very proud of the effort we had put into this band. Most recently, our guitar player, Steve Leonard, wrote an incredible song and asked all of the members in ALMOST QUEEN to record the song with him. After years of playing Queen live, we are all very excited to get into the studio and perform an original song. If all goes well, we might see ALMOST QUEEN release a single. Fingers crossed!

End of interview intro: Thank you so much Randy for coming on the show today. Are there any last words you want to say to our audience?

Randy Gregg: Thank you so much for having me on WeWillBlogYou and remember, the force will be with you, always.

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