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INTERVIEW: GREG UPCHURCH of THREE DOORS DOWN

Greg Upchurch is best known as the drummer for multi-platinum heavyweights 3 Doors Down for the past decade and a half. Prior to that he had a stint with Puddle of Mudd during their mega-successful debut album, Come Clean, days as well as hitting the road with the legendary Chris Cornell and getting his start with alternative pioneers Eleven. RockRevolt had a chance to chat with Greg about his past escapades as well as how he’s keeping busy during the pandemic which includes the release of his first solo single “Skin to Skin” in which Greg plays all the instruments and lays down the vocals as well.

RockRevolt: I appreciate you taking the time today to speak with RockRevolt Magazine. Hopefully you’re doing well with everything that’s going on in the world today.

Greg Upchurch: Well I’m safe and my family is healthy. That’s about all I can ask for at this time.

Exactly. Same sentiment here. I think it really makes you appreciate the important things in life, the real important things.

Obviously, a lot of jobs are being affected and things like that. It’s one thing to think about yourself, it’s another thing to think about your loved ones being sick. That’s the way I feel. It’s like if I am sick so be it, but if it’s my wife or my son or my mother. I’ve been thankful that I haven’t had that experience and everybody is healthy.

Absolutely. Greg, let’s start from the beginning and what got you into playing music.

Probably looking at the cover of Love Gun by Kiss record when I was about six years old. Just seeing those guys on there and then listening to that record just transfixed me. As far as the drums go, I didn’t intentionally pick the drums I just gravitated towards that. They picked me almost, I feel like, but rhythm in general and then I just couldn’t get enough of it. Then I found Queen, and then I found Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Aerosmith later in life. I was a product of the 80s. So we had the metal phase when I was growing up.

You and me both.

And so I grew up with guitars, bass. My room was covered with posters, back in school I had long hair, jean jacket, the Metallica patch, the whole deal, I just lived it. I’m from a little bitty town in Oklahoma with one red light. I graduated with about 40-50 kids. About 1000-1500 people there and wanting to be a rock star. I was like, how do I do that? It took me a couple years after high school, I moved to Los Angeles. I’m like if I’m going to do this, I am going to go for it. And I knew one person then I moved to an apartment with two of the dudes. It was a two-bedroom setup on an air mattress for about a year and a half.

That sounds like the typical beginnings of a rock star life, right?

That’s the blueprint. There’s no college you go to — there’s no education — It’s all by chance. And my thing is you got to go where your best chances are, and it was really New York or LA. That was how I saw it, and coming from Oklahoma, I’m right in the middle. I knew somebody that was in LA and the weather was better and I like Mexican food so I was like, ‘that’s it, I will do that one’.

I love the philosophy behind it.

Yes, there really was.

There’s going to be a lot of Mexican food so that settles it.

But also at that time, you got to remember, Nirvana was just hitting us, Seattle’s up there so I could also go there. So I’m like just stick to the west coast, I thought, and I was about 22 years old. I was pretty young.

So, going from there, Greg, getting into your professional career, was Eleven the start of that professional career and how did that opportunity come about?

Crazy enough, this the sounds like a BS story, but right before I moved to LA, I saw — remember Beavis and Butthead?

Yes.

I saw Eleven on Beavis and Butthead and he was there ragging on them. I was like, if they rag on them they must be something. I thought the song was pretty cool. Later that night there was a show called 120 minutes, I used to play like on Sunday night. I was watching it and then that video came on, this time about Beavis and Butthead. So I was listening to the song, I really dug it, it was “Reach Out.” And I remember on my way to LA, I stopped off at a Sound Warehouse music store I bought that and Elvis Costello, Brutal Youth on cassette. And I had those two cassettes back in the day and I drove to LA from Oklahoma, like two days listening to nothing but those two cassettes. And I listened from front to back. When you’re in a car driving cross country, that’s what you did. Then I got a job working at Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. I was working in there, then Alain (Johannes) and Natasha (Shneider) from Eleven came in there and I recognized them from the cassette. I was like, ‘ You are Eleven.’ I really went to them and started helping out in the drum department. I told them how big of a fan I was and they said that their drummer left. I was like, ‘Really? I know all your stuff’. So I gave them my number. I never thought they would call. Who finds a drummer at the Guitar Center? Nobody. And especially a dude from Oklahoma, I look like a country ass. I still had my accent. She’s from Moscow, and he’s from Chile. He grew up in Hollywood. He grew up with Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and all those guys. Pretty much the Red Hot Chili Peppers was formed around him starting another band. That’s a whole other story. But anyway, I got the audition. I went down there and I knew this stuff, frontwards and backwards, and I got the gig. And then the next thing you know, we’re on tour with Soundgarden.

That’s amazing.

That all happened in about a year’s time — a year and a half from me moving from Oklahoma.

Moving fast.

That was the start of it. Of course, we were a struggling band. Eleven was an extremely respected band to all the musicians like Soundgarden andPearl Jam. When we toured Soundgarden, they paid for us to go, they paid all our airfare, hotel, car, because they were fans of the band, we weren’t even on the label.

That’s unreal.

When we did get signed to a label, we had one of those things where you got signed and then all of a sudden Interscope bought out that record company, so our record was gone. It never got worked. But then, the Chris Cornell thing came along.

I was going to say next in that whole chronology of how things worked for you is, obviously you’re connected with Chris Cornell at this point along with Alain and Natasha from Eleven were working with Chris. So obviously that must have been the introduction for you in getting the gig with Chris. Is that how it worked?

Basically he hired the band Eleven to be his touring band. He wrote the record and recorded it at Alain and Natasha’s house in Hollywood. And that’s where I did the drums. When we went on tour, he basically hired the band so, I was the drummer. We had a friend of ours to play bass becauseEleven never had a bass guitarist. Natasha played the bass with her left hand and the high parts of the order with her right. She was insanely talented. After that euphoria morning tour, we were all under the impression that we were going to basically form a band. We were going to change the name. We didn’t have a name but Chris is going to be the lead singer, I was going to be the drummer, and it was going to be basically that same band. But he wanted to do a band thing. That was going to happen and all of a sudden, Audio Slave happened. And we found out later, we were like oh no. That was a big blow. Think about it, you know, I’m a musician, and I’m 25 years old at this time, and I’m going to be in a band with Chris Cornell and all of a sudden to have that taken from you.

Crushing.

It was. After that, we did some touring with Queens of the Stone Age; opening up for them and the Rated R record came out. And then I ended up going to Puddle of Mudd, because I went to that audition, and then Alan and Natasha went to Queens of the Stone Age.

So, just to back up really quick was Chris Cornell. Is there any memory with Chris that really kind of stands out? One thing about him, obviously now that he is not with us?

One of the coolest things was we started rehearsals for that at a little studio in North Hollywood — in the valley. I worked right next to the studio. It’s in the same building. We did both finish wallpaper, like there’s handmade wallpaper for nice upscale hotels and stuff. But it was my job, before Chris Cornell’s. I wasn’t buying a house or anything. I had to have a job, struggling bands. So, I am painting wallpaper and stuff. But we used to take breaks and we’d go outside we play tape ball, and we make the little masking tape baseballs. Not quite as big as a baseball but we’d get a bunch of paper, old wallpaper and we’d tape mask is up and then we had a dowel rod for our bat and we play baseball. If you hit it at a certain place, that’s where your runner went. If it was a ground ball, it’s single if it gets past pitcher. We had our own rules, needless to say. But it was only three of us working; a pitcher, batter and an outfielder. Well, when we started rehearsal Chris showed up and he pulled up in his rental car. It was a Porsche or something crazy, and he got out and he’s looking like Chris Cornell; black leather jacket, tight cool jeans, boots, the full on hair. It’s Chris Cornell. And he walked up and he’s like, I want to take a swing. Like, okay. And we were all covered in paint in our paint clothes, and he walks out there and he is batting. Danny, the guy that I was working with, he pitched to him and he threw it to him, and I saw the first pitch he cranked that thing, probably farther than anybody had hit it. We’d been playing that thing for like, two years out there on break at work. And he comes up there and first pitch and crushes it and he just dropped the bat and turn around walked out and gave it a flip, the dowel rod.

Not only is he like the cool rock star arriving and all that, but then he whacks it and just dropped it like it’s nothing.

Well, I have came to find out later, he was offered scholarships in baseball.

Really?

Yes. He was a pretty good baseball player.

That’s a cool story. I like that. The introduction to the band with Chris right?

That’s right.

Nice. Then, of course, from there, you land the Puddle of Mudd gig. I guess at that point, did you feel like you found a home or was it just another stop?

Well, I wasn’t sure, I was hoping I’d find a home, because it’s different. I wasn’t in a band that got some record deals. They had a record deal. They were a band. I’m a musician trying to get in a band in a town I don’t know a lot of people or start a band. It just works for me as a drummer, you can go from gig to gig. A singer can’t do that obviously, but drummers, half the people don’t even know who plays drums for certain bands unless you’re a drummer. Well, when I audition for Puddle of Mudd, knowing what I knew, at that point, I knew they were going to put money in this band. They’re going to promote the shit out of this band. I could just tell. I saw. I mean, you don’t go to an audition and they bring you back for another audition in front of management. People flying from New York to watch you jam in an audition. I’m like this band is going to blow up. I knew it and I could see it. And obviously that made me really want that gig. It doesn’t matter how good the band is, it does not if the money is not behind it, it’s going to have a hard time. It’s just the way it was, especially in that day. There wasn’t any internet at that point. I don’t think there was YouTube or anything like that. So people were still buying records and albums. And at that point, I mean, when that band came out, we were selling close to 100,000 a week.

When Puddle of Mudd came on, they were one of my favorite bands. I’m still a big fan. In fact, we probably met Greg. You and I, I was there with my, at the time future wife, we saw you guys. I think was 2004, Life on Display tour.

That would have been me.

And you guys were doing the meet and greets in Providence, Rhode Island. So I bought the album a second for the meet and greet.

Meaning we have met.

I’m actually interviewing Wes (Scantlin, Puddle of Mudd lead singer) later today.

Good. Tell him I said hello.

I absolutely will. Speaking of Wes, obviously, he’s had some well publicized meltdowns. Did you witness this or did you see it coming? Was it part of the reason why you left the band?

In fairness, I was a mess too a little bit. Wes was crazy. We all were. We toured with Three Doors Down and they had their family and kids out with them and I had just gotten married, and I wanted to have a family and wanted to have kids and the way Puddle of Mudd was going, it had nothing to do with music or records, knowing how I’ve been to this point, it wasn’t like I’ve been loyal, I’m in this band, it’s us against the world. It has never been like that for me. For me, it’s just about me. Can I keep working as a drummer? That’s my main goal. How long can I continue to do this? Because my career is, how do I play this game? And then, Three Doors Down came to me, it was like, ‘Those guys, have a catalog and they can tour pretty much as long as they want’. Of course, once I got in the band, I realized these guys are just as bad drug addicts as we were. But still, nonetheless, that’s where it took me. That was where my decision was. It just felt like the right decision at that point in time.

It feels like you’ve probably found the home now though. I mean, you’ve been with Three Doors Down for 15 years right?

It’s been a long time and in that time, we’ve really gone through a lot together. We’ve all been messed up. Different ones got sober at different times. We’ve had one that died. One of the guys is in prison for manslaughter. We’ve got our own Skynyrd story going. Now the remaining, as far is Brad, Chris and me, we all are sober. So that’s the only way we continue to do this. Because we were about to go back out again, and I could not wait. Because I haven’t played a show since September 7th. We were just about to go to Europe in June.

And then here we go with all this.

Yes, that’s what led me to doing this song.

youtube

Obviously, as you said all tours are halted, everything’s halted, everyone’s in quarantine and now you’re sitting around in quarantine and decide to put out a single related to the pandemic, ‘Skin to Skin’ and let me tell you, great song I was really impressed. You are showing off some major skills, just how it’s being received on YouTube. I see no thumbs down; I see nothing but thumbs up. On YouTube, in this day and age to have something like that is unprecedented.

I don’t think anybody out there hates me. (laughs)

You have flown under the radar in that respect, right?

Right. It’s funny like when I was in Puddle of Mudd, we were on tour with Korn and there was a guy for about four shows in a row, he was in the front row all through Wisconsin and Michigan and he just went to the front row and our whole set, he had his middle finger up at Wesley and stood there the entire show with his arm straight out. And then Wesley would actually talk about him. Then at the third show he won tickets to a meet and greet to come tell us how much he hated us. Except he went to me, he goes, but you’re cool, he pointed at me. And I was like, ‘see even that dude’. I don’t have anybody that hates me yet. But this will change. It’s hard to hate on somebody you don’t have no clue about.

So you are sitting there and you’re like, you know what, let me be creative because that’s what I do and I’m sure you surprised a ton of people, playing bass, guitar, singing you’re playing the drum of course. Impressive. How did that come together?

I’m the only one that can do it. Everybody’s in their homes. When I did this, this is right when really locked down started. The engineer lives in my house, he rents a room in my basement. He is Marshall Bastian. And he’s an engineer there but he’s also like a monitor engineer that works for Craig Morgan country singer. And obviously, he’s not working there so he’s here in the basement. So we figured, he’s the one who came up with the idea about writing something about it because I was just bummed out about it because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was also in the process of trying to open up a coffee shop and I was going to be doing this tour, and this changed everything. So I just wrote a song about it. So I did and then I wrote it so fast. And I was like, ‘I’m done. I wish I could track it’. He goes, ‘I can record you, you can try playing the guitar’. And I’m like, ‘Okay’, and then I tried to play the guitar, to play the bass, play the drums and I never sang before so it’s just that I think I can see because I’m singing it when I was writing it. And so I sang it a couple times through and I didn’t sound too bad. I was just shocked that I was able to not hate my voice as much.

I was going ask about the production. Now obviously, you’ve answered my question the engineer living there as well because the production is very well done. And everything just came together so well. At this point, obviously what’s next? Are we talking solo album here, are the creative juices flowing or was it just a one-time deal?

No, I’ve already got a couple songs actually recorded. It just inspired me to do this because obviously, Marshal’s still here in the house and I’m like, ‘Let’s just do another song’. I have just been writing and I’ve never really done this before. I’ve always been writing songs but only for me really, I have written a couple songs for three doors but just because those songs sound like that might be a Three Doors Down kind of song. Normally I don’t write for anything other than me. I don’t write like would this be a good a Halestorm song? Would this be a good Soundgarden? I don’t really go with the intention of finding a direction for it. Sometimes I write a song and it sounds like James Taylor or something that. Sometimes it sounds like Pantera or not quite that good. Maybe we will make it there, how about that? I just don’t know what’s going to come out sometimes and what words are going to come out but with writing the “Skin to Skin” song, I had a direction for that. How do I feel like sonically? That’s why that half step is just a just one note that drones and that was my whole thing was just like, that sort of thing like happen in my life just like droning right now. Doesn’t it seem like we’re just hovering?

That’s a great way of putting it too, just kind of hovering in space waiting. I got to say it’s an extremely catchy song. It’s got a good hook to it. It’s a great song. And hopefully we’ll be hearing more soon from you put it out.

Me too.

Do you have a stash of songs you are like maybe I’ll bring these to light now and it seems like a good time to do it?

I got a couple songs that I did. I got one song, it’s almost country I wrote about Oklahoma. It’s just about growing up on Lake Texoma. I actually wrote down and I tried to give it to Blake Shelton, because he built a house right by my mama’s house. And I was like, maybe I can get to him somehow and of course it’s like Gwen Stefani and then being in that little town, best way to do this is to give all my friends a copy of it on a CD and if they bump into him in a gas station, hand it to him. It’s funny cause, he leaves everywhere in a helicopter around there. It’s just weird in this little town.

There goes Blake.

Which is also strange now it’s like, you will see Gwen Stefani in town, in this little town. It’s a lake town, it’s a resort kind of area. That’s where I grew up. I wrote a song about that lake. I was like, I might bring that out. I don’t know, it’s a little country but like I said, I don’t care what, I’m not trying to do this to sell or to like get a label. This is what I write. Maybe other people will like this. It’s fun.

There’s no pressure, right?

Right. My thing is I’d love for radio to play some stuff. I’ve got a couple of stations playing it, the more I can get it out there, the better. That’s obviously the end goal for me, I’d say obviously, the more people I can attract to like it, the better.

Absolutely. As this thing gains steam, obviously, it’ll get you out there more as far as your solo stuff.

People are starting to know who I am, which is always good. And even if I’m trying to open up a coffee shop, it’s good for that too.

We have a lot of similarities, Greg, our background, the 80s, all that stuff, things like that. But I always wanted to open a coffee shop. I was thinking the coast of Italy somewhere. That would be great. But that’s awesome. Certainly looking forward to hearing more from you on your solo stuff. Obviously, I’ll keep an eye out for that and looking forward to it. Are you collaborating with Three Doors Down right now? Are you guys talking and doing some Zoom meetings?

We’ve done a couple of Zoom songwriting session. But, we’re still trying to figure out what’s going on. That’s why I was like, with nobody knowing anything, that’s why I’m doing this. I’m a musician. How am I going to play music? Well, I can only do this by myself right now. So I might as well. I can’t even jam with a guitar player right now, well I can but remotely.

Not the same.

It’s a lot different.

No, that’s true. So I’ll wrap things up here, Greg. But a couple really quick questions obviously with Three Doors Down. They obviously are very vocal, at least Brad is with his political views. Do you share those views or is that just Brad’s thing? It seems to come from Three Doors Down.

My thing is, I don’t talk about it at all. I think everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Do I think that our president can be a dumb ass? Yes, of course. But that’s why a lot of people like him.

He speaks his mind.

Right. And I get it. I see both sides of it to me, but I just hate it on social media and just the news. I can’t watch the news. I couldn’t watch news before, now came the Coronavirus. I don’t know if it’s a boiling point, but it’s just…

It’s overdone.

I don’t like to put my political views out there. First of all, I’m not going to change anybody’s mind, nobody’s really going to change my mind. It’s kind of pointless. And it’s not going to create some bonding thing, it will only create division. I feel that way about religious views too. It’s not really a debatable subject.

I agree. A couple quick ones here, greatest live show you have attended.

Texas Jam 1987.

Who played?

It was Boston, Aerosmith and some others.

Very cool. That’s a great show right there. How about the greatest show that you’ve played? Is there one that stands out that blows your mind still?

The inauguration was pretty trippy, I guess just for the fact like, regardless of what your political beliefs are, playing in the Lincoln Memorial like that at that area looking out the water and it was where Martin Luther King gave his speech. I’m right, that same place performing a show and the President of the United States has just now been elected and inaugurated a few hours ago, is sitting right there. That’s 40 feet from me. That’s crazy. If you think about it, regardless if you like Trump or not, it’s about what I’m actually doing. That’s what is going through my head. This is a big deal. He just was inaugurated president and the first thing he’s really doing is sitting right there in this bulletproof case, him and family; him, Melania, Ivanka all of them. They are all right there. Just on the stage. It was crazy.

I think you’re right, whether it’s Trump or Obama or whoever, to be sitting there playing like that would be very surreal I’m sure. Here is a kid from a small town Oklahoma, you’re playing from the president. That’s pretty cool.

It’s hard to top that one as far as cool gigs.

RockRevolt: That’s pretty amazing. When can we expect the next single coming out? Can we expect something soon?

I think what I might do right now, of course, everything’s fluid in the world. But right now, my plan is just to maybe release a little EP like five-six songs. And then instead of doing a bunch of different singles, just the quarantine sessions, basically. Just like this is what I did during this quarantine and just put it all out there like that. Because like I said, nothing else. I’m getting my name out there to some people that don’t know who I am now and so like I said, just gets a couple of ears here and there, you never know.

Exactly. I think you’re on the right path Greg. Like I said, “Skin to Skin,” great song, glad to see you out there doing that and taking advantage of this time. Certainly best of luck with all that stuff. Are there any other projects or anything you want to mention before we wrap up here or?

No, this one is kind of keeping me busy right now. I don’t have anything to promote other than this. I don’t know of any shows or most of our stuff has been awash as everyone’s really. So, no. just promoting this is. This is it. I got my Facebook page. And then and I just started Instagram. But that’s all I have to promote.

Well, that and the future coffee shop coming, right?

The quarantine sessions coming up, hopefully we will be done shortly and the Greg’s Dancing Goat is going to be the name of my coffee shop.

What’s that, Greg’s Dancing Goat?

Yes, Greg’s Dancing Goat. Well, the thing is I like that name because my favorite coffee place is the Flying Goat which is in Northern California. And a friend of mine said dancing goat because I want to have vinyl records in there, so people can put on records and go direct to collections. So, I want to put all my gold records and stuff in there. I got a bunch of cool stuff that people can look through and this is my home town so I am happy they can see this. And so I like the named dancing goat and then so I was like is there another one? Well, there was one was and it was in England and the address was on Beverly Road and Kingston United Kingdom and my mom’s Beverly, that’s the name of the building because I own the building and it’s in Kingston, Oklahoma. So like that’s the name. That has to be the name. So I put my name on it instead of just any trademark or copyright issues or whatever. I just put my name on it and so we got Greg’s Dancing Goat. I had that idea then they legalized medical marijuana and the only dispensary in town opened up right next door. I’m like, tell me that that doesn’t sound like a successful business idea. A coffee shop and pastries, music.

It’s just like Amsterdam.

Exactly. Then you go put on any record you like. I want to have a collection of cool old records from Zeppelin to Ray Charles to Willie Nelson to whoever.

That’s awesome I love it. Well, I tell you when I get out that way, I’ll be sure to stop by for sure and check it out once its launched.

Maybe Gwen Steffani and Blake will be in there having a cup of coffee.

Exactly. That would be pretty cool. For sure. It sounds like things are going as good as it could be for you, Greg, like I said best of luck with all your solo material.

Thank you.

As well as your career as it continues with Three Doors Down and the coffee shop, all that stuff. And it was really great speaking with you. I appreciate the time and great conversation. Thank you.

Thank you, Brett. Thank you for having me.

Absolutely. You take care of stay safe, keep the family safe. And hopefully, we’ll get through this and we’ll see Three Doors Down on tour here sometime in the not too distant future.

I hope so. I’ll see you soon, hopefully. But thank you very much. I appreciate that.

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INTERVIEW: GREG UPCHURCH of THREE DOORS DOWN was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

#3 doors down #Chris Cornell #Greg Upchurch #Puddle of Mudd #Skin to Skin

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