Greg Smith came into ‘being’ the 22nd November, some time ago. He first heard music at the age of three when his mom would play her Lebanese belly dance music collection. Later, he discovered the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix. Greg has always been attracted to ‘old school’ music. His favorite artists are Bob Marley, Sly and the family Stone, James Brown, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. On the opposite side of the spectrum, he has a deep appreciation for the ‘avant–garde’ sound esthetics of Hip Hop musicians and the role they have played in the development of Pop music.



Greg plays drums, but he also plays percussion, guitar, and piano. His multi-instrumental skills were useful in landing him gigs as an accompanist for modern dance workshops and classes, a scene in which he has also come into prominence as a composer. To date, he has written ten short pieces, and six evening-length works for companies in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, and Iceland.



Greg has been the drummer for the Shuffle Demons and Life On Mars in Canada, and for Mendoza Dance Parti, The Killing Family, and Olabola in Holland. All these bands have toured extensively nationally as well as internationally. All these band relied on him for his sensitive musicality and his tight, muscular, yet eclectic style of drumming.



Greg’s first band, The Shuffle Demons (1994-1997), and his last band, Olabola (2001-2004), both used sampling/sequencing in combination with live musicians on stage. His experiences with these bands led him to becoming a live laptop/sampler performer, as well as a producer/re-mixer for Olabola (Problems re-mix, 2003), and local Dutch artists such as Linda Bloemhart and Dez (Tender, 2004).



From there, it was an easy step to create his own electro–acoustic DubHop band, Coalition Of the Wicked (2004) and SoulWicked (2007) .



BGS Beats

BGS Beats = the productions of Being Greg Smith - composer/drummer



BGS Beats performs as a live band led by Greg Smith and hosted by various mcs/singers and guest musicians, playing jazz, funk, hiphop, broken beats, and African.



Currently touring Holland as backing band for the Fatty Boom Project, and performing/or creating original material with artists such as Sandra St Victor, Colonel Red, RockAttack Ten, Ro Krom, Shirma Rouse, Omar Ka, etc.