Benny Greb released his album 'Grebfruit 2' on July 21, 2017. He premiered it at the Meinl Drum Festival on July 1st. Never before at a drum festival have we seen a crowd so enthusiastic with an opening act. With Grebfruit 2, Benny has once again topped his creativity in his relentless effort to give it the best he can. In the interview videos below he states "I think I got better at producing," an understatement compared to the first 'Grebfruit', or even the 'Brass Band' album. The standards of this musician are the dream of many aspiring to even come near the level of Benny Greb.
Grebfuit 2 We encourage you to watch and learn from Benny in the videos below, talking about his musical ideas, how he shapes these ideas and the processes that ultimately result in a drummer's solo album that is on a new level once again. As Benny says: "It is all within the same style," but that style - which is one no drummer has shown before- covers a lot of musical grounds. Not only does he dare to take on The Beatles' Blackbird on vocals only, he also is not afraid to show his appreciation for Phil Collins with his unique and simply beautiful interpretation of Jesus he knows me, one of Genesis' classics.
Vinnie Colaiuta But Benny takes it a few steps further as well. He honors Vinnie Colaiuta with his version of I'm Tweeked / Attack of the 20 Lb. Pizza from Colaiuta's first and only solo album, released in 1994. As Benny puts it in the videos below: "This track was so important in my development as a drummer." With that, Benny pays tribute to one of his major influences, like Vinnie is for many. Yet, here is where the unique genius inspires the other: Benny does it differently, and not only on drums. He nails Vinnie's track with vocals. Benny is one of those few artists that have the gift of truly making things new, different and in the meantime make them sound like his own. And just when you think you get a grasp of what Benny is doing on 'Grebfruit 2', there is track #6 Tricky. Try to pick a pulse in the first few seconds of this song. Couscous is another example of how divers Benny's playing is - no holds barred.
Benny's talents are an encouragement for drummers to learn how to play more instruments or broaden their skills in music production. Just like other multi-instrumentalists like Dave Weckl and Chris Coleman playing bass guitar like no other, or 'Sput' Searight on virtually any other instrument, or Gary Husband who is a classical schooled piano player, they all developed in self-recording and -producing artists because nowadays this is how the music industry works. Benny has mastered all these skills from the first Grebfruit album to his dvd's 'The Language of Drumming' and 'The Art and Science of Groove'. 'Grebfruit 2' is another beautiful musical endeavor from the mind of Benny Greb that every drummer should have in his or her collection. If only because of the artwork on the album.
The videos Below are our three interview videos. We talked with Benny at the Meinl Drum Festival in Gutenstetten. With his incredible first live show of the 'Grebfruit 2' tracks, he set the tone for the day when opening the festival before Chris Coleman, Arthur Hnatek, Luke Holland, Aric Improta, Miguel Lamas, Anika Nilles, Alex Rudinger and drum and percussion duo drescHHeads (Simon Gattringer and Max Groesswang)
Benny already published videos of songs of 'Grebfruit 2'. These are added below, and Meinl will publish festival videos of Benny's performance on stage soon. When available, we will add them here as well.
Benny Greb - Grebfruit 2 interview - Part 1
Benny Greb - Grebfruit 2 interview - Part 2
Benny Greb - Grebfruit 2 interview - Part 3
How to order or listen Grebfruit 2 Like many artists, Benny appreciates ordering through his website. Of course you can listen to it on iTunes or Spotify, but that doesn't support the artist that well.
