Photo courtesy of Greg Koch
Milwaukee guitarist Greg Koch
Guitarist Greg Koch has 15 albums and numerous instructional books and videos to his credit. His signature gear includes an electric guitar made by Reverend, an amplifier made by Koch (no relation) and the Gristle King overdrive pedals. Known as a spokesperson for Fender Guitars and Fishman Transducers, his YouTube demonstration videos for Wildwood Guitars are equally humorous and informative. He released the album Acoustic Gristle Soup in 2019.
How has the lockdown affected your creativity, and do you have a routine or schedule for staying in practice or working on new material?
“I’ve been really fortunate that my family has been spared illness and I’ve had the opportunity to work from home, so I’ve been inspired creatively to both write new material, learn new techniques and just play a lot of music,” Koch says. He has been doing four live stream sessions a week with his son Dylan on drums. Two for Wildwood Guitars on Tuesday and Thursday at 3 p.m. and two for Fishman Transducers on Monday and Friday at 4 p.m.
“We basically just play and answer questions so to keep it fresh we are coming up with a bunch of new material as well as digging into the back catalog,” Koch said. “I’ve also been pretty active on Instagram, posting performance clips and doing some collaborating here and there. We did a video with Charlie Hunter via the Acapella app that turned out quite cool.”
He has also been conducting interviews, giving interviews and doing online workshops. Koch’s recent five-part interview with Austin, TX guitarist David Grissom is worth checking out.
Are you making plans for when you can resume playing in front of people again?
“Most of the performances and tours with the band have been cancelled or rescheduled but we do have a tour of the EU and the UK planned for late October/early November, he said. “It hasn’t been cancelled yet but I’m not optimistic. In the meantime, we are working on releasing new material. As soon as it seems to make sense, we’ll bring Toby (Hammond B3 organ player Toby Lee Marshall) down from Minnesota and do some live streams with him.”
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