February 19, 2004
Interview with Derry Grehan
What does it take to make it in the music industry? Well, that depends on who you ask! I caught up with Derry Grehan lead guitarist/song writer for Honeymoon Suite and asked him just that, along with some other questions about him and the band. Derry has a lot of advice for the aspiring musician and was kind enough to share some of it with us. Not only that, but Derry is actively looking to help young musicians with his writing skills and experience!
As I spoke with Derry during the interview it became very clear that this is a musician who knows the business and what has worked for him. He is serious about music and what it takes to make it. I am excited to see what the next couple of years brings for Honeymoon Suite and where Derry's other interests may lead ... maybe a future feature here on Inspiring Minds? We'll see, but for now be sure and check for news releases and tour dates on http://www.honeymoonsuite.com and http://www.derrygrehan.com!
We also find some big news concerning a project that he and Tommy Shaw are working on at this very moment! Read about it here, and be sure to watch Jack's official website www.JackBlades.net for more news!
Derry: Hello
Kathy: Good Morning Derry?
Kathy: Hi - It's Kathy Tozzo
Derry: Hello Kathy how are you?
Kathy: Good, how are you?
Derry: I'm Fine ...
Kathy: Wonderful! This still a good time?
Derry: Yeah this is fine ... I was expecting your call. It's a great time!
Kathy: OK great! Well I guess we'll get started then. Starting with question number one ... While you are well known as the guitarist from Honeymoon Suite, many may not know that you are the main song writer for the band. Would you take a moment in the beginning to just introduce yourself, Derry Grehan; the man behind the music?
Derry: Well I don't know what you want me to say; the question pretty much says it. That's me, I am the main songwriter of the band and I have been with the band for ... God about twenty years now. I am one of the original members of course, along with our singer Johnnie we are the original players. We're still out there playing and once in a while we're making a record.
Kathy: And you're still enjoying it!
Derry: Yeah, I've done this my whole life and I found out that there's just nothing else that I want to do. So I will do this as long as I can.
Kathy: Perfect! OK, The road from Honeymoon Suite to Dreamland has been one filled with a lot of great songs and hopefully great times, how has the latest album been received by the fans?
Derry: The last record is called Lemon Tongue. Actually we put out two records almost at the same time, one in America and Canada called Lemon Tongue and the release in Europe was called Dreamland. Very similar records, however, the one in Europe had some different songs on it, some older tracks and some out takes which made it real interesting. It was received well over in Europe considering that we hadn't put one out in years. So, our hardcore fans bought the record. Over in Canada it was well received as well as in the States. It wasn't a gold or a platinum album not like the old days, but we weren't expecting any thing like that. It was just nice to get something new out because if we're going to start this building process again we've got a long way to come back. The business has really changed from what it was before. At the same time we've sold a lot of them over our website and at live shows. There is still a core audience there, which is why we're still out playing and it's worth it to make records.
Kathy: Yes I was going to comment that I've heard from a few people who didn't know that you were still out there playing.
Derry: I know that's generally the comment, "I didn't know you guys were still together." Well that's not hard to believe because we have been away for a long time especially in the eyes of the people in the States ... Who haven't heard of the band in at least ten years. We mainly play in Canada so they wouldn't have heard anything. We have been playing through the whole time.
Kathy: I think part of that is just part of the music industry over here in the States.
Derry: Yeah, we have been out of sight, out of mind.
Kathy: Right ... And that's what I'm hoping this site will accomplish ... Get some of the people and some of the music over here seen and heard. Like you were saying ... It helps to get some word of mouth out there!
Derry: Absolutely! People have short memories in the music business and there has just been so much water under the bridge since the 80's and 90's ... There's a lot of artists out there from the 80's and 90's that are still touring or getting back together and you haven't got an idea that they are
Kathy: Well STYX has never stopped performing and has a very loyal following and being a die-hard Survivor fan I know that they are still together.
Derry: Yeah Survivor ... Well we're managed by the same people. I live near Chicago now, Survivor those guys live there and we're hooked up with the same guy; there's a real connection there with that band. I know those guys...
Kathy: We have been waiting forever for another album.
Derry: I was just talking with the guitar player Frankie a few weeks back and they are demoing ... They were in the studio just a couple of weeks ago recording new songs.
Kathy: That's fantastic!
Derry: They may do a new record soon.
Kathy: That is just awesome news! We have been waiting for so long.
Speaking of Canada and touring, what are your plans for touring with Honeymoon Suite? I have seen some tour dates for Eastern Canada, hopefully that will spread to the West anywhere else? Perhaps south of the border?
Derry: What usually happens in the last few years with us is we pretty much don't do a lot in the winter time. I don't want to be out there driving through the Rockies or the prairies in the middle of winter anymore. There are not a lot of shows out that make sense for me to leave home. Mostly we are out in the spring and the summer when all the fairs and festivals are there and bigger shows; which I enjoy more. Starting in the spring you should hopefully see us get a lot busier and that takes us right threw the summer up to September. We did just play in Vancouver on Saturday, Valentines Day. We flew out there for a great show. But that's it, a couple of more dates next month, but we will be touring mostly in Canada at this point. I am hoping to have more work in the States.
Kathy: I was going to say, I know there are a lot of festivals in the Mid-West.
Derry: There's tons! We are really trying to get our profile up or to find a promoter or an agent that can get us going down here.
Kathy: Let's hope for the best! Speaking of performing; the live show of Honeymoon Suite has always been awesome! The reviews show that ... A real crowd pleaser. What is the secret to a performance that the fans enjoy and you feel good about?
Derry: Well, the people who are paying to come to your show ... They've got the records ... They are the die-hard fans. They want to hear the music that they know; so you don't go out there and start playing a bunch of new stuff. We'll go out and play all the songs that people want to hear. If they're there to hear them I still enjoy playing them. They're my songs, so most of the show is all the hits songs that people know and we're going to put a few new ones in there that we feel are strong as well. So, you get a balanced show and every one goes away happy. We put a great band together and it's the best part of my day so I am not up there just sitting on a chair ... I'm enjoying myself. I wouldn't go out on the road if it was just something that I was just going threw the motions.
Kathy: What plans do you and the band have for future releases? You said that you may release a solo album is that still a consideration?
Derry: Yeah, I would love to do that. I have started writing a bit for that over the winter time, and it's just a matter of time for me to get enough songs together. I would love in the next couple of years to put my own record together and get it out there. As for a Honeymoon Suite album, that's always an option. I wouldn't say no but the situation has to be right. Whereby, John the singer and I would have to have enough time to write a bunch of songs ... Good songs and there would have to be some financing there or a label to make it possible for us to do a record. So, some things have to be in place, and I would do it.
Kathy: You have written most of the songs ever produced by Honeymoon Suite and have been very successful. When you are writing a new song do you start with a melody line, a lyric or how does the process typically flow for you?
Derry: Usually with me it comes from sitting around the guitar and messing around with a riff or getting out my drum machine and finding a groove that I think is really cool. I'll start jamming over it. It's usually the music first and then as that goes along I hear a melody to do over it, and from the melody some words pop into your head. It's usually just a bunch of mumbo jumbo at first but you start singing anything that comes into your head and sometimes those lead you to a word or a catch phrase that's really cool and you write the rest of the song around it. There will be other times where I have a great lyric and I will try to put it to music.
Kathy: So it could be either way but mostly starting with a riff ...
Derry: Well there's no rule for song writing. I don't think any songwriter will tell you that. For a songwriter the ideas come at the most odd times, melodies and lyrics pop into your head, the middle of the night or where ever, on an airplane. You have to try and remember them...
Kathy: Or have a little recorder with you ...
Derry: Always do!
Kathy: Speaking of songs ... Is there one song that you are particularly proud of that you can share a bit of the history with us? Where it came from and why it is so special to you? Myself, just hearing some of the songs off of Dreamland they seem very deep and very serious ...
Derry: Yeah, all the songs you write they're really little snippets in time ... Little bits of my history. They take me back to the place and time that I was when I wrote them. Some of those songs from Dreamland are from a not so great period in my life, and they reflect that. That's part of what song writing is. On the upside ... Say a song like "New Girl Now" which is our first hit: I wrote that back when I was in college, when I was quite young and I wrote it probably in about twenty minutes. I demoed it in college and put it away for a long time and that was a song I didn't think was really anything. When I got in Honeymoon Suite we started playing it, we demoed it and the rest is history. That's one of those songs I thought was nothing and it turned out to be a big hit. So, it's interesting, songs are weird like that.
Kathy: You are also involved in the production of the Honeymoon Suite albums and have encouraged aspiring musicians to send samples of their work, how is that going?
Derry: It's going good; I haven't actually got my website set up yet. I am just new to this. I have got to get things set up with email so people can link and get to me. They can get to me through the Honeymoon Suite website as I'm still working on mine where I can talk to people and get in touch with people. I have been working with some people, in the area ... I just moved down to the States about a year ago. There are some local artists in the town that I live in that I have been working with. Trying to do some writing and I have been going up to Chicago as well to jam with people and try and do some co-writing and that kind of thing. I am looking to produce but I haven't found a project yet that's going to work for me.
Kathy: It could be just around the corner ...
Derry: Yeah, those kind of things you never know, they just fall in your lap...
Kathy: What advice do you give to those individuals that are looking to break into the music industry?
Derry: Well, I wouldn't wish it on anybody ... (laughs). If you don't have passion you'll never survive because there is some great times but there's a hell of a lot more hard times and rejection associated with it. If you don't have thick skin, especially being a songwriter you'll never survive. So sometimes I wonder why I am still doing it, but something always brings me back to it. It requires a lot of dedication because it's not an easy road. You could spend ten years trying to make it and you still never make it and still end up getting a day job. So, you have to be prepared for that. I guess the people that do make it have to resign themselves to the fact that they are going to make it ... That's all there is to it.
Kathy: Never give up the hope or the dream!
Derry: Yeah, those people usually do make it. But you know ... What if you don't have the talent ... Unfortunately there's people that have all the desire but they're just not good enough. They're great people but they don't have what it takes. So at some point I guess you have to realize that and bow out gracefully. You do have to have talent ... You've got to be an amazing player or great singer or great writer and you've got to have something because it's a tough business.
Kathy: There sure is a lot of competition. When thinking about the industry of today how do you view the Internet as a tool for existing artists and new bands?
Derry: I think it's a great thing especially for new bands. I don't think that it's bad that you hear all this song sharing and song stealing and everything else. If you're a new band you want that, you want that exposure, you don't care if your songs on the internet and there's kids downloading it, because every time they do they're saying your name and they're talking about your band. So, for starting out I think it's invaluable for anybody. It's done wonders for us in the last couple of years, because we never had Internet in the late 80's and early 90's not like it is now. It's a whole other tool where you can reach so many more people than you would have done before where you only had radio. I think it's great! The technology with it is mind-boggling! The way it's just progressing. The only thing is, it went so fast. It went so ahead it took the music industry by surprise and now the music industry is trying to play catch up. So that they can get their music licensed and get people to pay for it.
Kathy: There is a lot of down loading and burning and that's a huge problem...
Derry: Yeah especially for someone like me who makes most of their living from song writing royalties. I don't do it for free; if people are buying or using my music I want to get paid for it.
Kathy: With all of the activities you are engaged in professionally what interests do you have out side of the music. What do you do to "Strike a Balance" in life?
Derry: I work out a lot, especially most of the time I'm at home during the winter. I can't and I don't sit around. I have to get out and do something every day. I like to write but there are other things. I go to the gym a lot and I'm into Karate, swimming, racquetball ... Any sort of physical activity like that keeps me balanced. It keeps my head clear and gives me energy.
Kathy: That runner's high kind of thing...
Derry: Yeah, I'm a hyper person ... I can't sit around the house all day without doing some kind of physical activity to balance it out. So that's what I do.
Kathy: Good, so you have something outside of music...
Derry: You've got to stay in shape.
Kathy: That's right if you're going to be performing and running around on stage ...
Derry: Yeah, and I'm not twenty-five anymore so you got to keep yourself together.
Kathy: Looking back at the highlights of your career what would you list as the best moments as a musician?
Derry: I think one of the high points for me was our first Gold Record that was in Canada. You work for so long, your whole life, just trying to become something. You get in a band and you get a record deal and for us it happened pretty fast once it happened. So, getting the first Gold Record on our first album was a real milestone for me. Then moving on to touring and then coming down into the States and playing when only like six months earlier we were just doing a little bar circuit up in Canada ... So that was a real thrill. Stuff like that; getting a song in a movie, things like that were really cool. It's everything that you look towards as recognition and some kind of success.
Kathy: What are some of your goals you would like to accomplish in the years to come? Any artists you would like to work with?
Derry: There's all kinds of artists ... If I could just stay in music somehow as a producer or a song writer. I am certainly not going to be playing in a band forever and be up on stage forever. But, if I could stay in the music end of it in some capacity that would make me happy because I know nothing else does. As far as other artists I would like to work with ... Like I said earlier with a younger artist/singer or band just because I have or I like to think I have such a wealth of experience and knowledge that when you work with a young kid you just see this look in their eye, who haven't made it yet and you remember what that was like. It's a great energy that they have when you get together to work with them because they see you as older, you have the experience. So, those two things ... If they gel you can make great music.
Kathy: Being a mentor of sorts.
Derry: I can remember what its like. You know you never lose that feeling ... You still have that same desire that you did when you were eighteen or twenty.
Kathy: Final question. Is there a message you would like to share with your fans at the close of this interview?
Derry: Keep listening! I appreciate that we still have a good fan base after all these years and we still want it to grow. If we get another record out there and it does well that's even better. But, just to support the band and if we come around your way come out and see the band, you won't be disappointed!
Kathy: I look forward to getting to see you guys! I have been known to put myself on a plane and go out to see STYX in Chicago.
Derry: Well maybe we'll see you some time ... A good friend of mine is singing in STYX now his name Lawrence Gowan.
Kathy: Really? Yes he's amazing on stage!
Derry: He's from Toronto, he's an old friend of mine and doing well with them.
Kathy: The group is phenomenal on stage – Their chemistry together - They are electric!
Derry: Oh I know! I have been a STYX fan since I was a kid!
Kathy: Wow You too?!? Well thank you again Derry and I hope to talk to you soon and keep in touch with the latest news!
Derry: Sure! Thanks and have a great day!
Posted by Kathy at February 19, 2004 10:11 AM