Greg Hoy Goes Deep With EP

We wrote recently about Greg Hoy’s latest single, ‘What, My People?‘, and were impressed by how the song implores listeners to step back and have a look at what is really most important. Greg tells us in his own words about this new release, and what inspired him to write it.

You’ve been making music for a few decades now – how do you feel your style has evolved since the beginning? How would you describe your current style?

One thing that’s really changed is thinking any recorded and released song should be able to be played live by the trio. After 20 years of albums and songs at this point, but with only 45 minutes or so for a live performance, a song really has to hit me square in the solar plexus to make it to the live show’s set list. 

And now that’s extra true with the live horn section. My songwriting palette has really opened up since that revelation. My last album ‘Yay For Effort’ was largely a piano-based recording, and the last thing I wanna do is sit at a piano at a live gig! So we only played two songs last year live off of it, and both of them have fallen off the set list this year!

Can you talk about any challenges or breakthroughs you had while crafting the sound of ‘What, My People?’ Did you always have a clear vision for the track?  

A few months into recording, a pal loaned me this sweet, analog microphone pre-amp. Not to nerd out too much here but it just made EVERYTHING sound SO much BETTER. I started doing those one hit snare and cymbal shots on the drum kit once I had the mic cables routed through it as a test for the sound. So those hits became the beginning of ‘What, My People?’ if you can just imagine it without any guitar or bass –  playing this sort of syncopated, upbeat drum loop. And in my head whenever I hit the opened hi-hat, I was saying ‘What!’. Then the chorus triplet drum part was me testing the tom mic sounds. So then that whole exercise became the blueprint for the whole concept!

As an artist who enjoys crafting “no-nonsense rock and roll” – what role does authenticity play in your music?

That’s a really great question! My threshold for the ‘uncanny valley’ of things like live lip-syncing, auto-tune on recorded vocals, and fake software drum sounds is like zero point zero. There was a time from about the mid 80s to the mid 90s when synthetic technology and live instruments played really, really well together – Tears for Fears, Blondie (RIP Clem Burke), Nine Inch Nails, even Huey Lewis were using drum machines over top of their live drummer. The sense was that the feel and performance was genuine, crisp, and human even with drum boxes and sequencers in the mixes.

The balance tipped considerably as the tech got better and cheaper. Don’t get me wrong – I love a live band whose sound is driven ‘by’ the tech with the live element coming in on top of it. I’m thinking like Depeche Mode or Duran Duran. But to have bands use tools to cover up, mask, or make up for a lack of real talent is garbage.

Sorry to rant on this – it’s a tender subject to me, Let me give a specific example. While on a tour, a cover band invited me onstage to sing a song a few years ago. Omaha? Minneapolis? Not sure where or the song. Maybe it was Pearl Jam or Stone Temple Pilots… something 90s grunge. I’d had a few tequila sodas, and the moon was full, so I thought ‘Hey, why not?’ 

I get on stage and the singer hands me the mic. As soon as I sang the FIRST NOTE of the verse, something was…off. Weird. You know that feeling of being in a rental car and when you get too close to the white line in your lane the steering wheel moves you straight again? It was that, but with my voice! It was hijacked! I looked down to see an effect pedal the singer was using on the mic – auto-tune and reverb built right into it! It was deplorable. So I did what anyone in that position should do and sang the whole thing as out of key as possible to try and trick the software. It was a very Cher moment. 

The music video has a retro feel in a lot of ways—was this a purposeful approach? How did you go about creating a compelling visual without a full-budget production?

The retro thing is just my normal modus operandi. Maybe that goes back to the last question. There’s so much fake stuff in the content world, what we read, see, and hear. I’d just rather dangle a cymbal from some hanging wire and call it a UFO than ask OpenAI to make me a flying saucer video. 

What is your favorite scene or visual element from the music video? Where did you get the idea for aliens playing in a rock band?

There were a bunch of UFO sightings at the end of last year, especially over New Jersey of all places. I mean, no offense to the state – I was born in Woodbury NJ, after all, so I am Jersey Strong — but is it really that surprising that aliens would pick the NJ Turnpike corridor to launch their invasion? Maybe they have a soft spot for Clara Barton’s legacy. We certainly have hit her rest stop heading out on tour from NYC many, many times.

And don’t get me wrong: Jersey is far, far more beautiful than the tropes would have you believe! Particularly the northern parts, as well as the Jersey shore (shout-out to Hoy’s 5 & 10 in Ocean City!). It’s just my hope that, if aliens landed there, they’d be more into rocking out.

Would you consider ‘What, My People?’ a wake-up call? What do you hope audiences will take away from the song?

There’s a little bit of hope every time I write a song about the mindless nature of content culture – the idea of protesting by dancing on TikTok, or ranting on some other social media channel about whatever the government of the moment has done to wrong you. Nothing is better than the fine, fine idiocrasy of Next Door. Why worry about climate change when it’s better to waste time arguing about whether your neighbor’s dog doo-doo bag has the right to be placed in your garbage can?

I mean, I’m not hoping for a miracle, however if someone hears my music and maybe loosens the grip on their clutched pearls just a little bit, we’d all be better off.

What is one lesson you have learned in your musical career thus far that you can pass along to aspiring musicians?

I’m not really a bible guy, but it’s kinda like the Foo Fighters or Journey, maybe – I like the hits! Like this one by a dude named Matthew: ‘Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.’ I’d even add try and give a little more than you take. Treat your listeners, fans, and club owners with respect. Ask a bartender and sound person their name, and remember it (c’mon, you can do it!). Support other musicians – that’s a shockingly big one. Listen to their music online. Buy the T shirt or LP records. Stick their stickers somewhere. Even if you didn’t like them all that much. Understand the huge amount of work it takes to even exist as an artist in 2025, and here you are, in the same room together!

We’re at a stage where we book most of our live bills both local and on tour – picking favorite support acts, promoting their work, listening to their music. I still love finding new bands! Here in northern California, I’ll check out the websites of clubs we’ve played – like Ivy Room, Kilowatt, Bottom of the Hill, Winters Tavern, and see names of bands that I don’t know, then do a little search on ’em in Bandcamp or Spotify. If I like it, we reach out, ask them to share a stage. Support each other in this mess, you know?

And yet…still, to this day, I am always kinda shocked that not everyone reciprocates or does the same. We’ve had a few opening acts literally pack up their gear as we are tuning our guitars onstage, leaving after their set they just played before us. I’ve noticed those bands don’t really stick around too long, nor do they seem to build much of an audience. You can tell a lot about how people conduct themselves simply by whether they are gracious and attentive, and appreciative too.  

What do you enjoy about taking this song on the road with Greg Hoy and the Boys? Tell us a little bit more about your recent touring experience. 

‘What, My People?’ is actually the hardest song in the new live set. It’s at the top of my vocal range, it doesn’t have any horn parts written (yet), and every time we perform it live, I recall my bass player telling me it sounds like ‘classic’ Ozzy Osbourne. So that’s the personae I try to bring to the mic at the live show. 

Speaking of authenticity, it also helps to snort a line of ants and bite the head off a live bat before we play it live. Both creatures can be shockingly hard to find on tour in time for a gig, though, so I usually settle on a solid ribeye with a glass of Cabernet.

Check out the spacey video for ‘What, My People?’ below, and find out more about Greg Hoy and his music online on his official website, Instagram, and Twitter.

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