Describe your first experience playing music.

I can remember my Mom teaching me some piano snippets as a young Kochling. She has secret powers. She taught me a 12 bar boogie pattern early on and those three chords have hounded me every since.

What has been your most significant musical experience?

I used to do a duo with a legendary keyboard player named Jr. Brantley when I was a teenager and he taught me many things. One of the things he told me was that I would never have to worry about money. That certainly didn’t stop me from worrying but it gave me the confidence to trudge ahead and his musical lessons were invaluable.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

Somewhere along the line I heard some semblance of the following….

If you can’t take occasionally hearing that your best ain’t shit, that everything you think is cool, ain’t, that you ain’t ever going to amount to a hump of scat and/or if you can’t stand seeing cheese elevated time and time again to the heights of success while truly gifted folks live in squaller, GET OUT NOW! BUT, if you can take it, try hard, stick to your guns and treat people the way you want to be treated, you’ll always do fine.

What is your favorite sound?

Strats, Teles and the growl of an expresso machine…

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences

Fight or flight reflex….Negative reinforcement…kruesening…unkruesening

What is the most memorable concert you ever attended?

The first time I saw Eric Clapton with Albert Lee…Summerfest, Milwaukee, 1983…

Put your iPod on shuffle and name the first 5 songs that come up.

“Girl” The Beatles
“Sunset Over Broadway” Roy Buchanan
“Spiral Dance” Keith Jarrett
“Your Time is Gonna Come” Led Zeppelin
“Water of Love” Dire Straits

Find out more about Greg at www.gregkoch.com