If you see a lot of music in the Twin Cities, you’ve seen Greg Schutte on drums. Or maybe if you’ve seen Cyndi Lauper, BB King or many others, you’ve seen. His drumming is incredible and always spot on. His solo work is weird and wonderful in way that’s memorable and thought inducing. I was delighted to get a change to ask five questions.
Please tell us a little about yourself, your music and some of the bands you play with. You play with so many, so I’ll leave it to you to choose.
I’ve been playing drums for as long as I can remember and formally studied percussion. It’s still my main instrument but I play guitar, bass and keys on a fairly basic level. Most people know me as a drummer/side player for multiple artists locally. I also tour nationally and internationally as a drummer, I’ve been lucky to back up artists such as Mickey Hart (of the Grateful Dead) Ryan Bingham, Chastity Brown and support tours for BB King and Cyndi Lauper. There are a few others I’m drawing a blank on.
Outside of that, I do session work at other studios and also produce music out of my private recording studio (where City in Darkness was recorded) – Bathtub Shrine Recording – I also compose and produce music for dance, including the Ananya Dance Theatre and April Sellers Dance Collective.
I still play a lot locally with a number of different musicians, including Chastity Brown, The Neighborhood Quartet, Mary Cutrufello, Ray Barnard, Jennifer Grimm,etc.
You don’t release a lot of solo music. What inspired you to release City in Darkness?
I actually started writing City in Darkness back in 2019. One night when I was walking my dog at Boom Island Park, the hook for the song popped in my head. I struggled with the lyrics for awhile, so spent a lot of time experimenting with the lyrics and arrangement.. When it comes to lyrics, I typically start with phonetics and how the words fit together rhythmically, melodically in a pleasing way. Initially that takes priority over what they actually mean – and then I patch in words from that place and tweak it. Honestly, I forgot about the song until recently I was re-inspired by it. I re-recorded some of the parts and decided to release it before the end of the year. And truthfully, it was also a way for me to disconnect from the political climate and all of the heavy things going on in the world. Sometimes you just gotta focus on something simple and enjoyable, like a walking a dog.
Can you tell us about the song? It feels moody, like a pensive, cloudy day. I like it.
That’s interesting – thank you! A lot of my music is on the darker side – not dark in a depressive way, but rather in a curious, mysterious way. I like darker-sounding music. I think there’s a lot of power and emotion in it. But to me, City in Darkness is playful. The song itself is somewhat a snapshot or memory of the time when I started writing it which includes my fake conversations with my dog while on walks and car rides. And as a whole, represents those little interactions you have with your dog that don’t have actual words attached, but yet you kind of know what each other is doing, thinking, wanting.
Are you playing all the instruments as well as singing?
I am. I started building the song off a drum beat and then added the guitar, synths and finally layered in vocals.
Will you have an opportunity to play some of your solo material? Solo, or not, where can people see you play?
At this point in time, I don’t plan to perform original music – but possibly in the future. As far as gigs go, you can usually find me most places around town – Icehouse, Berlin, Bunkers, etc. People can follow me on Instagram @gshooty – I try to post where I’m playing there. A couple to note that I have coming up are the Dakota with Chastity Brown on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and I also play the first and third Tuesdays of the month with Mary Cutrufello and the New Havoline Supremes at the White Squirrel which is always a good time.
photo by Laura Lee Buhman
Mostly Minnesota 