Pioneering DJ/producer at the dawn of the ’90s Stateside acid-jazz revolution. Purveyor of vintage underground currents. Ambitious architect of sample-based soundscapes. Multi-instrumentalist in perpetual evolution. All of these descriptors characterize Greyboy who, after several years away from the game, blasted back into the zeitgeist with his seventh full-length solo LP Word on the Street in June 2024.
The passion project was nearly five years in the making, as the producer fully immersed himself in songwriting, woodshedding, and music theory. The acclaimed turntablist and producer/arranger set out to develop his skills on keyboards, bass guitar, and lead vocals. Before he knew it, this endeavor had taken on a life of its own.
“I realized that I couldn’t make this type of music with my MPC and stacks of records,” Greyboy (born Andreas Stevens) recently told Live For Live Music. “It was different from molding samples together; I needed to learn how to really play instruments. Up until a few years ago, I didn’t even know the difference between a major and minor chord. I dove deep into playing piano and bass guitar, studied music theory and songcraft. For about four years, I totally focused on practicing, learning how to build songs, and writing this record.”
From this disciplined modus operandi, Greyboy manifested eight emotional cuts stuffed chock full of indelible hooks and intoxicating grooves. An exercise in authenticity, this throwback tribute to the AOR, yacht-rock, and quiet-storm love songs of his youth represents a musical departure and artistic rebirth. Word on the Street ushers in a refreshing new beginning while still maintaining Greyboy’s trademark era-correct ethos.
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The title track opens the festivities with an announcement of sorts, a subtle way of saying “Guess who’s back?” In “Magic Love” and “Let It Go”, this LP boasts some legitimate earworms with copious pop sensibilities and the undeniable feelgood factor. Like a time machine to the funkier side of the early 1980s, Word on the Street embraces songcraft, effective ghost notes, deep pockets, and truckloads of groove.
Even though Word on the Street is an extremely personal solo effort, Stevens selected a handful of session players from within his extended circle to better bring his vision to life on record.
“I still reached out to some incredible musicians, and my album wouldn’t be what it is without them,” Stevens said. “Shea Givens, the vocalist on Prime Time Lover’, is ridiculously talented. She is part of the ‘question and answer’ concept when I’m speaking to my ‘Prime Time Lover’. Shea is a big part of why that works so well. Bassist Brian Ellis and guitarist Jordan Chini are both musical geniuses. They both laid down killer tracks. Then, I had to bring in Mike [Andrews], who people will know as Elgin Park, guitarist from The Greyboy Allstars. We’ve worked together forever.”
While ably assisted by these curated counterparts, when spinning Word on the Street it’s crystal-clear that Greyboy is front and center, the unquestionable star of his own show. This is a new thing for the longtime DJ/producer, who’s more often been behind the scenes—or at the back of the stage—supporting or spotlighting another artist or performer.
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A teenage Stevens was first exposed to turntablism when a U.K. DJ performed at a middle-school dance, he later watched Mix Master Ice (UTFO) getting busy on a Regis Philbin TV show and was soon obsessed. His DJ career began with a bang, winning the 1988 DMC Championship in San Diego before an illuminating sojourn to London just after graduating high school opened the floodgates to the culture that would become his calling.
“I grew up hearing a lot of Billy Joel, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder,” Stevens recalled. “I started leaning my listening into that area. Because I’m known as a ‘funk guy,’ you know? But I consider that music funky, too. I couldn’t have made Word on the Street without that era of inspiration. Same goes with the instruments I used on the album. There’s nothing wrong with using computers or digital ‘soft synths,’ but I like vintage hardware.”
Breaking into the game as a nascent artist, Greyboy swiftly revealed himself as an innovative experimentalist. A landmark series of shape-shifting ’90s releases on seminal label Ubiquity Records provided de-facto blueprints for a generation of beatsmiths who traversed topography beyond traditional boom-bap. After dropping his debut beat-tape Greybreaks Volume One (1993) independently, Stevens serendipitously linked with San Diego-based saxophonist/flutist Karl Denson—then of Lenny Kravitz’s touring band. The duo coalesced with a certain undeniable chemistry; contributing two tracks to groundbreaking acid-jazz compilation Home Cookin’ Vol.1 (Ubiquity), these winds made waves in West Coast nightclubs and sounded the dawn of a new vibration.
The producer unveiled a pair of critically acclaimed solo LPs on Ubiquity Records: Freestylin’ (1993) and Land of the Lost (1995), assisted by the likes of Marc Antoine, Harold Todd, and Denson. Brilliantly blending concepts and co-mingling genres to further blur the boundaries between hip-hop, jazz, and funk; these moody and mystic brews incorporated live instrumentation atop buoyant breakbeats and colorful sample collages. Greyboy’s earliest efforts helped establish the future/vintage label as a force in the culture and these pivotal, prestigious works anchored the revered imprint’s catalog and legacy.
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That same decade, Stevens also served as mastermind/co-founder of boogaloo bandits The Greyboy Allstars, the rare-groove institution that has been a mainstay on the jazz-funk/festival scenes for more than 30 years. Just as he was getting himself established as an artist, the producer had a parallel ambition to assemble a live band. He wrangled together a group of green, motivated SoCal instrumentalists to bring his vision into funky fruition.
“I expressed my ideas, conceptually; a vision of what I was trying to do,” Stevens reflected. “They were open-minded, super-enthusiastic to go in the direction that I wanted. Which wasn’t very common —because nobody embraced instrumental music at that time at all.”
With the DJ’s residency at San Diego nightspot The Green Circle Bar in full swing, guitarist Elgin Park, keyboardist Robert Walter, drummer Zak Najor, bassist Chris Stillwell, and Denson—with Greyboy directing traffic—caught lightning in a bottle. The band, christened “The Greyboy Allstars” in homage, summarily exploded in a sustained popularity that continues unabated to this day.
The Greyboy Allstars — “Check Out Your Mind” — The Circle Green Bar — San Diego, CA — 7/13/94
Greyboy’s cinematic creations can channel a mood, summon a nostalgia, and transport the listener to another plane. Ideally suited for soundtracks and scoring, his work is featured in motion pictures Get Shorty (1995) and Celtic Pride (1996), a Budweiser commercial, the Kelly Slater Surf Pro video game, and MTV programs. In 2008, Ubiquity Records aggregated a large swath of his work thus far for the greatest hits-styled compilation 15 Years of West Coast Cool, an amalgam of his myriad offerings.
For the better part of a decade, Greyboy retreated from professional music to chill out, settle down, and focus on other passions that bloomed later in life. Always a proponent of old-school BMX bikes, Greyboy brought the “sidehack” back to the zeitgeist with Impakt, a custom vintage company in partnership with Rob Dyrdek and DJ TrulyOdd. Moving to Long Beach, Stevens would fall into a long-term love affair with midcentury modernism, restoring an Edward Killingsworth Case Study house to its 1958 form, a magnificent venture that engulfed his entire life for several years.
Eventually, Stevens found his way back to his original muse, making music again on his own terms. First came 2022’s Elettro Fusione (Greyboy Records), an unconventional, electro-tinged underground joint that re-lit the fuse. Word on the Street represents his true grand return to the game, unveiling a companion version of instrumentals with a tacit nod to his DJ roots. Furthermore, Greyboy has a new live band in the lab, slated to debut in November 2024 in his hometown of San Diego.
“Music is a time marker. You can listen to certain songs, and they will put you right back in the backseat in your mom’s car, or chillin’ at the beach when you were in college. That’s the power of music, of a song. When I find out that a piece of music that I made causes somebody to remember something—that it marks a moment or a time—that they love, it feels really good,” the producer explained with a sheepish smile. “Because I have those same markers myself.“
Listen to Greyboy reflect on his entire 30+ year career on Episode 079 of The Upful LIFE Podcast, released July 2024
Greyboy — Word on the Street
words – B.Getz
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