Greg E. Noll

Personal Bio

Hi, I’m Greg. I play guitar and sing for this wild, wonderful, three-piece entity known as Crazy Ivan. I also write and co-write a good deal of our songs. I’ve been asked to use this space to tell you a little bit about myself. I’ve never been that good at talking about myself like this, but I suppose I’ll give it the old college try. I never actually attended college, but here’s the old college try nonetheless. Scout’s honor, I was never a Boy Scout either.

You know what? I always wanted to do this. I always knew that I wanted to be a musician. ALWAYS. There was always music in my house when I was growing up, and somehow I just seemed to know that this was what I would end up doing. There was never any question. Oh, when I was younger there was the usual "I’m gonna be an army-man" kind of thing, but music was always the thread that ran through my life.

I guess my very-earliest influences we’re my grandfather, who was a killer piano player, and my uncle, who also tickles the ivories, and picks a pretty mean guitar. I started out playing the drums (me like drums), and I can remember these cool family jams in this groovy parlor we had when I was growing up. They were big parties with lots of people and lots of music. Those were good times.

I began playing guitar when I was ten or eleven. I was listening to the normal 70’s stuff back then. You know, Elton John, Peter Frampton, etc. Frampton’s licks were responsible for a good portion of my early development on the guitar. And then it happened. I heard KISS. These guys changed my life. They also changed the way I played. Suddenly I couldn’t live without huge, molten waves of distorted guitar. I still can’t.

I started playing professionally in high school, when I was sixteen. I remember my grandmother helping me change my birth certificate (bless her heart) so I could get into the bars to jam. The club owners didn’t seem to mind that the darned thing looked totally fake, just as long as I did my job, and didn’t get arrested in their esablishment. This was about the time I really learned how to drink as well.

Lots of local bands followed throughout and after high school. Blah blah blah. My first real taste of all things rock & roll came in 1984 when I joined Villain. What a cool band. I made some life-long friends in that band, as well as playing with two of my best buds Carl Albert (R.I.P., bro), and Rob Quillen. Villain was my first recording experience, my first taste of opening for big-name acts, and a huge dose of heavy metal. We released one album called "Only Time Will Tell".

Villain broke up in late ’86, and I drifted hard. I came home, played in more local bands, drank, blah blah blah de blah. We reformed Villain in 1995 and landed a Japanese record deal, which enabled us to release "Only Time…" on CD, as well as an entire new album (with a partially new line-up) called "Chequered Past". Some things never change however, and another disappointing break-up soon followed.

You know, I love heavy metal. I mean, I really love it. And I loved playing it, but I always felt that I needed more. I have a lot of different musical influences, and a lot of those aren’t metal. Crazy Ivan lets me tap into those influences, and use what I’ve gotten from them. I freakin’ LOVE this band. It truly is the only reason I get outta bed every morning. I still get to play metal. I thrash. I bang my head. I hurt myself, and jump around and make my ears ring. But, what I love most about Ivan is the fact that if I wanna turn down and play some blues, who’s gonna stop me? NO ONE.

Well, there you go. Now you know a little bit about me, but to be honest, these bios don’t mean smack. If you really want to know what Jim, Bob, and I are like, grab the CD and listen. Or, better yet, come to a show see what we’re all about. Then you’ll truly know. Thanks for lettin’ me rant…

Greg's Equipment: Washburn, Epiphone, Jackson, ESP, Cort and Taylor Guitars, Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 Amplifier, Trace Elliot and Peavey speaker cabinets, Tone Pros guitar hardware, WCR Pickups, Shure Wireless, Dunlop Delrin 500 Picks (1.5 mm), Dean Markley Signature Series Nickelsteel Electric Guitar Strings (10 - 46) and Various Top-Secret Effect Pedals.