Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregg Oliver.
Hi Gregg, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
WeAreJackStrong is an independent alternative rock band playing all original music. We were born out of the Covid pandemic of 2020 when everything came to a full stop in the local entertainment scene. Our drummer, Chas Benedict, and I were in a successful band at the time, and the pandemic not only dried up opportunities to work, but caused our guitarist, vocalist to move back to his hometown in New York. Fortunately for us, a guitar-playing friend of mine (Dan Scott) moved to Escondido from the Bay area that same month. He is also a songwriter, and so we began anew, with a whole new perspective on writing, in December 2021.
We all worked on writing the songs together, and as they started to accumulate, we saw that there was a theme running through them – a theme of struggling within one’s self to change and be better people. This wasn’t a conscious choice by any of us – we didn’t acknowledge that we recognized ourselves in any of these songs, and we mused about, “who WROTE these!?”
We imagined a man born early in the last century maybe 1910, raised by tough parents that weren’t always upright nor moral – people with their own problems that maybe shouldn’t have been raising a child. They taught the boy (named “Jack Strong” by us) what they thought were useful survival skills and made him tough and somewhat unconcerned about others. These early lessons shaped his actions for the early part of his life, and by his early 30s, he began to wonder why his relationships with others were difficult and short-lived, always ending with hurt. He never thought that he could be the problem because he was just living by the rules he was taught. It finally dawned on him that the way he was navigating life left almost everyone he met hurt, angry, and damaged somehow, and he eventually reckoned that he didn’t want to be “that guy.” That’s when it became clear to him how difficult it is to change those core lessons, those basic reactions that everyone thinks are “normal behavior,” until they come to believe that there must be a better, less toxic way to live.
We imagined that Jack kept a daily diary, a story of his life in a series of handwritten books, of which we had found some (but not all) of the volumes. So, the songs became based on what he wrote in his diaries about his perspectives, his confusion, his realizations and epiphanies, and his struggle to change what he was raised to be into what he wanted to be. And, when it hit that we all understood this because we all had regrets about the way we had acted at times that the band was named “WeAreJackStrong” because we all ARE him… we all have regrets about some behaviors we once thought were right, and are trying to transform. So, our name is “WeAreJackStrong” and our genre is “Regret Rock” (just kidding).
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The obstacles that this band faced were the same as many bands during the pandemic… never knowing when or even if the local music scene was going to recover to the point that a band could make a living again playing out. We never have struggled with writing good songs, but there is a problem finding venues that welcome original music. There was (and to a degree still is) some comfort for talent buyers to hire bands that play covers of hit songs by big artists. It’s less risky because some original bands just starting may have few songs with mass appeal, and the customers don’t complain about hearing copies of their favorite songs from 50 years ago. However, the songs don’t change much band to band, so the bands become somewhat interchangeable. All playing about the same songs and sounding about the same.
It is a struggle to find venues that are open to original music and much of the struggle, therefore, is associated with developing a following of people that will attend your shows when you DO get hired by a venue willing to take a chance. Because an original music band is expected to put “butts in seats,” so you have to find those people that love your music via social media and convince them to come to your shows.
Another struggle is differentiating yourself on social media and creating enough interesting content to get people to listen to your music. So much music is available now, all the time… it’s hard to position yourself to be “in the mix” for all the people you would like to reach.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What we do that I think is different is we create compelling and powerful music, with lyrics that confess shortcomings and provide insight into how those shortcomings are overcome. I am proud of how much we reveal, and I am gratified by how deeply the “true fans” respond to the music. We get comments after every show on how great the music was and how the lyrics made some audience members reflect on the changes they’ve made in their lives and how much they needed to be reminded of those accomplishments. Also, there are those that say, “listening to you, I am reminded that I still have work to do, so thank you.” I love it when people say they’d like their kids to hear our songs and ask for lyric sheets. I think that sets us apart… it certainly makes us feel like we’re doing something that helps as much as it entertains.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I know that for this band, delivering a message is what we’re trying to do. Getting the message out, encouraging introspection and reform, connecting with someone that feels they need to change, and demonstrating that it’s a good thing to review and redefine your own guiding principles. All of that. Sold-out shows are great, but only to the extent that they mean we’ll continue to meet “our people” and keep distributing our music.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://WeAreJackStrong.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wearejackstrong
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeAreJackStrong
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbB_MPNIyyryFPnyhcQSV3A
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/wearejackstrong
- Other: https://linktr.ee/wearejackstrong
Image Credits
Randy LeRuth
