JD Greving recently joined me on an episode of What's Up Peoria. His laid-back attitude and our conversation about being open to trying new and different things made him a great choice to be my first Artist of the Week. The words below in bold are my questions and commentary. The words in between are his.
The point of these interviews is to get to know artists a little more. Tell us about yourself.
I don't even know where to start. I'm an artist. I make music and do comedy. I have my irons in a lot of fires, but I don't know how to define myself. It's been a long life.
I'm from Peoria. I live in the Peoria area. I'm am married, to a lovely, lovely person named Olivia. Shout out to Olivia. We have a wonderful daughter named Caroline who is 8 months old. Who currently won't stop screaming.
I remember those days.
Are you talking about that guy? (Points to my 18 year old son who helped with the interview.)
Yes. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I had four kids under the age of 8. It goes by really fast. The days are long, but the years are short.
Oh those long days.
How did you meet Olivia?
I met Olivia through her brother, who was a friend of mine. She came over to cut my hair and after she left I told him that she was the kind of girl I would marry tomorrow in Vegas. And then he texted her and told her what I said, and she said, “That sounds about right.” We pretty much knew right away where we were headed. We got married in Vegas in October of 2017.
That's awesome. I love that you both knew right away.
Let’s talk about your music. How long have you been playing?
I got my first guitar when I was 15, but started writing music when I was 8. I made up a band called Angels from Mars. It was dumb, because I was a kid. One of my songs was Pair of Socks... which was as dumb as the title. And then I just kept doing that.
When I was 15, I got my first guitar and taught myself. But I was still writing awful songs. I joined my first band when I was 16. Also, bad. We played a battle of the bands and at that show, we did a cover of BINGO. You know, “There was a farmer, who had a dog...”
Wow.
Yeah, the judges tore us apart. One said that the fact we were even able to hold our instruments was impressive. It was like reality TV.
Ouch. Everyone wanted to be Simon Cowell that day?
Exactly! I think I still have that sheet somewhere. I love it because I didn't stop. It didn't even make me want to try to quit. I knew I still had a lot to bring to the table. It just needed more refining.
So regardless of what anybody said, you were undeterred. That says a lot about how much you love what you do.
Tell me about your current band, Memorial for a Dove.
Memorial for a Dove is the band I started right after that. It is basically a solo project. There are band members, but even if they all quit, it would still exist because I do it with them or on my own. We have one album out, available on all streaming platforms and all seven that we’ve done are available on bandcamp.
You know, that last album took me 7 years to make. Once it was done, I was so far from where I started that sometimes it's hard for me to talk about it. I've evolved over time and my newest stuff is so different.
JD Greving, Artist of the Week, answers: What’s your favorite part of what you do?
What is it you like least about what you do?
I think as a musician, a lot of people think that we have to be up here (holds hand high above ground) or we have to be famous to have “made it.” When really, There are a lot of jobs out there for musicians and artists.
Growing up we aren't told that. I know it now, but even to this day, I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to convince people I'm not wasting my time... or their time. It's easy to get into that rut and you almost end up hating your own art because you love doing it but people make you feel like you shouldn't be.
I agree, I see artists battling for respect so much more often than other professions. I am constantly gaining a new appreciation and respect for what musicians do.
You mentioned you do comedy as well. I love your show JDHD that posts to Facebook on Sunday nights. Tell us a little more about that. How did that start?
In 2016, we did a season one. It was four episodes. The first three episodes were done in my apartment, on my phone, with terrible internet. Every third word dropped out. Unwatchable. But, we had Whitney Chitwood as a guest, who just came out with a Number 1 comedy album on iTunes. Hilarious.
Three of them aired, but we still say we did four because the fourth episode was probably one of my favorites. Comedy gold. Three hours of playing to the camera... and then we realized it wasn't on. I took a bit of a break after that.
But after Whitney's album came out I thought I'd try it again. I love doing the show, and I know so many more artists now.
When you have musicians on, are you doing an interview format or do you have a different plan for that?
I think most of the musicians I know are hilarious. They have a personality about them and I want that. I think that's the most important thing to capture with a musician, just who they are and that personality. So we just get together and relax and do whatever. I think it works pretty well. Our current episode features Nick Lee and Sara Klemm, The Buncha Bastards.
There are also a lot of musicians who don't necessarily play live music and I can feature their music in the transitions. This week's show used music from RCLMR. So really I'm promoting at least two artists per show... one live and one not live.
I love that, and really appreciate that you seem to see everything you do as possible vehicle to showcase someone else’s work as well.
What sage wisdom do you have to offer those who are just starting out? Is there anything that you know now that you wish you had known earlier on?
Oh yeah. Stop talking about things that you're going to do. Because the more you talk about them, the more you feel like you have done them. Do them, and then talk about them. It's hard to not be excited about the projects you are working on until you are finished, but you have to have something to show people.
Great advice. I think we’ve all gotten ahead of ourselves on a project and ended up not seeing it get to where we wanted it to be.
PML makes it fairly obvious that we love Peoria for a multitude of reasons… how about you? What do you love most about Peoria?
I think Peoria has so much potential, potential to be huge hub, and people don't even realize. We're so contained, we've refined ourselves so much. We've raised the bar so high for what is accepted as talent here, that someone could perform in Peoria and feel like they aren't very good... and go somewhere else and be shocked by how much praise they get. I feel like Peoria is in a forgotten part of the country and it's just going to explode.
It's starting to show up places. People are dropping the name “Peoria”. There's actually a new kid's show called Prince of Peoria. The setting is Peoria, Illinois, but they aren't filming it here. I also heard them talk about Peoria on another Netflix show recently.
I absolutely agree. Peoria's potential is underrated by many.
Before you go, I have 10 questions I'd love for you to answer, right off the top of your head. Don't think about it too much.
What’s your favorite food? Tater Tot Casserole.
What food could I not pay you to eat? How much money are we talking about? I'd eat tar off the ground for… I mean, I once ate some food off the floor for $20.
What popular song you could live the rest of your life without hearing again? Anything by Mariah Carey
Favorite Peoria Landmark? Riverfront Museum.
What is something you wish Peoria had more of? Venues that aren't bars
What is something you wish Peoria had less of? Police? Just kidding. Water pollution
Favorite swearword? Butt hole. I love saying butt hole. It's not super offensive, but if you roll down your window and yell “Hey butt hole!” it's funny every time.
If success was guaranteed, and you had to pick another profession, what would it be? Lawyer. I’d be a great lawyer.
Name another local artists I should have in for an interview. Oh, Bear the Voyager. Logan would be great for this.
If you could choose a superpower what would it be? I'd choose to be invisible.
I had a great time interviewing JD and getting to know him better so you can too! You can check out two of his songs below and follow these links to see him on all places social media:
Facebook - Memorial for a Dove
Facebook - JDHD
Instagram
YouTube Comedy Web Series
Spotify
Bandcamp