Michelle's Interview with Greg Raposo

Greg w/ Michelle (June 2004)

When I first found out I was going to be able to interview Greg for Pop Blitz the first question that I really wanted to ask him was if there was a possibility he would ever bring an acoustic guitar to shows that he does around the country for Radio Disney, since many of the fans are not able to see him perform with instruments and his band. To my luck when I caught a glimpse of sound check I saw Greg and Vinny (the guitar player of his band) up onstage playing guitars. Even though I knew the answer to my question, I mentioned it to Greg while he was trying to get a wet wipe out of his guitar. He played along and jokingly said, "Yeah sure that's definitely a possibility." Greg went on to explain that just getting up and singing to tracks can be degrading to him as an artist, so doing some songs acoustically enables the fans to see the songwriting side of himself. Since the Baton Rouge show was one of the first times he had done that kind of show I asked if there would be any new songs in the set that were not on the CD. There was a mention of one particular song that he had done once before with his band, but this time it would sound like it did when he originally wrote it with just his guitar. I really wanted to hear the song before I asked what it was about and what it was called so I didn't push asking anything else about it. During the show he went on to explain that the song was written about a girl that he was dating that ended up cheating on him. Some of the lyrics were, "She didn't even know she made me cry." John and Justin (Stevie Brock's back-up dancers) decided to come out in the audience to check out what the new song sounded like.

With talks of new songs in the air I asked if he had plans for the summer. Along with touring, Greg did say that they are probably going to get with some producers and try to get in the studio and cut some tracks for the new album. Keep your ears out for a new single sooner or later. "Worthless" is in the talks of being the next single. If not, then the new song to hit the airwaves will probably be a song that he writes with the producers in the studio this summer. Be sure to keep checking gregraposo.com and Pop Blitz for new tour dates that are popping up throughout the summer.

What surprised me the most with Greg was how down to earth he was. I mentioned about how he loves to interact with the audience and jump into the crowd and asked if there had ever been any mishaps at any of the shows. "Ha, of course. I'm a normal human being just like anyone else so I fall and stuff."

One question that I received from a fan to ask was so unique that even Greg didn't know what to say. Someone had mentioned that he used to sing at a diner called Ellen's Stardust Diner in New York City. "Where did you get that?!" he said after I asked. He went onto explain that it is this diner where the waiters come up to the tables and sing to you and since he is a singer he probably sang karaoke or something like that there once.

Since I was not able to record the audio from the interview, here are some random facts from the interview:

-Hardest part of touring for Greg is getting homesick and being away from his family.

-He's got a mix CD in this CD player right now.

-John Mayer, Rob Thomas, and Green Day are some artists that he likes to listen to.

-He doesn't think there will be a Dreamstreet reunion anytime soon.

-They once convinced of the the band members that they kicked Simon out of the band as a prank.

(Many thanks go out to Nina and Maryann for making this interview happen. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Greg's self titled CD. You can order it on his website.)