Greg Phelps is a multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter/DIY musician who grew up in the mountains of Vermont, went on to live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and now lives in Brooklyn, where he continues to write and record original songs. 

NYC based actor/singer/mult-instrumentalist with a long proud Rock’n’roll past. 

Grew up singing in school choirs in Sandusky, Ohio. 

Joined first band in high school in 1988. We named it Phantasy after watching the fantasy sequences in “The Song Remains the Same”. We did rock covers of everything popular, from Billy Joel to Whitesnake to the Beatles to George Michael.  Left the band before our first performance because of artistic differences (As you’ll see, it all worked out).

Phantasy
Chris Seiler - Vocals
Tony Pulizzi - Guitars and vocals
Jason Miller - Bass and vocals
Jeremy Miller - Drums and vocals
Brian Runkle - Keys, drums and vocals

Soon recruited to start another band which may have only been formed to compete with Phantasy. Asked to play bass, though I’d never played before. Drummer had been playing for six months, guitar player for one year. It was awesome. Called ourselves S.O.D. despite the fact that there was already a pretty famous hardcore band (Stormtroopers of Death) already using the name. We told people it stood for “Stay Off Drugs” but it actually stood for “Suck Our D#$%s”. Cover band playing Aerosmith, Van Halen, bastardized Anthrax, and Cream. Managed to squeeze in the original Seiler power ballad “Look in My Eyes”. Angered Phantasy when we finished 3rd in the same talent show that they finished 2nd in. They beat us, but we won. Kind of a Bad News Bears situation. Followed that up by entering a second talent show against them where they finished 4th and we finished dead last and managed to get rock bands banned from future shows by singeing the high school auditorium curtain with our pyrotechnics. (Absolutely true story). Band petered out after though we played a legitimate bar gig with Brian Runkle on drums opening for Tony Pulizzi’s new band.

S.O.D.
Chris Seiler - Lead vocal, bass, piano
Matt Kline - Guitar, vocal
Demitrius Steinmetz - Guitar, sax, vocal
Lamont “Bim” Thomas - Drums, vocals

Went to collage, bought an acoustic guitar and started listening to Led Zeppelin III and R.E.M.  Approached by the boys from Phantasy about joining them in a new band as lead singer. We all gathered in a rented former radio station/studio to rehearse about thirty songs for a week and a half. Learned a few more as the summer went along.  Called ourselves Freudian Slip. Played about a show a week over the summer of 1992. Grunge and Alt Rock influenced but pretty eclectic.  Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, but also stuff like Primus, Faith No More, Radiohead, Living Color and Tim Machine. During one low attended show got in an argument onstage because it was suggested that we might play a Rush song. I yelled, “why don’t we just play “Big Shot” then. We stuck to our regular set. Tensions in the band couldn’t ruin one of the greatest summers of my life.  Reformed in 2009 to play at my wedding. Classic.

Freudian Slip
Chris Seiler - Vocals, a little bass, a little guitar
Tony Pulizzi - Guitar, vocal
Jason Miller - Bass, vocal
Jeremy Miller - Drums, vocal

Stated picking up other instruments over the years, which became handy in 2003 when I joined the American Shakespeare Center (Shenandoah Shakespeare Express at the time) as a member of their touring company. The troupe consisted of a number of actor musicians and together we played live sets of acoustic rock for the preshow and intermission of each of our three shows.  Eventually we were playing almost all original music written by various members of the band. We adopted the name Ruffian for our musical endeavors. Began my, presently, most fertile period of writing original tunes.

Ruffian
All troupe members contributed and there were cameos along the way, but the core group was

Ben Curns
Greg Phelps
JC Long
Chris Seiler
JoAnne Sacco
Alyssa Wilmoth
James Beard

Recent projects include a production of the musical “Once”, reunion recordings with Freudian Slip and Ruffian, collaborations with my wife, Alisa Ledyard, and a new band called Erie Street.

If The Clash and Johnny Cash got in a car wreck, and an ambulance driven by Black Sabbath and the Avett Brothers came to clean up the mess, then you’d hear Squintibus!

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