Laswell's ear for music triumphs over notation

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 5, 2008 12:46 PM PST ∞

That San Diego's Greg Laswell would end up with a career in music ---- much less a successful one, with his second release of alternative-tinged folk on the national label Vanguard coming out Tuesday and the third this summer ---- was a huge surprise to his family. And not because they didn't believe in him ---- it's just that there was nothing on either side of the family to indicate that a music gene even ran in any of their veins.

"They're kind of surprised by me," Laswell said by phone last week from his San Diego home. "Between my mom's parents and my dad's parents, too, there isn't a musical bone in our family."

Laswell, who is playing at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach tonight, landed in San Diego in 1993 when he showed up for his freshman year at Point Loma Nazarene University. Growing up in a Nazarene-Catholic household in Long Beach, Laswell said he attended PLNU not so much for the rigorous religious environment ("Point Loma was much more strict than my family was") but for the stunning panoramic location on the bluffs above the Pacific. When he visited the campus with his father, he said it took him about five minutes to decide that's where he wanted to go to college.

He was already interested in music from having taught himself to play an upright piano his grandmother had bought for his younger sister to take lessons on.

"I was intrigued by this big piece of furniture in our living room. It didn't stick with her, but obviously it stuck with me."

Once at PLNU, Laswell signed up for a music class ---- but his professor persuaded him to quit.

"I tried to take music theory in college because I'd already been playing for a few years. I took theory to try to figure out what I was doing and I just could not read music. I was acing my listening lab, but failing my sight-reading ---- and I was working harder on that class than anything else in school and just wasn't passing. Finally, my professor called me in and said, 'I think you might fall out of love with music if you keep at it like this, because you already have in you what it takes to create. Your fingers are all wrong, but you're good at what you do, so for you to relearn everything at this point would screw it up.' "

Laswell gave up the music classes and earned a degree in communications ---- although his pursuit of a career in music nearly screwed that up.

He explained that he had begun writing his own songs in high school, and continued that in college. He said he'd skip class to work on his music, and sneak into music labs on campus and practice until 3 in the morning.

"The great thing about Point Loma is that you had all these really old buildings where you could pry the windows open and sneak into the labs," he said, laughing.

He admitted to having been caught by security a few times, but said he never got into any real trouble. Still, the skipping class and late nights of practice took their toll.

He said he got his bachelor's degree in communications, "but by the hair of my chin."

While kind of working on his degree and writing tons of new songs, he was also playing around town in a couple of bands. His first group was an acoustic trio: "We all played guitar and sang, and it was kind of folkie. I listen to recordings of it now and I sound like I was 50 ---- and I was 23!"

Then he joined a local rock band called Shillglen.

"It was our best impression of Nirvana and Pearl Jam," he said, but it got him experience playing some of the larger venues in town, like the Casbah and Brick by Brick. The band also recorded a CD.

Since striking out on his own, Laswell has been busy playing around town and building up a loyal following. He also set up his own recording studio, which allowed him to rent it out to avoid having what he calls a "real job."

In 2006, Vanguard ---- the venerable label that introduced such legendary folkies as Joan Baez and Tom Paxton ---- released Laswell's "Through Toledo." A six-song EP, "How the Day Sounds," comes out Tuesday, and he's finishing up a full-length album that will come out this summer.

With two new records hitting the shelves, 2008 promises to be a busy one for Laswell ---- he said he expects to be on the road for five or six months in the coming year, with tours of the East Coast and Great Britain already lined up.

But his show at the Belly Up will be a bit extra-special, in that his parents will come down from Long Beach to hear him perform. Laswell said he's glad his parents, always supportive of his dream, have gotten to see him find some stability in his career.

"The success I've had the past couple of years has allowed them to be excited without being worried."

Hotel Cafe Tour with Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Greg Laswell, Kate Havnevik, Jesse Baylin and Jim Bianco

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach

Tickets: Sold out

Info: (858) 481-8140 or bellyup.com

Web: myspace.com/greglaswell

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