Laswell does a nice balancing act
By Chris Nixon
For The San Diego Union-Tribune
September 7, 2006
'Sing,” Theresa says. “Sing happy things.”
“Theresa is my grandma; she passed away when I was 13,” recalled San Diego singer-songwriter Greg Laswell. “She's the happiest person I think I've ever come into contact with. Her life was really hard, but she had this energy to her. Nothing really got her down. She had this underlying joy about her all the time, which made quite an impact on me even after all these years.
“I dreamed about her one night, and in the dream she kept saying over and over to me, 'Sing happy things.' So I just stole it from her and put it in a song.” The song, “Sing, Theresa Says,” is the opening track on Laswell's major-label debut “Through Toledo.” Backed by cascading guitar riffs and Laswell's world-weary vocals, the chorus contemplates balancing life's tough times with the hope of simply singing a happy song.
Rewind 13 years.
Born in Long Beach, like Theresa, Laswell journeyed to San Diego in 1993 to attend Point Loma Nazarene University. After earning a degree in communications, the musician kicked around with a few bands before landing in Shillglen. When the group couldn't afford to buy pricey studio time, Laswell began to learn the art of home-studio recording.
His home recording led to his first solo disc, “Good Movie,” which won a 2004 San Diego Music Award for Best Local Recording, and jobs producing and recording local artists like Anya Marina, Molly Jensen and the Derren Raser Band.
His collaboration with Marina (also a DJ on FM 94.9 as well as a fine songwriter in her own right) pushed Laswell to expand his horizons and explore a record deal.
“We had this informal workshop we started, and each time she came over, I would show her another song,” said Laswell. “She really started to push me. I'm not very ambitious for the sake of being ambitious. I need someone to prod me a bit. I was very lucky in this process – friends and family – that were pushing me to see how far this could go.”
Pushing and prodding led Laswell to a deal with Vanguard Records, along with a publishing deal with Sony. And it led to the release of “Through Toledo” and the beautiful single “Sing Theresa Says.”
Singing happy things soon turned into a tall task and a tough order. Laswell wrote “Through Toledo” in the midst of a tangled divorce. Gradually, Theresa's plea to sing happy things took on deeper meaning, giving the entire album an inner tension and turmoil that drives the album's 11 tracks.
“It's basically a breakup album,” said Laswell, who performs with a full band Tuesday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. “But the biggest surprise has been when you resurface out of the dark little studio. On this tour, people have been coming up to me and telling me about what they've been going through. It has nothing to do with anything that I originally wrote about. So it's become a full circle, healing thing. I'm just lucky to be in the loop.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
