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VENTS Magazine recently had the pleasure of interviewing rock n roller Greg Hoy about his brand new “Comfort Vendetta” video. The interview can be read below!
What was your favorite part of creating the music video for “Comfort Vendetta”?
It was the third (I think?) video we’ve done with Anna Copa Cabanna, but the first time we worked in the same room! Both previous videos were during the pandemic so she shot her parts separately. That plus the location of the Ace Hotel Brooklyn made the video look awesome.
What ideas did you have when making the song that you knew you wanted to include in the music video?
Songs becoming singles and videos always happen after we finish a whole record. In the case of “Comfort Vendetta”, it was the last song written for the Yay For Effort LP, and I intentionally wrote something fun, catchy, and guitar-oriented for the band to play. The rest of the album is pretty piano-acoustic based. So, for the video, I knew getting Anna involved would help with the narrative of dealing with a break-up.
What do you think is the most important part of creating a song from beginning to end?
I’m a fan of melody, and keeping things catchy. If you’re putting effort into a pop song, why do it any other way? My drummer Dave jokes that my songs have a similar formula in their structure. He’s not wrong! Haha. That happens to be how I write, although I try to always through a little something in that breaks up any monotony – a shorter chorus, maybe, or an extra bar of goodness.
The video for “Comfort Vendetta” has a very unique style and aesthetic to it. How did you create the concept for this video?
I flew to New York City back in June for tour rehearsals and stayed at the Ace Hotel in Brooklyn for the first time. I’m a massive hotel fan, and the Ace is exceptional. Once I checked in, I knew the room would be perfect for the whole concept of dealing with a break-up, especially when Anna brought along her pet ducky Gordon in as her ‘new love’.
On your new album, Yay for Effort, is there a message you were trying to send to listeners?
The album evolved over a few years during the pandemic. An early writing mentor from my days in New York City working at The Village Voice died early on. Then my father and a dear college friend passed away within a few weeks of each other. Along with revisiting a lot of music from my childhood like Bowie, Beatles, Peter Gabriel, and Joni Mitchell, I was playing a lot of piano, coming up with melodies, and found my songwriting steering into the maudlin category. Yay For Effort was a phrase that kept coming up in a Gen X sort-of way for me. Leadership around the response to the contagion was consistently terrible, but hey, yay for effort, everyone. I unearthed that photo of me playing piano in Chinatown NYC back in 2013 and suddenly I had a theme around which to finish a 10-song vinyl LP.
Are there any goals you set for yourself to achieve in the music industry in the future?
I’ve started a publishing company to manage my catalog of songs (over 350 of them at BMI at this point) so I may expand it to include fellow indie artists. There’s not a whole lot of paper to be made in music so capturing what little trickles down to we songwriters helps. I jokingly took a screenshot of a recent paycheck from one of my distributors for streaming “sales.” It’s fun to look at that sweet, sweet $.004 per spin or whatever it is.
Besides the new LP, Yay for Effort, what else can Greg Hoy fans look forward to in the future?
For the first time in a long time, I’m going to take the time to really respect this set of 10 songs, maybe revamp the live show from just a straight up rock n roll trio to better express the vision of Yay For Effort. I’ve also started a new pop-up, brick and mortar business out near the beach of Pacifica just south of San Francisco selling analog audio ephemera like LP records, musical instruments, and whatever else I find in my travels. I have this massive space so I’ll put the 1923 Steinway piano and 1973 Airstream in it, pop open the doors when it’s nice on a weekend, and listen to records with soon-to-be new friends. Join me when you’re west, won’t you?
Follow Greg Hoy:
https://www.thegreghoy.com/
https://youtube.com/GregHoyOhYeah
https://www.facebook.com/greghoyandtheboys
https://twitter.com/thegreghoy
https://www.instagram.com/thegreghoy/
