Greg Knight Perspective on It's Time to Chill

I am a singer/songwriter who lives down in Mission Beach in San Diego, CA.  So much inspiration for songs comes from simply looking at the ocean and the people around the beach.  There are young, old, rich, poor, smart, dumb, and all other descriptions that you can imagine.  Living down here we see it all and there is nothing better than to sing about it.

The photo was just shot right on the beach and we really didn't have a plan, until the girl taking the photo graphs said that she wanted to jump in the water with the camera and see how it would come out.  Fun times and chilling on the beach what this photo says to me.

I loved music my whole life and used to remember getting so exicted to go and buy the latest album.  I remember having such a cool collection from Blonde, Pat Bennetar, and Devo.  We couldn't download music then so we would just listen to the album from front to end and just start it up again.

During my 20s and 30s my job was to lead kayak trips for a living.  No matter where we were paddling, I would always try to bring a guitar for the night time campfire.   Most of my songs were just covers, but I first started to write a couple of my own personal lyrics into the cover song, especially if I could write about something that happened on the kayak trip that we were on.  I ended up writing my first song while doing a kayak training in Wales.  I have come along way since then, but still play that song as it was my first and you never have a second first.

I am not big enough to get my own genre like Jimmy Buffet and Jack Johnson do, but I consider my music beach, country, rock.  I like the genre that they give the other two of Beach Rock.

I started working with a producer last year who has been great trying to bring out my vocal range and pushing me to try different chord progressions with my lyrics.  Songs, chords, notes, and guitars are a never ending learning curve and I feel I get both challenged and better with every song.  As long as I keep having as much fun with it as I am today, my songs will continue to evolve.

I have a very good happy life that sometimes has some crazyness to it from all the people that run through my life and my beach town.  I want my music to let people know that you can be happy and while I live near the beach, everyone has a beach somewhere near them.

Jimmy Buffett without a doubt.  Have you ever seen how much fun his pre-show tailgates are?  I love his songs as they describe his past life and all that he has done and seen in a very fun melodic way.  I could pick his brain all day long.

Music that doesn't take life too seriously and doesn't stress about the small stuff...and it is all small stuff.  Have fun today, don't worry about yesterday, and always stay curious on where tomorrow will take you.

Happy songs with a fun beat.  Living your best life and trying to tell my story through my songs.

Since I can still attend most shows by artists that are still alive, I will choose one that is dead.  I would love to see the Doors and just seem how Jim Morrisons vibe comes across to the audience.  I still feel his vibe on the radio and would love to have seen what that is like live.

I feel as if all my songs are like my kids and I have to love them equally, but each one seems to be better and more fun that the last.  I really like my latest song "It's Time to Chill" as it was written while I was just watching the world go by to fast and a bunch of friends were turning into work aholics.  In my mind I wanted to take them to the beach and tell them to slow down.  Then I wrote the song.

Jimmy Buffett, The Beat Farmers, and Bad Religion.  The Beat Farmers were a local San Diego band that I grew up with that pretty much invented the genre "Cow Punk".  Between the three of these guys I got my country, my rock, my punk, and a lot of cool song writing.

I love doing house parties.  I am currently just playing solo which makes my scheduling easy.  A packed house party with people singing my own songs back to me has happened, but will still be in my dreams.

I actually have been spending some time writing at an event called Bahootenzie put on by Steve Poltz.  He is such an incredible writer (he wrote the hit song for Jewel, You were meant for me).  I love playing around him and just talking about songs.  We haven't really collaborated yet, but he is on my list.

My last song "It's time to Chill" was started in a toxic work environment with a bunch of other people.

That they can have a fun life and everyone has their own beach somewhere.  I can be in your basement, at a local park, or anywhere that you can escape and remember that life is good, short, and should be fun.

Fun, carefree, energetic.

Always prefer to play live, but it is fun to see people react to a song online from all over the world.

I do practice but it doesn't feel like practicing, it just feels like playing and playing is always going to be more fun that practicing.  If you just put me in a closed room with my guitar, I could play all day and not feel like it was the slightest bit of work.

One house concert where a group of people were requesting my song "The Beach Life" and then started singing it before I could.   Such an awesome experience.

While all artists need to make money, the highest measure of success is how is having the most fun.  I always surfed and kayaked for a living in my younger days and we would have a saying "Who ever smiles the most wins".   I consider this the same with playing music.

I don't plan to re-invent the wheel on my genre, I just want to go for the ride.

The artist has the ability to tell a story when very few people even realize they are listening.  Any artist can choose their own message.

Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett.  He wrote that song drunk and hung over on a beach and that song has become an empire.  Music, restaurants, hotels, resorts, retirement homes.....all from writing a song while drunk on a beach.

Still get nervous playing in front of crowds, especially at the start of the show.  Usually goes away, but it is what makes a musician is the feeling of the unknown.

Don't pick up the guitar and start playing when I have been drinking.  It has only been with friends, but forgetting the words and chords to my own song is bad.

Make spotify actually pay artists an real amount for all the streams.

In my 20s and 30s I ran a kayak outfitting business and got to simply kayak for a living.   After I retired from that I opened up a party rental business that I still have today.  The party rental business was the main inspiration to my song What if it Rains.  This song was about a girl waiting for her bounce house for her birthday party but it looked like it could rain that day.  We were talking to the mom outside asking her what she wanted to do and I could read the mind of the girl looking out the window wondering if she would get to have her birthday party.  I then thought what would this girl be like growing up and came up with "What if it Rains". 

Kayaking is a sport that you need to be physically and technically sound, but then you put your own artistic moves on the kayak, especially in rough white water situations.  Very similar to playing a guitar and singing.  The fundamentals need to be there but it is the artistic expression that makes it work.

When I first start writing a song it is very difficult to let loved ones know what I am writing about and why.  They get too much into the lyrics early and give me very confussed looks as if all the songs are about them.  I try to keep some of my work private until I feel it is ready to be shared with the world.

Seeing through situations and being able to put a colorful twist and spin anywhere.  Take what is the most serious stressful situations and make them fun through a song.

I love all types of art.  Generally my most favorite is what I am looking at or listening too at the moment.

Express yourself loud and often and do it with confidence.  A lot of people are scared to put themselves out there and I was too.  The more I learned that everyone wants to hear and see a confident artists, the better my music has gotten.

Keeps me young at heart, keeps me having fun, and helps me put life into perspective.

To be able to do this until the day I die and when I die the people will sit around my funeral and say that I had an incredible ride and they can always remember me through my songs.