Local 913, Episode 54: Wooly Woman
Originally from The South Hills of Pittsburgh, Gregory Smee is the creative mind behind the psych-rock band Wooly Woman:
“When I was probably about 8, my mom made me take piano lessons. She always told me I would regret quitting, which yeah I do now, Mom. Into my teens, I started playing drums and a little bit of guitar. I owned my first guitar when I was living in Florida. I was actually living in a tent and it got stolen 8 months later. All throughout my life I’ve picked up different instruments.”
Currently, making music as Wooly Woman serves as his artistic outlet, but was not always the case for Smee, a former Pro-BMX Biker. He says, “That’s something I kind of did for fun. I ended up moving down to Florida and ended up getting picked up by a couple companies. I got to travel a lot and got a lot of really cool opportunities. It fell to the back burner for me when I picked up another creative outlet in music. I’m not jumping off of roofs or anything anymore, but at one point in my life that was a lot of fun... now, it just hurts a lot.”
When making music as Wooly Woman, Smee finds himself surrounded by some of the best musicians in town. Members of The Harlan Twins, Shakey Shrines and Andre Costello & The Cool Minors make up his backing band on the new album Free. According to Greg, the band’s lineup is pretty loose due to his constant desire to change and progress his sound. This record is very inspired by the psych-rock of the 1960’s, but his next release will most likely be more keyboard-based and beat driven. You can listen to their latest album Free on Spotify.
