California rock to sonic therapy: Greg Loiacono's musical odyssey and mind-expanding mixtape.

 

Greg Loiacono is a musical chameleon, effortlessly blending his roles as performer, songwriter, and healer. As a founding member of The Mother Hips and a solo artist, he's been crafting his unique brand of California rock for decades. When not on stage or in the studio, you can find him using music as therapy in treatment centers or exploring the trails of Marin County. Join us on a sonic journey through Greg's musical landscape with this elevated mixtape.

 

 

 

Hello Greg, where are you now?

Greg Loiacono: I am at my home in Novato, California.

 

What do you do with your time?

GL: I perform, record, and write music for the most part. I also work at treatment centers for folks with addiction and mental health issues. I use music as a therapeutic modality in a group setting. I like to walk, hike, hang out with my wife and kids, and do some non-touring traveling once in a while.

 

Do you get high when listening to music?

GL: I do not take any mind-altering substances while listening to music, but I could safely say that music alters my mind quite often. I am able to go places in my body and mind with music.

  

What is your earliest memory of connecting the dots between music and cannabis?

GL: My earliest memory of connecting weed with music is when I was in my cousin's room at around the age of eleven. She and her boyfriend blew pot smoke into my face while we were listening to Aerosmith "Live Bootleg". When "Last Child" came on, I began imagining cartoon versions of the band walking through pink goo on some other planet. It felt like it was really happening in front of my eyes. It was fantastic. 

I think the first time I intentionally smoked weed and listened to music was a few years later. I remember "In The Light" from Physical Graffiti taking me to a very special place I had never been... also fantastic.

 

 

Leo Kottke

Ice Miner

I found this record in my dad’s record collection when I was sixteen years old. I was staying at his house in Lindamar, Ca for the weekend. The album cover was what drew me in at first. The dragons and family sigil vibe were definitely “up my street” at the time. I thought I was going to hear some baroque music but instead this album taught me about three American guitar masters. Ice Miner is a transcendental instrumental, using open G tuning. But instead of tuning his low E to D Kottke tunes it all the way down to a low G#. The string just flaps. I had no idea what open tuning was at the time and the floppy, droney sounds were unfathomable. This song still resonates at such a high frequency for me. It transports me into a warm, comforting and mysterious dimension that I try to visit as much as possible

 

 

 

Dave Evans

Grey Lady Morning

It is exactly as it sounds. I put this one on while the kettle is boiling and take my time waking up. Dave Evan’s guitar playing is nothing short of remarkable.

 

 

 

 

David Bowie

Word on a Wing

My brother told me that “Station to Station” was the best Bowie album. So I bought a cassette of it and would listen to it while driving around  in my Toyota Celica. When I listen to it today I hear the drama of his delivery, the tight band and perfect production. But back then, I would drive around Marin County after a stoney hike on Bolinas Ridge and tempt myself to go to a party where a girl I liked might be. Inevitably, I would go too far inward and imagine myself singing it to her on bended knee and her rejecting me. I would eventually end up at my friend Jason’s house and we would smoke more weed and listen to more music.

 

 

 

Can

Uphill

I was 20 years old when I first heard this song- in a van with Tim Bluhm, his brother Erik  and some other friends heading up Highway 1 towards Mendocino on a car camping trip. Sitting in the back of their green, VW camper van, I had never heard CAN before. This song blew my mind then and it still does now. It’s hypnotic pumping is mesmerizing and Damo Suzuki’s rhythmic chanting made we want to follow him to wherever he was going.

 

 

 

Mike Viola

The Bansch

A friend just turned me on to Mike Viola. The riff in this song is pure, burnout, rock n roll stuff. I’ve been listening to it a lot lately. I wish The Mother Hips had written it, so that I could play it all the time. Maybe we will have to cover it.

 

 

 

 

Mac DeMarco

Heart to Heart

I love this song. It’s so laid back, sad and reminiscent of something that I can’t pin down. Mac Demarco delivers a very mild yet touching vocal performance. It’s’ almost like he is singing it while lying down in bed.

 

 

 

 

The Everly Brothers

Sing Me Back Home

The Everly’s did some really trippy recordings in the late 1960’s. This version of the Hag’s Sing Me Back Home” is pretty far out. Their voices just melt across the psychedelic arrangements.

 

 

 

 

Gene Clark

So You Say You Lost Your baby

This demo version with Gene Clark delivering astounding vocals along with his pounding acoustic guitar has always blown me away. 

It’s very raw. When he sings the lyrics “throw your troubles to the moon troll to swallow up like stormy dreams” it makes me wonder what planet he came from. So good.

 

 

 

Incredible String Band

Waltz of The New Moon

This song takes me on a mystical journey every time I listen to it. I pretty much have to stop whatever it is I’m doing and become fully entrenched in Robin and Mike’s acoustic psychedelia. The lyrics and the way they are being sung beam me into another land. I feel as if I am part of some greater presence that is appropriately unknown to me. And I don’t need to know it. I just need to let it possess my being for the five minutes and 7 seconds.

 

 

 

Bonnie Prince Billy, Matt Sweeney

Goat and Ram

This is a builder. The pacing at the beginning creeps and takes its time. By the time we are at the peak of the song, we are in full-on hard rock glory.

 

 

 

 

Orchestra Baobab

Ultra Horas

This performance is all feel. The pulsing percussion and laid back vocals create such a relaxing vibe. This song is very comforting to me.

 

 

 

 

Bloodstone

Natural High

Another very mellow groove by an excellent band with incredible singers.The ascending feeling I get when the chorus hits makes me feel so good.

 

 

 

 

War

All Day Music

This beautiful, easy groove always puts a smile on my face. It’s a drive in the car to a day in the park.

 

 

 

BIO

Loiacono’s journey began at Chico State, where he co-founded The Mother Hips with fellow songwriter Tim Bluhm. Before the band had even graduated from school, they were signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings on the strength of their debut album, ‘Back To The Grotto.’ Over the ensuing two-and-a-half decades, they would go on to release eight more studio albums as they cemented their status as architects of a new breed of California rock and roll, one equally informed by the breezy harmonies of the Beach Boys, the funky roots of The Band, and the psychedelic Americana of Buffalo Springfield. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” their headline and festival performances became the stuff of legend and helped them earn dates with everyone from Johnny Cash and Wilco to Lucinda Williams and The Black Crowes. Rolling Stone called the band “divinely inspired,” while Pitchfork praised their “rootsy mix of 70’s rock and power pop,” and The New Yorker lauded their ability to “sing it sweet and play it dirty.”

 

 

The Mother Hips' new album "California Current" is out now and can be purchased online here. 

 

 

 

Catch Greg live with The Mother Hips on their Fall 2024 Record Release Tour at the following venues: