Originally hailing from Long Beach, California, the multifaceted producer, vocalist, and composer Greg Laswell relocated to San Diego during the early 1990s for higher education. There he immersed himself in the local music community by leading the band Shillglen and establishing the independent imprint All the Rest Records. Following Shillglen’s dissolution in 2001, Laswell gained the freedom to craft his personal pop/rock compositions and concentrate further on production duties. His first solo effort arrived via the self-funded and self-released 2003 album Good Movie. After All the Rest Records ceased operations the following year, he launched 20 Inch Records and expanded his work behind the console.
The regional traction of Good Movie secured Laswell a deal with Vanguard Records, resulting in the 2006 follow-up Through Toledo. Penned and tracked amid the dissolution of his first marriage, the record’s introspective yet melodic tone earned him an invitation to join the Hotel Cafe European tour. During those early 2008 travels he issued the EP How the Day Sounds while preparing his third full-length, Three Flights from Alto Nido, which surfaced that summer. Around the same period his compositions surfaced in motion pictures such as Friends with Benefits and My Sister’s Keeper as well as television programs including Parenthood and Grey’s Anatomy. A Covers EP appeared in 2009, succeeded by the May 2010 album Take a Bow.
Laswell unveiled his fourth collection, Landline, in 2012. Captured inside a converted church and residence studio in eastern Maine, the project included vocal contributions from Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, Sia, and Elizabeth Ziman. For the 2014 release I Was Going to Be an Astronaut he revisited ten earlier compositions and added a rendition of “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a tribute to its creator, Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous. Early in 2016 he returned with Everyone Thinks I Dodged a Bullet, marking his seventh album and the first batch of original material since 2012.
