Schatzy

Gregory Stefan Schatz is a talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. A native of Ithaca, NY, Greg played with Jeremy Lyons in high school garage bands, and at cafes and clubs in Ithaca when Lyons was home from college. Bass guitar was Greg's first axe, but with a knack for songwriting, he was soon picking out tunes on guitar and piano. While studying music and anthropology in college, Greg played in a number of groups, including bass in blues band "Tequila Mockingbird" with guitarist Marc Stone and keyboards in the funk group "Flash Light"

Visiting Jeremy in New Orleans in the spring of 1994, Greg picked up a toy accordion belonging to Lyons, and soon he was using it to sit in with Lyon's street band in the French Quarter. The band members were so impressed by Schatz's playing and enamored of his natural stage presence that they would soon be inviting him to join them full time. After returning to upstate New York , Greg dove headlong into studying squeeze box, joining "Anapus," a group playing folk music of Latvia and other Eastern European nations.; Also during this time, during Lyons' visits to Ithaca, Greg and Jeremy formed "The Vipers" with fellow high school bandate (and photographer) Felix Teitelbaum on drums and washboard, and later bringing in Greg's buddy A.J. Strauss on trumpet, piano and bass.

Upon moving to New Orleans in 1995, Greg did join the street band, this time playing a real accordion. But with an often tardy )or absent) upright bassist, more and more Greg found himself called upon to fill in on bass, eventually buying his own contrabass in 1996. When Jeremy Lyons was invited to bring a four-piece band to Europe, Jeremy asked his old buddy to add accordion to the trio of Lyons, Steve Lewins on upright and Paul Santopadre on drums. Greg fit in perfectly, and when British Steve Lewins was refused re-entry into the US and deported, Greg landed the job of bassist in the Jeremy Lyons Trio.

Since then Greg has made the job his own. His hilarious personality, charming back up vocals and solid, jazz-tempered musicianship quickly earned him a permanent position in the Lyons line-up. Though the upright bass fulfills most of his Deltabilly duty, Greg still pulls out the accordion at many gigs. Returning to Europe in the summers of 1998 and '99, former Viper (and leader of the rock band "The Sutras") A.J. Strauss filled in as the fourth, adding trumpet, piano and backing vocals, and trading off bass duties with Greg, allowing Schatz to stretch out on the squeeze box. Greg is much in demand in New Orleans, and has worked with a number of different groups in New Orleans, including Johnny Angel and the Swingin' Demons, the Hurtt Brothers, Kermit Ruffins, Mighty Slim and the Mood Swingers, and the Morning Forty Federation, to name a few.

In his spare time, Greg continued to write songs. Jeremy became so impressed with both the quantity, quality, and the diversity of Greg's tunes, that the formation of "Schatzy" seemed inevitable. Recruiting Paul Santopadre, Jeremy and bass player Dave Stover (of Bad Mayo and other New Orleans bands), Greg started leading his own band while playing accordion and guitar. Eventually an electric piano was also adopted, and vocalist Sarah DeBacher (manager and bartender at the Dragon's Den) was recruited as part time back-up vocalist. (Sarah's powerful voice graces much of Schatzy's album.) Though Stover and Greg both played bass on Macaroni and Bees, the position at gigs is now generally filled by Steve Callandra of Egg Yolk Jubilee.

Schatzy • 3030 St. Claude Ave. Apt. B • New Orleans, LA 70117 • Tel: 504.945.8918
E-mail: gregoryschatz@hotmail.com