Greg Pittz // lead guitar & vocals

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My earliest memories of wanting to play guitar go back to a middle school summer when my family was on vacation.  We were driving through the backroads of Vermont and I had just picked up Nirvana’s live compilation, “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.”  The energy and sound from Kurt’s guitar made a big impact on me, and I got my first one soon after.  As I got older, I was drawn to the aggression and energy of extreme metal and formed a death metal band that played regionally around New York.  I was very inspired by the lava-fueled solo improvisations of Morbid Angel’s Trey Azagthoth, so it’s rather fitting that one fateful Summer day in June of 2004 I was confronted with the improvisational fireworks from another Trey (Anastasio), the jedi guitar mastermind of Phish.  The difference between these worlds couldn’t be greater on the surface, but below they both operate on the same paradigm – the channeling of energy from the universe and funneling it out into the world via instruments.  I soon began a decade-plus obsession with Phish and other jambands like the Disco Biscuits, Dirty Paris, the Jauntee, the Grateful Dead and U-Melt.  

​Aside from these prime forces, I have always been fond of the hypnotic rhythm and the sublime, blissful melody that’s woven throughout the build and release gymnastics of trance and house artists like Paul Oakenfold and Paul Van Dyk.  As with most guitarists, David Gilmour looms large in the picture as well.  Pink Floyd’s work had an equally powerful impact on me at an early age, and I am always thinking about Gilmour’s masterful use of empty space in my playing.  My current musical love affair is with post-rock, a cinematic and atmospheric style of music that merges the heaviness of metal with the emotional pull of soundtrack scores in a very cathartic way.  Some people have called it “music for guitar pedals” as most artists employ a vast array of effects units to create the sprawling, reverb-rich sounds found in the music of bands like This Will Destroy You, Caspian, Appalaches, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono and PG.Lost.  

​I strive to smash all of these influences together into a sound that is unique and engaging.  The best bands and artists take inspiration from all over, musical or not.  Examples of thiscan be found in the metal-tinged bomb punches of “Swing That Maximus” (a song whose title comes from a class of kids I taught), the dotted-8th note post-rock/Pink Floyd delay in the chorus of “Stardust,” the loping laid-back Grateful Dead-like bounce of “Bolly Golly” and the driving new wave/trance rhythm behind “Hypnos.”  I believe good bands have a variety of sounds and styles, and I think this is fairly well-represented in the music I play with Glass Pony.  

​In my non-musical life, I attend the Sage Colleges of Albany as a Physical Education major.  I teach a motor development program for pre-K through early elementary students with Amazing Athletes, and I’m the supervisor for the Town of Bethlehem Parks Department’s youth Tiny Tot and One-on-One swim programs.  In my spare time I collect too many vinyl records, bowl in a league at Del Lanes with my brother, and ride my bike as often as I can.  I try my best to spread good energy and practice kindness and compassion at every available opportunity.  Life is too short to be miserable and unhappy, and I believe if you put good energy out, you will get good energy in return.