Benny Greb

A Bit About Benny
Now, you may believe that Benny has always been as tall and as bearded and as handsome and as musically gifted as he is currently is! But no, he started off life as a tiny baby just like you and me. Mr. & Mrs. Greb, Mrs. Greb in particular, gave birth to a bouncing Benny back in 1980 in the town of Augsburg, Germany and so began Benny���s life-long study of the art of music and in particular drumming.
Gifted with his first set of drums when only six years old, Benny began his drumming journey by teaching himself until he took his very first lesson when just 12 years old and he quickly progressed to playing in punk bands before discovering rock and jazz, getting involved in the various bands that his school had to offer.
By 1997 Benny was well on his way to becoming the handsome bearded fellow that we see today in images and on DVD and his full time study began in earnest when he attended music schools in Dinkelsbuhl and then in Hamburg where he currently resides.
These days, Benny can be found playing with an assortment of musicians, all demanding his tasteful and immaculate playing style. You will find him in rock settings, laying down a ferocious backbeat with both Stoppok and The Ron Spielman Trio, in jazz, where the triplet rules with the aptly titled Benny Greb Brass Band and Sabri Tulug Tirpan, before dipping his toe into funk where Benny displaces beats and accents the ���and��� with Jerobeam. Lest we forget, Benny also plays classical music, (hence the pipe perhaps?) working with the NDR Orchestra on their Zappa project before scaling the dizzy heights of playing the ���F��� word (fusion) with 3ergezimmer.
Not content to just stake a claim in all those wonderful musical areas, Benny is capable enough to play with acoustic punk/cabaret act Strom & Wasser, clearly showing that no style is beyond his tasteful, yet humorous approach. To top that all off, Benny can also be spotted hitting various parts of the motor vehicle with ���AutoAuto��� with Christian von Richthofen where they feature a car as a percussion instrument. No wonder that the rest of us are all gainfully unemployed!
In another section of this website, probably titled ���Discography���, you will discover a host of bands and artists that Benny has supplied his delicious feel to, so you now know that he is also a highly in-demand session player, not forgetting composer and producer. Phew!
With all the love that the drums has given to Benny, he became compelled to ���give something back��� and so when not seconded in some dark recording studio, or stuck in the back of an old Transit van hurtling up and down autobahns he can be found presenting drum clinics, or teaching the hungry young drummers that fill the Hamburg School of Music���s hallways. He even travels to Mannheim, to the Popakademie there to teach those fortunate youngsters. If you desire a slightly longer time with Professor Greb, and if the weather is good and camping is your thing, then the Bandcamp of the Bayerische Musikacademie Hammelburg is where you���ll find him erecting tents and starting fires.
And then�Ķ
Benny has been known to get on to airplanes to tour globally, entertaining drummers worldwide with clinics for Sonor and Meinl. High profile events such as the Montreal Drum Festival in Canada, the Ultimate Drummer Weekend in Melbourne, Australia, the World Drum Festival, Germany, (that���s not so far is it?) get his attention before jumping onto a budget flight to London for Drummer Live. Oh, and the prestigious PASIC event in Texas also calls him from time to time.
So you see, Benny is a pretty busy bloke. When not flying, recording, teaching, hanging out with other drummers, smoking his pipe or climbing rocks Benny has been known to write, record and release his own solo records with Grebfruit being one such release. He also (incredibly) found time to think about making a DVD, not just your ordinary common or garden drum DVD, indeed no, a full-on, high quality, proper big cameras and make-up artists DVD that divulges all his incredible knowledge on a two-disc set that, if you���re good and ask nicely, can be obtained from professional drum stores worldwide. Benny���s The Language of Drumming ��� A System For Musical Expression DVD will change your life, make members of the opposite sex see you in a whole different light and of course make you a much, much better drummer. Naturally, Benny kept some of his secrets secret, but hey, you can���t blame Benny for that, can you? So, if you want to have Benny in your front room or wood shed, then purchase a copy of The Language of Drumming ��� A System For Musical Expression, made with the help of those nice Hudson Music people and liberate your drumming to new heights and give Benny a run for his money.
He is a genius!