Gregory J. Vance

Syr & Freeway Music

Greg Vance is a full-time touring drummer, session player and educator based in Columbia, SC. He began his career self taught, with a burning passion for music and percussion. He steadily worked to hone his craft through trial and error, DIY touring, as well as booking and promoting bands. While Greg stayed very busy musically in Springfield, he felt he needed to branch out and live in an area where musical opportunity didn't require the near impossible task of consistently piecing together new projects to start from scratch.
In 2013 Greg moved from his home-base in Springfield, MO to join Enfold Darkness in Nashville, TN. Greg knew moving to Music City, USA would grant him better opportunity to thrive, learn and grow as a musician. While living in Nashville, Greg toured regularly with Enfold Darkness, and took on another musical project as a full time member: Oubliette. While working with these two metal bands, Greg also sat in as a session player with various artists in the area and took on other touring gigs with other bands.
He and an associate also owned and operated a music venue, recording studio and rehearsal space outside of Nashville for a brief amount of time: Autograph Studios. While operating Autograph, Greg got back to private teaching and focused heavily on increasing his chops in multiple genres ranging from bluegrass to funk.
Greg wrote and recorded "Adversary Omnipotent" with Enfold Darkness and "The Passage" with Oubliette while living in Nashville.
After 11 years in Music City, Greg joined Syr, a Celtic Folk Rock band based out of Columbia, SC and was commuting regularly for touring. He and his wife decided to make the move to Columbia to focus on that project full time, where he also acquired a teaching position at Freeway Music, a well known locally owned music school with 6 locations in the area.
To this day, Greg consistently tours with Syr, teaches at Freeway Music and regularly works as a session player and hire on touring musician.

Gregory J. Vance'S SETUP:

1.14" HiHats - K Constantinople (top), K Custom Session (bottom) *
2.Stack - 9" FX Oriental Trash Splash (bottom), 6" Splash (top) *
3.19" K Dark Thin Crashes
4.22" K Custom High Definition Ride
5.10" FX China Trash

6.15" FX Azuka Latin Multi-Crash *
7.16" K Dark Thin Crashes

* May be prototype

Gregory
J.
Vance's
IN 3

Gregory J. Vance's
IN 3

  • WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

    My creativity is derived from a deep love of music in general, particularly the rhythmic aspects. I love hyper analyzing patterns and phrases and working like a mad scientist to piece together my own feel and sound with other musicians to create original songs. Taking those songs to the stage and seeing the response is truly a spiritual experience.

  • WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF DRUMMERS

    Enjoy the process and avoid comparing yourself to other drummers. Focus on measurable, attainable, and incremental goals that lead to an ultimate goal in the future. Be a student first, always. Use humbling experiences as inspiration for improvement, rather than self defeat. Consistency is key in making a career out of your passion.

  • FAVORITE ZILDJIAN CYMBAL/COMBO

    Zildjian K 20" Cluster Crash, Zildjian Z Custom 21" Mega Bell Ride, Zildjian 15" K Lite Hi hats, Zildjian 21" A Ultra Hammered China- Brilliant, Zildjian 8" K Custom Splash, Zildjian 19" K Custom Hybrid China, Zildjian K 14" Mini China, Zildjian K 22" Paper Thin Crash

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