Grateful Web Interview w/ Roland Hansen

Article Contributed by Christopher Kemp | Published on Thursday, January 7, 2016

Hey Guys thanks for talking with me. Happy New Year.

GW:  What did you do for New Years and did you already break your resolutions?

GG: Thanks for talking with us! This is Roland Hansen. I play keys for Greener Grounds. We had an awesome New Years! We decided not to play a NYE GG show, and celebrate with one of our favorites bands Umphreys McGee. We celebrated the New Year with Umphrey’s and had a grand ol time! I can't speak for the rest of the band about their resolutions, but I'm still on point for mine! Haha

GW: What’s happening in 2016 for GG? Heard a rumor you might be releasing a new album? Can you talk about any themes or ideas your putting into the album?

GG: 2016 is bound to be a huge year for GG, and we couldn't be more excited about it! Yes the rumor is true (haha) we will be releasing our first ever full length LP titled "Momentous." We're aiming to release our new jams in May of 2016. We decided on "Momentous" for the name of the album because we feel that it accurately describes how the band feels and describes the momentum we’re experiencing in the music scene right now. We don't plan on slowing down any time soon!

GW: You’re set to tour soon on the east coast. What are you most looking forward to?

GG: Yep, we will be embarking out to the east coast at the beginning of February and will be touring for almost the entire month. We have 14 shows scheduled with east coast Philly band "Tweed" in ten different states!! We're really excited to meet those boys, tour around and have some fun! All of us in GG are from Colorado except for our drummer AJ who hails from Philly originally. So this will be the first time we've ever seen a lot of these cities. We're stoked to hit the road and meet so many amazing people along the way!!

GW: You’ve just passed the two year mark as a band. First off congrats. Can you talk about how you achieved such quick success? Secondly can you talk a bit about what it’s like to play with so many great musicians across the country? Who are you looking forward to playing with the most?

GG: Thank you! It's been quite the wild ride thus far. I think our quick success has had a lot to do with the wonderful music scene here in Denver that is just chalk full of music lovers and concert goers! We have worked very hard to get where we are, rehearsing together four times a week and always working on the promotional side of things as well. We have an awesome manager James Servin from Mountain View Artists who works his tail off for us and has had a huge hand in our success as a band. On top of that we've had overwhelming support from Grassroots California, The Untz, AEG Live, Cevantes, and so many more. All of which have contributed to our growth in this music scene! Playing with some our favorite local bands and national touring acts has been a real treat. We've been seeing some of these bands live for years and now we get to play with them! We're humbled and honored! I'm a huge fan of the String Cheese Incident and we have the pleasure of opening for Kyle Hollingsworth Band on January 23rd at The Aggie in Fort Collins. This is a dream come true for me as a keyboard player!

GW: Where do you see yourselves in a year? Do you have any goals as a band?

GG: In a year from now I see us playing at the Ogden and the Fillmore here in Denver for our first time. By that time we will have done multiple tours, released a full length LP, and played some of the best music festivals in the country! So far we are booked for The Untz Festival in California as well as Joshua Tree Music Festival in California with many more TBA! Our biggest goal is to play Red Rocks within the next few years. The future is bright and we're so excited to see what's to come!