Meet Les Greene | Singer / songwriter/ performer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Les Greene and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Les, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I think folk don’t quite understand what goes in to being an artist that supports themselves with art and how much you have to pour in before you ever get anything out of your work. I also don’t think they’re aware of how rewarding it feels to say “this thing I was born with just paid my rent, niceee ”. This life is fun but ain’t for the weak, I can tell ya that much.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think what sets me apart from others is that I genuinely don’t know what I’m doing and when I think I have it figured out life shows me that I don’t but I roll with it anyway and somehow things turn out okay as they always do. My music has now rules, I hear it in my head, I hum it, voice note it, practice it with the band and whatever came of that is what I put out into the world and I’m really proud of that. Music is the only thing I don’t over think.

The road to where I am today was not easy. A lot of hard lessons that I had to be taught a few times before getting it and some still haven’t sunk in yet if I’m being honest. Learning how manage myself as an artist as someone who was used to working for others in the past was challenging. I learned that every job and life experience I’ve had could be applied to being an artist and working for myself.

I’ve had to overcome (and still struggle with) loads of self doubt, stage fright, procrastination, anxiety, depression and the list goes on, all while having to be this person on stage who doesn’t look like they’re dealing with those things. I think I want the world to know that there’s beauty in all those things because it’s everyday, real life for a lot of people and when I’m performing it’s still that person dealing with all those things but they melt away for time I’m on stage and my hopes is that it makes the audience not have to deal with their stuff for that small amount of time too. In short, at times performing is therapy to me and I feel like it is for those who come out to see me and that’s what I want y’all to know.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When folks visit and usually this is upon their request only, I take them to the walk of fame to get the touristy stuff out of the way. If it’s it up to me we’re going to be going to go on a mini tour of beach’s and food spots near by. In my neighborhood the first stop is High Low Bar. It’s my favorite place, the food, amazing bartenders, pool table, karaoke some nights you could (I have) stay from open to close and not be bored. Other spots we gotta go to are, Tacos Villa Corona, Club Tee Gees, All’acqua, Bar Sinizki, Bigfoot Lodge oh and Nico’s bottle shop for a more chill wine night . I clearly don’t leave my neighborhood but with those spots I don’t really need to.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Easy, my good friend Chris Toler and Mike Ascott (Rest his soul). I know in the end I had to do the work and push myself to be where I am but they were the first people to make me believe that I was good at what I did. To this day I think about them and how this all came about.

Website: https://iamlesgreene.com

Instagram: @iamlesgreene

Image Credits
@irie.io – insta
first 2 additional photos