On the heels of an exciting Halloween announcement, L4LM’s own Rex Thomson sat down with singer/guitarist Greg Ormont of the quickly-rising jam/funk band, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. The group has had a tremendous 2015, with constant touring and a highly successful “You Enjoy My Dicks” run of shows surrounding the Phish Dick’s run over Labor Day weekend. Keep it tuned to L4LM as we break the news about the band’s three-night “Dead Zeppelin” Halloween run and go in-depth with the Pigeons!

L4LM:  The tape is rolling…are you ready to rock?

Greg Ormont:  I am ready…to FUNK!

L4LM:  I like that attitude!  We try to not ask everyone the same questions you get all the time, or at least put a spin on it.  That said, how many times have you been ASKED about the band’s name in interviews?

GO:  Well, to give you an idea, I knew where you were leading with your question the second you started talking about it.  (Chuckles)  So…how many times?  I would say around…200?

L4LM:  Out of how many interviews?

GO:  Uhmmm…200 of them?  (Laughs)  I think I have a 100% success rate getting asked about the name.

L4LM:  (Laughs)  Okay…this technically doesn’t count as that. 

GO:  Oh yeah?

L4LM:  No, I’m asking you about how many people ASK you about the bands name.  That’s my cheat. 

GO:  (Chuckles)  You’re right, this doesn’t count.  It’s a statistical question…this will break the record.  201 interviews, with 200 questions asked about the name.

L4LM:  I guess my only worry here is I did a little research and people who are fixated on a single letter…that can be a sign of some serious mental health issues…

GO:  (Laughs)  Well…great.  I continue to learn more about us every day.  Our mental health is always on our radar. I think we’re doing okay.  (Chuckles)

L4LM:  Being on the road is hard on everyone’s state of mind.  How many shows do you guys average a year?

GO:  I think we’ll end up doing about 150 shows this year.   We’ve done 200 in a year before and on average it’s about 160, at least for the past three years or so.  We’re keeping busy.

L4LM:  That’s pretty impressive.  You guys are taking your music to some new markets, particularly the Southeast.  How’s it feel to see that love for your music starting to build up on the scene?

GO:  It’s great!  Just to see our southeast following expand.  It’s a digital age.  You never really know what kind of fans you have til you go there, but everyone has Spotify, so I’ve definitely been surprised in a lot of cool new towns, especially in the southeast.   For example Birmingham,  Alabama and Savannah, Georgia were just off the chain, and we didn’t see that coming.  We have a lot of new towns to visit and we’re looking forward to seeing what kind of turn out we get.  We’re expecting a funky dance party, no matter who shows up.

L4LM:  It’s nice whenever you see hard work rewarded, and 160 shows a year definitely sounds like hard work to me. 

GO;  Yeah, that’s kinda like the mark…160 shows a year for a band at our level touring full time, that’s the standard for staying at it non stop.  It’s been a wild ride.  We’ve had some crazy times and gotten to see damn near everywhere in the country.   We’re excited to see more fans at each show.  We’re trying to create a new energy each night and try and build on it.

L4LM: You’ve had a busy year.  It hasn’t all just been shows though, you’ve gotten some pretty big slots on some pretty big festival’s schedules.  Do you get a sense this is a big year for you?

GO:  Hell yeah man.  This was an amazing summer. We played some huge festivals and had some awesome turnouts and really good vibes from All Good (Music Festival) on the east coast to Summer Camp up in Illinois…we played at the Aura Music Festival down in Florida, Camp Bisco up in Pennsylvania…it’s wild that no matter where we are in the country there seems to be a following of high energy concert goers who resonate with our music.  We’re just having a good time, and the fact that everyone is coming out is amazing!  We’re super stoked with how 2015 turned out so far. 

L4LM:  As you pointed out, the year’s not over yet.  One of the traditional biggest holidays in our music scene is Halloween.  I hear you guys have something special planned…

GO:  Absolutely dude!  Halloween is my birthday, so we always go balls to the wall.  This year, we’re doing three shows.  One in New York City, then D.C. then Raleigh, North Carolina, all under the musical theme “Dead Zeppelin!”   We’re going to be mixing and matching Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin songs, and our music into a seamless explosion of music.  The process for planning these “Dead Zeppelin” shows has been so much fun.  We’ve been having a blast at practice, just kicking song ideas around and mashup ideas.  With two bands like that, plus all our originals the sky really is the limit as to what we can do.  I think this Halloween in particular is gonna be special for people who have been seeing us for awhile ’cause we’re putting together something we’ve never done before, and it’s sounding great.  

L4LM:  That sounds incredibly fun.  I assume you guys are going all out with costumes and such.  Are we gonna get a Jerry Garcia/Robert Plant hybrid?  Like a Jerry Plant or a Robert Garcia?

GO:  Well…anyone who knows us knows to expect us to embrace the costume part of Halloween to the fullest extent.  We’ve done some wacky costumes in the past and the ideas are flowing just as much around that as it is about the music we’re gonna play.  We’re really, REALLY looking forward to the Halloween run and in every aspect.  From gettin’ crazy and dressing up to pushing the musical envelope, tying in some classics with some new material. 

L4LM:  So your actual birthday is October 31st?

GO: Yeah, that’s why I am such a scary individual!  (Laughs)

L4LM:  (Chuckles)  What was that like growing up?  

GO:  Free candy!  Not everyone gets to walk around on their birthday and get free candy.  It took me til I was like 16 or 17 years old to realize it wasn’t all just for my birthday and that it was Halloween.   I just thought everyone was excited that I had made it another year and would just open their doors for a younger me to get my sugar rush.  Turns out it’s an actual holiday…something to do with witches or something.  College was fun…Halloween is for like two weeks in college and school just basically shut down.  It was like a fortnight of raging, and now in the jam world, Halloween is people’s favorite weekend, myself included, because bands not only get weird with it but try on musical costumes like our Dead Zeppelin shows this year.  Musically, creating interesting themes is really challenging for us and it pushes our boundaries and has us working extra hard to expand our musical scope and try and blow some minds.  

L4LM:  Now we have something of a breaking story!  I’ve just been told you’re inviting the mascot costume “borrowing” party guy to a show?

GO:  (Laughs)  Yeah, Joe accepted our offer.  Joe’s coming to Charlotte and I’m pumped!  We’ve been looking for a mascot for quite a while, and when someone like Joe shows such initiative the whole country takes notice!  I’m just really excited that we scooped him up before the Chicago Bulls or the Charlotte Hornets got to him.  The guys got skills and it’s not too easy to be “Pete The Pigeon” but if anyone could do it, he seems like the best candidate to give it a shot!

L4LM:  Have you guys got a costume ready for him, or is he gonna have to steal one?

GO:  Y’know, a magician never reveals his secrets, and Joe and I have been talking at length on how we’re gonna make this the most incredible mascot reveal of all times.  The real challenge we’ve run into so far is how to incorporate his mullet INSIDE the mascot.  It’s posed a bit of an issue, but the Pigeon Lab associates are working hard at creating a mascot costume that will fully encapsulate his essence.  


L4LM:  I’ve heard some pretty impressive things about your labs.  How many people do you have working in that division of your enterprise?

GO:  Omigosh, that’s actually a question for our manager.  I would say…between 3 and 40.  Our German division keeps things hush hush, but in the States there’s at lest three full time….well…they have day jobs so they do as much work for us as they can.  There’s a lot being done nationally and internationally.  The Pigeon Lab stuff should probably be it’s own thing, so maybe we should schedule a whole other interview for that.  (Chuckles)

L4LM:  (Laughs)  I’m very interested in the inner workings of Pigeon Lab, we’ll definitely have arrange another chat.  You mentioned Spotify, but to someone trying to convince one of their cavemen friends who aren’t online, how would you describe your music to folks?

GO:  To sum it up, we like to call our music high energy, psychedelic funk.  The thing about our music is that you can watch us on YouTube or listen to us on Spotify, but you really just got to get out to a show and you’ll understand our message immediately.  We play with all our hearts, and each show Is played like it’s our last in terms of giving it our all.  We try and vibe off the crowds energy and put out our message and see if we can’t all build something together, every night.  Last night I was talking to some of our fans and the said “The vibes are infectious!  You kinda get bit by the bug!”  So if you wanna get bit by a Pigeon and catch a virus, you should definitely come see us.  That’s probably what I would tell my friends.    

L4LM:  This is the strongest “Pro Bird Flu” interview I’ve ever done.  (Chuckles)

GO:  Yeah, we have a funky bird flu that we’re spreading throughout the country…and the only cure…is more Ping Pong!  (Laughs)

L4LM: That’s a really smart move.  I don’t know if that’s something you came up with in the Pigeon Lab, but an infectious illness that can only be cured by coming to see your band is a hell of a marketing gimmick.  

GO:  It’s cyclical.  Once the ball gets rolling we climb the hill and it rolls back down. 

L4LM:  Nice!  Let’s see…we’ve covered chemical warfare, Germany, and band mascots…is there anything you can think of that I should have asked, but didn’t?

GO:  Well, for starters, this “Flocktober” is our busiest month ever as a band, we’re playing virtually the entire month.  Twenty-two shows  in thirty-one days, all up and down the east coast, through Alabama and Tennessee, up through Ohio and it all caps off with he three Halloween shows!  We are currently going full throttle, and loving every single minute of it! 

L4LM:  Well, thanks for the taking the time off from your busy “Flocktober” schedule to chat with us!  Have a great month and a “Spook-tacular” Halloween. 

GO:  My pleasure!