Sydney, AU. (Top40 Charts/ EMI MUSIC Australia) - It's the fairy tale story of a 36 year old high school
Drama teacher from Summer Heights whose self penned musical touched the nation and resulted in a string of memorable songs. One such song was "
Naughty Girl". Told through the voice of
Drama teacher Mr G, the song describes the plight of a promiscuous young girl with an addiction for recreational drugs.
We present "Naughty Girl", produced as a dance single with full endorsement and involvement from Greg Gregson himself. This 6 track single features remixes by Paul Mac, John Paul Talbot and Stylaz Fuego as well as an Accapella version.
We met with Greg Gregson aka Mr G to discuss the upcoming single release.
You wrote a musical about yourself. How did this come about?
Well we had a girl die of an ecstasy overdose at our school. It was huge and there was lots of media attention. I pride myself on putting on musicals that get big audiences. And nothing brings in a crowd like a controversial story, so I wrote the musical about her. Her parents ended up getting all stupid about it saying it was in bad taste so I changed it to be a musical about me instead. "Mr G The Musical" is "The story of a teacher who cared too much". He preaches to the kids about their drugs and their suicide and their anorexia. He's a messiah type figure.
Tell us about the song "Naughty Girl"?
"Naughty Girl" takes place in a nightclub. Mr G follows young Jessica out on a Saturday night. He likes to keep track of his students outside school hours. Jessica is known around the school for sleeping around and partying quite hard so Mr G is very concerned for her welfare. He follows her into a Nightclub and that's when the song happens. The room lights up with all sorts of dancing and sordid activity. Pole dancing, drug taking and all sorts of sexy acts. Mr G sings to the audience about Jessica's bad habits. Then we see Jessica doing a drug deal. She buys an ecstasy pill off a dealer and then attempts to swallow it. Mr G intervenes begging her to stop but it's too late. She swallows it. Then the pill takes affect and she goes off and dances like crazy. I used strobe lights and a glitter drop. It looked amazing. It was a really fun scene.
What was it like working with the Producers and being in a professional recording environment?
I was sceptical at first. I've always work solo and have only ever used the Casio beats from my keyboard. But hearing the sounds that they can get was pretty sensational. I took my best friend and work colleague Rodney into the studio for some of the sessions and he was blown away. He gave me encouraging thumbs up signals through the glass while I was recording my vocals. And when we heard the playback we couldn't stop staring at each other in disbelief. It sounded incredible. I always knew I had a professional level recording voice but didn't realise how amazing I could sound. Rodney said I sounded better than Darren Hayes.
And are you happy with the result?
Absolutely. I can't get enough of it. I've got it on repeat at home. The people in the townhouse next door to mine have been banging on the wall telling me to turn it off but I don't care. I've played it so many times it's even starting to annoy me. It's so damn catchy though. And I get excitement quivers whenever I hear the 'She's a slut' section. Rodney said it tingles his spine every time too. I've worked out a dance that I do at home. It's very modern and in keeping with the more hardcore beat of the song. It's very masculine. I kind of look like Justin Timberlake when I do it.
How do you think your new found fame as a recording artist will affect your life as a high school drama teacher?
I'm already in a swamp of jealousy at school amongst staff since the documentary series aired. Some of the looks I get say it all. I can only imagine this will make things worse. But I don't care. I've always told them that I'm more than just a teacher. Finally everyone's getting to see my true colours. And I'm loving it. I'm planning to use the song as the school bell for a week once it's released. The Principal doesn't know this yet but I've booked in with the PA ladies and I'm going to blast it all over the school. This should help sales.
'NAUGHTY GIRL' AVAILABLE DIGITALLY MARCH 1, ON CD MARCH 8
