Greg Bates Hopes To Tour With Brantley Gilbert Again

When it was first announced that Bates would be going on tour with Gilbert last year he admits, “It was definitely an interesting pairing to go out and be on the road with Brantley, who obviously – our music is not similar, other than having the country name to it and it was something that I was not worried about but definitely, it caught my attention just like I’m sure it caught some fans attention before they came to the show.” 

But looking back on the tour Greg says, “I think it was a huge success. Being out with Brantley, I got to see how a tour should be run and all of his guys were so great to me and my guys. We just had a blast. I can’t say enough about how much fun it was to go out. I think we all kind of hated to see it end when it did. Hopefully we’ll get to tour with him at some point again real soon.” 

For now, Greg is promoting his new single, “Fill in the Blank,” with his own shows at clubs, fairs and festivals across the country.

Greg Bates Prepares For The End Of Football Season

Bates is a huge football fan and more specifically a huge Tennessee Titans fans. His family has season tickets to the games, and while the Titans didn’t have such a great year and Greg is looking forward to next year when they might be a little better, he’s still bummed to see another football season come to an end. 

“They always say that there’s 2 seasons,” Greg jokes. “There’s football season and waiting on football season. So I think we’re all getting to that point where we’re excited but we know the end is coming soon and it’s gonna be a long off-season for a lot of football fans, for sure.” As for the Super Bowl, which will see the Baltimore Ravens taking on the San Francisco 49ers this coming Sunday, Greg says cautiously, “If I had to make a prediction I think the 49ers just look great this year. They’ve got a young quarterback that is just killing it right now. So if I had to pick a winner, I’d say the 49ers this year.”

Greg Bates Enjoys Best Year Of His Life

As debut years go, Bates has had a terrific one. “2012 was an amazing year for me,” he says. 

“It was probably the best year of my life. I can’t say enough about how excited I am for “Did It For The Girl”. It went top 5 this year. And just looking ahead to 2013, its gonna be a lot of fun to go out and play this song and have people sing it back to me. This year was amazing. I got to go on my first tour with Brantley Gilbert. It’s been an absolutely perfect year for me and I’m just, I’m in a really good place heading into 2013.” 

One thing Greg is looking forward to in 2013 is releasing his debut album to get even more music out to his fans.

Greg Bates "Must Have Gum"

When you spend as much time on the road as Bates (click to hear audio) does, promoting his song “Did It for the Girl” and touring with Brantley Gilbert on the Hell on Wheels Tour, there are certain things that become must have items. 

Greg says for him, it’s gum. "I’m a huge gum fanatic. And I always have to have… I’ll make ‘em stop four, five times during a week when we’re out just to like, 'I’m out of gum, guys.'"

And it doesn’t have to be any certain kind. “Just whatever I can find at the time,” says Greg. “I mean, I’m not picky about it.”

Greg Bates, Shopping Cart Wrangler

Bates, who has his first top 20 hit on his hands with “Did It for the Girl,” has a strange pet peeve and he blames his mom for it.

Greg explains, “When I was a kid, my mom's biggest pet peeve was when you pull into the parking lot at a grocery store, and people have left their carts out in the parking spaces, she would always make us as kids go grab them and bring them in. So, to this day when I pull into a grocery store parking lot and I see a buggy sitting out in the parking lot, outside of the little gated area that they have for you, it just drives me nuts and I don't know why… I can't seem to be okay with carts being left out.”  

Coincidentally, when Greg was a teenager he worked at Target one summer and his job was to wrangle the carts in the parking lot, which of course he loved.  “I was the cart guy outside and loved it! It was amazing! I basically got to move carts around all day!”

Greg Bates: Ready For Some Football

The NFL pre-season is already underway and college football officially kicks off on August 30th, and

Greg Bates is definitely excited about it all.  “I'm such a huge sports fanatic.  I love ESPN… I grew up playing baseball and basketball and I've missed one home Titans game since they've been in Nashville.” 

Naturally with his song “Did It for the Girl” climbing up the charts and with him getting ready to go on tour with Brantley Gilbert this fall, Greg is a lot busier this year than he's ever been and he knows he'll probably miss a lot more games, but he says, “The Titans are probably my favorite football team. I'm a big Tennessee Vols fan when it comes to college.”  So he'll probably find a way to catch a few games when he‟s out on the road.