JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum THE STORY OF HOW YOU STARTED WITH MUSIC

At the end of the 20th Century, Gregory Watton was known on his college campus as DJ SOAP and he had the most popular radio show on campus called THE SOAP SHOW ON THE RADIO. He was also known for bringing local bands in the Los Angeles area and the South Bay onto his show to give them exposure and to interview them, acquainting potential fans with the flavor of the day.

How did Gregory Watton get the name DJ SOAP and how did the show become known as THE SOAP SHOW ON THE RADIO?

In 1997, an in line skater named Chris Morris, invented a shoe called SOAP SHOES. The shoe's unique design featured a grind plate on the bottom of the shoe that allowed the wearer to grind and slide on rails and curbs, just like a rollerblader or a skateboarder could.

Gregory Watton was first introduced to Chris Morris through a band he interviewed on his show called BLACK CROWN, who later signed to Universal/Polydor Records in Germany, who then changed the band name to NO CURFEW. At the time, BLACK CROWN had a sponsorship with SOAP SHOES. One day after BLACK CROWN appeared for an interview on Gregory Watton's show, Chris Morris was invited to the interview to hang out and Gregory Watton had the opportunity to interview Chris Morris on the show, which resulted in Gregory getting introduced to his first pair of SOAP SHOES.

After Gregory got his shoes (and after much practice), he would go to BLACK CROWN's shows and also shows of a band associated with them, called BLUE CRUSH (lead singer Todd Riffel, who Gregory became friends with), and he would slide the edge of the stages at the shows with his shoes. Not soon after, Mr. Watton was nicknamed "DJ SOAP" and his show was then called by fans and fellow DJ's alike, THE SOAP SHOW ON THE RADIO.

The name stuck and DJ Soap continued playing popular music and local band music after the lunch hour, when his time slot would air live.

As DJ Soap's show grew in popularity, so did the interview potential. In October 1999, in the late October issue, Gregory Watton (DJ SOAP) appeared in the feature article of MUSIC CONNECTION MAGAZINE, Los Angeles' hottest music industry insider magazine. This particular issue featured Rob Zombie on the front cover of the magazine, holding a Jack 'O' Lantern.

This clip of THE SOAP SHOW ON THE RADIO features a comedy improv' group called MONSTER X. Listen as DJ Soap joins in on the comedy, doing an improv parody of politics from that era in time.

https://soundcloud.com/thewattonshow/soap-show-on-the-radio-monster-x-skit

I left for boot camp on Sept 18th, 2001. Exactly one week after terrorists hijacked the airplanes that crashed into the twin towers of the world trade center and the pentagon. Reporters and their camera crew greeted me and my fellow recruits as we were escorted by military personnel out of the airport in Texas to board buses that would take us to Lackland Air Force Base. The reporters were covering a story about the surge in military enlistments that followed the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

I didn’t join the Air Force because of 9/11. I had enlisted in the delayed entry program a few months before that. What did result from 9/11 is a feeling that I had made the right choice and I had a stronger resolve to serve my country.

I served in the Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller, a Personnelist in the Commander's office, a TCN Escort, and a Security Forces Augmentee.

While serving state side, I coordinated with pilots, radar control, and base operations to ensure everyone's safety during scheduled take offs and returning air craft.

I deployed to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, on January 2, 2003, assigned to the 386 Air Expeditionary Wing. The base is located 39 miles south of the Iraqi border and was at the front lines of surveillance against airborne threats during Operation Southern Watch, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

My assigned duties while deployed in Kuwait began as a Third Country National (TCN) escort, where supervision of TCN’s were necessary to prevent spies and terrorists from gathering sensitive information, which would result in serious bodily harm (or death) to United States Armed Forces, Coalition Forces, and innocent civilian lives.

After spending two months as a TCN Escort, I was then assigned to the Security Forces Squadron as a Security Forces Augmentee and when the war began, continued working in Security Forces while on standby as part of the Search and Rescue Team.

The song in the opening credits is titled “Battle of Hearts”, lyrics written by Gregory Watton. In the end credits, the song is “Invincible”, performed by Matthew Schuler from Season 5 of NBC’s The Voice. The song is written by Gregory Watton, Liam Quinn, and Harrison Kantarias.

You can download a copy of “Invincible” here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/invincible-single/id1009477782

I returned state side in August of 2003 and began working as a personnelist in the commander's office. My job was to work with the squadron personnel to ensure their records were up to date and travel arrangements were handled properly. I worked closely with the commander and his support staff to organize squadron awards events and commander calls.

2004 was the year I was introduced to some music producers from Pasadena. I began collaborating with them and in November 2004, I took some leave to visit family in Los Angeles and the producers invited me to help produce a charity concert in benefit of the Make A Wish Foundation, featuring young popstar Jesse McCartney.

I've been writing songs ever since.

Here is a video that tells a little of that story as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QccQwZTXtOw

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So, how did you get your start?

The year was 1960, I was in the third grade, and our teacher invited the band teacher to come into class with some instruments, to try and entice us kids to join the band, pick an instrument, and learn.

This really got me excited, after school I literally ran home and begged my mom and dad to buy me a saxophone. Well, the music store persuaded us that if I wanted to be a sax player, it was wiser to start on clarinet first, so they bought me one, and that's how I began. I switched to sax in the sixth grade, then flute in the 8th grade, while I simultaneously got a guitar from a friend for my 16th birthday, and that was, I believe, in 1967. By my early twenties, I let the woodwinds slide and just kept up guitar, and in 1995, I bought a piano and woodshedded on it for 3 years, and now I play both guitar and piano. I gigged in jazz for a while, often as solo guitar in restaurants, that sort of thing, eventually quit playing professionally, and now I just compose music, and keep trying to get songs recorded by either artists or placed in films or TV, or commercials. But, I don't have really good production gear, and so this is hurting me.