melodrama in eleven acts,
inspired by real events
(traslated from slovenian by mr. google translate)
act I: childhood and adolescence (1979 – 1998)
grega gorenšek, born in 1979, is a slovenian musician. he started playing accordion and drums at the age of six. he was first taught accordion and music theory by his father, and in his elementary school years he graduated from junior music school with accordion. he has remained a self-taught drummer to this day. in parallel with high school, he completed junior and senior music school in classical percussion. during high school he became a zois scholarship holder and began a 10-year collaboration with the sng maribor symphony orchestra.
act II: wellblott (1996 – 2005)
his first band was the slovenian hard rock band wellblott, which he joined at the age of 17, in may 1996.
the band was founded in 1992 by guitarist and author matjaž sterže, who remained the only member in all of the band's variants until the end of their active existence. in addition to matjaž, the original band was created and played by bassist uroš medved ux (1992 to 2004), drummer timotej pečoler and singer and guitarist grega zupančič (both 1992 to 1996). in this line-up and with members still in their teens, the group also recorded the first studio recordings in switzerland, and completed the first album with a new singer mate brodar (mate bro). the album "ista laž" was released in 1994 and served the group's considerable popularity at the regional level. when the group unexpectedly released the song "čebelica maja" on one of the slovenian compilations, a new side of the story turned and the group became popular outside the region and began to perform concerts all over slovenia, as guests at the concerts of other legendary bands such as also with solo concerts. zupančič and pečoler left wellblott then, and grega gorenšek came for drums.
as a quartet, they recorded the album "do you know what I think?!?", which was released in 1997, served with the official video "tam si ti", and the group also won one of the main awards at the then still existing "slovenian rock festival'' and started a tour that lasted continuously until 1998, when brodar left the group and new vocalist alex štaher joined the group.
in 1999, they also recorded the critically acclaimed album "take your stand", which marked the peak of the band's career. quite a few reprints were printed by the zkp rtv slovenija publishing house, and the singles and official videos for the songs "za naju dva", "zlobna vila" and "shadows" directed by uroš medved ux won first places in the music charts. at that time the core of the band started working with tinkara kovač and later with matjaž jelen (singer of the band šank rock). they crisscrossed the length and breadth of slovenia with solo and accompanying concerts.
saturation with performances and years of joint creation led the group to a break in activity. the members started working with other bands or soloists and this story is still going on, because all the members of the wellblott group, who have been in the group since 1996, continue to be active in many important slovenian groups or as very successful solo performers. wellblott also recorded the complete material for the fourth album in a different line-up, which has not yet been released due to various reasons.
act III: academy (1998 – 2002)
he continued his education at the academy of music in ljubljana, where he graduated with honors in 2002 and obtained the professional title of academic percussionist and professor of percussion. during his studies he received a yamaha scholarship and won first prize and a gold plaque in the highest category at the official national competition of young slovenian musicians.
act IV: professor (1999 - never)
already as a student, in 1999 he started teaching at the rogaška slatina music school and in 2001 at the maribor conservatory of music and ballet, where he has been employed full-time since graduation. teaches percussion in maribor at the intermediate level and in ruša at the lower level. in the field of pedagogy, he obtained the title of senior councilor. his most successful former students study at world-renowned music universities or are already established soloists, chamber musicians or orchestra members. he is the head of the state commission for the renewal of the percussion curriculum at art high schools.
act V: stick control (2002 – 2022)
in 2002, he founded the band stick control with classical percussionist boštjan vavh. it was a percussion group of academic musicians and professors that operated until 2022.
he was the only member throughout the years of operation, the driving force and ideological leader of the band. the melodic section of the arrangement was led by dmitrij averjanov, a ukrainian percussionist living in slovenia, and the rhythm section by drummer bruno domiter. there have been many changes in the lineup over the years. other members were percussionists dejan ritlop and tajana novak, vibraphonist vid jamnik, bassists marko furek and andrej hočevar, and keyboardist marko churnchetz.
they played their own arrangements of compositions of various musical genres: pop, classical, film music, jazz fusion, latin jazz and rock. the arrangements were based on keyboard percussion instruments such as xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and xylosynth. these are relatively young instruments, known mainly to music connoisseurs. therefore, one of the band's greatest achievements is to popularize these beautiful and richly expressive percussion instruments more widely.
they had many solo concerts at prominent festivals or in their own organization. they were guests at many events, both local and prestigious at the highest national level.
their creative peak is the album "popcorn", released in 2006, which has a cult status in the world of percussion bands, because it is the first to be recorded and produced in the manner of pop/rock bands.
act VI: projects (2007 – 2017)
he was the mastermind behind the concert cover bands 80's project (2007 – 2015) and 90's orgy (2017). he also worked regularly with the toto tribute band to=to and terrafolk's symbolic orchestra.
act VII: toxic heart (2009 – 2021)
in 2009 he joined the hard rock band toxic heart. the band started in 2007 with the line-up of mike (miha pipenbaher - guitar and author), axl (darjan kocmut - vocals), rider (nejc pipenbaher - bass) and mogy (logar stamp - drums). in the beginning, they drew attention to themselves mainly by participating in the slovenian glam rock tour "lipstick and leather conspiracy", which took place in 2008.
in 2009 they released their debut album ''ride your life'', which featured official videos for the tracks ''ride your life'', ''big time'' and ''like the way i feel''. the album received extremely good reviews in the slovenian, but especially in the world's print and online professional media. the title track ''ride you life'' was among the most played on radio and television programs. even before the release of the album, mogy was replaced by gg (grega gorenšek) on drums. concerts in slovenia and abroad followed.
in 2012 they released their second album "trailerpark show", which was stylistically quite different, as it contained many elements of twang country music. after that, the band went on hiatus until 2019, when they reunited. this time rider was replaced by jay (jure kovačič) on bass and they released three official videos for the new songs "never stop", "aim for the sky" and "naiyah".
intermission
act VIII: solo artist (2011 - never)
in 2011 he released his first solo album "klik". is the first slovenian classical percussionist to release a solo album and records records and official videos in a pop/rock/stick control style. in 2014, the album "ocean" followed, and in 2019, "bipolar".
since 2023 he has been performing full-length solo concerts dedicated exclusively to solo compositions for snare drum and timpani.
act IX: philammon (2015 – 2023)
in 2015, he founded the band philammon with keyboardist and author mark volk. the band was completed by bassist janez zakošek. it was an instrumental fusion rock band of experienced and top musicians that worked until 2023.
the group recorded the first album "the call" as a trio with various guests on guitar, released in 2020. the album is highly recognized among fans of this music, and especially among musicians, mainly due to volk's authorial authenticity, listenability, excellent production and virtuoso, but at the same time the tasteful contribution of all the instrumentalists. the album also featured world-famous names such as sound mixer alex argento and guitarist martin miller and marco sfogli.
after the release of the album, zakoška was replaced on bass by andrej hočevar, and guitarist matevž spegel štaher joined them as the fourth member, who already recorded most of the guitars on the debut album "the call". in this lineup, they recorded - and also sealed with a master track - an even more extensive sequel to the 4-movement epic title ''the call'', named ''the call: untold story''. and indeed... this part of the story has never been told to the public until today.
act X: jenny rad (2024 - never)
he is now a member of jenny rad, a new hard rock 'n' roll sensation on the scene. they first hit the public eye in june 2024 with the official video and first single "rise up". this was followed by a second single "borrowed time" in 2025.
act XI: method book author (2023 - never)
in the years 2023 and 2024, he published five books on percussion technique. four are from the ''commandments'' series, namely ''snare drum commandments'', ''timpani commandments'' and ''rock drums commandments''. these are the first books on percussion technique by a slovenian author.
