Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Justin Greaves is best known as co-founder of the post-rock experimental band Crippled Black Phoenix, along with Mogwai bassist Dominic Atchison. Greaves is the son of a record store owner. His father opened his shop in 1976 at the dawn of the British punk explosion. Greaves has claimed in an interview that his earliest musical influence was hearing the drums in Adam the Ants.

Greaves began playing in pub bands at age 15. His first documented bands were, simultaneously, the grindcore outfit Hard to Swallow and doom/sludge metal unit Iron Monkey. Both recorded between the early and late '90s. Iron Monkey re-formed to record and tour in 2002, but singer Johnny Morrow took ill in Europe, and eventually died of a heart attack. Ruined by Idiots was released posthumously in 2003. In 2002 Greaves also collaborated with Sunn 0)))'s Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson and Napalm Death vocalist Lee Dorrian under the name Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine. They recorded a lone album, Rampton, released that same year. Greaves became Electric Wizard's drummer in 2003 and remained until 2006, appearing on the album Witchcult Today.

During his tenure with that band, he began experimenting with different sounds and dynamics, conceptualizing the idea for a different kind of rock band. He ran them by Mogwai's Atchison, and the pair co-founded Crippled Black Phoenix. The band's lineup has continually evolved (over 30 members have been through its ranks, and Atchison is no longer a member), with Greaves remaining at the center of its creative activity through four studio albums and a pair of live offerings. In early 2013, still very much the leader of CBP, Greaves released his first solo album, The Devil's Business. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi