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Last day in New York for Gallagher, ten week tour of America over, back to London tomorrow, then on the Ireland for a holiday, then back to work.
That, in a nutshell, is the programme that Rory outlines when I called him at his New York hotel last Thursday. Ten weeks in the States would be regarded by many bands as a marathon of madness, but Rory, in his usual quiet, sincere way, remarked that it seemed short in comparison with the last tour despite the fact it had already been extended.
For Gallagher loves to hang out in the States — playing as many little clubs as possible, meeting other musicians, taking in the whole musical climate, finding out who's really cooking these days, checking out a few old blues idols, searching for a new recording environment.
He tends to remember the small club residencies far easier than he does the big concert spots and he loves to work constantly.
In LA, for instance, he played at the Hollywood Palladium with the Kinks, but it was his stints at the Whisky A Go Go that brings back most memories.
"It's been a very good tour, very organised and we've been playing most days during the ten weeks, so overall it's been very enjoyable,” decided the guitarist. He feels that all the groundwork put in on that last backbreaking tour has paid off handsomely because he senses now that wherever he plays people are making the effort to come out and see the band.
“It just doesn't seem that we've been here long at all,” he went on. ‘We’ll be flying back to London tomorrow morning (Friday) and I'll be staying in London for a day or two and then going home to Ireland for a couple of weeks to take it easy.”
But needless to say it will be a very short lull before the next storm, for in July, Rory's band will be back in the studio's to start work on their new album.
“There'll two albums actually,” explained Rory. “There'll be a studio album then I'll probably do a live club album in the States in August or September when we go back for our next tour — it’s already planned for us to go back then.
"But I also want to get into Europe again and we'll probably do a concert tour in November."
Presumably, then Rory had found the time and inclination to write new material whilst the band had been in the States. "Well I've got some bits and pieces down in a notebook," came back the non-commital reply. "I never really write when I'm on tour, but there's some ideas which are ready to grow.”
Rory started enthusing characteristically about some of the bands he'd run into whilst on tour. ‘The Whisky was great because the other band was Mose Jones, this band from Atlanta that Al Kooper produced. They were in good spirits and into the same music as we were so it was great. Steeleye were playing at the Ash Grove but they always clashed with our show so we never got to see each other.
“But I saw Freddie King at the Whisky, in Toronto we saw McKenna Mendelsshon Mainline and King Biscuit Boy, and down in Texas we ran into D. C. Bender, a real back of the woods feller.”
Rory also struck up a reunion with John Hammond who was playing at Kenny’s Castaways in New York. He wants to play that club himself next time, largely because he's found out that the club is owned by fellow Irishman, Pat Kenny.
It's significant that whilst the next tour will see Rory headlining his first concerts at places like Felt Forum and Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, his interest in playing the clubs increases. “Next time we'll be touring with Uriah Heep, but that'll be the last of that kind of tour we'll do; want to keep in with the club scene because it's better in the long run, you play to less people, but it's altogether nicer. I enjoy the auditorium things, but ultimately anything over about four or five thousand people gets a bit pointless, but then again it depends on your point of view.”
Rory is clearly looking forward to getting back to the States again to record that live album, although he seemed a little sad that his commitments on this tour prevented him from doing any studio recording or from hanging out much with other musicians. ‘We got a few jams going — one with Fleetwood Mac in a hotel bar, but otherwise there wasn't much chance.”
But the
enthusiasm returned as he spoke of the guitar he'd managed to pick up in
the States — “an old National, the National that Scrapper Blackwell used
to play. This guy arrived at a gig in Denver. Colorado, and he had a few
other bits and pieces as well; I got a Martin mandolin from him too.”
This article
comes from the June 9, 1973 issue of Sounds.
The background
is a capture by donman, mutated by roryfan.
Thanks
to "Dangerous" Dino McGartland for sharing it.
Article
reformatted by roryfan
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