Rory
Gallagher
Born in Ballyshannon, Eire, Rory has been delighting audiences worldwide for more than 13 years - his 100% commitment ensures his constant popularity.
With a new album completed, Rory is about to tour the UK having endured a busy season of European festivals. Bob Hewitt flew out with Rory to Spain’s Calpe Rock Festival to catch the show and discuss this brilliant guitarist’s career.
You’ve been keeping a fairly low profile in the UK lately, what are you involved with at the moment?
Well, the band and I are finishing off the new album; we have about fifteen songs that we’re working on. We’ve got keyboards on one track and sax on another, and there will be one or two other people involved. The good thing is that we have got plenty of material to work with. It’s a studio album, the fifteen songs will be narrowed down to about ten with proper mixes. It’s looking good – I’m confident about it. Besides that we have a busy season of festivals throughout Europe, and we haven’t done a proper UK tour for a while. As soon as the album is released, we will follow it up with a good, stiff UK tour.
What’s the line-up of the band?
Well, there is just the three of us. The drummer, Brendan O’Neill has been with us since the Jinx album, and we are using a harmonica player occasionally - Mark Feltham. Mark did a gig with us in Italy during the summer, and has worked with us on a few festivals. He used to be with Nine Below Zero, but now he does session work.
You have been together with your bass player Gerry McAvoy for thirteen years. What makes you so compatible?
I think it is because he’s a great player and a very enthusiastic musician. Some musicians understand each other – it’s like an ESP kind of thing really, and that’s what Gerry and I have.
What kind of gigs do you prefer playing?
I like to try and make the best of wherever I’m playing - I like clubs, but I wouldn’t like to do clubs all the time. I also like playing in universities, because there is less heavy organization, but I think a variety is good. I like festivals if they go well, but there you really are at the mercy of all kinds of things.
Instruments
You are one of the Fender Stratocaster ‘Hall of Fame’ members. What makes the Strat so special for you?
I
was a great fan of both Buddy Holly and the Shadows; I really liked the
Strat sound. It’s just such a resonant guitar. I love the
three pick-ups - especially the middle one; in fact, I’ve even stuck a
middle pick-up on some of my Telecasters. I like the five way
selector, and the way the volume and tones work - the guitar never gets
‘dead’ if you take it below 7. It’s a good tough guitar - you
never have to treat it like a baby. I like all sorts of things
about it – it’s good and clangy!
There are things about Gibson Juniors I love too - the P90 pick-ups for instance. I like some Les Pauls - and Danelectros, but I think the Stratocaster is just about the classiest guitar you can have – it’s my ‘Desert Island’ guitar!
Would you ever use anything else as your main guitar?
Not as a main instrument. I have other good guitars that I use for other songs, and I don’t always play the Strat in the studio. I really like Telecasters a lot - especially the lead pick-up sound. I prefer the lead sound on a Tele even to that of a Strat. I have a Gretsch Corvette which I use for some slide, a Gibson Melody Maker which is very nice and a bunch of other things – a couple of Danelectro guitars, which are so clear and clean you really have to watch where you use them. I have a Guyatone and a Vox Phantom 12 string and just lately I’ve acquired a Supro guitar. I like to use different sounds for different situations. At home and in the studio I can swap around, but on stage I don’t have time to change guitars every few numbers. As it is, I use three or four in a show, but that’s usually for different tunings.
My very first guitar was a Rosetti Solid Seven - I think it was Italian - they made the Lucky Seven as well. It was pretty good. I used a Selmer little Giant amp, but I got rid of it because it was distorting! If I had it now I’d be delighted!
I moved from the Rosetti to a Hofner Colorama, but it was a little hard to play. Then, early on, I got the Stratocaster - in fact it was the first one I ever saw. It’s supposed to have been the first Strat brought into Ireland. The guy who had it before me was in a show band and he ordered a red one. They actually sent a sunburst so he decided to wait for a red one to arrive, and I had the sunburst - it was luxury! It was easy to play from the start and I’ve kept it ever since - in fact it’s getting better!
I’ve had to take the neck off occasionally and dry it out – it was getting damp with doing so many gigs and I started to have tuning problems. The pots have gone and the pick-ups have been rewound and things like that. The tremolo arm is broken - but other than that it’s still in one piece!
It’s a ‘61 model and it has a very flat kind of neck. Although they were making the bodies out of Alder and Ash, somebody said mine is actually Maple - which is really a one off!
Is it true that the Chairman of CBS/Fender asked you if your beaten up Strat was the best you’d got?
They gave me an Anniversary Strat and a Lead model, because I think they were a bit embarrassed about me playing this bashed up Fender! They thought it was bad for the company image.
You see people like Adrian Belew and Frank Zappa going on stage with cracked up guitars, in fact Zappa has an old Hendrix Strat!
I was honoured to receive a Strat from the Fender Company and I used it to record some of the tracks on ‘Jinx.’ But the first thing I did was to remove all the finish off the neck and put in some heavy frets. I also removed the middle tone pot - so it operates like a Telecaster.
Who looks after your guitars?
Kent Armstrong is the man for pick-ups and Chris Eccleshall does a lot of work for me. One or two other people as well, it depends on the emergency involved. If it’s just changing a small part like a pick-up, then I do it myself.
With the Strat, I changed the lead pick-up for one of Fender’s hot x100 jobs, and I’ve tried the Fat Strat pick-up as well, but I always come back to the original.
I think there are some good guitars being made now. Chris Eccleshall makes some nice instruments, and I’m aware of people like Roger Giffin and the others. There are some really good acoustic makers around too – there’s a couple in Ireland; Lowden and Derek Nelson.
The latest Fenders have push button controls. I don’t go for that idea at all. I don’t like the three toggle switches on the Schecter - even though it’s a fine instrument. I think the Fender vintage reissues are OK, and I like the very early Squiers - although I’m not too sure about the latest ones.
What
advice would you offer the beginner?
Well, you could say, “save up your money and buy a secondhand Fender” but there are other good guitars around as well. The Tokai Talbo is a nice one -and it’s original design. I think Strat copies like the Kay are quite good with a few adjustments. There’s no set rule really - I think some of the old $50 guitars you can find in American pawnshops are amazing.
I’d also advise someone starting out to buy an acoustic – electric’s OK, but you get a good feel with an acoustic, the heavier strings give you a good tough start and train you right from the beginning. Lessons are fine - especially if you can read music, but I can’t read music and I never had a lesson in my life. Never turn down lessons if you think they can improve your Playing.
I actually regret not being able to read music, so try if you can - especially learning to play the piano can help a great deal as a musician. Straight ahead rock and roll is a kind of instinctive feel, which by-passes the technical side of things – if you can do it in 6 months then it’s great - and you keep on learning all the time.
Amplification And Other Equipment
I don’t like stacks much, except the Marshall 4x12s and 50 watt heads. I like combos miked through the PA - the Vox AC30 is my favourite. Sometimes I’ll link that up with a 50 watt Marshall twin combo. I’m fortunate enough to have a couple of the old Fender tweed covered amps - a Bassman and a Concert. I use them with a Hawk Booster, which was made by Di Marzio before he got into the pick-up business.
It’s really difficult to find the perfect amp, especially if you play a Stratocaster, because there are limitations in terms of ‘dirtiness’ you can get. You sometimes have to use pre-amp, whereas if you use humbuckers, you’ve all the dirt but little clarity.
What about effects?
I use them off and on! I go through phases when I just use the Hawk Booster. At the moment I’m using some Boss units - a vibrato, flanger, octave divider and occasionally a distortion pack. I also have a little DOD analogue delay between the two amps. I don’t like rack units, I prefer the battery power - it makes less noise.
I don’t like the idea of radio transmitters on the guitar either. I much prefer that sort of umbilical cord between me and the amplifier - it makes you feel as if you’re in touch with something!
One thing I do insist on is a studio quality noise gate, but as regards effects I try to get as much from the guitar and amp as possible.
How about strings and plectrums?
On the Strat I change them every second gig, on the others maybe every four or five gigs. A lot depends on how damp they get. As a rule I don’t like fresh strings, they have a kind of harshness. I use a Fender rock ‘n’ roll set – 10s, but heavier strings for different tunings and on the acoustics. I use Herco grey picks, which are a hard, heavy nylon type. I sometimes use the serrated grip for solo parts. For acoustic I prefer a tortoiseshell for crispness.
How do you like your guitars set up?
Well, I like the Strat set up reasonably high and I like the bevel on a Fender fingerboard - rather than a flat one. The first string is high, because I sometimes play slide in regular tuning.
How many different tunings do you use?
I use the D tuning and the G tuning, also DADGAG, plus a B and a C tuning for occasional acoustic work.
Tell us about your left and right hand techniques.
I use the middle and ring fingers of my right hand quite a bit and for little sweeps it’s good to use the fingers rather than a pick. I think it’s very important to play some acoustic. It helps develop fingering.
With the left hand I try to use the little finger quite a lot, especially on the mandolin; it’s important for the little runs and things. With rock and blues in particular, you can become very lazy and not use the little finger, but I try to keep the strength in it, plus you can always get an extra note!
Influences
Your influences obviously lie in the early American Blues, but who in particular inspires the music you adapt and play?
There are a lot of people who have had a very strong influence, like Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf. There are country blues people too, like Blind Boy Fuller, Scrapper Blackwell and a whole wealth of others. There are so many different divisions in blues style, but there’s always something magical about it.
How would you describe your particular style of music?
I’d say it was a kind of mixture. I’d hate to be pigeonholed as rhythm and blues or rock and roll - I can’t claim to play 100% blues all the time. Some songs have little country licks and some have folk chords, so it’s a sort of blues-rock. I think what I tend to do is take the music I love and try and create something unique.
I don’t believe in changing style – it’s like changing your personality. The blues roots will always be there, but whenever you write songs, you always get unusual twists. People like Brian Ferry or David Bowie wallow in changing their style from album to album, but I like to hang on to where I started and develop that way.
I was fascinated by the guitar from a very early age. I remember seeing pictures of Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers, the singing cowboys, when I was about 5 years old. Somebody left a guitar at the house once, and I remember just looking at it. I think the sound intrigued me - and the portability, the fact that you can carry it around.
I was listening to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and I heard Leadbelly and Big Bill Broonzy early on too. I like the way you can sing along with a guitar and there are so many different ways of playing it – there still are. The rock ‘n’ roll and blues players really influenced me early on. I actually started playing acoustic when I was 9 years old (I had a ukelele before that), so I taught myself really. I had a couple of books from a music store, skiffle hits with chord diagrams, so it was a pretty modest beginning, because there were no guitar teachers around at the time.
My father was a musician - and there are plenty of singers on both sides of the family! But one side was more musical in terms of playing instruments - the tradition was there alright! Luckily in Ireland, every family has some musicians somewhere!
Taste was my first serious group, because before that I’d only played with dance bands touring Germany and Spain. I was fifteen. Taste was the take-off point really, because I was playing the music I liked to play, whereas with the dance bands you were obliged to play their style of music. The first Taste album was done in November 1968, but we had done demos in the studio before that.
The break up of the group was just a natural thing really. We’d been on the road for four years with two different line-ups, and things just came to an end. I also had a few differences of opinion with the manager at that time.
Which guitarists do you admire?
A fairly wide variety. I like Keith Richard’s playing a lot, he’s got such a nasty, but nice technique. John Hammond too – he’s a white American blues player. Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Jeff Beck...and of course Eric Clapton. The list is endless! Buddy Guy, J.B.Hutto and lots of acoustic players like Doc Watson and Bert Jansch.
What
influences the songs that you write?
I like songs with good stories and ideas in them - ones that get to the point. In my opinion, Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter in the world. I also like the type of songs Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry used to write - little gems and masterpieces. The structure of blues songs influences me a lot.
What will you be doing in ten years from now?
Well, I hope to be doing the same thing really - perhaps in a more accomplished way. I’d like more musical knowledge and more success in the studio and I’ll be grateful to still be playing. I’d also like to get involved in some sessions and maybe film music. As long as I can keep doing this I’ll be really happy!
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