The new album of the Irish guitar hero, Rory Gallagher, will be released in April. It will most likely be a live album containing recordings of performances Gallagher did with his band (Gerry McAvoy (b), Lou Martin (p) and Rod deAth (d) during Christmas in Dublin and Belfast. During these concerts, Gallagher played songs which he has been playing for several years, but also some new ones. At the end of the summer a new studio album will be recorded.
Rory Gallagher told me this on 14th December, just before he gave a concert of more than 2 hours during at the Amsterdam Concert Gebouw which was completely packed with enthusiastic fans. For me, the concert was the most beautiful and exciting event of the Dutch rock year 1973. As we've been are used to with Rory for years, he also he gave the full 100% of himself at this concert . He showed that he only lives for his guitar, played superb blues-rock and stomped, shook and jumped until he was completely soaked with sweat. And that's the way it is supposed to be. At every Rory Gallagher concert the client comes first. That is something you don't see often in the music business these days.
As explosive as Rory is on-stage, he's quiet (almost shy) off stage. That I found out when I interviewed him before the concert at the Trianon Hotel in Amsterdam. Originally we planned the interview early in the evening, but we rescheduled it because Rory -who just came from an extensive England tour- was tired and wanted to sleep for a few hours. But we rescheduled only after Rory asked me very friendly and politely if I agreed. Later in the evening he first wanted to buy me a drink before he would accept a first question. First I thought to have an Irish whiskey for the occasion, but I stuck to my bottle of Vicoria Water. Rory had a cup of coffee.
He was so concentrated on the interview that he forgot to take off his jacket. So did I, by the way. Only after we finished the hour long interview and ordered another drink, did we both take off our jackets. And we laughed.
Rory Gallagher was born on 2nd March 1948 in Ballyshannon, in the Irish county Donegal. Only a few years old, he moved together with his parents (Editorial: only with his mother and brother) to the port town, Cork, in the south of Ireland. Despite that, London is his home town for several years now (he lives in an apartment in Philbeach Gardens in the posh district of Earlscourt). He still is 100% Irish, but he isn't often in Ireland. Besides the concerts he does, he is only there for two weeks a year. Then he retires to a cottage he bought near Cork, where almost nobody has the address. There he recovers from living in the fast lane as a rock musician. Rory Gallagher is one of the busiest guitar players in the world. He is on the road for at least 10 to 11 months a year. Although it is a tough job, he enjoys every bit of it. Rory is a very contact seeking person. He wants to play his music for as many people as possible. He would like the whole world to listen to him. And if there were other living creatures somewhere in space, he would go over there to play his music for them.
At the age of 9, Rory buys his first guitar for 4½ pounds. This replaced the plastic guitar on which he plays songs of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. The music which hits him first is that of US rock god Bill Haley and the English Skiffle hero, Lonnie Donegal. Later he picked up the music of people like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Eddy Cochran. During primary school he played in several bands, mainly playing skiffle music.
Showbands
The popular music scene in
Ireland wasn't very big in those days. There were practically no pop or
rock bands, but
there are
a lot of Showbands who covered songs from the top 20. Because Rory was
crazy about
music and wanted to be performing as soon as possible, he joined up
with a
showband,
The Fontana Showband. Later named the Impact. Rory travelled a lot with
the band
(Ireland, England and even Spain), but in fact, didn't like it. The
drummer
seems to be the boss. Rory on him: “He wanted us to play these sticky
Jim
Reeves songs, but we wanted to play Chuck Berry”. Rory stayed for
2½ years in
The Impact. Then it all collapsed and Rory could dedicate his life to
more
thrilling music. Together with the drummer and the bass player he
formed a rock
trio.
In those days Hamburg had an interesting pop culture. The centre was the Star Club where the Beatles built their experience as a live band. The owner contracted English bands who played for a nickel and turned the place up side down. Strange thing was that the owner was only was interested in bands with at least 4 members. In the summer 1965, Rory's trio tried out in Hamburg. When they arrived in the port city and the Star Club owner asked where the fourth member was, Rory said “oh the piano player got sick, he couldn't come”.
The trio didn't play for a long time in Hamburg. Just back in Cork the band split up. In August 1966, Rory formed a new trio together with Eric Kittingham (b) and Norman Danery (d). They had just left the most important band in Cork at that moment (The Axels). The name of the trio: Taste, home office: Belfast. This line-up existed for 2 years. The strange thing was that in all this time no records are released. Well almost no records. Just before the split, a single called “Born on the Wrong Side of Time” based on a demo tape was being released on the little label Major-Minor.
Rory: “it happened without us knowing. We were against it because it wasn't that good. The single was sold for only four weeks.” And with a shy smile: “it really has become a collector's item”.
The life of the Taste members was hard. The band was almost continuously on tour in Ireland, England and also played now and then in the Star Club in Hamburg (despite not being a four member band). In Hamburg, also English bands like The Vips (to become Spooky Tooth) and The Remo Four with Tony Ashton play.
Rory on those days in Hamburg: “if we where there we at least played 4 to 5 nights a week. On Saturday we played at least 7 concerts of 45 minutes with almost no breaks in between. I almost played till my fingers bled. We didn't got paid well for that.”
The first line-up of Taste ended when Norman said he was tired of travelling and Eric announces that he will start his own band. The second line-up of Taste started at the end of 1968. Rory had found two other Irishmen: John Wilson (d) who played at Van Morrison’s Them and Richard Mc Cracken (b). This line-up existed until October 1970. Two albums are made in that period. Taste in 1969 and On the Boards in 1970. After the split up in 1970, Polydor released a live album Live Taste. Recorded during a radio show in Montreux, this album was followed in 1972 with another live album Live at the Isle of Wight. And there is also a German bootleg called Taste Taste Taste Taste Taste Taste, released on the obscure Violet System label.
Big
breakthrough
Rory's breakthrough didn't
happen with the
first line-up of Taste. With the second it did. He got a lot of
fans. For
him it means the international breakthrough. In some countries,
especially
Germany and England, Taste was considered to be a super group. The
vital
blues-rock excites most music lovers. Also in the US, Taste was doing
well. The
band was there on tour once in 1969 as a support group for Blind Faith.
When
Taste split up, Melody Maker
(world's biggest Music magazine) reported
it on
the front page. Why did the popular group Taste split ? There are
different
stories. Melody Maker wrote that Rory was putting himself in the front
spot too
often and was making a one man show out of it. Rory says that the
reason
for the
split is a musical one. “at the end our roads just separating. I had
the idea
that John Wilson wanted to play more jazz. That is something which
we
couldn't do. And that's why it ended”
With guitar player Jim Cregan and violist John Weider, Wilson and McCracken formed Stud in November 1970 . This band was not a big success, they existed until May 1972 and made 2 albums “Stud” and “Farewell”. After the split, Cregan went to Family and stayed there until the last Family concert in Newcastle on 11th October 1973 is being given.
After the death of Taste, Rory waited for a while. There were plans to form another band, but Rory wanted to be able to rely on his band members. March 1971 this band was formed. Bass player was Gerry Mc Avoy and drummer Wilgar Campbell. Both from the Irish band Deep Joy. Campbell also played the drums for the Irish band, Andwella’s Dream.
A month after the start, the first album was released “Rory Gallagher”. In November 1971, the second one follows; “Deuce” is recorded in four days time. In June 1972, Campbell quit. He didn't like touring and would rather spend some time with his wife. He played drums on Live ! – in Europe which is released May 1972. Campbell was replaced by Rod de Ath who played in the Irish band Killing Floor. From that band also came piano player Lou Martin, who joined in August 1972. Both can be heard in the album, Blueprint that is released in February 1973. Of course they also played on the album Tattoo, released in late 1973.
That was a
thorough description
of Rory's
career so far.
Now for the interview which I had in December with him.
Last
time you played at the
Popgala,
Blueprint was just released.
After that Tattoo came out.
What are the
differences between those two albums ?
Blueprint is
maybe more varied
and has a
very distinct sound. But I think Tattoo
has more euuurr.. energy. It
is one of
the best albums I made after Taste.
You
also said that about Blueprint
the last time you were here
True….(he thinks for a while)….
maybe you
are right. Maybe it is to soon for me to judge those two
albums..because I'm
too much eeuhh connected to
them at the moment.
Again you produced
Tattoo
yourself. You
did that with all the albums you made after Taste. For the Taste albums
you had
the same producer, Tony Colton. Why do you produce the records yourself
these
days ?
In the first place, because I
like it and I
find it interesting. More often musicians produce their own records
these days.
I don't know if I'll keep on producing the records myself. It goes very
easy anyway.
Although in some parts of Tattoo
I've been jigsaw puzzling. That was a
rather
complex album for mixing. Fortunately Robin Sylvester helped me well.
He also
did the remixes of Deuce. He
always checks to hear if what I'm doing sounds
right.
With Colton I hardly have any contact. Now and then we'd bump into each other. Maybe some day I'll work with him again. But for the time being I'm doing it myself.
Notebook
You
also write most of the songs. Is that easy ? where do you get you
inspiration ?
Most ideas for
songs I got on
the road.
There is no other way because I'm almost on the road all the time.
Those ideas,
fragments, I write down in a little notebook. I always carry that on
me. It is
divided in what you could call chapters. In every chapter ideas for not
more
than 15 songs are put down. I work on those ideas when I'm in London in
my
apartment, or when I have a few days off and I'm in Ireland. Sometimes
it goes
easy, sometimes not. I don't have favourite topics for songs. I don't
have
special inspiration for songs..it just happens. I do make different
types of
songs, with their own characteristics.
In your town, Sinnerboy and Tattoo'd
Lady, I'd call story-songs,
actually
nothing special. A Million Miles Away is a ballad and requires another
approach.
Do
you think you are a good singer?
(he looks
to
me a bit a bit
surprised)….eeeuuurrr..I know my voice is not bad. I think it is okay.
It fits
to my songs. Yes I am satisfied with it.
You also play bottle-neck
guitar. I know
Ry Cooder is one of your favourites. What is so special about his
playing?
There are two
ways of
bottle-neck playing.
Ry Cooder style is very technical..but not ‘together’ . Someone like
John
Hammond has a more rough style. The base for his playing isn't
technique. I try
to be in the middle of those two styles.
Especially
in England, you are very popular at the moment. What type of people do
you attract
to your concerts most?
I think mainly young people, but to
tell
you the truth, I don't bother much about that. I don't care how old the
people
are who I play for. Whether they are 10, 20, 30, 40 or 80, as long as
they
enjoy it, that's what is important.
What
have you accomplished until now?
I think I've accomplished something, but of
course I'm not satisfied yet. I would like to play for more people. A
lot of
people know my name, but haven't heard my music yet.
The best contact a musician can have is through concerts. You
have
to let it be heard and let it be seen. That's the best possible
relationship.
You can
put 100 million dollars in publicity, still you have to prove yourself
to the
audience. And that I like to do. I don't like sitting on my ass.
What
is your biggest target?
Show my feelings
to a big
crowd. ..I find
that hard to explain… My music means so much to me. It is my life. I'm
always
with my guitar. I don't think of that instrument as an ordinary tool.
You have
to keep on going. You can compare a musician to a painter…his work is
also not
finished when it is in a museum.
Exiting Stage Act
I think your stage act is
very exiting.
You really put all the energy in it.
For me it is a
relief when I
can get on
the stage. I don't always go for it completely. That
is impossible.
Everybody
has a lesser day. My way of playing and my moves are natural, I think.
I never
think about my show. It wouldn't be sincere.
You have a very
clear vision
on
showmanship. You think the music should be most important and the show
must
have a function.
Yes I think an artist shouldn't
make a fool
of himself. Some shows I think are very good. If Chuck Berry does the
duck
walk, in my opinion it has a function. BB King gives a good show also,
although
he hardly moves. [Rory mentions that he isn't very fond of theatre
rock like
Alice Cooper]
The
line up of the band has existed for a year now, are you satisfied about
the
band?
Yes, there is no
other way to
put it.
And
how do you compare this line up with the last Taste?
Taste maybe had
a better live
sound, but is
not much better than this line-up.
Taste
was extremely popular, would you like to go back to those days ?
No, I have
good
memories about
the time
with Taste. The concerts were well attended, but the concerts we are
giving now
are sold out almost every time. And the records we make now are selling
better.
Are
there plans to expand the current line-up with, for instance a horns
section?
At some concerts we use some
horns. But in
general, I prefer a small line up.
What
do you think about the current international blues scene?
In my opinion
things are
getting worse than
a few years ago, especially in Europe. There is less blues on the radio
and
television. The interest of people is apparently getting less. People
like
Duster Bennett have less work at the moment. (Rory tells me that he is
not
only
interested in blues, but also get his inspiration from all kind of
music, from
folk to jazz)
What do you think about
session albums
with famous black blues musicians playing with young white musicians ?
Isn't
that
getting a kind of fashion?
Blues purists
will think that.
I don't
think it is a problem. In the US, making such records normal
business. In
Europe, it isn't yet. I think it is a healthy experiment. It can create
new
dimensions. I played on a session record with Muddy Waters. I'm very
proud of
that. Muddy is one of my biggest idols.
The Irish Feel
You're
not that often in Ireland. Do you still feel Irish ?
Oh yeah, very Irish. You can't
hide your
roots
Van Morrison, whom I spoke to
this
summer, told me he doesn't feel Irish any longer?
Oh I don't
believe that at all.
OK, he had
enough of Europe for 2 or 3 years because he apparently expected more
success
than he got and that made him bitter. But recently he was in Ireland
and he
told me he was buying a farm in Ireland.
What
do you think of the current Irish music scene? Do you know the band
Horslips?
Ireland is
still
not a big
country in
music. Understand me well: that is just an observation, it has nothing
to do
with an inferiority complex. But slowly things are changing.
Horslips, I don't know, but I heard some
good things about them. Planxty is one of my favourite bands. Those
lads make
very nice acoustic folk music.
by Willem
Hoos
|
The Loop Mailing
& Discussion List
roryfan@comcast.net  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|