Ron Gallo chats his debut full length!
As we all know, I’m a sucker for a singer/songwriter and Ron Gallo isn’t just any singer/songwriter. He is going to rip apart the Plough and Stars on Friday here in Cambridge and it’s a no miss! Last week, we spoke everything music including a strong focus on his new full length and what you should expect when you come to a Ron Gallo show!
Obviously you have a lot coming up! You’re playing as how in New York, you’re coming up to Boston. You have some shows kind of coming up. A soft one to start, the three things you must have with you while on tour to survive?
The three things I must have with me while on tour, okay! Guitar, amplifier. It’s very boring but it’s just the truth. I never think practically until right now. Actually I’ll leave the amplifier behind. Definitely I have a very strong attachment to my guitar, that’s the first instrument I ever had so I definitely need that. It’s a Fender Jaguar. Probably some Lacroix, the seltzer water and I guess I would really need the car. I could really make it work with those three things.
Perfect and then I wanted to ask, obviously you steadily release new music and the last EP you put out being RG3 but you talked about when looking at that record, that a full length is kind of in the future. How long have these songs been in the making? The EP being a few songs off that full length.
So, the three that are on there, they kind of all came about at the same time. When I made the record, it was all at the same time and I really just chose those three because they kind of worked together. I guess the song “Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me” has been around for a little too long now. I probably wrote that song about two and a half years ago. “Kill The Medicine Man”, well that and “Put the Kids to Bed” were written at the same time last year. They’re pretty new but it all came around for the same time.
And is it something where that full length is ready or do you think that’s something that’s still a little while away?
Full length is close. I need about one more eight hour session to appease my psychosis about a couple things irking me and then it is done!
You’ve been writing and creating music for several years now. Do you feel the songwriting process still changes or do you feel you’ve gotten into a pretty steady rhythm? How do you generally go about the songwriting process?
Naturally evolving as a person I find my creative purpose always changing and there’s never any rhyme or reason to it. I wil say the theme lately has been fueled by everything I hate-whether in the world or within myself and confronting them. I always like my songs to lie somewhere in that place where darkness and humor meet in a sincere way. Right now I’m using music as my channel for aggression.
You’re still relatively young but have been super active. How did you first know this is something you wanted to do professionally, was there a defining moment?
Relatively young (laughs). I’m like 82 in rock years but I’m a late bloomer and I’m okay with that. I feel like the start of this “solo project” has been a rebirth of sorts. I’ve had a series of defining moments but at this point it’s the daily realization that I can’t do anything else and I’m too far to ever look back. Thankfully my love for it is intact.
You have some live dates coming up. What should fans expect when coming to these shows, why should they come out?
They should expect to be put in a situation where they might feel uncomfortable suppressing their animal feelings or just drinking drinks looking at their phone like a dead person or talking to their roommate. I like to play against people. We’re going to have a memorable moment together. Together we can create something bigger than ourselves. Awaken the electricity within. We all need to cut through our BS and hopefully this show can assist there. We might get physical, who knows! People that are into that or not into just being at a show because it’s supposed to be the cool spot while a boring band plays in the background and it’s just an expensive place to socialize, that’s who should be there. I think that’s everyone, they just may not know it yet.
What was the first CD or cassette you bought as a kid?
The only one I can remember is Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other” right out of the box at Walmart on the day it came out. I also remember Puff Daddy and the Family CD having a prominent role.
To end it off, what’s coming up in the next few months for you?
Tour in the end of May of New England. Than Bonnaroo on June 11th, with a two and a half week tour that starts in Nashville on June 23rd that takes us to Summerfest in Milwaukee. Then over to Levitate Music Fest right outside Boston with dates surrounding all those. Late July, we’ll be playing the Friday night Deertick after party at Newport Folk Fest and more tours to follow. Right now the record “HEAVY META” is set for release on my 29th birthday, 9/29 on my label, American Diamond Recordings!
