Rory Gallagher: Some no‑nonsense
picking 
By
Kelly Michaels Photos by Greg Savalin
It wasn't too long ago that Rory Gallagher
was a virtually unknown entity. In fact, in some parts of the
world, and even the States, he's still not what you could call a
household word.
Well, Rory Gallagher is a guitar
player, plain and simple. He's built his reputation on being just
that, and his songs, the bands that back him up when he plays them, and
his demeanor all add up to a no‑nonsense, invigorating brand of
blues‑styled guitar.
Gallagher comes from an interesting
musical background. His music is a not‑so‑obvious blend of a wide
variety of styles, from the Irish jigs and skiffle music he played as a
youngster, to the acoustic and electric blues in his adolescence as he
began to realize he was cut out to be “the kid.”
“I've been playing guitar since I was
nine,” he said, “so you could say I started off as a kid
guitarist. Singing skiffle, which is a kind of folk music.
My big hero was a guy called Lonnie Donnegan. He used to do a
kind of Woody Guthrie type material. So I started off doing those
things, and then a few Elvis Presley things, and some Chuck
Berry. I just kind of played and developed from that through 12
and 13 years of age, playing in school bands, and electric guitar, rock
‘n’ roll, Buddy Holly.”
If you've heard Rory's guitar, it's
not that hard to conjure up the sounds in your mind. The sounds
run the gamut of crisply articulated, tight little runs, to some of the
most amazing guitar wizardry you're likely to hear from one man and one
guitar. He plays some of the most electrifying blues guitar known
to man. In fact, Rory is kind of a time‑warped kid that didn't
see the world pushing off into pseudo‑this‑and‑that, the self
conscious, echo‑plexed, phase‑shifted, wah‑wahed, reverbed,
revamped, and bull‑shitted neo‑rock. Gallagher's music is deeply
rooted in the blues and that goes for the feel as well as the
progressions.
“John Hurt (Mississippi) I like very
much. He's dead now. He had a lovely guitar
style. I listen to the whole blues thing. I have some
favorites, of course, like the acoustic people, Scrapper Blackwell, Big
Bill Broonzy - I like his guitar playing - and Blind Boy Fuller I like
very much. And then I have my favorites among the electric
players, like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Hound Dog Taylor, those types of
players.
“And I still listen to country music
quite a bit, but not the Glen Campbell stuff. I like Merle
Haggard and Waylon Jennings. He played with Buddy Holly, you
know, just before Holly died. In fact, he gave up his seat on the
plane for the Big Bopper, or maybe it was Holly himself.
When Gallagher talks country though
he's really talking blues, and the same goes for when he talks jazz or
rock.
“Although I still listen to
everything, mostly I just kind of listen to the things that are
more bluesy, really. See, I played in a dance band as well, which
is the closest to Top 40 that I did. We played dance music, which
obviously involved rock and roll, along with Irish jigs, country and
western, and the whole lot. I really didn't want to play the
stuff that much, but I put up with it because it was a chance to play
frequently as opposed to just playing, sort of, every three weeks at a
school dance or something. Then after that I started Taste, or
no, actually, after that I did a bit of work in Hamburg, in the clubs
there.”
Taste, of course, was Gallagher's band
before he went solo in 1970. Hamburg, on the other hand, was
where it was happening in the ‘60s, and when you listen to Rory now,
you still get images of the rough and tumble pubs and loud rock ‘n’
roll that made up those years there.
“It was great! Fantastic!
Well, it was great, a few years ago. The club scene was really
booming then. It's more or less replaced now by
discotheque. But back then it was great. You could kinda
play Chuck Berry all night, rock ‘n’ roll. But I did that for a
while, finally returning to Ireland where Taste was formed. The
reason for going to Hamburg and not forming a regular group up until
that time was because in Ireland it was a bit untogether. There
were no guys that wanted to play rock, or blues, or whatever.
They were all spread out, there was no definite scene. But by the
time I got back, which was around ‘66, I think, there were a lot of
good musicians around, so that's what happened.”
Gallagher's band Taste, a three
piece trio enjoyed tremendous success in Europe until its
demise in 1971, the same year Rory began to exploit his growing
following in the States. They never appeared here, but released
two albums from the studio before they split up, and two live albums
released (Live Taste and Live at the Isle of Wight, neither released
here) without Gallagher's knowledge.
Rory's most recent tour was a short
one, only a month, where the band did some dates with Jethro Tull
(including the Oakland Arena show in August). He's due back this
month to headline Winterland (Nov. 19, with Point Blank). As
short as it was, it was still eventful - judging from the reports of
the various goings on during that last jaunt ‑ like rumors that he'd
lost a finger when his guitar exploded on stage.
“That's just a story. My
amplifier just burned up, that's all. By the time it got to the
papers here, it stated that my guitar was sabotaged by a very small
bomb or something. Then I just cut my finger, and they said I
lost my complete finger, but I didn't.
Then, the reports that Kiss had become
jealous of the response Gallagher had elicited from a crowd in
Seattle or something and had pulled Rory's plug.
"Oh Lord, yes! They are amazing I
suppose they're supplying a certain thing too, you know, just playing
for a certain kind of audience. But it's very theatrical; Batman
and Robin stuff. I suppose they do what they do. There's
room for everybody, you know. I personally never have had the
urge to dress up on stage. I might put on a clean shirt maybe,
but then the performers I like don't dress up either. I have
nothing against it, of course, I mean, all the rockers in the ‘50s used
to dress up, you know, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee
Lewis. But I don't know, I just try and let it happen naturally,
you know what I mean. Just hear the music, and dress as you feel."
The new lp, Calling Card, was recorded
in Munich but is being pressed in the States. Why Munich?
“Well, simply, it fit into the
schedule nicely, and the guy who produced it, Roger Glover – who used
to play with Deep Purple – was already there working on his own
album. And it just worked out well, so he could do his album and
ours as well.
Another nice departure was some of the
acoustic guitar playing not too evident in Gallagher's past.
“I really like the acoustic
stuff. I'm doing an acoustic album sometime soon, with quite a
few originals. I may record the thing before Christmas. Of
course, by the time it's actually recorded, and everything's ready, it
wouldn't be out until much later.”
Does Rory miss the Hamburg days, the
club days?
“Yes. I wish we were playing a
club that would be nice. Played Keystone here once. Played
it two nights actually, about two years ago.”
It's quite a jump
from Keystone Berkeley to headlining Winterland, but Rory Gallagher's
done it. Just goes to show you what good honest guitar playing
can do for a dedicated picker.
This article from Rock ‘N Roll News November
19, 1976
Thanks to Brenda O'Brien for
providing this article
reformatted by roryfan
269
added 10/24/04
