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Interview : Ron Gallo

Ron backstage at Le Romandie, captured through my Olympus Trip.

A few weeks ago, Ron Gallo was back in Switzerland to play Le Romandie in Lausanne. I am sure he liked visiting us again considering how he proclaimed his love for our chocolate on stage, and how wild the crowd was.

A couple hours before the show I had a little chat with Ron. Join us as we talk about his life at home, tomato juice, and his album Stardust Birthday Party: how the record reflects what goes on in his mind, and maybe yours as well.

Many thanks to Ron Gallo and his band, Bas, and the whole team at Le Romandie as usual!

Are you still living in Nashville?

Ron Gallo: Yes, my house is there. I’m not going to be there for quite a bit- I’m going to be spending a lot of time over here in Europe for the summer. But that’s where my stuff is!

What’s a regular day like in your life when you are not on tour?

So the few months before this tour, I moved into a new place and my girlfriend, who is from Italy, was over for a three months visit. We would usually wake up, make breakfast, and just lead a very, very quiet simple life. A lot of time at home… Sometimes we work on music, play around, sit around, go…

So do you now manage to live off your music?

Yes!

Wow that’s awesome!

Yes! (laughs)

Could we also talk a bit about Stardust Birthday Party? Firstly, I wanted to know more about the cover. When I looked at it more closely, I noticed that your eyes actually looked pretty funny!

Sure! The picture that’s on there was a photo that was taken by CJ Harvey in a town called Marfa, Texas. We went out in the middle of the night – it’s kind of an eerie weird town in the middle of the desert. So we just went out in the middle of the street and were taking photos. It was completely quiet, like a ghost town. And one of the photos that she got – it was crazy how it turned out, it was a double exposure. It looked like a second “ghost” me lifting out of myself! And it was just the natural photograph, it wasn’t edited or anything. So we used that photo, and then I really liked the two colours and the stripes pattern… and that’s pretty much it!

Nice!! But why did you do this thing with your eyes? I can’t do it personally.

That was just the face that I was making then (laughs). Which also helps, because it’s one of those small details- if people see it, they’re like “oh yeah, that’s terrifying”!

Ron Gallo at Le Romandie, through my old Canon.

I did a little bit of research, and in some older interviews you mention reading books about philosophy and meditation. Are you still interested in the subject, and do you think it influences your music?

Yes, I did for quite some time. I was pretty heavy into a lot of those things for a few years. Now I’m just off the books for a bit and not trying to overthink or whatever. But yeah, I was quite interested in that kind of stuff and I still am, just in a more casual way.

I think with this record it was more of a direct influence. Hmm… I don’t know if it will influence my music in the future, but I guess it always does in some way.

Hmm. Personally I still perceived that kind of vibe- it seems that you are telling the listener “just live your life and let go”.

Yeah, exactly. Which really is a much harder thing to do than it is to say. But you know, the point of the record is just me talking to myself about all those things as well. It’s the kind of things I need to constantly remind myself, and maybe other people if they listen to it.

There’s also this track called OM, like an interlude- how was it born?

We started doing OM chants at shows a couple years ago. We recorded OM – Joe and I did the OM voices, and then we put together a sound collage of weird, random sound from daily life, and had them weave in and out of the OM to create this soundscape.

Yeah, when I listen to it I can imagine you trying to meditate in the middle of this-

This chaos! Yeah, that was the idea – to create a simulation of that.

Could we also talk about my favorite song, It’s All Gonna Be OK? I love it, I feel like if I had to make someone listen to one song only from the album, I would choose this one.

Nice! That’s actually the first song that we put out from the record that people could hear. And it made a lot of sense, because I also feel like it sums up the whole thing. That song came together really quickly. Plus we had been playing it for a bit before we recorded it. The verses are just this really fast, chaotic list of things going on in your head, and in the chorus it’s this return to sanity. “It’s all good”.

If you had to drink one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose between tomato juice and red wine?

I would go red wine, because I absolutely cannot drink tomato juice. I can’t do it! Wait, it’s the only thing I can drink? No water? Oh geez, I have to go tomato then, because I would be drunk all the time, dehydrated… I guess I’m going to have to learn to love something I hate! Tomato juice is the answer.

What can we expect from Ron Gallo in the future?

I don’t know. After this tour, I’m just going to go on an intensive life/creating/writing songs again. And just taking some time off touring, which we have been doing for a while. That’s all there is to do, get creative and start writing again!

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