Rory Gallagher 1948-1995

Born on 2nd March 1948 in Ballyshannon (Ireland), young Rory spent his childhood in Cork (Southern Ireland) and acquired his first guitar at just 9 years of age. Four years later, the teenager literally fell for a 1961 Strat (the very first imported to Ireland), which he saw in the window of Crowley’s Music Shop. The Strat was originally ordered by a Cork musician who, disappointed by its colour, finally decided not to buy it. This instrument had very high action, huge frets and a sound closer to a Gibson SG than traditional Strats, and it would not leave Rory’s side until his premature death.

Turned professional at 15 years old, Rory joined many combos (including the famous Fontana Showband) before founding Taste in the middle of the 1960s, a revolutionary power trio who subscribed to the heavy blues style of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. The group released their first 45’ in 1967, ‘Born on the Wrong Side of Time/Blister on the Moon’ (two little psychedelic wonders that God or the Voodoo Child had nothing to envy), then they recorded Taste, their first groundbreaking album (69) and On the Boards (70), which propelled the trio into the high sphere of British blues. Entirely composed by Gallagher, On the Boards enabled us to discover a gifted guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, as evidenced by his screeching harmonica, but above all his astonishing rasping on the saxophone alto (‘It’s Happened Before It’ll Happen Again, On the Boards). It mixes rhythmic blues and jazz phases in an absolutely mind-blowing way.

Following these two masterpieces, Rory grabbed his Strat by the strings and launched ‘lost chords’ into a solo career that led him to enter into the restricted circle of 1970s guitar heroes, along with Alvin Lee, Clapton, Johnny Winter and Ted Nugent, amongst others. Scattered with albums that today are seen as great classics (Deuce, Live in Europe, Blueprint, Tattoo, Irish Tour 74, Against the Grain, Calling Card etc.), the 70s masterfully consecrated this guitarist who appeared at the peak of his art every time that he stepped out on stage.

Gallagher was influenced by the blues of Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Tampa Red, the three Kings, but also by Hendrix with whom he would furtively cross paths. However, he has no equal for injecting a strong dose of folk and Celtic music into his twelve beats (he was a great fan of Davey Graham, Bert Jansch and Martin Carthy).  Alternating devastating heaviness and weightlessness with lyrical flights, his very fast and very edgy guitar playing was constantly evolving. Rory loved to take solos, making a link (when not a continuation) with his fiery rhythms, constantly playing with suspended chords. He was just as at ease on acoustic guitar as on electric guitar, often playing fantastic slide on his 1932 National. Gallagher moved from standard tuning to open tuning in G and D with a disconcerting ease using, other than his 1961 Strat, a collection of Series L, plugged into a Vox AC30, connected to a Marshall 50 W combo, which was connected to a Marshall 100 W bass amp.

Approached to replace Mick Taylor in the Stones in 1975, Gallagher jammed in Rotterdam with Mick’s band, has fun with Keith, but ended up declining their invitation, finding, I quote, “Life with the Rolling Stones is much too crazy and hectic for my liking…” After a turn towards the limits of hard rock at the end of the 1970s (Photo Finish, Top Priority), the unhappy Rory spent the 80s sinking into oblivion and, even worse, into alcohol, recording honest albums, but wearing himself out on the road (managed by his brother Donal, he had to tour nonstop to survive) to the point of becoming obese, bloated and a raging alcoholic [sic]. He attempted a final return at the beginning of the 1990s (notably with Fresh Evidence), but the poor bugger was completely exhausted (he even collapsed on stage) and the demon drink got the better of his liver, then his life.

We met for an interview about five years before. We discussed French cinema, which he loved. His hotel room was littered with empty beer cans, and he asked me a big favour: to open the bottle of whiskey that he hid amongst the towels in the bathroom cupboard for him because he had hurt his thumb by shutting it in a taxi door, which prevented him from turning the cork… Today, his nightmare has finally ended. Rest easy, great artist.

On 14th June, Rory Gallagher died at the age of 47 at King’s College Hospital in London. He had undergone a liver transplant in April and he was getting ready to record two albums simultaneously: an acoustic and an electric.