Rory Gallagher, speaking with Donal

I already spoke to Donal Gallagher, brother of Rory Gallagher, a few years ago, when the double album Notes From San Francisco was released. Donal was Rory’s manager and is now the curator of the archives, the man behind the re-releases of the catalogue… Talking with Donal, I realized that the two brothers have always lived together: since they were young boys, babies. Donal knows everything about Rory, so it’s like talking to Rory.

I’m not joking. Donal remembers everything, he knows what Rory was thinking and he even remembers the phrases he said. He knows his ideas, his passions, his wishes. The first time I had suspected it, now I know for sure that, if I speak a third time with Donal, I will ask even more direct questions, as if Rory himself was on the other side of the phone. Incredible, but true. Donal remembers, in detail, everything that happened to Rory and, even if more than three years have passed, he also remembers me.

Hi Dónal, it’s Paolo from Buscadero.

Hi Paolo, we have already spoken on the occasion of Notes From San Francisco, I remember it.

You and Rory grew up together and listened to the same music. What he listened to, you listened to too.

It’s true.

Did Rory already have in mind to play the guitar when he was still very young? Was he influenced by your father?

Our father was a talented musician, so his genius ended up with Rory: our father loved music, even if he played the accordion, but the passion for music was deeply rooted in him. Rory took that passion. My father used to go to concerts and, when American musicians came, he went to see them in Derry, in the north of Ireland. Then the Americans put on a radio, for the troops in Ireland, a radio that played American music. But it was even before the blues invasion, it was a jazz-oriented radio station. And Rory drank in everything they transmitted: he listened to everything. And he liked that music, so different from traditional Irish music. […]

At this point Rory began to develop his ideas. Was the Blues his main love?

Yes, in a sense yes. Rory began to have a taste of his own, to split between traditional Irish music and the rest. Those first plays were fundamental for him. Then, from the point of view of the blues, growing up at that time in Northern Ireland certainly made you more willing to understand certain changes, including social ones, with the resulting suffering. And the blues was a music that suited those moments perfectly.

Growing up in that period was perfect for Rory to understand and get into certain genres of music.

A few years ago, I read that some unreleased Taste material should have been released. But then nothing more was done. Is it news that has a foundation?

This is real news. Except that, a few years ago, the musicians who were in Taste, Richard McCraken and John Wilson, got back together, started doing concerts and entered in the studio to record some material. And they have done nothing but confuse. On the one hand we could not review the old material, on the other they did not know exactly what they should do. But now it’s all over and we’re back on the Taste project. Review the tapes, find the unreleased material and take this step forward.

Is there a chance that the rest of the catalogue will be released again with other unreleased tracks?

We are constantly looking for unpublished material. We sifted through everything they had and found some material: some songs that were not part of any album. Then we also found some scattered songs, some were from sound engineers used in the past, others were in our own material: there are alternate versions but also something new. Certainly material  recorded in the studio there is not much left, but something can still be done. Live we have more. When we originally did Irish Tour, it was already a success to be able to release a double album. A double in vinyl. It wasn’t easy at the time, but the record company allowed us to be daring and we did it: Irish Tour became Rory’s most popular record for many, many years.

Original interview can be accessed here: https://www.buscadero.com/intervista-a-donal-gallagher/