Blues Is a Way of Life

The BA (Berner Agenda) spoke to Irish blues rock legend Rory Gallagher the day after his brilliant concert on June 30th in the Mühle Hunziken in Rubigen. He can be heard in Thun on Saturday.

BA: How was it for you to play Hunziken in the small milieu?

Rory Gallagher: It was fine. A concert like this every few months is good. I could jump off the stage, dance with the girls and do other crazy things. It was also special because it was the club’s 15th anniversary. I prefer club concerts to gigs in big halls. In Ireland if you play more than a meter away from people you are worthless to them.

BA: But the fact is that in the last 15 to 20 years you have performed on big stages, although you prefer small places.

Rory Gallagher: We’ve played in small halls here and there over the years, for anniversaries or for charities. I grew up in clubs and I always like to go back. It’s a challenge when the audience is so close, people see your eyes, watch the communication between the musicians.

BA: Will you also seek contact with the audience at your concert in Thun?

Rory Gallagher: Of course. It will be a little different, but I know the techniques to communicate with a larger audience.

BA: What do you know about Switzerland?

Rory Gallagher: I read a lot and have been to Switzerland a lot. There are historical links between Ireland and Switzerland: St Gallus brought the Christian religion from Ireland to Switzerland and founded the monastery of St. Gallen. He is said to have walked all the way. I told that to someone in St. Gallen and he said I was crazy, I replied it was true. We Irish may be Christians, but we still love our pagan legends. I also know something about the federal system and the language regions of Switzerland. I can understand that Switzerland is a bit on the sidelines in Europe, because there are also heated discussions in Ireland about the relationship to Europe. The image of the Swiss abroad is not particularly good, but I find the people here to be warm and sincere. I wanted to have more time and be with people like in the old days. Back then we chugged around with the band wagon and didn’t rush from gig to gig.

BA: Will there be more time in August?

Rory Gallagher: I think so.

BA: Why did you decide to play blues and not folk or funk or whatever?

Rory Gallagher: The blues decided for me. I can also play funk and Celtic music. But the blues is a way of life, it’s stronger, it’s living folk music. It is … I need the German term “Angst” for that. For me, the word means not only fear and anger, but also the end of the world, alertness and awareness, to look the devil and yourself in the eye. I spend my life learning the blues. Incidentally, the atonal blues chords are also very similar to those of Irish music.

BA: At the Mühle concert you played very loud, the volume rather covered the quality of the songs.

Rory Gallagher: Yes, it was a bit too loud. When you give so many big concerts, it can happen that you are too loud in a small place. And I haven’t played the club before. Of course there’s no excuse, but I can tell you I played with all my heart. And if we were quieter and brought more acoustic pieces, the rock fans wouldn’t have liked it.

BA: Your last CD Fresh Evidence was released in 1990. When’s the next one?

Rory Gallagher: An electric and an acoustic album are in the works. The electric one also has acoustic pieces and instruments. The acoustic project waited 20 years for its realization. I wrote everything myself except for an Irish song and a Willie McTell song.