Eric Gales Talks about Upcoming Jimi Hendrix Tribute Tour

by Ignacio Gonzalez.

Observers might sense a contradiction in the career of rock and blues guitarist Eric Gales. "Jimi Hendrix" is the phrase uttered by many who have followed Gales' career since the 1991 release of his debut album, The Eric Gales Band (Elektra/WEA), at the tender age of 16. Being an African-American rock and blues guitarist who, like Jimi Hendrix, plays the guitar left-handed and upside down, perhaps there was no way for Gales to escape the Hendrix comparisons. The similarity was also fueled by Gales’ often Hendrix-like expressiveness.

Since his debut, Gales has struggled against the industry’s habit of boxing artists into “sounds-like” categories. With great energy and dedication to his craft, he’s built an impressive catalog of records on which he's honed his own thick and heavy guitar sound to produce a unique hybrid of rock and blues. Gales' recent releases with producer Mike Varney of the Shrapnel Label Group, Crystal Vision (2006, Blues Bureau Int'l in the U.S. and Canada, Provogue in Europe) and The Psychedelic Underground (2007, Blues Bureau Int'l in the U.S. and Canada, Provogue in Europe), evidence a guitarist who has found a home and is confident to cook his own musical stew from a variety of tasty ingredients.

Why, then, is Gales sharing the stage with other guitar greats this fall as part of the all-star Experience Hendrix Tour that pays tribute to the man who cast a shadow on his career?

Maybe because it would be difficult to pass on an opportunity to bring Hendrix to life alongside players such as Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Doors guitarist Robby Krieger. There’s also Gales’ humble attitude about the Hendrix comparison – a comparison that he is thankful for and embraces. It could also be the hope that audiences in the U.S. will take more notice of Gales when his blues-rock licks shake speakers throughout the land of opportunity.

The following conversation with Eric Gales took place on September 12, 2007, as he was preparing for the Experience Hendrix Tour. Gales had spent most of the night in the studio and was slowing down for a guitar pit stop with his guitar maker, St. Blues Guitar Workshop.

You were in the studio last night. Are you working on a new album?

Eric Gales: I am always writing new material. But, at the present time I am preparing for the road. I’m heading out in October with this big Hendrix tour.

How did you get involved with the Experience Hendrix Tour?

EG: The folks at Experience Hendrix Records always make sure there’s a tribute show for Jimi Hendrix, and every year they make sure I’m there and invite me and other guitarists and musicians to be there. I am definitely very appreciative that they always call me to be a part of this event. I am more than ecstatic to be a part of this line-up.

We’re also finally able to do it for more than a couple of dates, which has been the way it’s worked in the past. We’ll be going state to state and across the water to London. It’s one of the highest endeavors you can think of and I feel like I’m floating on a magic carpet, you know what I mean? I enjoy it and can’t wait to get on the road and get rolling.

How do you prepare for doing a Hendrix tribute concert? What do you bring to the performance?

EG: Well, I got a tattoo on my back that says Raw Dawg, and that’s exactly what I stand for. I’m bear bones – there’s no façade, there’s no hiding, there’s no silhouettes, there’s none of that. It’s just straight-ahead me. I’m nearly a channel, a vessel. It all comes from him, the big man upstairs, to me, and from me out to the audience. The man upstairs never ceases to amaze me.

Those who don’t know me may say, “Wow, that guy, he’s just arrogant,” or whatever you want to call it. But, that’s not the case. I’m listening as if it’s not even me that’s the one playing. It’s an out of body experience thing, you know, and I am able to sit back and keep myself as onlooker and participant at the same time. It’s really a cool thing, and that’s an aspect that never ceases to amaze me every single time that I am intertwined with any kind of music experience that crosses my path.

That’s such a great thing, to be able to keep Hendrix alive for future generations.

EG: Right, right man. I love it, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Let’s talk about your most recent record, “The Psychedelic Underground.” Have you gone out on tour to promote the record?

EG: Yes, I toured a little at the beginning of this year. And, I’ll be picking back up with it right after the Hendrix tour. In fact, two days after the Hendrix tour is over I’m going straight to Germany to tour about a month and a half with my band.

How are audiences taking to the new material on the album?

EG: They’re taking really well to it man, especially more so overseas, which is predominately where I tour. Each time I play, each venue gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

Right now I am actually walking into the warehouse of the guitar company that I am endorsed by, which is St. Blues Guitars Workshop. We’re getting a couple of things together as far as the sound. St. Blues is a great, fantastic, wonderful guitar company and I am glad to say that I am a part of the endorsee roster of this company. If you haven’t, you should go to saintblues.com and learn how savvy they are about sound and see the great guitars being produced here in Memphis. It’s a great establishment.

What’s been the best-received track out of “The Psychedelic Underground”?

EG: I can tell you the one I go crazy over, it’s “Dark Corners of My Mind.” It’s very deep.

I mean, I can’t pick one. I like them all. From “Dark Corners of My Mind” to “Honey In The Comb” to, you name it, all the way to the last song. I had the great satisfaction to work with a guy who is very well connected and has a lot of experience under his belt, and that is Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records.

Collaborating with him and getting things done is like running water, you know. And, out of 400 or so guitarists that he’s worked with, I actually heard it come out from his own mouth that I am the only guitarist that gives him goose bumps because of what he saw that captivated him. Just yesterday my manager told me that Mike wants to talk to him about seeing if I want to do another record. And, of course – yes I do – I do want to make another record.

What did you set out to do with “The Psychedelic Underground”?

EG: My approach from song to song and the whole record is not thinking about it all because if I’m thinking about it, I am getting in the way, you know what I mean? So, basically I let it roll and what comes out, comes out.

I basically start with grooves, and work from grooves on to structure, and from structure into collaborating with Mike Varney. I’ll have a general melody or a phrasing or a vocal or a topic that I would like to talk about. Then there’s the collaboration that goes with the art of putting those ideas and topics and subjects into phrasing – the right topics and words. And Mike Varney is a great attribute to that.

Why is “Dark Corners of My Mind” your favorite tune?

EG: Well, it’s pretty much self-explanatory man. I mean, with a lot of the songs, incorporating Mike Varney as a collaborator is an amazing thing. He’s able to take and pick stories and subjects that I’ve talked to him about and put them into words and phrasing as if he were right there on the scene with me, experiencing things that have happened in my life. He’s the only one whom I’ve had great success writing and collaborating with. He’s one of the ones whom I’ve found very comfortable and somewhat easy to be friends with first and foremost. If you can’t get along with each other, how can you expect to get an established relationship and be able to hear what the other person has to offer? At the end of the day, that is what it’s all about.

The record starts fast and hard and toward the end it gets bluesy. The last track is an old-school traditional blues.

EG: Yes it is, yes it is.

Why did you and Mike Varney go into old-school blues mode at this point in the record?

EG: It’s kind of like what happened with the whole record. Have you ever seen the show Quantum Leap? It was somewhat different every few minutes, and that’s what I’m like – expected and unexpected, yet able to make a marketable product to where it all fits together.

So, it started out like somewhat of a joke, but the last song music-wise sounds like one of those “bye, bye, this is the end of the record, but stay tuned and we’ll see you the next time.” But, it definitely has core roots of the traditional blues. I was raised playing music in the church house, so that’s the influence, as well as the people that I’ve been playing with in my life.

You grew up playing in your church choir. What kinds of things are you still applying today from that experience?

EG: Everything, everything. There’s not a thing that I am taking away from used as a vessel for music that I used in my days being in the church house. Those are some of the times that I’ll never forget. That’s the root that is embedded very deep into my soul. I have no choice. It’s there and I can’t help it, you know what I mean.

You started playing in front of audiences when you were really young. What things have you learned along the way that have affected your style or the way that you approach music?

EG: Well, to be honest about it, it’s more about being amazed at how the big man upstairs continues to work with me, man. I have the most respect and give the most homage to the big man upstairs for blessing me with these skills that I have as well as my fellowship with him.

What’s it like to play guitar left-handed and upside down?

EG: I started playing at 4 years old and when I first picked it up I held it upside down and backwards. By the time I learned how to play it, it was too late to change it. So, you’ve got to think about it. And, all of the guitar players that I’ve learned from have been right handed players. So, I had no excuse not to learn stuff.

But, they would kick me out of Berklee and GIT [Guitar Institute of Technology] because I also use my thumb – whatever it takes, you know, it doesn’t matter. There are no rulebooks.

So, from there I just kept doing what I was doing, I learned it the best I could figure it out, and kept going until I figured it out, and just didn’t quit. The whole thing was consistency and persistent learning.

Is there an advantage to playing guitar left-handed and upside down?

EG: The advantage to playing upside down is being able to watch people turn their heads bottom side up to try and figure out what it is that I’m doing! If you’re trying to pick up what I do, you’ve got problems, you know what I mean?

What should fans expect from Eric Gales next?

EG: From this month to the end of the year, fans can expect heavy touring and some studio time working on a new record.

Related Links
Review: The 2007 Experience Hendrix Tour at Constitution Hall
Eric Gales on MySpace
Shrapnel Records
Provogue Records
Experience Hendrix Tour
Review of The Psychedelic Underground on Modern Guitars
St. Blues Guitar Workshop

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