Here’s a classic Guitar International interview from March 27, 2013!
By: Craig Hunter Ross
Eric Gales
In the mid-seventies, a four year old boy in Memphis picked up a guitar for the first time. He was quickly considered child prodigy and was amazing judges and audiences in blues guitar competitions with his untraditional style of playing a right handed guitar upside down with his left hand.
That young boy was Eric Gales.
By the time he was a teenager; Eric Gales was being hailed as the “Second Coming” of Jimi Hendrix and had signed a contract with Elektra records. The early 1990s saw two albums released, two hit singles, multiple awards and even an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. He even performed with Carlos Santana at Woodstock 94.
So much success so fast did not come without a cost to both career and life, but Gales has bounced back with a vengeance and is stronger than ever.
His current project is a new CD just released simply entitled Pinnick Gales Pridgen; with dUg Pinnick (King’s X) and Thomas Pridgen (ex drums The Mars Volta) and is taking the music world by storm.
Eric took some time to discuss his life, career and the new PGP effort with Guitar International…
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Craig Hunter Ross: You grew up the youngest of five brothers, correct?
Eric Gales: I did.
Craig: In a home in which you had quite a religious upbringing…how did that end up getting you along the road to playing music?
Eric Gales: Man, it was really instrumental to even the core of what I am. The vibe and feeling I got in church is the same thing that I drive off of, even when I play now. It’s very much a part of the makeup of who I am.
Even the other genres, I like to put into that musical pot to blend in, there’s still that upbringing of gospel. I really am a big fan of growing up in the church.
Craig: Did your brothers, especially your older brother Eugene, have a large influence on getting you to play, even to the point of your style of playing?
Eric Gales: Absolutely. My big brother was definitely my mentor. He showed me all the do’s and don’ts, he took me along…even when I started at like four years old, it’s like I got a great head start because I would imitate what I saw them doing. It’s like all of the pieces fell perfectly into place for me to be a guitar player.
Craig: Did you ever feel that maybe they were pushing you into a career in music and if so, did you take that as a positive or a negative push?
Eric Gales: No, there was no negativity at all; I look back on it as all positive.
Craig: So, really it was more encouragement than anything else…
Eric Gales: Right.
Craig: But, as you grew, and grew as a player, was there ever any competition among you all?
Eric Gales: I can understand you asking that as far as we were all brothers and such, but really there wasn’t. Well, at least I can say not with me.
Craig: Sounds like it was more of a positive environment of brothers feeding off each other instead of trying to one up each other…
Eric Gales: That’s right. You got it.
Craig: Did your musical influences pretty much grow out of what your brothers were listening to?
Eric Gales: Pretty much, yeah. I did even it out though with stuff I was listening to on my own at the time though. Hip hop, R&B, jazz; I took a little from all of it and blended it into a nice recipe.
Craig: And you’re still brewing it I might add…
Eric Gales: [Laughs] Yeah, I like that!
Craig: By the time you turned sixteen years old, you were considered a phenom; you are getting a lot of attention, you even had an appearance on the Arsenio Hall show. The Eric Gales hype machine was starting to take shape and gain steam.
You were a young, left handed, black guitarist who just happened to play upside-down. The obvious comparisons begin to crop up between you and Jimi Hendrix. Did those comparisons help out your cause initially? Did that gum up the works at all?
Eric Gales: I wouldn’t necessarily say that; it was more me getting introduced to “street life”. That’s what gummed up the works for me. Period.
Craig: Were those comparisons to Hendrix at all advantageous early on, or did you just find them to be burdensome?
Eric Gales: I’ve never found them to be burdensome. I look at it in a way that if my name is mentioned at the same time as Jimi Hendrix, that’s the highest compliment in the world.
Granted, you can’t get around some of the more obvious comparisons, and if folks want to believe that and keep with that, fine. But, I believe I’m Eric Gales and while he [Hendrix] and I might have similar profiles, I have a whole lot of other influences in addition to him.
Craig: Let’s say then if we were to pick Eric Gales and Jimi Hendrix then out of the space and time continuum remove you both from any sort of chronological or historical reference point, you would see each other more as peers with similar influences…
Eric Gales: Exactly. Exactly! Very well put. I like that a lot. That’s not bad! [Laughs]
(Left to Right) dUg Pinnick, Thomas Pridgen and Eric Gales.
Craig: You mentioned “street life” as kind of gumming up the career works. You did spend some time incarcerated, but you actually were able to still keep playing. Tell me a little bit about how that came to work out…
Eric Gales: You don’t know what a blessing that was, man. There I was confined in a small space, obviously, and the warden came up to me and said he knew who I was and that he wanted me to be part of a program they had in place.
They had a music program and wanted me to teach a group of people, who were other inmates, how to play and work with them. Then we’d go out and play some “shows” and I was into it of course! Who gets to do stuff like this? Heck, I thought I was gonna be like Johnny Cash or something!
Craig: You didn’t open your sets with “Folsom Prison” did you?
Eric Gales: [Laughs] Nah, we didn’t take things that far! We did play a couple of prisons though. We even got some privileges out of being in the program, so it really worked out well for us.
Craig: Was that program already in place?
Eric Gales: It was, but to incorporate more of the inmates who were actually in the jail to play was kind of new.
Craig: Do you see that as something that other jurisdictions and correctional facilities would do well to possibly incorporate? You would have to think that gives some of the inmates something to focus on, even on maybe some sort of technical and staging aspect of things, not just the music. Offering some new skill sets, etcetera.
Eric Gales: They might, you know. They work all these other types of programs into the penal system, but I’ll tell you this; it really kept the violence down when we had that thing really going. It really did.
Craig: After your release a few years ago you came back out with a vengeance with TM Stevens [bass] and Keith LeBlanc [drums] and the “VooDoo Chile “ tour and then last year on the “Experience Hendrix Tour”, you are really getting out back to full speed…
Eric Gales: I’m sure the VooDoo Chile trio will be out again, just not sure when…
Craig: Folks may have also seen you out on the road in Lauryn Hill’s band as well last year. How did you work your way into her band?
Eric Gales: Through Doug Wimbish, the bass player for Living Colour. He was in her group and said he needed a hot player and couldn’t think of anyone who’d fit the bill better than me! [Laughs] he called me in and I got the gig.
Craig: That’s got to be a bit of a different experience as part of her band as opposed to your own gigs..
Eric Gales: It is all structured my man. She has specific things that she wants you to do and you are there to do them. You can throw a little bit of “you” in there, but not too much though! It’s a different experience indeed.
Craig: Did you find that to be a little confining?
Eric Gales: It can be, but you get used to it.
Craig: Alright, let’s talk Pinnick. Gales, Pridgen. It was summer 1991 and I was at the old 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. to see…
Eric Gales: Yeah! Me opening up for King’s X!
Craig: Had you continued to keep in touch with dUG [Pinnick] through the years? Thomas [Pridgen] has been working with you a lot recently, but who brought all this together?
Eric Gales: Well, we’d been talking a bit about it since last year, but recently we really started to kind of put it together. Mike Varney had a lot to do with getting it all together.
Craig: Is this a long term gig? You all as a trio?
Eric Gales: I hope so, seeing as we’re going back in the studio beginning of April to cut another album! No joke.
Craig: Well there is a tremendous amount of chatter and buzz about the current effort. Everyone seems blown away.
Eric Gales: Right now it’s one of the top selling CDs on Amazon!
Craig: Do you all have any concerns about critics, fans or media kind of trying to lump you all in that whole “supergroup” genre?
Eric Gales: Nah, we get asked that a lot. But you know, when you listen to it, you don’t get that feeling, you know? It’s raw stuff man, there is a lot going on in there.
Craig: Was most of the material prepared coming in, or did you do a lot of collaboration together?
Eric Gales: A lot of it was; probably a little less than half. dUg had some songs and I had some and we bounced a lot around and got some feedback and then collaborated some more.
Craig: And dUg said in my interview with him earlier this week that you knocked this out in ten days?
Eric Gales: Yes. Less than two weeks. Ain’t that something! Mike Varney likes to get you in and get you going. We were doing 12-14 hour sessions a day. Some people would have been unable to handle that! We were going hard, top notch stuff. Benefit? Keeps the budget low!
Craig: Did you find it more positive or negative working in such a compressed window of time?
Eric Gales: Well, let’s just say I’m a little more used to having things a bit more spaced out on the calendar! At least a month [Laughs]. Heck, Thomas was only there for three days! When you get done on a schedule like that though, you do want to take a break from music for awhile. You’ve been doing so much playing and listening, you have to chill for a bit.
Craig: It presents so much power and energy when you listen, it really doesn’t feel like there are only three of you playing.
Eric Gales: Thanks man, I appreciate that.
Craig: But then again, you could say the same about The Eric Gales Band, as well as your trio with TM Stevens and Keith LeBlanc. Are you drawn to trios? Is that really kind of your comfort zone?
Eric Gales: Pretty much, yeah, I’d say so.
Craig: And being able to have you and dUg on vocals just adds another dimension to the project.
Eric Gales: Oh, it works out great.
Craig: Amidst all the power you sneak a little instrumental piece in there, with a hint of Beethoven, what’s the story behind that?
Eric Gales: It’s just something I wanted to express at the time. I often play that live and just felt it fit. While there’s a bit of “Fur Elise” in there, I do make it my own. It fits nicely.
Craig: Exactly. When listening, it’s like a little breath of fresh air before you get hit in the head again with the power!
Eric Gales: [Laughs] I heard that! [Laughs] That’s alright! That’s a good way to put it.
Craig: Then throwing “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream on there, whose idea was that?
Eric Gales: It wasn’t really planned, we kind of wanted a cover and we were playing it so that was it. It was just a quick idea. We knew we wanted at least one cover though.
Craig: What were some of the tunes you considered or batted around that didn’t make the cut, or do you want to wait until the next album.
Eric Gales: Oh, you know some Led Zeppelin, Band of Gypsies, but we really didn’t want to go in that direction; even some Grand Funk Railroad, whatever was out there. Just not a traditionally covered song.
Craig: Well, a cover song suggestion for the April project, if I may, would be “Sign of the Storm” from The Eric Gales Band…with dUg on vocals…
Eric Gales: Yeah, see, right there…ain’t that dope? That would be dope! I’ll have to think about that! That would be massive man.
Craig: Any tour plans on this one?
Eric Gales: Yeah, I think that will happen. We may only start out with like one or two days a month and see how things build up momentum-wise. We have a lot of support from Magna-Carta and we think we’ve created a tsunami with this.
That’s not what we were shooting for, but its happening. It’s big.
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