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An interview with songwriter Ric Gallaher

Ric Gallaher is from Salisbury Maryland and has been a musician since he started singing while in junior High School. His first guitar was a 1965 ES125 Gibson which he traded in 1969 for a SG Standard Maestro Tailpiece. Ric played in bands and with friends local to his home town and in 1974 came to Sausalito California to form a band. That band was called Pegasus. Bob Hayman Bass Jon Powell drums, John Keyes on keyboards and guitar and Craig Harrington on Guitar. Great Rock band and these guys made the Circuit. 

Many Shows they opened for Y&T, Quite Riot on many occasions, Neil Young, Iron Butterfly, Eddie Money, Mahogany Rush, Wet Willie and it’s a Beautiful Day to name a few. It was the late 70’s and rock was king! That band lasted 6 years and they parted company. Ric had a short stint with a great band Toymuzic for about a year and a ½ and Rey Faubert and Ric formed a new band. Jan Uvena and Erik Scott from Alcatrazz Alice Cooper fame completed the line up… Many songs were recorded and can be found on line. Terry Nails (tommy Tutone, Ozzy) also was the bottom end after Eric Left.

In 1985 Ric was given a post as songwriter at Columbia Pictures and worked on a number of feature films and television. He has written many songs for other artists and been featured in many movies and tv shows. He has a catalogue of hundreds of songs

He has for the last decade written, recorded, played on all instruments, produced and released all of his own material.

Here are a few questions he answered in a recent interview:

How long have you been writing music?
I wrote my first song when I was 17 and its still one of my favorites. It’s an instrumental. Writing is kinda different for me. I keep my studio on 24/7 and when I hear a melody, I record it…. Why?

Because if don’t it’s gone forever… many ideas I get originate with a drum beat or just chord on a guitar. I hear music all the time in my head and daily I am drawn to lay it down or sing it into my phone recorder… I really make an effort not to let them get away…

What is your favorite guitar?
The last one I played! (laughs) I have many Charvels, 2 Taylor 614CE’s, 3 Ibanez’s, a few Jacksons and a bunch of different Les Pauls some with Floyd Rose’s. I am a sucker for the Whammy… Have Whammy will Dive Bomb (laughs again) … I have so many and I love them all... my favorite Charvels are the model 6’s and the Pro mods... Favorite Les Paul’s are the Classics they are like a Standard with a little thinner neck… I also have a Godin nylon classic electric which is an inspiring instrument also… a couple of Taylor 614CE one which is one of 3… a blue one made for Michelle Branch when she was an endorsee… I just got a Pro mod style 2 with Seymour Duncan’s, push pull knobs and whammy… quite a variety of tones on that one… so many guitars so little time…

What Amps do you like the Best?
That’s a good question. Whatever amp I use I tend to twist the knobs till they sound like the last one I used. The Mesa Dual Rectifier is my favorite I run an effect loop with an SPX 1000 and various pedals. I really like my modified DSL 40 Tube Marshall. I also have a Vox ValveTronix for Classic 60’s and clean sounds. I use few effect pedals also I like the TC Electronics delays and reverbs and also The Joyo D-seed Delay and Dyna Compressor. I Love the old Boss FV 100 Volume pedals and have a couple of them. In my opinion there is none better. For a WahWah I use Morley Bad Horsey and Bad Horsey 2. I have my rig set up for recording and can actually run all three amps at the same time, stereo or one at a time… the tone in my opinion is amazing you can hear it on my LP or songs over the last 4 years… that’s my “I’m Done that’s the Tone” rig…

This conversation makes me want to play it now (laughs)

How would you classify your music?
My first record I ever bought was Jerry Butler “Never gonna give you up” 2nd Beatles 65, 3rd Steppenwolf. First rock song learned on guitar Inagaddadavida. 2nd song learned on guitar Good Times Bad Times Led Zeppelin. The late 60s and 70’s is where the foundation of my favorites came from Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Blues and soul. The music I prefer now is the 70 and 80’s hard rock guitar-oriented stuff. My biggest influence on Guitar Are Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and Phil Collin (Def Leppard). Those are my favorite bands the sort list and my favorite producer is Mutt Lange… Love that guy what an ear for detail and delivery.

Incidentally… my first whammy bar I bought at the NAMM show in early 80’s from Gary Kahler. My Friend Guy Perry guitarist from the Motels introduced me to the Floyd Rose and it was game over… Whammy’s for life… I love the Floyd Rose Trem…

Anyway… to answer your question… Hardish Melodic song-oriented Rock

Is there anything that stand out that has helped you as an artist?
I think a couple of things that help and surrounding myself with people that at the time had more experienced than me and I felt were more talented in other areas. Erik Scott really helped me develop some things as a singer guitarist and producer so did Rich and David McHugh and also Terry Nails and Jan Uvena. Another thing is recording and listen back to my performance… Tape don’t lie and it will help you clean up your personal noise as well as help you find the highlights of your sound… help polish out the rough spots

I play music every day of the week. Some people have jobs passions hobbies and may say “I do this or do that but that’s not who I am”. As a songwriter, composer, lyricist, vocalist, guitar bass keyboard player, producer, engineer I have to say A musician is who I am what I am and mostly All I am… I see life as a song with a beginning a middle and end… Life also offer the opportunity to improvise and solo soring to the highest melody one cannot even imagine and sometimes a single note is the glowing crystal of the song…. Playing a song is being… right here right now…present… in the moment… after all the gift is the present and the present is the gift…

Actually, I truly feel that learning to play a musical instrument is the best gift anyone can give themselves… it certainly was for me…
Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's September 2019 issue 09, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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