Ron Gallo: A Human Being Most Widely Associated With Music
Photo Credit: Chiara D’Anzieri
On a Tuesday morning, I logged into zoom for my interview with Ron Gallo feeling unsettled after a sudden panic attack. Unsure if I could proceed, I decided to be honest with him about my state of mind. Much to my surprise, Ron's warmth, humor, and insight immediately put me at ease, and what followed was one of the most rewarding personal and musical conversations I've had the pleasure of experiencing.
Ron Gallo is a Philadelphia-based musician, who has also spent time living in Nashville, who earlier this year released his latest album, FOREGROUND MUSIC. The album is a bold confrontation of society's villains with a humorous touch, taking aim at male entitlement, gentrification, capitalism, climate change, and right-wing extremists. Despite the chaos, Ron infuses the album with an infectious charm that comes from his love for people and the things we hold dear. The ultimate message of the album is life-affirming, stating that although the world is in chaos, the universe exists within each of us.
When asked to introduce himself, Ron simply described himself as a human being, a sentiment that captures the genuine, authentic nature that makes him such a compelling artist and person.
Pilar: Tell me about your experience in the current music industry and how it's evolving and changing. When I was reading about your album release, you mentioned that it sometimes feels as if you are singing into the void. Can you tell me about your experience with that?
Ron: Yes, it does feel like that. The biggest problem, I think, is the loss of the live human connection, especially with the normalcy of it for such a long time. Even now, as things are reopening, shows are not the same as they were in 2019. We've had to resort to the internet for the last few years, which in itself can be a pretty bleak place. If you're not the kind of person who wants to be an influencer, it can be challenging to use your phone to promote your music or art. Sometimes it can feel like a pointless task because you're just casting things out into a void without knowing if it's connecting with people or not. But then you go play a show, and you realize that it does matter, even if it's just for a small group of people. That's been challenging, trying to navigate it. I'm excited more than anything to get off of the internet and social media and be in rooms with people.
Pilar: Do you think there is a separation between musicians and their audience? Some musicians tend to feel superior or above their audience. How do you make that kind of statement as a musician?
Ron: Yes, I do think that there is a separation between musicians and their audience, and unfortunately, some musicians tend to feel superior or above their audience. However, I believe that this is a joke because artists are not above people, and we are all living the same lives, experiencing the same things. As a musician, I always try to knock myself back to Earth and make fun of myself and this whole thing to stay grounded. I think it's dangerous territory to act like you're above anyone. When I first started touring and people started coming to my shows, I made sure to always remember that we are all in this together. We should knock down that wall between the crowd and the artist, which is what I love about shows. It's a physical creation of the band on stage and the crowd. Everyone should do this all the time.
Pilar: Out of all your albums, this has been my favorite so far. It's like it has a little bit of everything music wise, a bit of grunge, garage with punk influences. When I listened to the first track of your album, I thought, "Oh my God!" What drew you to these sounds?, and can you tell me a little bit about the sound evolution through the album, how it opens with fuzzy guitars and closes on a more softer note?
Ron: Thank you so much. The evolution thing is what feels the most natural because none of us are just one thing. To commit to one lane doesn't feel genuine because even on a daily basis, there's a spectrum of emotions you can feel in one day - laughing, crying, angry, anxious, and so on. So it just makes sense for me to make a record that explores all of it. Nobody needs to listen to 40 minutes of fury. But if you have fury in there, then inject some humor, inject some different sounds because that's the human experience to me. Making a record that reflects that is kind of the point. I've always done that from record to record, evolving and changing because I get really into something for a period of time, create from that place, and then move on to the next thing. This album ties together everything so far, and I found a way to make all the experimentation fit into one, tied together with a common thread of talking about the collective experience of being alive in the world today. It just feels like what I need to do right now.
Pilar: The album feels so punk to me. The lyrics, the music, and what it stands for, it's a critique of the system and the way we relate to each other. It's not the traditional definition of punk, but that's how I interpret it. This is the new punk, the way punk should be perceived nowadays.
Ron: I find inspiration in the time period when punk was born, before the term punk even existed, in the late 70s. That creativity, weirdness, and mentality are my guidelines. Sometimes people perceive it as rock, but that's where my head's at.
Pilar: I find the lyrics of your music very intriguing because you put into words a feeling that everyone is experiencing, but might not know how to express. When we hear it through your music, it makes us feel less alone. For example, I had an anxiety attack this morning, but now I'm here talking about music that also relates to the anxiety of the world.
Ron: I understand. Making music is therapeutic for me too because I feel all these emotions. Creating a song helps me process those anxious or negative feelings. And when it's out in the world, hopefully, it can help others not feel alone and realize that we're all in this together. Blurring the lines between each other is the point, and I think this album ties it all together.
Pilar: What's your writing process like? Do you keep a journal and write things down or do ideas come to you during meditation or conversations with friends?
Ron: It's a nonstop process when I'm in a writing period. I'm always thinking about it and pull snippets from whatever I come across. I have notes and voice memos on my phone, and paper notebooks. Sometimes, I write stream-of-consciousness for a few pages and pick things out to turn into a song. It's messy and pieced together from everything. Editing and putting together pieces of the puzzle is a big part of the songwriting process. I take lines from conversations with friends, something I wrote in my notebook, or from my phone and put them into songs. Sometimes a song will come out in 5-10 minutes, while other times it takes a lot of piecing together.
Pilar: Out of all the political and social commentary of the album. What It's the subject or the theme that speaks the most to you, that makes you want to scream about?
Ron: The issue that infuriates me the most and is at the core of many problems is toxic masculinity. Whether it's anti-environmentalists in big trucks or old white men in power who refuse to accept change or new generations, this is what angers me. It seems like in many of the world's problems, if you trace it back, it often leads to an old white man. While I don't like to generalize, it's a common theme. This theme is reflected in the song “Entitled Man" which addresses how these types of individuals treat women. It's a problem that is manifesting in various ways.
Pilar: Could you dive a little bit into the personal perspective behind the last song on the album "Love Someone Buried Deep Inside of You"? Given that most of the album criticizes America and its people, I am curious to know if this song is more personal, and whether it is relatable to you. Is it something you are telling yourself or someone else? This song spoke to me more than the others, so I wanted to ask about it.
Ron: The song “I Love Someone Buried Deep Inside of You" comes from my experience of having loved ones who struggle with addiction. They may be addicted to drugs or other things, and I try to be there and love them as they slowly become someone else. The song is my attempt to capture that feeling. The way it connects to the rest of the album is that people become addicted to drugs or alcohol because of the systems they are living in. The way things are structured causes anxiety, depression, mental illnesses, and struggle. People then seek relief from these symptoms by turning to drugs or alcohol. That's how I think it connects to the rest of the album's themes. Ending the album with this song is another way of saying, "Okay, we've gone through the social political commentary, but let's come back down to Earth and leave it on an emotional note." That's where the sound comes from. I think it could be interpreted in different ways, but that's what the song means to me.
Pilar: You often speak about things that are very sacred to you. So, my question is, what do you hold most sacred in the world?
Ron: I think the thing that I'm always trying to focus on is trying to get myself and other people to focus on the things that unite us as people, as opposed to the billions of things that divide us. So, one thing that's really sacred is human connectivity. When you remove all the ideas you have about the world and yourself, and the things you believe in, you just strip that all away and you realize that we're actually just all people living in this world. It's very humbling, and then we can stop fighting and being in opposition to each other. That's a pretty sacred thing, that very core fundamental thing that we're all just alive. It's very basic, but it's so easily forgotten. We go about our day and get lost in what we do, what we believe, and what we think about this and that, and we just forget that very basic principle. How that ties to hearing about people in the world and what we're doing here and just a common respect and sense of humanity. Empathy, all those things are super important, especially recently when they are more and more buried and forgotten. So, those are the things I'm always trying to remind myself and everybody.
Pilar: Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? It kind of reads that way.
Ron: Yeah, for sure. There have been periods in my life where I was deliberately on a spiritual path, whether it was going on meditation retreats or having practices to stay in tune with the things I was reading and listening to. I think we're all spiritual beings, whether we're aware of it or not. I fluctuate between being very outwardly in pursuit of spirituality and times when I need to just live and put all of it aside. Sometimes you can go too far, even with meditation and certain practices, turning it into almost a competitive thing within myself. So I'm just going to set it aside and practice accepting things by being in the moment and not isolating myself.
Pilar: I think it can become an addiction itself to a certain degree. Like, if you feel lost and you're finding yourself through meditation or spirituality and all of this and you get stuck, then it just becomes a new addiction. You lose yourself in that. So, I do think that you have to find spirituality in every aspect of your life.
Ron: Perfectly said, that is exactly right. Especially when you're heavy into a period of doing a lot of meditation, you may get certain feelings or experiences that are very cool and give you clarity and a sense of peace. But then it becomes problematic when you start to feel anxious or stressed and think, "Oh no, I lost the thing. I gotta get back to that place." Finding spirituality in every aspect of your life is almost more of a practice than just meditating.
Pilar: Do you believe external change in the world is possible, or do you think that all change that can happen is just internal, within us?
Ron: Well, I like to remain hopeful. I believe that it starts from within, so maybe it's both. If you work on yourself and live by those values, it can influence the people around you, and that can lead to wider change. I think it's always worth it to try and be good, open-minded, respectful, and kind to people. It's important not to give up and say, "these people are ruining everything, so I'll be the same way." That's dangerous thinking. It's important to be mindful of our actions, like picking up our trash and not treating things like garbage, because that attitude of "someone else will take care of it" is easy, but it's not productive. I believe in the power of positive actions, and it's always worth striving towards.
Ron is about to start his tour in the USA. His album FOREGROUND MUSIC is available to stream on all major platforms. If there’s anytime to be taken away from our conversation is that his record is one not to miss, and his message one not to be ignored.