There are some performers who come into your life that no matter how dispassionate and impartial you try to be about them, you cannot help but wish them so much success in their chosen career.
For Wrexham’s Luke Gallagher, any chance to see him play should be grabbed and held for all it’s worth, for this a young man whose quiet and polite demeanour holds deep fascination, the unflustered heart of a young man with the spirit of a total professional and one who sings with maturity beyond his years, is a talent of wealth and experience and the soft lilt of the North Welsh border town strides like a giant across the mountains of music history.
Having performed at this year’s Independent Pop Overthrow at the world famous Cavern in Liverpool, catching up with Luke Gallagher is easier said than done. This is a young man whose reputation precedes him to the extent that being busy is not enough, it is just surely merely the start of something exquisite. I ask him,
How did you enjoy the I.P.O. this year?
LG: “The I.P.O. for me this year personally was literally the best gig I could ever wish for because it was everything I wanted to do from when I started to do music and it was everything I hoped a Cavern gig and a festival like that would mean. Everything was perfect, the crowd was right, the setting was right, obviously the historic venue was incredible. I think it’s every musician’s dream to play there really and it was everything I hoped for and more.”
That certainly came across in your performance, you seemed to be thinking from the look in your eyes that you couldn’t believe that you were there playing at The Cavern?
LG: “I still can’t believe I’ve played there! It’s always been like a dream so when I was up there I probably looked a bit like lost because it wasn’t daunting in that I couldn’t handle it but it was just ‘Am I really here?’ it was perfect and I was just bewildered really, that’s the best way of putting it.”
You came across fabulously well and the music was storming!
LG: “Thank you very much! I was really glad you liked it. I was really nervous because you get all sorts of brilliant acts in The Cavern I had to be on top of my game. I was so pleased with more than anything was that the crowd was ecstatic you know and that they liked it that was half the battle, the other half was hoping people enjoyed it enough to come back.”
You’ve said about playing at the iconic Cavern in your own words there even though you’re obviously quite a young man, where did your inspiration come from?
LG: “Musically, my inspiration to start with came from just hearing Motown and Northern Soul records and my first memory is of the Isley Brothers’ Behind The Painted Smile being played by my dad and I then just got into the Mod scene and through that I found out off my own bat like 60s music and then in the 90s. The thing is, if it’s not 60s Mod, Motown, Northern Soul or 90s Britpop I don’t really want to know. There are bands that come through like The Courteeners and The Rifles and they bring lyrics with them. I was inspired by John Lennon and Steve Marriott and Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Ocean Colour Scene and Ray Davies, the storyteller, all the people I’ve grown up idolising. I put it all together, little bits of them and I picked up little tips off them and then I just got inspired by things that have happened to myself or little stories that I’ve heard like around places. Every song has a meaning behind them and there’s a truth about them as well, they are just about everyday life. That’s what has inspired my songs really and I try and make them relatable as possible even if it’s just going down the shops to buy milk.”
A lot of people in your position would quote John Lennon and Ray Davies but not many would pick up on Steve Marriott and I’m grateful that you’ve said that.
LG: “He’s the original in my opinion, he was the original Modfather, he was saying a lot of things that when I first heard him, I could imagine what it was like being at that time and hearing it for the first time. People like that, it’s easy to say John Lennon and Ray Davies, for example, Steve Marriott struck up just as a big a chord as Lennon and Davies did for me because he had that angst about him, fire in his belly and I could relate to that and that’s what I try to get over from it.”
I understand that, Steve Marriott was a huge favourite of mine as well, it still seems now that the Small Faces are underrated for what they brought to the British music scene so it’s heartening to hear a young man of your age pick up on them.
LG: “They did more than that. It didn’t just start and end there for me with the music; Steve Marriott taught me how to dress as well. He was the first man you saw where you didn’t have to worry about wearing Cuban heels or something, he was really cool and he taught me a sense of humour, I learnt a lot from him. What you see is pretty much him, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel or to rip anybody off, I’m just trying to my stance a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster of a all my heroes. I like the humour of Lennon but Marriott was a fun guy as well and he was really humorous and he was a natural performer as well so I learnt a lot of craft from him and I also learnt stagecraft from Mike Morris of The Bluetones and people like who I try and incorporate into my sort of stage show and try and put my unique spin on it without people saying you’re just trying to be cool or just trying to pick up on something to make my music the best it can be. “
I believe you have a new album out at the end of the year?
LG: “I have, November 6th to be precise!”
That is incredibly precise!
LG: “It was going to be in June/July time, during the summer as it’s got a really summery, good-time vibe about it but I’m doing a tour at the minute and I was asked to play a homecoming gig so I thought it would be nice to incorporate the record release towards the end of the year. I’ve obviously got more U.K. dates and a coming home one in Wrexham so I thought I’d do a couple of album launches in different places and the first one will be in Wrexham.”
I was going to pick up on the fact that you’re from the border town Wrexham in north east Wales, do you have any Welsh musical heroes, there’s an awful lot of very clever, very intelligent Welsh musicians to come from both the north and south of Wales like Mike Peters and JUMP’s John Dexter Jones for example?
LG: “Mike Peters is a genius, I’ve seen him multiple times, he’s could be the voice of Wales, he just sums everything up for everyone and the fact that he’s still doing it, he’s so relevant to so many people, he’s so refreshing. It’s weird you mentioned him, his was the first gig I ever went to, my uncle took me to see him and I know it sounds shameful but I’d not heard of him up until that point and my uncle bought me the ‘best of’ The Alarm and it blew me away. I remember hearing 68 Guns for the first time and it was like a call to war from the point of view of a Welshman which it made it that much real and this guy’s from up the road from me from Rhyl and that blew my mind that anything was possible. I’ve said I’ve got all these heroes but Mike Peters really taught me a valuable lesson in that it doesn’t really matter where you come from because I’ve always been worried that if it’s a regional thing, like you’ve got to be down in London, he came from Rhyl and supported U2. If you’ve got the music to back you then I really believe you can come from anywhere and it’s Mike Peters who taught me that. It was a valuable lesson that I wish I could thank him for.”
Ian D. Hall