Ron Gallo
Heavy Meta

Ron Gallo comes from Nashville, Tennessee. With a background as the frontman and vocalist of Toy Soldiers, a Philadelphia-based band active between 2007 and 2014, and with this record released on New West Independent Music Publishing, he positions himself as one of the great garage rock novelties of 2017.

Truthfully, 'Heavy Meta' (produced in collaboration with Joe Bisirri) is not his first publication since the Toy Soldiers' experience ended in 2014, but indeed this is his first album to have gained significant attention and, frankly, given the power of this record, it seems more than justified.

Of course, if you are expecting to encounter something particularly original, I suggest you immediately dismiss such thoughts. Similarly, it is not worth wasting precious minutes listening to this record if you believe that people like Ty Segall or Mikal Cronin are simply big fools. Because Ron Gallo is indeed another product of the garage rock tradition of his generation, the one increasingly referred to by the media as 'the Millennial generation' or 'Generation Y.' A generation that perhaps historically had fewer points of reference compared to the previous one and which, in my opinion, seems more free and 'rebellious' due to the lack of rigidity that certain frameworks and lines of thought had imparted to its predecessors.

This, however, might be a topic more suited for sociologists than music enthusiasts, and in this case, it's then more worthwhile to focus on the content of the music from this clean-faced guy with thick curly hair who, if dressed more aggressively, might seem to come straight out of the seventies.

Yet Ron Gallo is a guy of his generation, and as devoted as he is to the rock and roll myths of the seventies, he has no pretensions of stardom, aware that certain mechanisms that worked for rock music in those years and turned figures like Mick Jagger or Lou Reed into real icons are far removed from any logic in contemporary society in which even those who manage to grab media attention have brief glory (though the so-called 'Club 27' almost never has anything to do with it) and ephemeral success.

The sensation when listening to this record is that he acts driven only by instinct, a sort of feral behavior, as should be the case for any young person and any generation. It is precisely this characteristic that aligns him with two figures like Mikal Cronin and especially Ty Segall, from whom he distinguishes himself in sound by having a less psychedelic and more typically rock and roll attitude, but with whom he shares a certain characteristic brazenness and irony.

Also compared to Jack White for certain guitar riffs, in truth, listening to the album immediately invites a comparison with the aforementioned Lou Reed and especially Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones in general, both in some vocal performances and in the use of certain guitar riffs ('Black Market Eyes', 'Can't Stand You', 'Don't Mind The Lion'...). Here and there he enjoys evoking some ghosts like Jim Morrison or echoing James Stewart as in 'Started A War' and paying homage to the usual Iggy & The Stooges ('Why Do You Have Kids?') and the punk of 1977 ('Please Yourself').

What stands out most are his yelling abilities ('Young Lady, You're Scaring', 'Poor Traits Of The Artist'...) and that almost glamorous irony that shines especially in songs like 'Kill The Medicine Men' or in a irreverent song like 'All The Punks Are Domesticated.'

A record like this is unlikely to go down in history, just as it's unlikely Ron Gallo will ever be regarded as Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, or Pete Townshend. The music world and all of us will soon forget him, but while he's here in front of us, we notice him and we blast this glamorous and out-of-tune rock and roll album at maximum volume.