Blues legend Eric Gales is reclaiming his rightful place at the head of the blues-rock table with his new album “Crown.” The Grammy-nominated album explores Gales’ road to sobriety, redemption, and musical triumph.
Eric Gales will perform at the Buckhead Theatre on Friday, Dec. 9, and joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to talk about his unique approach to music and the personal journey that inspired “Crown.”
Interview highlights:
A guitarist who plays upside-down and backwards:
“My brothers play that same way. You know, it actually wasn’t placed into my hands that way. I picked it up that way, and that was what was comfortable to me,” said Gales. “By the time I, quote-unquote, heard that there was supposed to be a ‘right way’ to play, if you want to call it that, I was too far into how I was already playing, and it was comfortable for me. So I didn’t know if I was left-handed or right-handed. That didn’t even cross my mind.” He added, “I wasn’t even aware of Jimi Hendrix at that point, at four years old. I just was picking up an instrument that I thought was cool, and the way that I picked it up was upside-down and backwards. It seemed to work out for me pretty well.”
On meeting Gales’ auspicious godfather and friend, Carlos Santana:
“I met Carlos while we were on tour. We were passing through San Francisco, and I was 17 at the time, and after the show, my tour manager comes to me and tells me, ‘Man, there’s a guy waiting backstage that wants to meet you, and his name is Carlos Santana,'” recounted Gales. “We would play pranks on each other a lot, and I was like, ‘Quit kidding, man. Quit joking around.’ And I walked backstage, and there was Carlos Santana. He was there, he saw the show, and he began to start bowing to me… We got to know each other, man, and long story short, before we departed each other that day, he asked me is it okay if he could be my godfather. And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ So you know, all these years, Carlos Santana has been my godfather, and actually, we text each other and speak at least a couple of times a week.”
How Gales reflects on his recovery from rock-bottom substance abuse:
“The gift never left me, and I don’t think the big man upstairs felt that my story was ready to be ended. So I thought for the longest that my guitar playing was my purpose in life, but many years later, it’s become very prevalent to me that my story and my purpose in life is to let everyone that I can bear witness to the, I guess you could say, rising up from the ashes like a phoenix from everything that I’ve been through and making it on the other side,” Gales said.
He continued, “Because let’s just be very, very honest about it. Even personally, I’ve had friends of mine that have died in my arms, and took their last breaths in my presence and things of that nature, and what makes me any different from them? I’m there doing the same things as they’re doing. So that kind of brought the circumference a little bit more closer to me, to be in focus; that, ‘You know what, Eric, you have a story that the world needs to hear, and the music and the good guitar-playing is just a cherry on top if you will.'”
What “Crown” is really about:
“I know we should probably be talking more about music, but this is what the background story of ‘Crown’ is about, along with the racism and the things of that nature, and things that I would let happen to me while I was high. But I would let you call me anything because I was high, and you were providing me with a bag of dope; I was okay with it,” recalled Gales. “But now I have no haze in front of me, no cloud over my eyes. I see everything as clear as a bell. So now, ‘Crown,’ in writing this record, this made me think about things that had happened to me when I could remember, and all of this information began to come out as we were writing for this record.”
“‘Crown’ is not about me claiming a throne as being the top guitar player. It’s never been about that for me. I feel very uncomfortable even talking about my skill set or what it is that I do, but I have no problem talking about my life story and what it is that I’ve been through. Because if it’s not you, then it’s a close family member or a good friend that’s going through the very same problem that I’m talking about right now. And I tell this same story before I play any note at every show, so I let the crowd know that you’re dealing with and who you are watching tonight – it’s a human being that is perfectly flawed.”
Eric Gales performs at the Buckhead Theatre on Dec. 9. Tickets and more information are available here.
