Eric Gales Interview

When you ask his peers, many say Eric Gales is one of the best if not the best guitar player in the world. On February 24, Gales will release his new album, Middle of the Road. Blues Rock Review caught up with Gales to get the lowdown on the new album.

Fabrizio Grossi produced the album. How was working with him different from your other experiences?

Not really different, just has a different take on things. He has a great ability to help pull my ideas from what I have in my head and have them come across the speakers like how I want.

What was the most difficult song for you to write on this album?

None of them actually. All of them were easy. My life story is pretty much there, so it was not that difficult, just get the melody together, get it formatted right. It wasn’t difficult at all.

What was the easiest song to write?

“I’ve Been Decieved” was really easy. It’s just about things that are deceiving in life. It was just really easy to write about. You get to thinking about stuff and who’s your friend and who ain’t and you just come to the part where you’re getting deceived.

Gary Clark Jr. guests on “Boogie Man.” How did you get connected with Gary?

We’ve known each other for a while, so I had the opportunity to get with him and ask him to be a part of this record and he said absolutely, that he’d love to be a part of the song, and my rendition, he was like, man, this is amazing, so he popped right in and the rest was history.

Looking back on this experience recording Middle of the Road what sticks out to you?

Just the emotion that was involved in the whole thing. It was a lot of emotion, a lot of energy, a lot of digging deep, and I think it came across well.

You’ve had the chance to play with a lot of different people. Is there anyone out there you haven’t played with or you’d like to collaborate with?

I’d really like to do some work with John Mayer if we can line it up. I’d really like to get together with him at some point. That’d be really nice for me.

You were just in India with Supersonic Blues Machine. What was that experience like?

It was dope, man, to get together with those guys and perform and finally do some stuff live. There’s definitely going to be more shows to come later on in the year, but it was amazing. First time in India. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a lot of fun.

What are you looking forward to most about touring Middle Of The Road?

Everything. Getting the point across live, getting people to hear the message, and just sharing this energy I have with different people, and that’s one of the most exhilarating parts about it.

Interview by Pete Francis