{"id":27760,"date":"2021-09-15T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=27760"},"modified":"2021-09-15T10:50:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:50:30","slug":"interview-ron-gallo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2021\/09\/15\/interview-ron-gallo-2\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: RON GALLO"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Charlotte Biancardi<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlotte Biancardi (CB):\u00a0W<\/strong>hat was the first show like last night:<\/b><\/p>\n

Ron Gallo (RG):<\/strong> Last night was great in Philly, definitely nerve-wracking cause it was the first one and was like walking into the unknown, but after playing the show we were like \u2018we can do this, this felt really good\u2019.\u00a0 It was a good release especially after so long to just get out all of the pent up energy and to play for people and have a tangible reaction to it, I\u2019ve definitely missed that.\u00a0 So far so good.\u00a0 We just have to get through unscaved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: Do you have a song you usually look forward to playing that you\u2019re excited for or that the fans are excited for and react well to?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>One thing I’ve been excited about is kind of getting back to, I guess, the roots of when I first started touring. The ethos of those shows was really intense and in your face.\u00a0 Since then I\u2019ve zig-zagged around and I\u2019m excited to get back to that.\u00a0 I\u2019m excited to play the old songs which is weird because you kind of get burned out on them.\u00a0 I like to play \u201cAlways Elsewhere\u201d and \u201cSaturday\u201d cause it\u2019s just mostly fun for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: If you had to have one thing taken away from your music what would it be: a message, an emotion, an idea\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I guess my primary goal from what I do is not really about the music, I guess it does lie more in the message and I think that ultimately I just want people to challenge themselves and the things around them so we can all live better.\u00a0 I use music as my own sort of therapeutic thing in that way and I hope that people can take that and that\u2019s why a lot of my stuff is like a lot of introspection and look at the world around you and maybe question if any of it is as it should be and how do we make it, you know, what we think it should look like.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s like a sense of self empowerment through questioning stuff is what I want people to take from it.\u00a0<\/span>You can\u2019t just make music just for music\u2019s sake, there\u2019s enough good music in the world, you know.\u00a0 It just feels weird making music in 2021,\u2019just another guy making music about his night last night\u2019 like who cares.\u00a0 Just for me personally I feel like I\u00a0 need a reason, I have to justify it through something that all people can connect to, not just making it all about me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: What does it feel like to have 33,000,000 streams as your top song?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I don\u2019t feel anything about it; to be completely honest because honestly, I don\u2019t really\u2026 a few years ago if you were to say the song would be heard that many times I would be doubtful.\u00a0 But I guess now that that\u2019s happened it doesn\u2019t feel any different, it\u2019s just\u2026 I don\u2019t know. Maybe it\u2019s not even real, maybe it\u2019s fake. I\u2019m grateful for it all, the more people can hear it the better especially how it translates when you go to a show.\u00a0 Short answer, I really don\u2019t think about it or acknowledge it but when I do think about it I think it\u2019s pretty cool, I\u2019m lucky.<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Was it ever a goal for you to have a number of streams or were you more just trying to see what happens?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I would probably not play music if I thought about that stuff when I made it.\u00a0 I think that numerics and the whole way that people think about it, especially in the industry, is just absolute poison.\u00a0 So much of it is about perception and false perception; I think you can even kind of fool yourself if you \u2018look at your numbers, look at your numbers\u2019 you can kind of create a distorted idea about yourself.\u00a0 I think that that just creates a lot of mental illness in people especially with social media.\u00a0 If you\u2019re an artist that counts their streams or a person that\u2019s constantly monitoring their likes, as people that use the internet we\u2019re all guilty of it to some extent, it\u2019s all poison.\u00a0 Who gives a shit.\u00a0 Just make stuff that matters to you, get off of it, and go live your life; absorb the world and your surroundings.\u00a0 Stop worrying about the outcomes, cause who even knows, who even really knows what it means.\u00a0 You can have a billion plays on a song then go play a show to 6 people, it doesn\u2019t fucking matter.\u00a0 You just gotta make good stuff and not worry about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: Does social media have an effect on how you write songs, how you portray yourself at all, if it\u2019s had any effect like that personally or if you\u2019ve noticed that.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Social media kind of gives me a little bit of a creative spark to try to comment and fight against it.\u00a0 I allude to that in some songs, I think it\u2019s really important so that humanity does not crumble to this kind of stuff which it kind of already is; everyone\u2019s hopelessly addicted.\u00a0 I mean, look around, I don\u2019t see a single person in view right now that\u2019s not holding a phone.\u00a0 I just think that it\u2019s important to be aware of it so that we don\u2019t become\u2026 because I do it myself, we all do this: you sit on your phone and then like 45 minutes of your life will go by and it\u2019s just lost time.\u00a0 And so I like to combat myself on that so I don\u2019t get lost in it.\u00a0 I found, especially over the last year and a half or so, where there really hasn\u2019t been much going on, as a music maker on social media you kind of have to make a choice, cause there\u2019s nothing really to talk about, especially as a musician you either have to choose: do I show people my real self and how boring my daily life is or do I fake it.\u00a0 So that was conflicting for me so I try to stand back from it all until you have something to share cause it\u2019s\u2026 I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s a weird thing.\u00a0 I like when I approach it with like a sort of carelessness and just have fun with it, that\u2019s what it\u2019s supposed to be for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: What is like branding yourself because you\u2019re kind of the brand; how do you choose the colors, what you wear, your album art and the visuals for music videos.\u00a0 What makes you choose what you\u2019re doing?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Just whatever I\u2019m into, whatever I really like at any given moment.\u00a0 I\u2019m kinda always fluctuating; like I\u2019ll get really into certain colors and then everything I do will be those.\u00a0 It\u2019s like constantly being in tune with what you genuinely like at a given moment and if you don\u2019t like something anymore and it doesn\u2019t feel genuine, leave it behind, find something new and just continuously chase that. Just if I like it or not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Yea it\u2019s hard to find an aesthetic and force it.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I think a lot of people do that and it works well for them, I\u2019m just somebody that\u2026 I don\u2019t really want to commit to one thing.\u00a0 I just think people change constantly.\u00a0 Nobody is the same person they were a year or two ago.\u00a0 I just feel like whatever I present should be reflective of that.\u00a0 If you\u2019re one person and you come up with all of this, and then three years pass and you\u2019re a kind of different person but you feel like you stay with the previous look or sound or vibe as before, it kind of starts to get a little bit exhausting and not genuine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: I\u2019ve noticed you\u2019re very into orange.\u00a0 Like you were saying, you really gravitate towards one color, and I am obsessed with it too, but what sparked it?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I’ve loved it since I was a kid, and I don\u2019t know why I kinda remember people thinking it was weird and like that orange is a weird color to like, and I kind of, then, over the last few years, reconnected and was like \u2018no I actually, the truth is I actually really like that color and want everything to be that color\u2019. It\u2019s warm but it\u2019s also\u2026 kinda got this \u2018daaaaaa\u2019 and I like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s warm but also kind of in your face and I feel like that\u2019s probably closest to what I am.\u00a0 I just like it so much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think a lot of people don\u2019t like it or think they don\u2019t like it so there\u2019s not a lot of it, like I don\u2019t really see much now.\u00a0 So when you do, you\u2019re like \u2018oh I actually really like that\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the color that everyone deep down actually really likes but they\u2019re not aware of it.\u00a0 When you see an orange car you\u2019re like \u2018wow that car is awesome\u2019 because it\u2019s not common.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CB: Your song where you talk about cancel culture, \u201cCANCELLED!!!\u201d, what are your views about it?\u00a0 How do you feel about it and why did you choose to write a song about it?<\/b><\/p>\n

RG:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>I think it\u2019s a really, really, <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> complex issue\u2026 for me it\u2019s less about cancel culture and it\u2019s kind of like an almost a half joke song; the lyrics are nonsensical playing on the concept of people being expired or canceled but not just in the way that we think about it now in the terms of cancel culture.\u00a0 There are a lot of very valid things or people that have done not good shit are now being held accountable and having to take responsibility, and I think that that is great, obviously.\u00a0 But the problem is that I feel like, and I\u2019m saying this from a first-person perspective cause I\u2019ve watched people do this, but I\u2019ve also seen a lot of people fabricate stories and make up things or amplify things that really weren\u2019t a certain things to be a part of a certain \u201cmovement\u201d and I that that is extremely toxic because it kind of devalues the whole point of it all.\u00a0 It waters down actually awful things that happened to people and then the people that did those things being held accountable, it waters it down by all these other people that are trying to be a part of that but not for a valid reason and I really think that that\u2019s, that\u2019s not good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other side to it is, all human beings are fucked up to a certain extent and we all have traumas and damage and it\u2019s what causes us to act out in certain good or bad ways, we all have evil and darkness inside of us and it comes out; in some people it comes out in much worse ways\u2026 and I think that while it\u2019s good that people are being held accountable, I also think that human beings are not designed to be shoved into a corner.\u00a0 I feel like that\u2019s just a way to perpetuate problems. Whereas, maybe there\u2019s another way where people can\u2026 we can look at certain people as \u2018okay, what they did was awful and not good\u2019, instead of them being inherently evil maybe it\u2019s just a deep, serious issue and they need a lot of help to overcome that issue and then, instead of throwing all the bad seeds into a pit and burying them, maybe there\u2019s a better way to give people a chance in a certain way, see this is why it\u2019s complex; I\u2019m now talking for like 5 hours about it, cause this is where it gets complex because there\u2019s certain situations where it\u2019s like\u2026 kind of hard to look at it like that and there\u2019s others where it is so I don\u2019t really know, I don\u2019t have the answers.\u00a0 But there are some people where you\u2019re like \u2018yea, fuck that, that person is fucking awful and I can\u2019t believe they hurt this many people\u2019.\u00a0 And there\u2019s other situations where maybe they don\u2019t deserve to be trapped up and buried in like the trash.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Probably what\u2019s true is like the scenarios in which actually illicit the cancellation are probably way more few and far between in which it actually happens.\u00a0 So yea, it\u2019s so, so complex: I don\u2019t want to be somebody that\u2019s like: \u2018yea, feel bad for the people that have done awful shit\u2019 it\u2019s not the point, if it gets to the point where everything everyone does is problematic then like we\u2019re not gonna be able to live anymore.\u00a0 People are gonna be so afraid to do anything and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the point.\u00a0 I think the point is: let\u2019s have people heal themselves enough so that they don\u2019t have to harm other human beings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: I love the way you approach topics like that,\u00a0 you\u2019re joking but bringing up awareness of topics that actually need to be talked about.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

RG: <\/b><\/span>I think it\u2019s important to always be a little bit light about heavy topics because otherwise it just gets to be too much.\u00a0 You gotta make it more digestible.\u00a0 There\u2019s a way to find a little bit of humor, it makes it a little bit easier to deal with.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Charlotte Biancardi Charlotte Biancardi (CB):\u00a0What was the first show like last night: Ron Gallo (RG): Last night was great in Philly, definitely nerve-wracking cause it was the first one and was like walking into the unknown, but after playing the show we were like \u2018we can do this, this felt really good\u2019.\u00a0 It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19284,"featured_media":27761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,1523],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27762,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27760\/revisions\/27762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}