Ron Gallo “Heavy Meta” 2017. New West Records. So back in August after writing about our marathon 16 bands in 29 hours I promised to revisit several of the artists we saw during that whirlwind of music. Ron Gallo was one of them and Heavy Meta is his latest release: fuzzy garage guitar, heavy beats – when we saw him play at Mile of Music the bass drum literally vibrated my clothes – and clever, irreverent and often scathing lyrics (i.e. “Why Do You Have Kids?” and “All the Punks Are Domesticated”). Allmusic says, “the fusion of Gallo’s dirty but melodic melodies and waves of lyrical swagger suggests how Bob Dylan might have ended up if his primal influence had been Black Francis instead of Woody Guthrie.” From Nashville via Philly, Gallo incorporates some southern blues-rock flavors into several tracks on Side A, the “Bright Side” (i.e. the raucous rocker “Please Yourself” and the CCR-meets-Rolling-Stones’ Sympathy For the Devil-esque “Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me”). Side B, the “Dark Side,” slows things down considerably but it’s not mellow, think more the burning intensity of bands the Black Angels or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Some of Gallo’s best lyrics appear here: the aforementioned “All the Punks Are Domesticated” – “All of the punks are domesticated/all of the freaks have gone to bed/all of the pioneers are saved for information tech/Now every room is sterilized/All risk is paralyzed/ Meanwhile the pop tarts climb the pop charts/the blood clots block your heart parts and no one really has anything to say” and “Don’t Mind the Lion” – “Oh, she smoked herself into oblivion/Oh, her teeth are like the daisies in the yard/ Colors pouring out her eyes/with hips and a heart on trial…”

Here is a photo from the show we saw in August at Mile of Music, Gallo’s pants as cheeky as his writing.