Ron Gallo’s music career has been anything but predictable. Exploding onto the music scene with loud punk/garage-rock jams in 2017, his album Heavy Meta and hit single “Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me” remain his most recognized work, but as the years have passed, Gallo has not shied away from change.
He’s ventured into comedic/satirical tunes (Really Nice Guys), fuzzed-out optimistic rock (Stardust Birthday Party), experimental lo-fi (PEACEMEAL), groovy-grunge (FOREGROUND MUSIC) and sweet, somber, slow jams (Checkmate). He’s also gained some serious online attention thanks to 7AM Songs of Resistance for the Internet, with daily songs, usually about the political climate, written in five minutes and posted on social media.
Ron Gallo is set to perform at The Alpine as part of the Offbeat Music Festival on Friday, Oct. 2. Instead of bringing a full band and celebrating his loud legacy, he’ll be performing as a duo with his musical and life partner, Chiara D’Anzieri, exploring his softer songs and reworking some RG classics.
“We’ve predominantly done (the duo set) over the last year with the latest record Checkmate and this whole 7AM Songs series I’ve been doing, which has been more kind of stripped down, just back to the basics of song,” Gallo said during a recent phone interview. “We’ve done most of our touring in this arrangement with Chiara, who is a lifelong classical cellist. … We kind of rearranged all the songs from the whole catalog for those two instruments. It’s a polar-opposite vibe, but it’s also kind of nice, because the show’s a bit more conversational, and people can really hear the songs and the words. It’s definitely a change of pace, but I like it just as much as rocking.”
The duo setting strips away the artist’s signature fiery rock and fuzz pedals, and places more attention on Gallo’s lyrics and the pair’s performance.
“There’s not really much to hide behind,” Gallo said. “My favorite part of all of it is the songwriting part and the words. These big chaotic arrangements, they’re fun, especially playing live, but when you’re doing it this way, it becomes more focused on those parts, and they’re up front and center. It’s made me have to practice a lot more, because, like I said, there’s not a lot to hide behind. There’s more space, but there’s also not, because if I’m ebbing and flowing between time, Chiara gets mad. She’s like, ‘You know you’re playing with somebody else, right?’”
Checkmate’s emotional ballads like “Giant Silent Disco,” “Free Advice” and the title track are perfect fits for the stripped-back setting, but Gallo also enjoys being able to present his past albums’ earsplitting material in an eloquent, ethereal manner.
“It’s fun to take things, especially the Heavy Meta stuff … and then find a way to strip it back,” he said.
As Gallo has shifted genres from album to album, he’s also experimented with his lyrics. Older jams include some heavy doses of figurative language such as: “When we pulled up to her bleeding dollhouse / She said, “Park behind the hearse” / I said, “No need, get out and take your purse,” on “Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me.” Newer tracks, such as the politically charged callout “Peter Thiel” (which started as a 7AM Songs track before being released professionally) trades poetics for powerful truths: “Interviewer asked Peter Thiel / If the human race should survive / He hesitated, said ‘I don’t know’ / Then fumbled his words 10 more times.”
“A lot of the intention behind the 7AM Songs series is to be more informational,” Gallo said. “Of course I throw in my opinions and thoughts about things, but a lot of the idea is more about the spread of information. I think when that’s the goal, it’s probably better to just be straightforward and direct, especially in the social media/internet age, where you really don’t know who it’s going to reach—and I honestly don’t give a ton of credit to random people online who have no attention span and don’t really go deeper.”
This lyrical trend was also present on Checkmate, where Gallo traded grand metaphors for straightforward professions on love.
“Outside of the more topical or political things, it’s just a mode that I’ve been in,” he said. I’ve found myself gravitating more toward things that are straightforward being almost more profound than something that’s trying to be intentionally poetic. I think the beauty in that is very plain, simple, straightforward and relatable, and that’s what I love about it. I find there’s something almost more interesting in trying to nail things on the head as opposed to dancing around them.”
Gallo’s lyrics have always been deeply personal, whether they’re figurative or not. His songs have showcased glimpses into his mind, his emotions and hos changing thoughts throughout the past decade. His latest single “Truth” chants the line, “Who needs truth?” marking a difference from 2017’s “Kill the Medicine Man,” where Gallo opens with, “Well I just want some truth / Yes I just want the truth.”
“For me, the truth has become a lot more simple than ever, and I think a lot of that’s been just a reckoning with what is important in this life,” he said. “As somebody who’s spent so much time making music and touring and traveling around the world and chasing myself creatively and living this sort of all-over-the-place thing, the thing that I’ve come back to after the last decade is that the only shit that really matters, and what’s actually true, is in the extremely small things. It sounds dumb and maybe almost overly simplified, but amid all of the chaos of things, that’s the rock that I hang on to, which is something I’ve really emphasized in the latest record Checkmate.
“All that really matters in this life is the people around you who you love, comfort, safety and merely being alive. That’s the only real shit to hang on to now, because everything else is seemingly spiraling and more chaotic, and the concept of truth is completely lost in all of it.”
Although Gallo continues to push forward in new musical directions, he is making plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Heavy Meta next year.
“We are in the works of doing some sort of deluxe version of the record and revisiting some old things, maybe some new things, and we will be doing a tour around it,” he said. “It’s in the works now—but we’ll definitely be digging up that era and revisiting it come spring 2027.”
Ron Gallo is set to perform at 11 p.m., Friday, Oct. 2, at The Alpine, at 324 E. Fourth St., in Reno, during the Offbeat Music Festival. Multivenue tickets for each day are $65.30, while a two-day pass is $96.95. For tickets and more information, visit www.offbeatreno.com.