Anthony Gallo | |
|---|---|
 Gallo in 1996 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1965-04-10)April 10, 1965 (age 59) Studio City, California, United States |
| Genres | Hardcore punk,heavy metal,punk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, actor |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1980–present |
Anthony Gallo (born April 10, 1965) is an American guitarist who started at age 16 in the early 1980spunk scene. Gallo later progressed intoheavy metal androck as well as T.V. and Film. With a career spanning over 30 years Gallo played and recorded withNew Regime,Los Cycos,Nick Menza (Megadeth),Mike Muir,Suicidal Tendencies/Los Cycos,[1]SIN 34, Jon Nelson, Louiche Mayorga, Louis "Loud Lou" Hinzo (Würm),D.H. Peligro (Dead Kennedys),Tiny Bubz (T.S.O.L.),Phil Campbell (Motörhead), heavy metal act Cold Shot, guitaristCarlos Cavazo (Ratt,Quiet Riot),James Bradley Jr. (Crazy Town),Scott Weiland (STP/Velvet Revolver), guitaristChristian Nesmith andBullet Boys vocalistMarq Torien, and has appeared onSons of Anarchy inSeasons 5 and6 as a hang around, andSeason 7, the final Ride episode 9, as an S.O.A. Indian Hills, Nevada, charter member.
Born Robert Anthony Gallo on April 10, 1965, in Los Angeles.[2] His father is Emil Frank Gallo, a financier, and his mother is actressGigi Perreau.[3] Gallo grew up in theHollywood Hills and at age four moved north toStudio City in theSan Fernando Valley. There he met local guitarist Steve Goertzen, who inspired him to learn the instrument and introduced him to such artists asJeff Beck,Jimi Hendrix,Jimmy Page andJohnny Winter. When he was 13, Gallo took guitar lessons atValley Arts Guitar with the aim of learning to read music. He attendedWalter Reed Jr. High, where he met futureNew Regime bandmates, Todd Payden, Marc Woodson and Michael Brevetz.
In 1981 Gallo joined his first band New Regime. The line up consisted of Todd Payden (vocals), Marc Woodson (drums) and Michael Brevetz (bass). In 1983 New Regime recorded two tracks forMystic Records, "Be a Man Go to War" on (Party Animal 2) and "Night Stix" on the (Copulation Compilation). Both were produced by label owner Doug Moody.[4] After those recordings, they were offered the opening slot forSuicidal Tendencies in Sacramento after a suggestion fromBlack Flag,Würm bassistChuck Dukowski who caught one of their shows and thought they sounded a lot like them. Gallo andMike Muir became fast friends and when Jon Nelson leftSuicidal, Muir asked Gallo to help with guitar. "We just sat around Mike's house and jammed and wrote songs...one day I got a call from Mike and he asked if I wanted to play guitar inLos Cycos, a side project he was just starting."[5][6]
Los Cycos was originally Mike Muir (vocals), Bob Heathcote (bass), Anthony Gallo (guitars) and Amery Smith (drums).[7] After a few rehearsals, drummer Smith left the line up, along with then Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Jon Nelson to start their own band (The Brood). Los Cycos eventually included: Grant Estes[8] on lead guitar, Gallo went to (rhythm), and original choices Bob Heathcote and Amery Smith were replaced by Louiche Mayorga (bass)[9] andNo Mercy's Sal Troy (drums). "We initially rehearsed inSanta Monica at a little place on Lincoln Blvd., then when Bob and Amery left we moved to the basement of Louiche's house."[5] With the final line up established and two songs "It's Not Easy" and "A Little Each Day" completed, Los Cycos were now ready for their recording debut on Suicidal Records.[10] TheSkate Punk compilation "Welcome to Venice"[11] featured local Venice bands Suicidal Tendencies,Beowülf, Los Cycos,No Mercy andExcel, and was the first record released on the new label. Band politics and Muir's responsibilities with Suicidal prompted Gallo to leave the band before the release of "Welcome to Venice" his picture remained on the album's cover. Los Cycos disbanded that same year and in 1989 Suicidal Tendencies re-recorded "It's Not Easy" for their 1989 releaseControlled by Hatred/Feel Like Shit...Déjà Vu album.[12] The other Los Cycos track "A Little Each Day" was also included in the 1987 Suicidal Tendencies release "Join The Army" and again on "Still Cyco After All These Years" released in 93. In 2000 it resurfaced on the "FNG" compilation and a fourth time on the 2008 (Split) Album "Lights...Camera...Revolution!/Still Cyco After All These Years."[13]
In 1988 Gallo founded theheavy metal band "Cold Shot"[14] recruiting singer/songwriter Adam Murray, bassist Erin Bartley, and drummer Rikki Baggett. The name "Cold Shot" (a suggestion by Murray) was not inspired fromStevie Ray Vaughan's song of the same name. Murray was working a construction job. His boss described his ex as "A real cold shot". Cold Shot played alongside such bands as theBullet Boys,Bang Tango,Guns N' Roses andMotörhead. Cold Shot disbanded in 1994. In November 2012 Cold Shot signed a record deal with Eönian Records to release all their previously unreleased material.
Eventually Gallo co-founded the band "Chodle's Trunk" with formerMegadeth drummerNick Menza and singer songwriter Gary "G-Voz" Flores.[15][16][17] "All we got offered was a Japanese deal for like 10 grand and we thought WOW we spent more on recording it!" The recordings were shelved and in 1998 when Nick leftMegadeth,[18] they decided to record together.[19][20][21] Recording for MenzasLife After Deth was done over a two-year period and was written and performed mostly by Menza. Guest guitarist included Gallo as well asChristian Nesmith (son ofMike Nesmith ofThe Monkees) for leads. Nick hired producerMax Norman (Ozzy Osbourne,Megadeth) to produce a few of the tracks. "It was a lot of fun to record and I was looking forward to the live shows"; however, the excitement was short-lived.Ty Longley, a guitarist whom they hired for the live shows, had left rehearsals for a few months to go on the road with the re-formingGreat White. Longley perished inthe Station nightclub fire inRhode Island. A year later bass player Jason Levin suddenly died of a heart failure, and plans for the 2003 Tour were suspended indefinitely. Gallo and Menza are still writing and recording material together.[5] in 2014 Gallo and Menza started a recording project with former Suicidal Tendencies members Jon Nelson and Louiche Mayorga for a metal compilation covering an early Brood song entitled "Going out in Style".
In August 2014 longtime friend and former Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Jon Nelson asked Gallo to help form a new punk band called Slamnation. A vehicle to record and perform some of his earlier works from the Suicidal days and some Brood songs to current. Other band members include Nicholas Gunnett on bass andDead KennedysD.H. Peligro drummer Santi Guardilla.
In 1991 Gallo secured a two-song recording contract for an independent film entitledAcross the Tracks.[22][23] Collaborating with singer-songwriter Adam Murray, heavy metal guitaristCarlos Cavazo of (Quiet Riot) and brother (Bassist) Tony Cavazo of (Hurricane) for the song "Higher".[24] The other title "Juicy Lucy" was written and performed by Cold Shot.[25] On July 16 that same year he appeared in the video "Love All Humans" alongside model Tara Bre, musician / composerGingger Shankar and actressKate Kelton.
On July 11, 2012, Gallo was asked to play in a non-speaking role as "hang around" for season 5 and 6 on the hit motorcycle gang seriesSons of Anarchy.[26] inSeason 7, the final Ride episode 5 he can be seen as a Teller-Morrow mechanic, and in episode 9 portraying an S.O.A. Indian Hills, Nevada, charter member as one of Jury's crew, who unexpectedly show up at SAMCRO's headquarters looking for an explanation about Jury's death. Jax tries hard to sell Jury as a rat, but Indian Hills isn't buying it.[27]
Anthony Gallo plays mainlyStrat-style guitars; he has four that he has built. One has an alder body and a Performance neck, including aFloyd Rose locking vibrato bridge withSeymour Duncan JB's in it. The other is an American Strat (replaced with a vintage-style fulcrum bridge) Performance neck and activeEMG's. For acoustic guitars he uses a BabyTaylor and a vintageMartin. His amp set up is a modifiedMarshall JCM 800 series run through a series of modified effects and aLine 6 through four Marshall cabinets each with vintage 30 WattCelestions and sometimes he uses 25 wattCelestion Greenbacks. He sometimes A-B's his clean channel with a standardFender Twin reverb running through a Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-5 and a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay.
| Title | Release | Label | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Party Animal 2 | 1983 | Mystic | New Regime |
| The COPulation Compilation | 1983 | Mystic | New Regime |
| Welcome to Venice | 1984 | Suicidal | Suicidal Tendencies/Los Cycos |
| Life After Deth | 2002 | Menzanator | Nick Menza |
| Abyss | 2003 | Independent | Dennis Lotka |
Created by:Kurt Sutter | |
| Sons of Anarchy | |
| Mayans M.C. | |
| Characters | |
| Music | |
