Anthony Gallo | |
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Background information | |
Born | Studio City, California, United States | April 10, 1965
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 1980s punk scene. Gallo later progressed into heavy metal and rock as well as T.V. and Film. With a career spanning over 30 years Gallo played and recorded with New 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, guitarist Carlos Cavazo (Ratt, Quiet Riot), James Bradley Jr. (Crazy Town), Scott Weiland (STP/ Velvet Revolver), guitarist Christian Nesmith and Bullet Boys vocalist Marq Torien, and has appeared on Sons of Anarchy in Seasons 5 and 6 as a hang around, and Season 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 actress Gigi Perreau. [3] Gallo grew up in the Hollywood Hills and at age four moved north to Studio City in the San Fernando Valley. There he met local guitarist Steve Goertzen, who inspired him to learn the instrument and introduced him to such artists as Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Johnny Winter. When he was 13, Gallo took guitar lessons at Valley Arts Guitar with the aim of learning to read music. He attended Walter Reed Jr. High, where he met future New 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 for Mystic 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 for Suicidal Tendencies in Sacramento after a suggestion from Black Flag, Würm bassist Chuck Dukowski who caught one of their shows and thought they sounded a lot like them. Gallo and Mike Muir became fast friends and when Jon Nelson left Suicidal, 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 in Los 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] and No Mercy's Sal Troy (drums). "We initially rehearsed in Santa 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] The Skate Punk compilation "Welcome to Venice" [11] featured local Venice bands Suicidal Tendencies, Beowülf, Los Cycos, No Mercy and Excel, 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 release Controlled 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 the heavy 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 from Stevie 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 the Bullet Boys, Bang Tango, Guns N' Roses and Motörhead. 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 former Megadeth drummer Nick 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 left Megadeth, [18] they decided to record together. [19] [20] [21] Recording for Menzas Life After Deth was done over a two-year period and was written and performed mostly by Menza. Guest guitarist included Gallo as well as Christian Nesmith (son of Mike Nesmith of The Monkees) for leads. Nick hired producer Max 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-forming Great White. Longley perished in the Station nightclub fire in Rhode 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 and Dead Kennedys D.H. Peligro drummer Santi Guardilla.
In 1991 Gallo secured a two-song recording contract for an independent film entitled Across the Tracks. [22] [23] Collaborating with singer-songwriter Adam Murray, heavy metal guitarist Carlos 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 / composer Gingger Shankar and actress Kate 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 series Sons of Anarchy . [26] in Season 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 mainly Strat-style guitars; he has four that he has built. One has an alder body and a Performance neck, including a Floyd Rose locking vibrato bridge with Seymour Duncan JB's in it. The other is an American Strat (replaced with a vintage-style fulcrum bridge) Performance neck and active EMG's. For acoustic guitars he uses a Baby Taylor and a vintage Martin. His amp set up is a modified Marshall JCM 800 series run through a series of modified effects and a Line 6 through four Marshall cabinets each with vintage 30 Watt Celestions and sometimes he uses 25 watt Celestion Greenbacks. He sometimes A-B's his clean channel with a standard Fender Twin reverb running through a Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-5 and a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay.
Title | Release | Label | Band |
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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 |
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. Their music features complex arrangements and fast rhythm sections, dual lead guitars, and lyrical themes of war, politics, religion, death, and personal relationships.
Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice, California, by vocalist Mike Muir. The band has undergone various lineup changes, with Muir as the only remaining original member. Their current lineup includes Muir, guitarists Dean Pleasants and Ben Weinman, bassist Tye Trujillo and drummer Jay Weinberg. Notable musicians who have contributed to the band's studio or live activities include guitarists Rocky George and Mike Clark; bassists Louiche Mayorga, Robert Trujillo, Ra Díaz, Josh Paul and Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner; and drummers Amery Smith, Jimmy DeGrasso, Brooks Wackerman, David Hidalgo Jr., Thomas Pridgen, Ron Bruner, Eric Moore, Dave Lombardo, Brandon Pertzborn, Greyson Nekrutman and session musician Josh Freese.
Still Cyco After All These Years is the seventh studio album by American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, released in 1993. The album is composed of re-recorded songs from the band's 1983 debut album, Suicidal Tendencies; re-recordings of "War Inside My Head" and "A Little Each Day" from the band's second album, Join the Army; and "Don't Give Me Your Nothin'" which was previously released as a B-side to "Send Me Your Money".
Nicholas Menza was an American musician who was the drummer of the thrash metal band Megadeth from 1989 to 1998. He recorded drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994), and Cryptic Writings (1997).
Join the Army is the second studio album by American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It was released in April 1987, and is one of the most well known albums for crossing over the genres of punk and thrash metal, known as crossover thrash, a genre that Suicidal Tendencies have been credited for creating. Join the Army is arguably one of Suicidal Tendencies' most popular efforts, although it only reached No. 100 on the Billboard 200 chart. This was their first album with guitarist Rocky George and drummer R.J. Herrera, and their last recording with bassist Louiche Mayorga. This is also the last album to feature the band playing hardcore punk before an extended period with a more thrash metal focus.
Suicidal for Life is the eighth studio album by American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, which was released in 1994. It is their sixth full-length album with original material, and their last album to feature lead guitarist Rocky George and bassist Robert Trujillo as well as their only one to feature drummer Jimmy DeGrasso. Suicidal for Life was also Suicidal Tendencies' final studio album released on Epic Records and their last one before their temporary breakup in 1995–1996.
Suicidal Tendencies is the debut studio album by American hardcore punk band Suicidal Tendencies, released on July 5, 1983 through Frontier Records. Regarded as one of the best-selling and most successful punk rock albums, Suicidal Tendencies was well-received by fans and critics alike, and the airplay of its only single "Institutionalized" brought the band considerable popularity. The album was a major influence on the then-emerging genre of thrash metal and its subgenre crossover.
Michael Allen Muir is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of Los Angeles-based bands Suicidal Tendencies, Los Cycos, and Infectious Grooves. He has also released several solo albums under his nickname Cyco Miko. Muir's trademark is wearing bandanas, jerseys with the number 13, and hats with block-style letters that read "suicidal".
No Mercy is an American thrash metal band from Venice, California, the brainchild of guitarist Mike Clark who later played in Suicidal Tendencies.
Beowülf is an American crossover thrash metal band formed in Venice Beach, California, in 1981 by Michael Alvarado, Dale Henderson, Mike Jensen and Paul Yamada. The group never gained a large mainstream success, but is considered one of the first bands that defined the "Venice Scene" in the 1980s, along with Suicidal Tendencies, Los Cycos, Neighborhood Watch, No Mercy, Excel and Uncle Slam, who all played a mix of skate punk, hardcore, heavy metal and thrash.
3 Vulgar Videos from Hell is a DVD by American heavy metal band Pantera, released in 1999 and re-released in 2006. It combines all three of the band's previous home videos and features music videos, live performances, appearances, interviews, and footage of the band on tour and in the studio from mid-1989 to early 1997.
"Institutionalized" is the debut and only single released in 1983 from the eponymic debut album by American hardcore punk/crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It is one of the band's most popular songs and has remained a live staple since it was first played in 1982. The song was re-recorded for the band's 1993 album Still Cyco After All These Years; this version was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1994, but lost to Ozzy Osbourne's live version of "I Don't Want to Change the World".
New Regime is an American punk band from Los Angeles, California. Initially called "Sodomy Squad", the band was co-founded in 1979 by vocalist Todd Payden and bass player Michael Brevetz while they were students at North Hollywood's Walter Reed Jr. High School. Needing a drummer and guitarist, Brevetz and Payden recruited fellow students Marc Woodson and Anthony Gallo to complete the lineup. The group did one demo recording under the name Sodomy Squad but found it difficult to get shows under the name, opting for the less offensive but more political name "New Regime".
Los Cycos was an American crossover thrash band founded in 1984 in Venice, Los Angeles, California, by Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir. The only recording of the band appears on the rare 1985 release Welcome to Venice, the debut album and first release from Suicidal Records.
13 is the twelfth studio album by the American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It was released on March 26, 2013. The album was recorded over a ten-year period at the band's studio "ST Studio", while additional recording took place at Interscope Studios, Stall #2 and Titan Studio.
Dystopia is the fifteenth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth. It was released on frontman and guitarist Dave Mustaine's Tradecraft label via Universal on January 22, 2016. It is the first Megadeth album to feature guitarist Kiko Loureiro, the only album with drummer Chris Adler, and their last with bassist David Ellefson. The album was produced by Mustaine and Chris Rakestraw and features cover artwork by Brent Elliot White.
World Gone Mad is the thirteenth studio album by the American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, released on September 30, 2016. It is the band's first studio album to feature Dave Lombardo on drums, Ra Díaz on bass, and Jeff Pogan on rhythm guitar. Vocalist Mike Muir had stated that World Gone Mad could have been Suicidal Tendencies' final studio album, although he later retracted that statement.
Still Cyco Punk After All These Years is the fourteenth studio album by the American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, released on September 7, 2018. This features re-recorded songs of Cyco Miko's 1996 debut album, Lost My Brain! ; it is a near-complete re-recording, since the only tracks from the original album not included are its last two tracks "Cyco Miko Wants You" and "Ain't Mess'n Around", while "Sippin' from the Insanitea" was previously never released. The latter uses the same basic musical structure as "Cyco Miko Wants You", but with brand new lyrics and a different vocal melody.