Years ago I was a total Rory Gallagher fan. When I was in my mid-late teens it was all about guitar players. The licks. The blues rock boogie guitar slinger shit. Rory Gallagher was second tier when it comes to overall recognition but he was a guitarist's guitarist. In other words other guitar players knew his work and paid attention. The reason I was watching the video was essentially to try to see what got me off so much when I was younger. I'm not a fanboy of blues rock guitarists like I was in my teens. But that's neither here nor there because what grabbed my attention with this video was the bass player. When you see the guy, his stance and rocking out style is more like a bass player in hardcore band. The comical part of it is his expression. It's hard to see but it's pretty damn extreme guitar face, rather bass face. I hate guitar face, really hate it. But, as I'm wont to do when I have strong negative feelings, I try to find a counterpoint. Some way I can look at it to prove myself wrong. Objectivity is hard enough with music. When it comes to guitar face, or bass face, I thought that there would be no way I'd relate. Then it hit me. Gerry McAvoy, Gallagher's bassist, gets a pass on this one. Know why? Because when I was younger, and a Rory Gallagher freak, I was also a bassist (a shitty one). McAvoy's moves, his expressions and stance, his whole rocking out oeuvre is exactly how I would have been at the time had I had something called talent and an opportunity to play with a hot shit like Rory Gallagher. McAvoy was living my sixteen year old self's dream. Pass granted.
McAvoy's enthusiasm for playing with a hot shit like Rory Gallagher reminded me of the infamous "Oktoberfest drummer", a drummer playing at an Oktoberfest some years back. In his clip he's just fucking banging the shit out of his totally minimal hit, a big bass drum with a cymbal on top, probably de rigueur for Oktoberfest drummers. Seriously if this guy does this regularly, October after October, year after year, he's going to have the same problems as retired football players and boxers. All to perform for drunks. Where was I, oh yeah, Rory Gallagher...
Oktoberfest drummer at YouTube
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