Galway date for man with footnote in musical history

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

When your list of musical collaborators includes Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed and Nick Cave – and most of all writing with Jeff Buckley – it’s fair to say you’ve earned at least a footnote in the history of rock. Gary Lucas is a name etched in American guitar music as one of the most prolific and innovative instrumentalists of the last thirty years – primarily for that partnership with Buckley in the early 90’s.

Having co-written the opening two tracks on the iconic Grace LP, Gary is set to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of his friend’s death with two Irish dates at the end of May.

Presented by Strange Brew, he plays Galway’s Loft Venue on May 28 and both tracks written with Buckley, Grace and Mojo Pin, will be key to his set on the night.

The pair’s meeting was a seminal moment for Gary and so too for a young Buckley who, despite his vocal ability, was somewhat short on confidence. The writing session for Grace was their second working together and it is a moment that has certainly stuck with Gary.

“If I was asked what my best moment in music was over all these years, that one is still maybe the key – the moment Jeff sang his vocal on the demo of Grace,” he suggests.

“We recorded it in August of 1991 in a studio here called Krypton. I was blown away. He was out in the dark in the main studio and I was in the booth with an Irish-American engineer. All of a sudden, I heard him deliver this incredible vocal.

“Honestly, until that moment I just trusted he knew what he was gonna do.  I didn’t attempt to tell him what to sing or how to sing. I kind of knew he was capable of great things and the result was incredible.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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