Alt-folk troubadour Gallery 47 – aka Jack Peachey – makes his 2019 debut with the colourfully poignant upcoming album Chaos Ensued, out on now via Bad Production Records.
Peachey combines his trademark folk sensibilities with splashes of blues rock, post-punk and classic rock to create something that is undeniably unique. His new found sound is bold, brave and vibrant, whilst still maintaining his signature ability to write wistful tales of melancholy that are highly relatable. Fans of the likes of Bob Dylan, Canned Heat and Easyworld will feel at home here. Talking about the album, Peachey elaborates, “many of the songs on this album are written from a resilient position, openly accepting the prospect of nothing ever quite working out, and of not being capable of being whatever you would need to be in order to succeed in the music industry, despite being tied and bound to it partly through life choices.”
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Gallery 47 about the latest music, technology, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
Ever since I was at school, I found it hard to decide which type of music I wanted to make. Everybody was telling me that I needed to pick one direction and focus on that. I loved ‘Paranoid Android’ by Radiohead at the time and spent a week in a studio at the age of 17 working on this crazy 8-minute epic called ‘Logic 3 Starfighter’, with an acoustic B-side called ‘Petticoat’. Nobody could figure out whether I was trying to be a singer songwriter or a math rock band. With this album, ‘Chaos Ensued’, I decided to work with a 4-piece band and stick to that idea for the whole record (Gary Judd on Drums, Jacob Parker on Electric Guitar, Benjamin James on Piano and myself, Jack Peachey on Guitar and Vocals). I’ve spent years on stages as the quiet folk artist. This album gave us all a chance to let loose and enjoy some big, crunchy choruses. Still, the album isn’t even out yet and I’m already determined that I need to go back to my acoustic guitar in the future. It’s hard to plan your life around any band because everyone has their own agendas and lives to work around.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
In 2007, when I was 17, I released an EP under the name Jack Peachey called ‘A Typng Error’. I didn’t like my voice on it. In general, I didn’t really like the release. It was one of the reasons I changed to ‘Gallery 47’ afterwards. After a few years on a bit of a downer, I started writing more Dylan-influenced folk songs in 2010, at 20 years old. I used a program called Battery 3, containing professional drum samples, to get a decent-enough idea of the general level / volume which a song should be released at, and I read the Dummies guide to Music Production. Since then, I’ve played hundreds of shows of varying sizes and will soon have released 8 albums with 5 or so EPs and a handful of singles. I always expected things to gradually get bigger and easier, but instead it feels like music is an uncontrollable roller coaster which constantly throws shocks and surprises at you. It’s probably best not to worry too much about things outside of your control and try your best to enjoy the ride.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
I listen to music for lots of different reasons, but my favourites are songwriters who speak honestly about whatever is going on in their minds at the time. I appreciate introverts and outsiders. I’m amazed on albums like ‘Court and Spark’ by Joni Mitchell to hear so much doubt and insecurity at times in the lyrics (songs like ‘People’s Parties’). It’s easy to think, ‘But you’re huge! You’re successful! How can you be doubtful or insecure!?’, but then you realise that people are just people. The people who doubt themselves the most after often the ones who I see the most in. I also doubt myself all the time, and maybe listening to others doing the same can make me feel a bit better. In terms of instrumentation, I think that I’ve always loved Simon & Garfunkel and the beautiful sound of the finger picked guitars. I loved this about songs like ‘Girl From The North Country’ from ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ as well. At the beginning, I didn’t know how to finger pick, so when I learnt how to do it it was like some kind of miracle. It gave me a vehicle through which I could put a little bit of my soul into an art form and deliver it onstage with minimal complication. There is much less that can ‘go wrong’ onstage if you keep it simple, and I’ve always found playing music to be very rewarding, particularly when you’re playing to a crowd who have come to get to know and appreciate you over time. It’s still terrifying playing to a brand new crowd, but it’s a satisfying terror which reminds you that you’re doing something which could make a change.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Absolutely. It’s all in the name, really. ‘Chaos Ensued’. I wanted to throw all potential expectations to one side and do something completely chaotic. I spent a good amount of time on an a very minimalistic album called ‘Go Easy’, and it seemed to pass the world by unnoticed. Then I blended this genre with a heavier band orientation on the next album, ‘Stilte Graag’. With this, new, album, I wanted it to be all about the individual musicians in the band I was playing with. I wanted to write some songs which were simple and fun to jump around to. In the background, I was coming off certain medications for this crippling anxiety which has plagued me for years now. Secretly I still think it’s real – that’s the problem, really. Anyway, whilst in the past I’ve used music as a means of explaining how I feel, I got to a stage where I was sick to death of the contents of my mind. I wanted a complete transformation. I didn’t want to even play guitar, or have anything to do with the person I had been in the past. I wanted chaos to ensue, effectively. And I think it worked, because now I feel ready to go back to the acoustic folk songs again. Maybe I’ll write about how I feel again.
What was the last song you listened to?
‘Witch Doctor’ by the Danish band, ‘Cartoons’. I hadn’t heard it for a decade but I heard someone humming it earlier.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
In this age of plastic terror, I prefer digital. I do really like Vinyl, but it’s expensive to press and not too many people buy them from me. Sometimes the cost of 1,000 CDs is only slightly higher than the cost of 500. It can be tempting to order a huge number to keep the cost-per-unit down, but it feels as though I will end up with a house full of plastic jewel cases I keep things digital. I listen to everything on Alexa anyway, which I feel a bit ashamed about.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I do play music on Amazon Music through my Prime membership. It doesn’t have everything, though. I’m generally happy that people have access to my music on Spotify and stuff. I know that most of my streams come from Spotify, even if I don’t have it. I still think it’s a bit harsh on musicians, how little they get paid and how music is expected to be free. At the same time, what leverage do we have? There is so much music available that I feel you have to accept that your work is a labour of love. Hopefully a day will come when you get something back, but I don’t think that the money issue should force people out of good opportunities. Streaming services at least provide an artist with the chance to be heard, even if it feels a bit like a kick in the teeth when you get £40 from 7,000 streams or something like that.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
I think the hardest thing at the moment is the pressure which venues feel to pay their rents, particularly in London. It’s hard enough to play a gig, especially if you work a day job. It’s even harder to act as marketing executive and salesman to your gig in your free time, particularly if, like many musicians, you don’t want to force yourself on people who are so saturated by requests from everyone else anyway. In Nottingham, there are a few venues like Jam Cafe and Rough Trade where you might be able to play once every few months. You might not get paid, but it’ll be free entry and people get a chance to come and hear you play. But a lot of the time there is a big pressure to ensure that enough people come through the door, and it becomes a scary thing. You don’t want to let people down. Some promoters look at you like you’ve betrayed them if not many people show up, regardless of your songs or how you played. At the same time, people who are connected with Booking Agents and Managers etc. often have ways in to bigger touring opportunities. In that respect, it can make you feel that you don’t have a chance to do well unless you submit to the unspecified requirements of whichever manager, agent or record label you manage to convince to take you on.
And then there is the issue of record labels. Now, I was approached by a few record labels back in 2013 after I got a lucky feature in The Guardian. I think they thought I was bigger than I was. More successful or more established than I was. I’m not sure. I was working with managers at the time and I was never a witness to whichever conversations took place, though I know that I ended up frustrated, without a record label, and feeling as though any future interest would inevitably be a hot air balloon waiting to deflate. So I’ve developed this pariah mentality of never wanting to work with any record label because it feels as though they would only ever be able to help me if I was already in a position to help myself anyway. Then there’s the whole issue of pride. Everyone wants to feel special and wanted. But I know that I’ve sent at least one or two songs to so many A & Rs and record labels over the years and almost all of the time I’ve either been ignored or, often quite dismissively or rudely, rejected. So you end up wanting to try your best to go it alone. It makes you a bit bitter. It also, tragically, makes you want to jump at any record label that does offer you anything, whatever the deal. And this isn’t reasonable or realistic, although obviously I can see the other side and realise how much money the record companies are putting in. Everyone needs a guarantee, however hollow, that they will make their money back. The ones who lose out, too often, are the musicians.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
I play maybe 10-20 gigs a year at the moment, typically concentrated around the summer months with maybe one show a month outside of this. But it changes over time. In the past I’ve done strings of shows with other acts. If support slots come up then I almost always take them because it’s a great opportunity. The problem with touring, or rather with aiming for a specific high quantity of gigs, is that a bad experience can be quite devastating. We had one full band show at The Chameleon Arts Cafe in Nottingham and so many things went wrong. Guitars broke. We were under-practiced. We started drinking too early and ended up in bad moods by the end of the set. It just set us band a month-or-two. Then there have also been times when we were going to have a full band gig but I ended up doing it solo, only to discover that there were only a handful of people at the venue. It made me think, ‘I’m so glad that the band didn’t go through all the stress of taking days off work and packing up drum kits and everything’, because a bad show can break up a band. That’s the main reason why I’m sticking to playing on my own at the moment. My favourite venue to play at the moment is The Halfmoon at Putney, because it’s a lovely place where I’ve been playing since I was 18 years old. It feels like a home and while they do politely request that you try to get people down, it also feels that they care about the music as well.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
I think streaming services like Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer etc. are great for discovery. The only problem is the speech recognition I can never get Alexa to recognise ‘Stilte Graag’ by ‘Gallery 47’. Sometimes you have to ask for ‘Gary 47’. I use facebook and stuff but they keep coming out with new websites and it’s hard to keep up. Particularly in this age where you know that you can pay for advertising. Instagram, as far as I’m aware, is owned by Facebook. So it seems natural that if all the companies channel marketing funds into boosting an Instagram presence, well, then the next big social media site will come along and will be acquired, and then you end up financing billionaires whilst living month-by-month on an endless journey of debt and self-loathing. It wasn’t ever the dream.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
I would like to say thank you for featuring my songs and that I hope some people out there appreciate the new album. I’d like to thank everyone who has offered me support, including your own website and blog. Thank you
