“It was super awesome to open for Ghostface Killah,” he said. “Aside from Wu-Tang Clan being one of my favorite and easily one of the best hip hop groups of all time, it’s always amazing to perform at The Paramount and run around on a big stage. The angle I take with my performances is from a punk-rock perspective so there’s a lot of energy and jumping around. The crowd was great.”
Regarding his plans for the future, Galiardo said, “To put out more music and play more shows. Before the Ghostface Killah show, I haven’t performed in a year and just released two EPs. It kind of took me a while to get there because I was trying different styles of music and feeling out new sounds and obviously, inspiration comes to a screeching halt sometimes and it’s frustrating but you just have to work through it.”
Galiardo added, “As for the shows, the local scene is a little broken, and we’ve all played too many shows where we have to pay to get on a show and play for the only the bartenders. That kind of gets tiring, but I love performing so I definitely want to try to get on better shows with people who care about the music.”
He revealed that his music is inspired by everyday life. “I write a lot about internal things such as anxiety and wrestling with yourself inside of your own head. That’s where I feel the honesty really comes out into your creativity if you write about what you know. I also watch a ton of horror movies while I make music so that probably bleeds into the sounds as well,” he said.
Growing up, he listened to such diverse artists as Limp Bizkit, Korn, Kid Rock, and System of a Down. “I was a weird nu-metal kid. My dad always had on the Dave Matthews Band and B.B. King so I loved them,” he said, prior to noting that he was influenced by old-school hip-hop, metal, and punk music.
Digital transformation of the music business
On the impact of technology on the music business, he said, “There are pros and cons to it. It’s so much easier to get your music out there and have people listen to it, and the opposite side of that is it’s over saturated. Anybody can have their album on iTunes and Spotify and any other streaming platform. It doesn’t matter how professional or how serious you are, which is a double-edged sword.”
Galiardo continued, ‘Then, you have social media, where it’s kind of a game to get people to care about what you’re doing. There’s this weird sense of people will only catch on and support something if it’s already blown up, rather than discovering new music themselves and just supporting it and sharing it. I always say all it takes is one click to share something from an artist or to repost something. Support the music that you are into.”
Regarding his use of technology in his daily routine as a musician, Galiardo said, “I used to be on social media a lot more trying to push people onto my music. Again, it’s a weird thing to try to get people to listen to your music. It feels like a burden. It’s great that you have access to literally the entire world to share their music with. Now I just put music out, and if people listen to it and like it, that makes me feel good and if they don’t then that’s cool too.”
For aspiring singer-songwriters, he encouraged them to “be persistent.” “Be honest with your creativity. Try new things. Experiment. If you feel it, then go with what you feel. Don’t second-guess yourself but also sit back on reflect to know if it something you’re doing is working or not and improve on it,” he said.
His Change Your Evil Ways EP is available on iTunes.
To learn more about Doug Galiardo, check out his official Facebook page and his Soundcloud page.
