Working Parents By Day, Rock Stars by Night by
Haverhill GazetteIn a quiet neighborhood in Bradford, where perfectly manicured lawns and elaborate swing sets highlight every plot, two residents live a double life.
They are dedicated and working parents during the day, but on nights and weekends, Jim Wyse and Elle Gallo are rock stars, inspiring clubgoers to sing and dance with their original songs and catchy covers.
Better known to some as Acoustic Soul, Gallo and Wyse live just a few blocks away from each other, but didn’t meet until Wyse put out an ad looking for a singer and Gallo sent out fliers looking for a guitarist the very same day.
“We had lived in this neighborhood for eight years and had never seen each other,” Wyse remembered.
They exchanged music samples via the Internet, then Wyse asked Gallo to join him for his solo gig at Keon’s Bistro in Haverhill, and their act became a mainstay at the trendy downtown hot spot.
“It’s kind of interesting. We start playing together and everything just flows,” Gallo said. “We’ve had amazing responses. Really, it’s been nothing short of magic.”
For Gallo, who once sang the national anthem at a sold-out Red Sox game, baring her soul for just 10 or 20 people was too intimate a setting, but once she got over her fear, her experiences at Keon’s and other small venues became the most rewarding.
“I think fear is a great indication of where our potential lies,” she said, “and I think we should be running as fast as we can toward it. I’ve learned more about music this year than I have in my life. You have to connect to the audience or it’s not a great night.”
Acoustic Soul and Keon’s have parted ways amicably so they can better serve their customers and fans, but interest in the pair has grown. Their sound, which can be soothing at times and peppy at others, has been drawing crowds in their brief time as a duo.
“When we play in the area, they’re always asking where we’re from,” Wyse said. “They assume we’re from New York or Nashville, and surprised to find out we’re from right here in Haverhill.”
Gallo and Wyse have a lot of exciting things on their plate in the coming months. They added other parts to their duo this past March to form a new band named On The Rocks. As they balance their duo act and their larger band, their schedules have been filling up. Their next performance in Haverhill will be Oct. 26 at the Chit Chat Lounge.
Acoustic Soul will release an album of original songs in the spring through Briola Records. If their self-written work takes off, they’d like to perform showcases of their original songs and hopefully open some big-name festivals.
“I’d love to open up at Riverfest or a show like that,” Gallo said. “I could see that as our next big step.”
But getting to this point in their careers has not been easy. And both Gallo and Wyse took very different roads until their paths crossed.
Wyse, originally from Portland, Maine, grew up in a musical household. His mother taught guitar and piano, but he didn’t really get into the art until college where he learned flamenco guitar from a professor at the University of Maine. Then, after moving to Massachusetts, he kept taking classes at the Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory.
Gallo, who hails from Saugus, was singing at an early age. Her school principal called her mother when she was in the first grade and encouraged her to come to the school to see her daughter perform.
“She said, ‘Your daughter is on stage, and she’s amazing,’” Gallo remembered.
Gallo’s next step was pageants.
“I did it mainly for the talent portions, thinking maybe a talent scout would see me,” she said, “but then I got bitten by the bug and I had to go on.”
In 1993, Gallo was named Miss Massachusetts and went on to compete in the Miss America pageant. The next year, she wrote her first album, but it was never released because starting her family became her top priority. Eventually she thought her days of performing were behind her.
“I think musicians have a calling,” Gallo said. “I had decided I wasn’t going to pursue this, but it doesn’t go away. I think we’re all put here to share our gifts.”
It has been difficult balancing a personal life with the pressures and demands of a career in music. Wyse, the father of an 11-year-old daughter, and Gallo, a mother to three children under the age of 7, find themselves at gigs until the wee hours of the morning on some nights, then they must be up early for day jobs and morning parenting.
Wyse jokes that the relationships between bandmates can be equally as difficult. “Being in a band is like having five girlfriends,” he said with a laugh.
Gallo helps her husband with the two companies he owns and Wyse is the webmaster for UMass Boston, so their nonmusical endeavors take up a good deal of time. They estimate that their music career takes up 20 to 30 hours per week.
“It’s a job in itself,” Gallo said. “You have to keep the band’s energy up, and you’re up there sweaty from performing for three or four hours. It’s a tremendous amount of work keeping the crowd entertained.”
Gallo also added that all the off-stage promotion and rehearsals take time as well, a reality that their closest friends often don’t understand.
“To your friends, you fall off the map,” Gallo said. “All they see is when we’re on stage, and they don’t understand that off-stage we’re still working.”
“It’s a business really,” Wyse added. “As fun as it is, it’s still a business.”
For more information about Acoustic Soul and On The Rocks and to hear clips of their material, visit Jim Wyse at www.myspace.com/jimwyse and Elle Gallo at www.myspace.com/ellegallo.
Elle Gallo's Passion and Power by The Villager-Mark Remburke
Elle Gallo’s first recording
was at the tender age of five
and her first stage appearance
at six. Twenty some years
later, with a dynamic voice and
something meaningful to say, her
musical road less traveled is anything
but that of your typical
singer-songwriter.
A self-admitted former rebellious
high school chick turned
beauty pageant queen, she eventually
won the title of Miss
Massachusetts in 1993. Then, in
1996, while attending college and
working two jobs, Elle had the
opportunity to record a country
album and work for a short stint as
the singer for the New Hampshirebased
country music band
Cheyenne.
She stopped performing in 1998
to start a family, and it was while
pregnant with her second child
that she discovered and fell in love
with music of blues and soul artist
Susan Tedeschi. Learning nearly
all of Tedeschi’s songs from beginning
to end, Elle put together the
band Obsidian Groove, soon considered
a fine Tedeschi tribute act.
But once again Elle had to put
music aside to welcome baby number
three. Last year, Elle returned
to performing once again, and
began to write new original material
while seeking musicians to perform
with. Elle first formed
Acoustic Soul, a duo with guitarist
Jim Wyse, and then launched a successful
cover band called On The
Rocks. The current lineup which
also known as the Elle Gallo Band
also includes bass player Dave
Gagnon and drummer Mike
Albano. On Aug. 31, Elle will perform
solo at the Boardwalk Inn in
Hampton Beach, N.H., which will
include a 45-minute tribute set to
Susan Tedeschi. Coincidentally,
Tedeschi herself will be playing
that same night right next door at
Hampton Beach Casino.
Now working on an original
album she hopes will be out by next
summer, Elle’s family is prepared
to pack up and tour to support if
need be. Until then, look for local
performances of her various live
acts and hear some smoldering
song samples by going to
myspace.com/ellegallo.
Catch the soul-driven Elle Gallo
Band at The Pump House in
Southbridge this Friday, Aug. 24.
F
The Elle Gallo Band Rocks Wingate Street by The Haverhill Gazette
Elle Gallo Band rocks Wingate Street
By Cara Spilsbury
Staff Writer
Visitors to Haverhill's Wingate Street can always expect to find unique artwork like paintings and jewelry. But on Friday night, Aug. 1, home-grown music rocked the road.
The only rule for admission: The event was BYOC. Bring your own chair.
The free concert, called Friday Night Live, featured the Elle Gallo Band, a local Americana blues band that covers songs by the likes of Susan Tedeschi, Beth Hart, Melissa Etheridge and Grace Potter, but also plays original music.
The show took place in the middle of the street that makes up Haverhill's arts district, and the road was closed to vehicles. Speakers, instruments, microphones and a bevy of wires to power all the equipment were placed halfway down Wingate Street, between the Peddler's Daughter and Margot's Gallery.
Gallo was happy to see such a pleasant crowd come out for her show.
They attracted a really, really great group of people," she said. "They were so appreciative and very welcoming to us.
A free show like Friday Night Live can be nerve-wracking for artists because without ticket sales, there's no way of knowing how many people will show up. But the concert, which started at 7 p.m., drew about 50 to 70 people, Gallo estimated from her vocal front-woman vantage point.
A year and a half ago, I would have said the unknown part adds a lot of pressure," Gallo said. "But now we've been playing so many lounges, bars and clubs that 70 percent of our shows are unknown. I'm kind of used to the pressure. It doesn't matter to me if just two people come. I'm going to play my heart out for them and give them a good show. It's a bonus when a big crowd shows up.
Just as they began playing their last song, the ominous clouds above finally broke and the rain began to fall.
But before that, the crowd got a good mix of lively covers and Gallo originals that can't be heard anywhere else, except for her song "Sweet Addiction," which has been in rotation on 92.5 FM, The River. The radio station's studio is a stone's throw from Wingate Street, in Haverhill's downtown.
The concert on Wingate Street was a special chance for Gallo to showcase some of her original work, songs that get shelved in favor of cover songs and jukebox classics at the bars and clubs she often plays at. The party crowd wants to hear songs they know and can sing along to, but the audience on Wingate Street was eager to hear her own unique music.
Gallo was even more thrilled when audience members approached her after the show and complimented the songs she had written.
Feedback is always good when you're aspiring to do something," she said. "You want people to respond.
She estimated that there were about 50 to 70 people who turned out for the show, including many faces the Bradford resident knows well.
I'd love to do it again," she said. "It was nice to do it in your hometown, with all your neighbors in the audience
Elle Gallo & On the Rocks by The Boston Blues Society
Elle Gallo & On The Rocks
Live review – July 25, The Rock Pond Restaurant, Georgetown, MA
By Georgetown Fats
August 2008
For a town of approximately 7,500, Georgetown residents who prefer the live music experience are fortunate to have two local restaurants that book live music on weekends. Having ventured out recently to review one of my personal favorite bands, the weekend was dedicated to heading outside of my usual area to check out a live act getting a lot of buzz in the North Shore and Merrimac Valley area.
Out of Haverhill, Elle Gallo is a pint-sized vocalist with a great big voice.
Accompanied by “On The Rocks,” some of the best blues rock musicians the North Shore and Merrimac Valley have to offer, I managed to sneak in unannounced in the middle of the first set at The Rock Pond in Georgetown.
Bassist-vocalist Dave Gagnon was entertaining the crowd with his rendition of “Mustang Sally.” Gagnon, drummer Sean Davies, and guitarist Jim Wyse had the near capacity crowd up and dancing. From there, the band kicked off “Voodoo Woman.” After a couple of quick last minute sips of wine, Gallo – no pun intended - roared into the tune. She flaunted a voice which, while being technically impressive, also possesses the grit to add life to a set which relied heavily on juke box friendly material.
This vocal grit was on display with a rocking rendition of “Bobby McGee.” The great Janis Joplin may have passed away 38 years ago, but Elle Gallo & On The Rocks honored Janis by rocking the dancing crowd with a strong cover version of this classic.
For the proprietor of The Rock Pond, Elle Gallo & On The Rocks may have rocked just a tad harder than he would have liked, as he made a quick dash to the band to reduce the volume. For a remarkable bar room, which resembles an old church with high ceilings and a long bar, volume levels at The Rock Pond need to be constantly monitored as the restaurant attached to the bar area was still open, and the majority of clientele is either an older set or a family crowd.
After a quick adjustment, the band ripped into “Son of a Preacher Man.” Once again Gallo and her crew showed the technical ability to dive into a classic and add just enough soul to make the tune their own. All too often, cover acts resort to classic tunes for shows and stick to note-for-note renditions. It takes a real strong band to take set lists full of jukebox friendly material and make the material its own.
After the Dusty Springfield classic, Gallo took a moment to announce the next tune for the evening. “Am I the One,” a tune written and recorded by Beth Hart, slowed the evening down and illustrated that the band can rock, but they can also pour passion and energy into a power ballad.
Next, Gallo announced there was one more tune before the break, and Wyse laid into his six-string to produce that unmistakable riff which is “Road House Blues.” Gallo roared her vocals, Gagnon and Davies powered the rhythm section - which allowed Wyse the room to blister a guitar solo that managed to compromise one of his strings. One popped string later “Road House Blues” came to a rocking close.
The band thanked the crowd, and navigated through the dance floor to take quick breather. After procuring a copy of Yes I Am, Gallo’s new EP, I left The Rock Pond both impressed with the location and Elle Gallo & On The Rocks.