FORMER Bath and Wiscasset resident Joe Gallant will be performing Saturday at Frontier Café in Brunswick.
T hese are heady times for musician Joe
Gallant.
Consider the release of his first CD, “My Own Divide,” in late October, and an appearance this week on WCSHTV’s “207” with Kathleen Shannon.
Mid-coast region music aficionados will get to hear Gallant’s work at the Frontier Café in Fort Andross during a show with another young artist, Amanda Gervasi, that begins at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The longtime Bath and Wiscasset resident, now a waiter in the Portland area — hey, a guy’s got bills to pay, too — has also been busy of late with numerous melodic projects and networking.
“I have a very (unusual) way that I’m going to put out my new material, but I’m not going to talk about it just yet,” said Gallant. “But, it’s going to be things in shorter increments. And, word of mouth, I feel, is still the most powerful medium.”
The 25-year-old, who draws his influence from the likes of Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Jack White and D’Angelo, is trying to make a name for himself up and down the Interstate 295 corridor. Have guitar will travel.
A graduate of the University of Maine-Farmington (business and psychology degrees), Gallant is a relative novice at this career, but he feels he’s doing the right thing and for the right reason.
After working at a local television studio for just a few months, he decided that his life would be better going down another path.
“I was just tired or dealing with corporate, corporate, corporate, with the ties and the whole thing, so I decided to do music full time,” he explained.
His music background took off after he stopped playing basketball at UMF, following his sophomore campaign.
“I just needed something else to do and it seemed like it would be fun,” said Gallant. “And, I started writing. It became a thing that when I played it was the fun feeling that I had while performing an athletic event, except that it was just me.”
“My Own Divide” is an extended play of six pop/rock songs and his first CD endeavor.
“You sort of pick your best songs and recording costs are very expensive,” he said. “I kept it short and spent on studio time alone around $4,300. And then you set up a website, the strings and picks that you use … it’s not a cheap thing.”
Bassist Max Cosby of Jeremiah Freed and drummer Dan Capaldi played backup.
Portland Phoenix writer Sam Pfeifle wrote that Gallant’s “got a smooth, full-bodied whisper of a voice, an effortless guitar style with easy melodies, and he’s generally very likable.”
Kimy Sophia Brown of Significato, who heard him at a recent Maine Songwriters Association open mic event, shared this snippet: “He was a passionate rhythm guitar player. His voice could use a little training, but he had a lot of enthusiasm.”
A lot of his inspiration simply comes from a 25-year-old finding his way.
“Fighting it out … I had this path of sports, sports, sports, getting good grades,” Gallant said. “Then you join Student Council and go to college. Make all kinds of friends … it’s the best time of your life. And then you get a house with a white picket fence, a six-foot blond, a dog and a million dollars.
“That’s not how it works. That’s why I picked the title. Do I continue in this sales/management career path? I made some money, but I was miserable all the time. I had no time for me. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
“Being a waiter, part time, and doing this has been so much more gratifying.”
Gallant says he is making money, and can continue to do so, “but I still drive a 2003 Volkswagen. I’m not partying with P-Diddy or anything like that.”
He is using Van Camp on Myspace for his music venue. It “is similar to iTunes, but the difference is that you can put your music up in high quality, if not a higher quality download, than iTunes,” he said. “You can price it or ask for donations, which is what I did.”
Some folks gave him $50 for the songs and some gave as little as $5.
“But, the physical copies actually have sold substantially better than the digital, which is converse to what the market was this year,” Gallant said. “I’m out of physical copies and I have a back order coming to restock at Bull Moose. There may be one or two left at Bull Moose and one or two in South Portland.”
His stint at “ 207” came about when he contacted WCSH last September in hopes that an appearance would coincide with the release of his CD, but he’s happy to be on TV. Better late than never.
He played two songs and was interviewed by Shannon.
“A year ago I would have been nervous, but I’ve played enough,” he said. “I still get minimal nerves, but nothing that would show on my face. I used to shake. The first place I ever played was at The Old Goat in Richmond. I’ll never forget it … my voice was quivering and I got sick twice.”
“ But, ‘ 207’ went well, although I’m not great with interviews. I talked about things that I wanted to talk about and the songs, hopefully, sounded great.”
He seems grounded in his aspirations.
“ The biggest thing when starting any type of career, whether media, or athletics, or an artist of any type is, I think, don’t be too big for anything, but don’t be too small for anything,” Gallant said. “There’s a fine line between having a confidence or an arrogance about what you do. Having both of those is very important, like having a stage presence. Believing in what you do. Because if you don’t, why should anyone else care?
Tickets to the Frontier Café cost $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The website is www.explorefrontier.com.
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