Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Gallemore.
Brandon, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was raised in a pretty rough environment. There were some drug use and physical abuse in my household as a kid. When I was 13, I was given a guitar for a birthday by my Mom and Step-father and it kind of sparked something in me. I had always loved singing and now I had something to sing along with.
A few more years went by and I joined the Air Force and married my high school sweetheart. I got a job doing Air Traffic Control and was soon divorced for failure to manage my relationship and on account of her cheating. I left for Korea a year later and then had a bit of an oriental shotgun-wedding. We chose to stay together and have another little one before returning to the states. When I returned with my family, my Dad got ill and was put on life support. Within a few days, he died right in front of me. A few months later, my relationship with children’s mother began to fail. I got out of that marriage and got out of the military and started on a path to music, albeit a bit late. I’m 30 now, but I am finally doing what I love with one of my best friends as our lead guitarist.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. I have had some many failures in my life. I have lost loved ones and probably been deprived of what most people would consider a normal life. I don’t mind it though. I have accepted my family and my life for what it is. I am healthy and generally happy, so I’ll complain in my music. Like I mentioned before, I lost my Dad and that was probably one of the toughest things I have ever been through, but on top of that, for the last year and a half I’ve been separated from my kids by 7000 miles. It does something weird to a man when he can’t even walk to get to his children if they needed help. I struggle a lot with the thoughts of my kids growing up without a Dad and speaking a completely different language. I raised them and deserved to be in their life, but selfish choices were made along the way.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I decided to finally start a band at the age of 30. Don’t ask me why, but I am really glad I did. The response has been pretty good and we’ve been doing it while releasing music during this quarantine. I am really proud of our three newest songs and feel that the writing and teamwork with the guys have gotten so much more fluid. We don’t even have to really say much, we just get in the studio and get out. Sam (our guitarist) and I have been friends since ninth grade, so we both have a good understanding of what the other will bring to each song. That has been the key really to this whole project. The thing I am most excited for is to get back out and play music for crowds. I want people to hear the newest songs and see what their reception is.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Perseverance. My parents divorced at the age of five and I saw what it meant for someone to “quit” something. I joined the military at 18 and made a commitment that I couldn’t back out of and did it while performing Air Traffic Control duties for ten years. I never had the confidence in my ability as a musician before to give this a legitimate shot, so now that I have started, it’ll be hard to make me quit.
Contact Info:
- Email: underthegallowsband@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/underthegallows/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UndertheGallows/
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