#7 Walk On Hot Coals

 

Album: Blueprint, 1973

Also, check Irish Tour ’74 and Check Shirt Wizard for live versions

 

The middle of 1972 saw a slight sea of change in the line-up of the Rory Gallagher Band. Rod de’Ath, the flatmate of bassist Gerry McAvoy was called on to stand in for Wilgar Campbell on drums after Wilgar found it difficult to carry on touring thanks to a fear of flying. Soon, Rod became a permanent replacement on drums. Shortly afterwards, the band then expanded from a three-piece to a four-piece when Lou Martin, who was previously with Rod in the blues-rock band Killing Floor, was added on piano and keyboards.

Following extensive touring, including a very long stint in America, the band wrapped up the year in the Marquee Studios and Polydor Studios to record the album Blueprint, which saw its release on February 18, 1973. For a band that had been together less than a year, the sound was impressive. It can take a while for new line-ups to gel, but they sounded like they had been playing for years, which is perhaps a testament to the number of live shows they had gotten under their belts by the time they reached the studio.

The opening track of Blueprint, ‘Walk On Hot Coals’ is a perfect example of the tightness of their sound. It’s an expansive piece of music, telling the tale of a luckless man who loses a card game, his job, his fortune playing roulette and a horse race, giving up his good luck charms because he claims each one was somehow rigged, though he refuses to gamble his girlfriend in case he manages to lose her too!

"Well I walk on hot coals, sleep on a bed of nails
Walk on thin ice, skate on razor blades
Got my little girl beside me no matter what else fails
Well I walk on hot coals, sleep on a bed of nails
Walk on thin ice, skate on razor blades
Got my little girl beside me no matter what else fails"

 Both lyrically and vocally, Rory encapsulates the desperation of the situation, a man living life at the very edge. Though it appears that with his girl still with him, there is still a sliver of hope left.

‘Walk On Hot Coals’ is a favourite among Rory fans, who enthuse at the sheer energy of it. Rory’s guitar is both subtle and soaring, merging and duelling with Lou’s piano. It perhaps is not an exaggeration to say that Lou was probably Rory’s equal in terms of piano playing. The two could lock their instruments together beautifully. In a 1973 interview with Bibi Lehman for the March edition of German magazine ‘Popfoto’, Rory said about Lou, “Well, one day I saw Lou Martin while he was playing and I was immediately smitten by him. This man has everything! He is just fantastic! In my opinion, he is a great pianist. Well, and I just hired him. Rory Gallagher Group with piano accompaniment, that’s something else.”

Also of note is Rod’s drumming. It has been said that Rod was ambidextrous, which must have given an interesting edge to his drumming. ‘Walk On Hot Coals’ has outstanding drum work, interweaving perfectly with the music. This is the song that picked up my ears to Rod’s drumming and he’s admittedly one of my favourite drummers. He also works brilliantly in a rhythm section with Gerry McAvoy, who, it has to be said, is a monster on bass.

Rory and Gerry, it has been said on many occasions, by both, had an almost intuitive understanding of each others playing. Gerry has said that though there were no setlists, he could pick up immediately on what song Rory was about to play. Rory himself said that he found Gerry’s playing inspirational.

Played live, ‘Walk On Hot Coals’ is a feast for the ears. Watching video footage of it live is also an experience. Perhaps the most powerful can be found on the Irish Tour film, which picks up the song halfway, in the middle of the extended guitar solo, where Rory gets a little improvisational. Here, he is in whatever world the music and the band are in, soaked in sweat and egging Gerry, Rod and Lou along, with a lot of ecstatic fans leaping around his feet. It’s perhaps a different form of walking on hot coals. To have experienced that would have been something else.