For some time now we've been discussing posting some one - on - one casual interviews with some long time members of the Vault. The people who have been here with us since day one. To my mind, there was only ONE person I wanted to launch this series with. Peter Galloway wandered into our lives from what feels like almost the first day of Third Man. He was privy to the earliest days where we were completely making up the rules as we went along and things at Third Man often felt held together with little more then spit, glue and near-delusional dedication and determination.

My comrade, colleague and collaborator Ben Blackwell came into TMR with more of a leg up and familiarity with the White Stripes / Jack White faithful than me. A lot of folks knew him from the message boards, as the Stripes official archivist, being a collector himself, and if they had been around long enough as the Stripes first merch guy. My story is a little different. If fans knew me at all it was as the slightly unhinged drummer in a band that occasionally opened for the White Stripes that they may have heard in the distance while they were at the merch booth during our set. So I really came into this Third Man world knowing that Jack had a strong fan base, but I had very few faces to place into the context. All that to say, Peter Galloway is the first fan that I really struck it off with and I'm proud to say I very much consider him a good friend. We share a lot of music taste in common (all hail John Peel), as well as film and literature. He's also always very patient and demure with my fascination of what his life was like growing up during 'The Troubles' in Belfast.

This interview is a fascinating read. I just want to send a big thanks to Peter for being kind enough to share with us all, and giving such a comprehensive and honest account of his time in the Vault and in the Third Man universe (I'm blown away by the Stiff Little Fingers 45 story, though i'm lucky enough to have heard him tell it in person)... And he's not shitting you about the LA event. I still can't believe we pulled that off either. Reading his thoughts and memories has really made me feel a nostalgia for those times (even though they were only a few short years ago). This interview makes me want to always strive harder to bring more magic and imagination to the music world and to you guys, the hard-core fans.

Personally, I say to you Peter.. Love you buddy, come and see us soon!

-Swank

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What is your name, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

My name is Peter Galloway and I live in Portland, Oregon where the young go to retire and the tattoo ink never runs dry. I have my own small IT consulting business that allows me lots of flexibility in my schedule; I haven’t been able to hack a 9-5 gig since about 1993. It also gives me the opportunity to travel from sea to shining sea, and through a strange but uninteresting series of events, to travel to Nashville every other week between 2008 and 2014. Already a White Stripes fan, and an addict of both small club live music and recycled petroleum by-products it is not surprising that I stepped gingerly onto the hallowed ground of Third Man soon after it opened in 2009.

Do you remember when you first got into music?

I have to credit my older brother for this. I was about 10 years old and he, three years my senior, had a turntable in his room and was playing records all the time; it was his passion. He could have been into the most awful music, and there was plenty of it about, but luckily for me he was constantly playing Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Sparks, Floyd, Alex Harvey, Van Morrison, Cockney Rebel and so on. Even my mum would go around the house humming “Baby’s On Fire” which is odd given she was a Gilbert & Sullivan fan.

When I was 11, I had to take an exam that all Brits of my generation will know as the 11+, which back then determined if you would get a scholarship to go to a “posh kids” grammar school. I somehow passed and it was a big enough deal to my parents that they bought me a portable cassette deck (£16.99 Wien Auto from a Freemans catalogue, I can still see it) and my relatives gave me music tokens. So it was off to our local record store to buy some cassettes. For some reason by brother didn’t have any Bowie, so with just the knowledge of Space Oddity I bought that cassette along with The Man Who Sold The World. And that was it; I was hooked, even as an embryonic collector since I think as big a factor in my early purchases was that the Bowie cassettes all looked alike next to each other. I was always irritated that David Live was not the same on the shelf as the other RCA Bowie cassettes. I still have them all today and, yes, they still play.

The next stage in my musical odyssey has to be credited, or blamed, on two DJs and my habit of doing homework late at night; a habit I still haven’t shaken though now I get paid for it.

The first DJ was a guy called Alexis Korner who had a show on Sunday nights. I didn’t know at the time that he was a key figure it the British blues scene of the sixties. As incredible as it seems now he was playing everything from Leadbelly to the Yardbirds, Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin, and proto world music like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Fortunately I taped a couple of those shows and still have the tapes today. Korner explained how this all tied together, a true music lover and curator. He started me looking at music both back in time, and to the side of what you heard every day. It got me reading about influences on the artists I knew, and seeking out their heroes, so in the case of Bowie you started finding out about Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and so forth.

If Alexis Korner handled the past and the periphery of the present, the future was firmly in the grasp of the legendary John Peel. Peel undoubtedly had the greatest influence on how I approach music and still does decades later and more than ten years after his death. Many generations will claim his influence, and rightly so, but for those of us who were teenagers in 1976-1979 it was a momentous time. From the moment he played The Damned’s New Rose, or played the Sex Pistols despite the fact they were banned on the BBC, this was must listen to radio every fucking night through the rest of the seventies.

I’m almost certainly butchering Peel’s words here, but he once said something like “I just want to hear something new” and “It’s new if I haven’t heard it before”. These two phrases form my gospel and the main reason I didn’t freeze my music listening at around age 25 as most sadly seem to do. Oh yeah, and he was a rabid Liverpool FC football fan so that makes him untouchable in my book.

What was your first vinyl record? How did you get it? Can you describe how you felt during your first dip into vinyl?

Before I name it, let me tell you the circumstances. I can’t swear it was my first record but it had to be one of the first and certainly the most memorable and consequential.

First, a number of things came together at the same time; Peel’s move to punk, I turned 16 and got a part time job (and hence some spending money) and my brother had the common decency to leave home and I inherited his turntable and some 45s he left behind.

Second, I was born and raised in Belfast in the North of Ireland, residing there until I was 21. Like most kids who live in troubled areas I suppose, I didn’t know it at the time it was a scary depressing shithole. It just was. A girl at school I fancied foolishly agreed to go out with me. She mentioned her brother was in a band and would I like a copy of his record? I said yes not really expecting much. That record was Suspect Device by Stiff Little Fingers on Rigid Digits records and her brother was Ally McMordie, the bass player. The girl was sensible enough not to go out with me again, but the record was an eye opener for me.

Until this time, people making records were stars, something from another galaxy and not of this earth. Suddenly it was people you went to school with or who lived down the street. It was a small independently produced single, a far cry from the likes of The Dark Side of the Moon. A paper sleeve with photocopied images of a cassette tape, I slipped it out of the sleeve to find equally simple labels. Pop it on the turntable and BOOM! I knew from Peel that this was happening in England, but in Belfast? Really? Yet there is was. Just as importantly these bands (SLF, Outcasts, Rudi, Ruefrex) all played at these dive bars in the centre of town. I went to the shows and it was electrifying. More significantly perhaps, no one cared where in Belfast you were from or what you allegiances were; it was all about the music and the fact that the place was shit for all of us. Its trite I know, but the kids found a way out and were definitely alright. The UK bands were coming over too; I saw The Stranglers, The Jam, The Clash, The Cure, Ian Dury, Siouxsie & The Banshees amongst others. So with my Saturday job I had enough cash to pick up the 45s I heard on Peel and see the bands when they came over. When Peel played Suspect Device, the circle was complete. The fact that his favorite single of all time was Teenage Kicks by The Undertones, another local product, didn’t hurt either. I was hooked to the music, the small live shows and the vinyl format.

What inspired you to join the Vault?

Perhaps it’s easier to explain why joining The Vault was inevitable after my first Third Man experience. I think it was around May of 2009. I stopped by and rang the buzzer. A voice answered via the intercom and I was buzzed in a couple of minutes later by Ben Swank. I didn’t know it then but along with Blackwell and Jo McCaughey that’s pretty much all that was hiding down the hallway. Swank took the time to demonstrate the inchophone and explain the history of the nesting dolls. I asked about how to tell if an SFTRI White Stripes album was a first pressing. Enter Blackwell, Mr. Music, to answer (the film strip is more grey than black if you are interested). There was a flyer on the countertop for a Detroit Cobras/Dex Romweber gig at a dive called The End the following night. I knew of both and something told me to change my flights so I could go to the show. The following day I attended an in-store at Grimeys that Dex played and then on to The End. Most of the folks from Third Man I had met the day before were there so we got to talk on neutral territory; just a bunch of music heads. It was a terrific night and the whole atmosphere reminded me of that small band/dive bar scene that I had loved in Belfast. From that point on, I visited Nashville every two weeks or so and stopped by Third Man, went to shows especially the Nashville bands like Pujol, JEFF The Brotherhood and so on. When The Vault was announced, it wasn’t really an option was it?

What is your favorite Vault release, and why?

It has to be Jack White: Live At Third Man as I was lucky enough to be there for the third anniversary party courtesy of the fan lottery. It was all a bit surreal. There were maybe 40 “fans” (20 and +1s, something like that) and everyone else family and friends and industry types. There was equipment on the stage covered with dust cloths. There had been no mention of Jack playing but of course we hoped he might do a little something. His first solo show (I think) was scheduled for the following evening in Chattanooga so we had picked up some tickets for that too to make a weekend of it. When he came out with the girls, we still didn’t know what we all know now; that he would play White Stripes tunes going forward as well as Raconteurs, Dead Weather and solo material. When he started up with Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground, all questions were answered in an opening chord and we knew that all was right with the universe again. When he finished the set we thought that was it but no, back he came with the guys and did a second set. Only the fans stood by the stage while others were content to watch from wherever they happened to be standing. There were only two girls in front of me, both tall, both bopping around enthusiastically and swinging their hair back and forth. When I realized that they were Alison Mosshart and Karen Elson I forgave them their height and their enthusiasm. Like I said, surreal. I can only imagine how those who were at White Stripes shows that have been released on The Vault feel about those recordings.

What is your favorite Third Man memory?

You would think that’s in the answer to the last question but no. As great as that was, there were two better. The pop-up in London with The Dead Weather where I flew over just for 48 hours, arriving to join the line around 9am local time and made my most enduring Third Man related friendships with those in line around me. If you are reading this, you all know who you are. In addition to the Glow in the Dark 45s (still amongst my favorite TMR vinyl) and the Dead Weather show in the church, there was also a gig at Brixton where I met up with my aforementioned older brother and we got to close that circle as well.

But my absolute favorite was the LA Bizarro pop up store. It was so beautifully imagined and executed. A line formed early in the morning outside a disused porn theatre on skid row in downtown LA, a line where we stood and sweltered for 5 hours or more. All these early events occurred it what was lovingly referred to TST (Third Man Standard Time) which was code for definitely starting late but starting sometime. While Swank had recruited a couple of local helpers this was still very much a shoestring operation and all the more remarkable for that. Meanwhile the local homeless emerged from the neighboring shelters and stared at the line. My two favorite enquiries from the locals where 1) Is this a queue for auditions to “So you think you can dance”? and from an elderly woman 2) Jesus, which porn film are they showing ?

The yellow store opened around lunchtime TST, and all were content with their goodies (split Horehounds and the like) and then proceeded into the dankest, darkest, sweatiest vilest setting of a venue to watch a dry ice filled DW show. It was absolutely incredible; definitely a happening. I think I started to move toward the exit when I sensed it was the last song, as much as anything to try to get out quickly given the heat in there. When I did come outside, I lit a cigarette and it took me more than a few moments to realize that a blue store had opened next door. In I went and there was the bizarro version of the store I had been in earlier; everything reversed including all the TMR singles to date. I quickly grabbed the now ubiquitous “one of everything” in the store and then stood back to take it all in as it culminated in JW and Little Jack performing their bizarro version of Dead Leaves. To this day I still don’t know how Swank and that small staff managed to pull all that off.

What are your interests outside of music?

They are varied and come and go with music, cinema (art house, docs, second runs), literature and history the only real constants. In my time I have dabbled with horse-riding, semi-professional poker, competitive chess, and other nonsense along the way. I also watch way too much soccer and sports in general, especially my beloved Liverpool FC and the Oregon Ducks.

What is your favorite record you own, and why?

Everyone must really hate this question. The answer can change from day to day and for those seriously thinking about it many records form a roadmap from who you were and how you got to where you are today. How do you single out any one of those signposts along the way?

I am going to cheat and name one per decade and then double back to pick just one. I think if I didn’t those other records on the shelves would never forgive me and I won’t be able to play them again without feeling guilty.

1970s : 3 key records

· Pre Punk: Brian Eno: Hear Come The Warm Jets

· Punk arrives: Stiff Little Fingers: Suspect Device

· Post Punk: Dexys Midnight Runners: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

1980s: The Smiths: Hatful of Hollow

1990s: Belle & Sebastian: If You’re Feeling Sinister

2000s: The White Stripes: De Stijl

2010s: TBD ?

If I have to pick one then its Brian Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets. It contains echoes of my childhood, the music relationship with my brother, and connects so many of the elements of that would inform the music of the decades to come. I have probably played it at least once every year for 40 years and I think it still sounds as fresh to me today. That’s probably reason enough.