Page 17 - ION Indie Magazine MayJune 2018 Issue

You know, everything mattered. You give credit to everybody and especially the producers, the engineers,
performers. What did they play on? I like to know that. As a guitarist, I'd like to know what pick-ups did they
have? I like to know every little nuance as to why and what made the album. So that was the second part of the
question.

The first part of the question? It is what it is. I give away probably just as much music as I sell. Nowadays you
know, it's for free somewhere, somewhere in the world. I know people can download my albums for free. So, I
might as well give away some downloads. I know there's times that I've had people say, "I found your music
online and then I downloaded it for free." I'm like, “Wow, what an opening statement.” "But because of it, we
love your music and we’d like to bring you to our festival." “That's awesome. I'm glad you download it free –
well, maybe not for free, but again, something came out of it.” You know you put out to the universe you'll get
back seven-fold. I believe I've gotten like 50-fold. I mean, good God, you can't just be great because there's so
many great musicians. It's just it's about being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, it's also about
what you give back. As to how you are living your life, I believe that. I believe that because of my spiritual ties, I
believe that the creator looks at what I do. I'm so thankful because it's a tough biz. So, download -- if you wanna
throw me a bone and buy an album sometime too, I'll take it. It doesn't suck.

MH: How does your music affect you and the world around you?

GA: Well again, I hope that it's a positive thing. I tried to mix a little of my spirituality without feeling like I'm
preaching. You know, I don't want to get on social media like, "Everybody needs to get out and pray." I just show
them what I do. This interview is about being a musician, I don't consider myself a musician. I can consider
myself a spiritual person. I just happen to be musician and I'm very thankful because of it, but I believe, first of
all, in the power of prayer. Again, because I live this spiritual life, I believe I am blessed in my career. I don't want
to sound preachy, but I will express certain traditional aspects to social media to show people who I am. It's
important for us as musicians and that makes us more attainable. We're not just somebody that they tend to
put on a pedestal. We're all just normal and just basic humble people.

MH: What's new in your recording and your music?

GA: So, I'm going to start working on two new CDs this next year coming up. One is going to be an all classical
CD. I want to go back to my roots. You know, people see me with a band and they see me with all these foot
pedals -- and I love my pedals and I love the band aspect -- there's nothing like me just thinking back to how I
first started with just this guitar…simple, no back up players, just playing classical music. Just playing Bach,
Scarlatti, and stuff like that. So, the CD is inspired by a Bach Chorale prelude and it is entitled -- get ready for
this one -- "Ein Opfer für die Liebe Gottes." Translation: “An offering for the love of God.” I thought, “Where I'm
at in my life, I'm very thankful to be here regardless of -- call them ‘God’ or ‘Buddha’ or whatever -- it's a higher
power.” I just thought, “What a cool title for an album…an offering for the love of God!” So that will be the
opening piece. And for the closing piece, is by a composer from Paraguay named Agustín Barrioss. He wrote a
song called "Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios” -- an offering for the love of God. I thought, “That's perfect
bookends!” And everything in between…I can do some Chopin stuff. These are all arrangements of my own. And
it'll be just more of my favorite pieces that I’ve played over the years. Some are going to be small 2-minute little
pieces. I'm excited about that project and I want people to remember where I came from because I need to
remember my musical roots, just as we need to remember where we come from spiritually or emotionally or
physically. Again, I came from nothing. I came from me and my grandmother looking in the fridge and saying,
"We're going to make today."

That being said, I'm going to release another CD with my full band and I'm going to add horns and I have different
musicians. Sometimes we're a trio, sometimes we're a quartet, sometimes we add a couple of horns, sometimes