About

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   A young boy possessed by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The ‘Stones and Dylan, the early 60’s had Gary Lapado realizing his life-long dream…music.

Growing up in Sunnyvale, CA (AKA Silicon Valley), Gary’s first musical passion was drums. He had always been a “tapper”, driving his family crazy, but after receiving a “toy” drum set for Christmas, he soon lost interest. It was not long after that Gary was intrigued by a friend’s guitar - setting it on his lap and playing music lines on the lower strings with his thumb (Dirty Water, Satisfaction, etc.). By age 10, Gary received his first guitar, a Kent acoustic with strings a mile from the fretboard, but he loved it. 

Within two years, at age 12, Gary was making music with his first electric guitar and amp. The electric was a Winston. It’s interesting that both guitars his parents gave him carried brand names synonymous with cigarette brands and that his parents were both chain smokers. Both were taken by that very demon. He claims he was the only one of his family, with 5 siblings, to have never smoked (cigarettes, that is). 

Around that same time, his dad arranged guitar lessons for him, but Gary didn’t adapt well to reading music. So instead, his wise guitar teacher, Gary Sylvester, began playing songs for him to hear and learn. It was at this point that Gary realized he had a natural talent for learning by ear. He quickly picked up a favorite, The Beatles’ “Blackbird”.

Gary then acquired a Vox Berkeley II amp and a Fender Duo Sonic guitar, playing along and learning from guitarist Leslie West and the band, Mountain’s Mississippi Queen and Theme For An Imaginary Western. He would crank up the amp and open the bedroom windows. His mom would come home from work and burst into his room screaming, “Gary, turn that thing down!” 

Like so many budding rock guitarists of the day, Clapton, Hendrix and Blackmore, were huge influences for Gary. He was obsessed with learning riffs to Crossroads, Hideaway, Manic Depression, Highway Star and more. And, despite Gary’s lack of knowledge in music theory and chord structure, he had fun. 

Searching for innovative artists and styles, Gary next explored “hippie country music”: Lovin’ Spoonful, The Byrds (Sweetheart of the Rodeo), New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody and others. But by far, his biggest influence was a bluegrass album: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” that The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had compiled with greats such as Doc Watson, Vassar Clements (fiddle) and Merle Travis. This had convinced him to trade his Fender electric with a friend for a Tama acoustic so he could attempt to flat-pick like Doc. He never quite got there, but picked up tunes and techniques…and eventually traded back guitars.

Upon graduating from high school, Gary had planned to move to the northern California college town of Chico, where his brother John had lived. John, who was ten years older than Gary, was almost like a parent to him in his latchkey years, and John was the only other full-on musician in the family. But, John was off on an adventure at the time, so Gary planned to wait until John returned to Chico to move there. 

Still living in Sunnyvale, Gary came to a crossroads in life where his destiny was re-directed. Invited to a Fourth of July party, his friends apparently forgot about Gary as they never came by to pick him up. He was crushed! So on July 6th, his brother still out of town, Gary decided to move to Chico anyway. John said he had a place for Gary to stay. But being very shy and moving away from all he’d known, plus being a spoiled kid from the Bay Area, he had to grow up fast. He soon realized it was one of the best moves he ever made.

It was in Chico that Gary first experienced working in a band. His new home was a trailer on a property owned by a friend of his brother’s, Bobby Seals. Bobby was a huge influence for Gary in many ways. He joined Bobby’s band (guitar, vocals), then Bobby had paid him to do odd jobs. Bobby had also found Gary’s ’68 Strat that he still plays to this day, and introduced him to running and to better health in general. Gary later ran many marathons including Boston 3 times and New York. Bobby had a nice Martin acoustic he would let Gary play. Only 17 at the time, Gary wrote his first song on that acoustic, “Keep Our Differences In Sight”, the title track for his album. Lacking confidence in his younger years, Gary regrets not having introduced his song to the band back then. 

Gary later joined another band; one with a loyal local following that featured mostly Grateful Dead covers. He managed to grow a decent beard. Its mature appearance helped him pass as old enough to play in bars 3 years prior to the legal drinking age (21). At that time, he picked up fiddle, pedal steel guitar and banjo. 

Throughout the years, Gary continued performing in bars, casinos, fairs and casuals. He eventually realized he was compromising himself by playing in minimally-rehearsed cover bands where most musicians were too busy with day jobs, family and relationships to invest time in writing original music and/or improving show quality. Gary was like a deer in the headlights every time someone had a paying gig for him. He’d never performed in a well-rehearsed show, or a band in large demand, save a few tribute acts where rehearsal time and gig consistency was minimal at best. And too many times, he performed in venues where big-screen TVs were a bigger attraction than the band.

Just prior to the 2020 Pandemic, Gary had finally decided, encouraged by his wife, Masako, to return to his roots, passions and dreams: writing, perfecting and performing his own original music. 

As it has always been said, anything worth doing, is worth doing well. So time for a change. It’s coming…