Gary Ryan - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

ERIC31 · #1 05-31-2006, 11:09 PM

Recently I've been listening to Joan Jett's old stuff from the early 80's. Especially I Love Rock N Roll. The production on it puts the bass right up there in the mix. I love it.

I'm wondering what became of her bassist at the time, GARY RYAN. One of my fave bassists and a big influence. He sure knew how to lay it down solid. He left the band in 1986 and I can't seem to find any information on him after that. Is he still living? Retired from music?

Any information would be great. Thanks.

ERIC31 · #2 06-02-2006, 05:57 PM

10 million copies of I Love Rock N Roll sold and nobody knows anything about this guy?? Come on now people......

ERIC31 · #3 06-10-2006, 09:07 AM

Another week later and still nothing? Interesting. I guess I'm the only one who noticed this guy and his playing.

readmoss · #4 06-14-2006, 10:58 PM

Eric,

Gary and Lee left the Blackhearts in '86. They had a couple of bands that played around N.Y.C. for a while. Gary moved out of the city and became a school teacher. As far as the bass sound goes on those early records, he was playing an old Ampeg hot-rodded with a Bartolini P-bass pick-up through an SVT.

I checked out your band site and listened to the samples. Great tunes. I like the acoustic tone and Blair's awsome voice. Good luck.

Trevorus · #5 06-14-2006, 11:35 PM

When I read the title quickly, this is the first person that came to mind:

I'll check some of Gary's stuff out sometime soon, though.

ERIC31 · #6 06-16-2006, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by readmoss

Eric,

Gary and Lee left the Blackhearts in '86. They had a couple of bands that played around N.Y.C. for a while. Gary moved out of the city and became a school teacher. As far as the bass sound goes on those early records, he was playing an old Ampeg hot-rodded with a Bartolini P-bass pick-up through an SVT.

I checked out your band site and listened to the samples. Great tunes. I like the acoustic tone and Blair's awsome voice. Good luck.

Hey! Thanks for the update and compliment! I knew some TBer would come through. That's pretty awesome that he's a school teacher. I wonder if he ever pulls out his bass to just mess about?

sda85 · #7 08-07-2008, 08:35 PM

I hope this message finds you. I see that your post was from 2006 but I've just recently (today) become a member on here. My cousin is Gary Ryan. He does not go by Gary Ryan anymore though. He is a teacher and has a family now & is doing great for himself. I'm happy that someone is/was wondering about his where-abouts. He is no longer involved in music, although he still has all his memorabilia. He is a school teacher.

sda85 · #8 08-07-2008, 08:38 PM

Gary Ryan is my cousin. He is no longer involved in music. He is a teacher & a father. He does not go by Gary Ryan anymore. He is doing great for himself & his family. They are a beautiful family!

ERIC31 · #9 08-07-2008, 11:32 PM

Hey I appreciate the info. It's nice to hear he is doing well. When you see him tell him he still has fans from way back when!!

Also could you ask him why he quit music completely?

Being a teacher is awesome! I'm working on becoming one myself.

ERIC31 · #10 01-07-2010, 10:50 PM

Still a very overlooked bassist. I'm surprised that nobody else knows/cares about Gary especially considering the many obscure bassists talked about here that never made a big splash or sold any records.

I'm collecting all the live bootlegs I can find from those early days with the Blackhearts.

Check him out if you get the chance. Gary on the far left.

Here's a short bio on Gary from the press release for their third record "ALBUM"

Gary Ryan (Bass)

When Gary Ryan ran away to Hollywood at age fourteen, it was his love for rock and roll that led him to leave home. "I just wanted to be part of it all," says Gary, "not even in a band. I just love the people, the scene and the music."

A self-described "army brat," Ryan grew up "everywhere--Montana, Okinawa, Texas, and finally in Riverside, California." He studied cello at age nine, played upright bass in the school orchestra and jazz bass in the school jazz ensemble, but when he started listening to such emerging new bands as The Runaways, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones, he was ostracized by his junior high friends.

In his bedroom at home Gary would play bass along with his David Bowie records. He had started sneaking out the house at age ten to go to Hollywood and see the bands he loved. "I must have run away from home three or four times," recalls Gary. "Then, in 1978, I left for good." Now, at 18, he plays bass with his favorite Runaway--Joan Jett.

He landed in the burgeoning L.A. punk scene, and was befriended by members of such bands as X, The Germs, and a gang of girls who would later become The Go-Go's. "I lived from friend to friend," he says. "You name it, I slept on it. For a year-and-a-half I existed on nineteen-cent boxes of macaroni and cheese." For six months Gary lived in a shuttered Hollywood basement rock club that is now a rehearsal space for bands, and for another seven months he lived in a Santa Monica Boulevard apartment with the band X.

Gary also started playing bass with some local groups like Rick L. Rick and Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs (Top Jimmy being a hefty R&B singer who took his name from the taco stand at LaBrea and Highland where he and Gary worked, Top Taco). One of the rock and rollers who "was part of the same turf" was Joan Jett, who had by then left The Runaways. "I was a big fan of Joan's," says Gary. "When I used to see The Runaways, I thought she was one of the best rockers I'd ever seen."

Jett was putting together a group, and at the recommendation of the late Darby Crash of The Germs (the band Gary's girlfriend Lorna played in--and whose first album Joan produces,) Gary auditioned and landed the slot as Joan's bassist. Unsure whether or not they would hire a 15-year-old, Gary "lied and told Joan I was 18." The original Blackhearts were born. The band started off playing a month of Monday nights at the Whisky A-Go-Go, and was soon off to Europe on a tour. The Blackhearts have been touring almost non-stop ever since, and, as Gary tells it, "I grew up on the road." Gary now looks back at his runaway days with a certain fondness. "I was going to show them," he says of the kids who ostracized him in high school. A lot of people might think he already has.

RD · #11 03-10-2010, 02:30 AM

Cherry Bomb by JJ on Leno was interesting, best 4th of July, punk rock songs!
Faint praise, maybe. But I dig that the old girl is still rocking it.
RD

ERIC31 · #12 03-19-2010, 10:31 PM

At the end of the new RUNAWAYS movie, "Joan" is being interviewed by Rodney Bigenheimer on the radio. They play her recently released songs I Love Rock N Roll and Crimson And Clover. It was a decent movie. I wonder if Gary will see it and hear himself playing at the end!

DamonLyon · #13 04-02-2010, 05:37 PM

It's interesting hearing some of the things that Gary encountered in his late teens, but I can ad one little piece of information that wasn't posted:

Gary had met Joan Jett in an underground punk rock club called the Masque in Hollywood just prior to his running away in 1978. She told him that she planned on forming another band, and she had already spoken with several adamant producers.

Gary's love for the Runaways (particularly Joan, herself) was such that he was willing to put everything on the line and go there to be with her. As you can see, it paid.

Gary was a fantastic bass player for his age; the school allowed him to borrow any equipment that he wanted, because he was very intelligent, talented, and (funny as it may seem ) apt to quit that school band if he didn't get his way. So using the school's system, he started what was to become a band in his living room with two girls named Karen and Kirby, and myself... Damon Lyon.

Although I had practiced with him several times, when he met Joan Jett it was all over. I remember packing up my drums while he exclaimed everything that he could about her and his plans to move to the Hollywood area.

And then... he was gone.

Many times I wonder what would have happened if I'd gone with him, and this is actually the first that I've actually heard any viable rendition of what went on.

If you see Gary, tell him "Hi" from Damon Lyon. He'll know who I am.

Rocker949 · #14 04-04-2010, 09:03 AM

This is a very unusual and interesting thread.

ERIC31 · #15 04-18-2010, 09:38 AM

It's pretty cool that now I get to "be" Gary Ryan as I've recently joined a band called "BAD REPUTATION" a Joan Jett cover/tribute band! I'm having much fun with this!

aly1998 · #16 11-07-2010, 01:51 PM

Ok Gary Ryan was my teacher, I had him a year ago, he is a really cool guy he lives in mt pocono pa, He works at swiftwater elementry for 5th grade, But for some reason he changed his name, to gary moss. He is nothing as he was in the 80s he has differnt hair everthing looks much differnt i think he will never go back to music but he does play his music still. and sings in class alot abou his music. He does talk to people about his life in japan. If any more questions you can contact me at soccerfan6277@aim.com

Geddyfleaharris · #17 11-08-2010, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamonLyon

It's interesting hearing some of the things that Gary encountered in his late teens, but I can ad one little piece of information that wasn't posted:

Gary had met Joan Jett in an underground punk rock club called the Masque in Hollywood just prior to his running away in 1978. She told him that she planned on forming another band, and she had already spoken with several adamant producers.

Gary's love for the Runaways (particularly Joan, herself) was such that he was willing to put everything on the line and go there to be with her. As you can see, it paid.

Gary was a fantastic bass player for his age; the school allowed him to borrow any equipment that he wanted, because he was very intelligent, talented, and (funny as it may seem ) apt to quit that school band if he didn't get his way. So using the school's system, he started what was to become a band in his living room with two girls named Karen and Kirby, and myself... Damon Lyon.

Although I had practiced with him several times, when he met Joan Jett it was all over. I remember packing up my drums while he exclaimed everything that he could about her and his plans to move to the Hollywood area.

And then... he was gone.

Many times I wonder what would have happened if I'd gone with him, and this is actually the first that I've actually heard any viable rendition of what went on.

If you see Gary, tell him "Hi" from Damon Lyon. He'll know who I am.

That is a very cool and interesting post.

ERIC31 · #18 05-15-2011, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aly1998

Ok Gary Ryan was my teacher, I had him a year ago, he is a really cool guy he lives in mt pocono pa, He works at swiftwater elementry for 5th grade, But for some reason he changed his name, to gary moss. He is nothing as he was in the 80s he has differnt hair everthing looks much differnt i think he will never go back to music but he does play his music still. and sings in class alot abou his music. He does talk to people about his life in japan. If any more questions you can contact me at soccerfan6277@aim.com

That's great to hear. If you see him around, tell him to come check out this thread here at TB!! It would be great to see some posts from him.