In Memoriam: Riley Gale of Power Trip Screamed for Texas

Riley Gale’s politically-motivated heavy metal brought camaraderie and justice to the Texas music scene.

Written by Felix Kalvesmaki

Photo courtesy of Riley Taylor

What grips many listeners about extreme music is what the vocalist is yelling for. Whether it’s violence, revolution, or simply to let it all out, metal vocalists are tasked with channeling and representing the most extreme of human emotions and turning them into song.

Riley Gale screamed for Texas — that much is certain. The frontman of the thrash metal band Power Trip passed away on Aug. 24, 2020 at 34 years old. Gale treated the entire state of Texas like a local scene: Denton musician Ramón García has said that “if anything, he was trying to bring it to people’s attention that Texas isn’t just Austin. To us, it’s obvious, but to anybody outside of the state, it’s just, ‘Oh, you’re from Texas? You’re from Austin, right?’ No, there’s a lot of culture throughout the rest of the state, too.”

It’s a refrain that Texans — especially Texan musicians — know all too well. Artists in this sprawled-out state are at a bit of a disadvantage if they can’t make it to Austin for a gig. There are local arts scenes everywhere, sure, but they can feel isolated from the rest of the world when playing for 10 people at a UT Dallas house show. Gale made connections with musicians and fans across the state, in a way that made all 268,000 square miles feel like a grand hometown.

Gale’s commitment and contributions to the Texas music scene as a whole, including his entrepreneurial, inclusive ethos and plain-and-simple passion for metal, is a loss the state will never quite recover from. The bluebonnets will grow and die, the summers will get hot and then cool, but Texas will mourn Gale’s death for years to come.

Ideally, though, the state will also honor his memory. On an institutional level, it’s happening: Dallas organizers are looking to open a library bearing his name by the end of December. But on an individual level, Gale’s dedication and love for Texas is one we should all aspire to uphold. Those of us in places like Austin and Houston should be searching for and supporting out-of-town bands. And to those of us who aren’t: make some music. Put it on Bandcamp. Prove that Texas has music in its hills and its rivers, not just its cities. Texas is more than just smoked brisket with a side of potato salad and George Strait. Texas is also Beyoncé, St. Vincent, and even Elliott Smith.

Photo courtesy of Andreas Lawen

Riley stood for more than Texas, though — he stood for the better place this world can become. He was outspoken in his lyrics and interviews, speaking to Power Trip’s influence on political alignments: “We’re political in a sort of morally relativistic way, where if someone is wearing a Power Trip shirt, you can probably assume that that person isn’t like some weird, racist, meathead piece of shit, hopefully.”

The band put its music where its mouth is. For instance, the track “If Not Us Then Who” takes its title from Congressman and social justice legend John Lewis. Its lyrics are a battle cry: “Get up / Out of your cave and into the fire / Time is short, this is our last resort / To get through to you, what have I got to do? / Who's going to be the difference?” Gale looked beyond party lines, once saying that looking at things as ‘left’ and ‘right’ oversimplifies American politics. “It’s just making things black and white, and that’s not the way the world operates,” he said. “It’s not even black, white, and grey. It’s hard for people to grasp that it’s a whole spectrum of colours, and that’s not some hippie f-cking energy bullshit!”

The band stood for something. To Gale, to Power Trip, music wasn’t a way to make money. It wasn’t even a way to feel cool and stage dive, and it wasn’t just about moshing for fans, either. Music was a vehicle for something bigger, and Gale made sure he fought for what he stood for. On this front, Gale is irreplaceable. It’s as YouTube commentator jacksonattack put it so clearly: “Riley Gale is not the new Randy Blythe, or the next Phil Anselmo. He is the first Riley Gale.”