Gerard McMahon explained

Gerard McMahon
Landscape:yes
Birth Name:Gerard Thomas McMahon
Alias:Gerard McMann
G Tom Mac
G
Origin:Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Years Active:1971–present
Label:Edge Artists

Gerard Thomas McMahon, also known as Gerard McMann and G Tom Mac, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who specialises in creating music for films and TV. His gothic rock anthem "Cry Little Sister" was recorded in 1987 for the soundtrack album of the cult horror film The Lost Boys.

Early years

Gerard McMahon emigrated with his family from England to America when he was eleven. Initially moving to New York City, the McMahons moved again a few years later, eventually settling in Wichita, Kansas. When McMahon, who lists amongst his musical influences Liam Mullen, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder and Stravinsky, was sixteen, he and his band, The Strangers, recorded a single ("Don't Ever Leave Me") before disbanding.

After The Strangers disbanded, McMahon moved to Boulder, Colorado and sat in on music classes at the university.[1] In 1971 he moved to New York City to pursue a performing career. His first gigs were playing bass and guitar in R&B bands in Harlem. Being a versatile multi-instrumentalist, McMahon was soon receiving additional offers of work as a session musician. It was in this capacity that he provided backing vocals at Electric Lady Studios in New York, on the last Zephyr album to feature Tommy Bolin, Going Back to Colorado.[2] [3]

In addition to gigging and studio session work, McMahon also became involved around this time in creating music for TV commercials. He also created a number of scores for Public Broadcasting Service projects.[4]

McMahon spent 1972 living in Los Angeles, gaining further experience in studio and production work.[1] Soon he was to be found playing bass with Jackson Browne's touring band. It wasn't too long, however, before McMahon concluded that it would be more rewarding to promote his own solo career, and he went back to Colorado.[1]

After returning to Boulder, McMahon got together with a group of ten studio musicians and fronted an act called Gerard.[4] Guercio offered the band a deal to record an album at his newly built Caribou Ranch. The resultant album, produced by Guercio himself, was Gerard.[5] It was released in 1976 on Guercio's Caribou Records label. There did, however, seem to be one downside to this union, seemingly echoed in McMahon's frustration with the music press at that time, in so far as every review of Gerard's album, an album for which he had written twelve original songs, compared his music to that of Chicago's.[4] Although the album did well, it never broke nationally.[4] The lead-off single, "Hello Operator" (b/w "Who's Your Daddy-O?"), failed to hit Billboard's Hot 100 chart, getting as high as No. 109 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[6] The second single, "Good Yankee Boy," was released as a promo-only single, and garnered only moderate radio airplay in 1976.[7] A second Gerard album, Row, was to follow before the group disbanded,[8] [9] after which McMahon decided to return to Los Angeles.

The next three years saw McMahon again partaking in a number of different musical projects and continuing to lend his services as a session musician. One of the projects he undertook at that time was to play keyboards on ex-Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Jimmy Ibbotson's 1977 Nitty Gritty Ibbotson album.[10] He is also listed amongst the credits for Max Gronenthal's 1979 album Whistling in the Dark.[11]

1980 – 1989

McMahon's 1979 song "Is That You?" was the first track on Kiss' Unmasked (1980) and was also released as a single and played live by Kiss in 1980. Producer Vini Poncia heard the demo, with Gary Mallaber on drums and Kenny Lee Lewis on bass, and presented it to Kiss, who loved the song. In 1988, McMahon and Paul Stanley met and wrote 3-4 songs intended for Robert Plant, with whom McMahon worked at the time.[12]

Encouraged by Billy Joel's former manager Irwin Mazur, in 1980 McMahon decided to promote his own recording career. He assembled a group called Kid Lightning – Gary Mallaber, John Massaro, Kenny Lewis and two of the musicians he had engaged for Gerard, guitarist Steve Sykes and keyboard player Al Campbell – and recorded the album Blue Rue.[13] After the album was completed, McMahon's band was dropped from Columbia Records.

Already experienced in major TV commercials, McMahon began film work.[14] He wrote and recorded seven songs for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's film Defiance.[15]

During the '80s, McMahon wrote songs for films such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Spring Break, All the Right Moves, The Lonely Guy, Grandview, U.S.A. and Hardbodies.

McMahon's next album, No Looking Back, was released by Warner Bros. in 1983, after which McMahon signed with the Atlantic Records label and in 1986 released Foreign Papers.

McMahon scored a hit in 1986 with "Cry Little Sister."

G TOM MAC

McMahon recorded another album in 2000 for Edge Artists.[16] To record and promote the album, McMahon formed a new band, G TOM MAC, with bassist, songwriter and co-producer Anthony Silver. McMahon and Silver added Rodney "Cortada" Alejandro on keyboards, drummer Rob Ladd (from the band The Pressure Boys), Willy Aron (lead guitar) and Brie Darling (from the band Boxing Gandhis) on backing vocals and percussion for live performances.[17]

In 2004 McMahon wrote the music and Eddie Kislinger wrote the lyrics for "Wicked Town," "Drop Dead Pretty," and "Was It Magic" for Witchblade The Music, an Edge Artists soundtrack of songs from or inspired by the Witchblade TV series. McMahon and Kislinger are credited as Executive Producers. In 2012 The CW used "Wicked Town" in its trailer promoting the Arrow TV series.

Discography

See main article: Gerard McMahon discography.

Song list (film and television)

All the following songs are written and performed by Gerard McMahon unless otherwise stated:

YearFilm/TV ShowSong InformationCo writerPerformed by
1980Defiance[18] "Bad Times"Tavares
"Un Tipo Malo"
'"Hot Town Streets"
'"Take It Down The Middle"
'"Double Shot"
'"I Will Stay With You"
'"Let The Light Shine in the Morning"
Gerard McMahon
1982Fast Times at Ridgemont High[19] "The Look in Your Eyes"Gerard McMahon
1983Spring Break[20] "One of These Days" Gerard McMahon
All the Right Moves[21] "Mr. Popularity"Winston Ford
1984The Lonely Guy"Oughta Know Love By Now"Winston Ford
"Don't Call Me Lonely"Gerard McMahon
Hardbodies"Smile for the Camera"
"Barbados Rita"
"Hello, Hello"
Gerard McMahon
Grandview, USA "Face The Odds" Gerard McMahon
1987The Lost Boys"Cry Little Sister (Theme From The Lost Boys)"Michael MainieriGerard McMann
1995Kicking and Screaming"In a Twilight Moment"
Born To Be Wild"One World for Us"Gerard McMahon
1996Vampirella"Bleed for Me"Roger Daltrey
No Way Home "Ghost in the Heart"Gerard McMahon
1997Chasing Amy"My Stomp, My Beat"Vicki Sue Robinson
Fame L.A."You Don't Reject Me" Eddie KislingerStephanie Dicker
"Wake Up the House" Vonda ShepardBrent Fraser
1998The Players Club[22] "Money Can't Buy You Love" Frank Fitzpatrick K-Ci & JoJo
Implicated "If I Have You" Jennifer Gross
2001Witchblade Season 1"Child Of Mine"
(Episode 2 "Conundrum")[23]
Roger DaltreyRoger Daltrey feat. Gerard McMahon
"Cry Little Sister" (remix)
(Episode 11 "Transcendence")[24]
Michael MainieriG TOM MAC
"Child Of Mine"
(Episode 11 "Transcendence")
Roger DaltreyRoger Daltrey feat. Gerard McMahon
2002Witchblade Season 2 "Cry Little Sister"
(Episode 6 "Nailed")[25]
Michael MainieriGerard McMann
"Child Of Mine" (remix)
(Episode 8 "Hierophant")
Roger DaltreyRoger Daltrey feat. G Tom Mac
The Banger Sisters"Child Of Mine" Roger DaltreyRoger Daltrey feat. G Tom Mac
The Shield Season 1[26] "Sugar Fine"
(Episode 7 "Pay in Pain")
Gerard McMahon
2003From Justin to Kelly"The Game" John Van EpsGabriellis Kaye
As the World Turns[27] [28] "Once Betrayed"
(Episode broadcast 13 May 2003)
G TOM MAC
The Skulls III"That's What The Thrill Really Is
(instrumental version)"
G TOM MAC
"That's What The Thrill Really Is"
(instrumental version)
Jennifer Grais
Sunset Junction
(A Documentary Film)
"Sunset Junction" G TOM MAC
2005Scrubs Season 4"Half"
(Episode 25 "My Changing Ways")
G TOM MAC
2006I-See-You.Com "I See You"G TOM MAC

Further works

McMahon has also contributed to all the following films and TV shows:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Brown, G., Colorado Rocks!: A Half-Century of Music in Colorado. 2004. 22 October 2022. Pruett Publishing, 2004. 9780871089304.
  2. Going Back to Colorado album credits
  3. Web site: Going Back to Colorado album review. 25 March 2008. www.musicstack.com..
  4. Book: Brown, G., Colorado Rocks!: A Half-Century of Music in Colorado. 2004. 25 March 2008. Pruett Publishing, 2004. 9780871089304.
  5. Gerard album
  6. Web site: Discos Zeppelin Detalle de producto . 30 January 2014 . https://archive.today/20140130175400/http://www.zeppelindiscos.com/catalogo/detalle.php?id=32829 . 30 January 2014 . dead . dmy-all .
  7. Web site: Gerard - Good Yankee Boy [Stereo]]. 13 February 2021. 45cat.com.
  8. Gerard McMahon credits
  9. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,91439,00.html Row album credits
  10. Nitty Gritty Ibbotson album credits
  11. Whistling in the Dark album credits
  12. Book: Bergdahl, Linnaeus, Alex, Carl . Den Sista Dynastin . Gain . 2022.
  13. Gerard album credits
  14. Web site: G Tom Mac credits. 29 March 2008. www.gerardmcmann.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20111003125822/http://www.gerardmcmann.com/credits.htm. 3 October 2011. dead. dmy-all.
  15. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:13107~T3 Defiance production credits
  16. http://wizardofdigi.com/search.php?search_table=song&genre=0&artist=0&instrument=0&composer=8&keyword=0&action=search EdgeSongs, Song Catalog
  17. Web site: Whatever happened to….Gerard McMahon?. 26 March 2008 . www.melodic.net.
  18. Web site: Defiance (1980) Full credits. 31 March 2008. www.tcm.com.
  19. Web site: Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Music from the Motion Picture. 26 October 1982 . 31 March 2008. www.discogs.com.
  20. Web site: Spring Break (1983) Full credits. 31 March 2008. www.tcm.com.
  21. Web site: All The Right Moves (1983) Cast and credits. 31 March 2008. movies.yahoo.com.
  22. Web site: The Player's Club (1998) cast and credits. 31 March 2008. movies.yahoo.com .
  23. Web site: Witchblade, Episode 2 Conundrum . 8 April 2008 . www.bladetv.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080315222940/http://www.bladetv.com/episodes/epguide/102.htm . 15 March 2008 .
  24. Web site: Witchblade, Episode 11 Transcendence . 8 April 2008 . www.bladetv.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080315223022/http://www.bladetv.com/episodes/epguide/111.htm . 15 March 2008 .
  25. Web site: Witchblade, Season 2 music . 8 April 2008 . www.bladetv.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071012131637/http://bladetv.com/media/audio/music2.htm . 12 October 2007 .
  26. Web site: The Shield music from Pay in Pain. 31 March 2008. heardontv.com.
  27. Web site: My Guardian Angel ~ A Prose Tribute. https://web.archive.org/web/20080108174617/http://www.angelfire.com/hero/prose/songs.html. dead. 8 January 2008. Angelfire. 13 February 2021.
  28. Web site: The Oakdale Oracle – As The World Turns Scoops, News and More! . 9 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080423011520/http://www.allsoapscoops.com/atwtsong.html . 23 April 2008 . dead . dmy-all .
  29. Web site: G Tom Mac, Editorial Reviews. Amazon . 27 March 2008.