Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Garrison
Hi Luke, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
At 13 years old I received my first guitar. A black acoustic Ibanez. I practiced on it, day and night for about a year until I received my first electric guitar. A blonde faced Epiphone Les Paul.
It was around that time when I started branching out in the music I listened to. To have an electric guitar meant you had to play fast and loud, which is exactly what I did with musical inspiration from artists and bands like Zakk Wylde and Avenged Sevenfold.
Over the next decade or so, after discovering my love and loyalty to Schecter Guitars, I fronted bands ranging from southern rock to progressive metal and even tried my hand at a solo country music career until moving to Texas in the summer of 2019 in an effort to be closer to one of the biggest music scenes in America.
In the spring of 2020 I started what was known as “Luke Garrison & The Fallback Plan.” With southern rock and metal influences, my small band of musical misfits played under that name for about three years, cycling through member after member.
It was some time in early 2023 when I rediscovered a sound from my past that I didn’t know I had been neglecting. Tom DeLonge, Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 had inadvertently pushed me in the direction I was always meant to go, but nobody else wanted to tag along anymore.
So, I made the decision to rebrand and start over with a new sound in the realm of punk rock and a shortened version of the previous name that would be better suited for a solo artist.
“The Fallback Plan.”
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
To willingly keep yourself in the music industry is borderline masochism. More often than not, you’re staring down the barrel of one part pleasure and two parts pain. Any successful musician who says they’ve had a smooth road was either born with a silver spoon in their mouth and a family member in the industry to help them along or they’re lying.
This has been the most bumpy and twisted road I have ever traveled on. Between losing members, traveling hundreds of miles to make a few dozen pennies or watching a song I’ve poured my heart into fall flat in the gutters of failure, I’m not sure what the “worst” part of this whole life really is.
But if you love something enough, you’ll always find something to love about it. I’m reminded of this in the late hours of the night when I’ve locked myself away in my studio to write, record or just sit and reflect on my true accomplishments with nothing but a guitar and a drink to keep me company.
It’s in those times when I remember why I do this. Because I love everything that comes with it. When the bad times are okay, it makes the good times even better.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
When people ask me what I do, the first thing I tell them is, “I’m a musician.” Because before anything else I do in life that would be considered a note worthy occupation, I want to be known for making music. However; before music can pay the bills full time, musicians need to have a way to fund their good habit. In my case, I am a part-time bar tender. If I’m going to be that musician who vents to the world about what’s going on in my life through song form, the least I could do is pour a few beers for someone else who needs to vent to their bar tender about their own life.
While I’m not the best at what I do behind a bar or behind a guitar, I will say that I am proud to know that what you see and hear from me is what you get. I don’t stop and pretend to be interested in what someone is talking to me about after they’ve had their fourth pint. If it looks like I’m listening, you are being heard. In terms of music, if I close my shows by saying “I love you.” or “You guys have been great!” the people left standing will know that I mean it.
In many ways I feel like being genuine is a virtue these days and it’s a quality that can easily set you apart from your peers.
How do you define success?
I’ve often said in the past that I have not “made it” until I sell out Madison Square Garden. Shoot for the moon, right…? Well, I have since been humbled in more ways than a few, and I have come to realize that my personal success is not going to look like the success of others around me. MSG is a venue that has seen the likes of many outstanding names over the years. There is a chance that she may never know what my feet feel like on her stage. The sooner I accepted that, the more I knew that the let down wouldn’t be so hard to take if I never play there.
These days my success is not measured by long term dreams, but by short term goals. Because dreams without goals are just dreams. My most recent studio record, ‘No Heroes, Just Ghosts!’(Jan.2025) is a great example. I told myself I wanted to release a record that truly captured the feel, tone and style of what I want my music to sound like, but it would have been a pretty drastic jump in sound from my previous record ‘Lemonade Stand Millionaires.’(Feb.2024) So, I wrote a few songs for the new record, released a couple of them, single by single, until I could see that the new feel was being slowly accepted by those who were listening. (The goals) Then I released the record. (The dream) Now, my top 10 songs on Spotify currently consist of 7 songs from ‘No Heroes, Just Ghosts!’
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fallbackofficial?igsh=MWVhNHc1eHpkMHgxag%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3cm420dGgq6D3tm1LQeIIi?si=DViljm1XQNaDIv1P6TFGMA
