Michael Gilas: “Music saved my life.”

Moved by the music: When the horse tripped, it threw Michael Gilas to the ground, breaking his neck, along with one wrist. Recovery has been long and tough, but it has been bolstered by music — notably, his new song “Let’s Get Back To Us.” By the San Diego singer/songwriter’s own account, it wasn’t his first brush with disaster. “Back in high school [on Long Island], we played lots of parties,” he recalls. “We started playing in the spring and played all summer, probably three times a week at various functions. We did cover songs, we didn’t have our own material. One summer party got really out of hand on the North Shore of Long Island — Sands Point. The house was big, on a sprawling piece of property with a huge outdoor bar and gigantic swimming pool. A hot, humid July night. There was so much drinking, and everyone was high on something. How could we ask for more? I had very little experience with alcohol, I had no idea how much I could drink. They’d hand me something, and I’d just chug it down.”

During the show, “everyone started jumping in the pool completely naked. I don’t remember anyone with clothes on. We were drunk, playing to this crazy scene of wet, drunk naked kids. But everyone was so cool. Imagine about 100 kids, all about 17 or 18, jumping in and out of a pool naked, drunk, and high. The other guys in the band did the same, so I jumped in, came out soaking wet, grabbed my guitar, and we started playing. Lucky, I didn’t electrocute myself. Yes, you’re probably wondering…I met a lot of girls that night, too.”

Youthful shenanigans notwithstanding, Gilas grew up on a wide variety of tunes. “The Beatles had a big impact, and I listened to everything from Marvin Gaye to Led Zeppelin, but I guess it was the Eagles that really hit a chord, no pun intended. I think the album Hotel California was the one that really made me want to write songs, play music, and join a band.”

He started guitar at age 15, and still has the Guild model he bought with money saved from farming alongside his father. “I really loved playing; it became a total escape. I kept trying to imitate all the people on the radio. I play the piano, but I never took a lesson. I figured it out myself. I tried to play the drums, but it just didn’t click, so I kept at the guitar. I can fiddle around with the mandolin, also. I realized lead guitar wasn’t my thing, so I started to imitate people like Cat Stevens, Glenn Frey. I really got a feel for strumming and the little nuances involved.”

After heading west, Gilas spent seven years in Los Angeles before heading south from there in 2017, settling in North County, just off Camino Del Sur. Then came the horse accident, which left him with partial loss of mobility and chronic pain. His neck’s been healing due to some high-powered laser treatments, but it’s been “a very tough journey. Music saved my life. About three weeks after the surgery, I was in the backyard in a recliner. I was really down. My wife came to me and said, ‘Why don’t you write the songs you always wanted to, you have time now.’ Something clicked. My right wrist was badly broken, so playing the guitar was not possible. But I could write.”

“Let’s Get Back To Us” arose out of his childhood love for Motown. “Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder in particular. Those Motown songs have 7th chords a lot, so I put those into the song. I was just kinda noodling around one evening and the chorus came out.” Eventually, he found he could pick up his main instrument again. “There’s two ways I play guitar. One is just practice scales and sort of ‘homework.’ The other is just play and not think. That’s how I write.”

The new song features on the upcoming album, 231 Kensington Road, named after his childhood address in Lynbrook, Long Island, where he learned to sing and play. “Without that [music], I don’t know if I’d be here today. I was emotionally drained and depressed. I was really in a dark hole. One morning, I couldn’t physically get out of bed. You really need your neck muscles to get up and down. I couldn’t move. But a voice said ‘You have to get up,’ and somehow I did.”