Paul Gilbert is Very Glam

You know Paul Gilbert. He's an amazing guitarist, most known for his work with Mr. Big and Racer X. I reported a few months ago that Mr. Big reunited. They played a few shows together in Japan over the summer.

A few days ago, Paul Gilbert spoke with my friends at Metal Sucks. Here's an excerpt of that interview:

Metal Sucks: Can we talk about Mr. Big, which is back on the scene and doing shows in 2009? Does it ever freak you out how huge Mr. Big is to some people? Specifically Japanese people?

Paul Gilbert: Yeah, man. It’s really odd going from playing 500- and 1,000-seat venues to 10,000- or even 15,000-seat venues. It does take some getting used to. Even though there are so many people, I’m further away from them because of the big security pits. I’m further away from the band, too. Sometimes I miss being on a tiny stage, just stuck next to the band where you don’t even need monitors because you can just feel the closeness of all the musicians.

The best part for me is being reunited with Billy [Sheenan, bass], Pat [Torpey, drums], and Eric [Martin, vocals]. When I left the band, we’d been pretty dysfunctional. I’d given up hope of us being together again. I thought “That’s it. We can’t work, so…” Time went by and we’ve now all got our heads in the right place. Our priority now is making music and having a good time with it – and being friends again. The music’s been getting better and better. The Japan tour was great, but we just did this show in Indonesia that was stunning. I can’t wait to go to Europe, [for which] we leave in a couple days. It should be a blast.

Click to read the rest of the awesome interview.

Comments

[Trinity]

Thank you for mentioning this great interview. I love love love Paul Gilbert! One of my all time favorite guitarists.

[Bob]

Um, who is Billy Sheenan? did he replace Billy Sheehan for this reunion tour?

[JT]

Gilbert is awesome. If you haven't heard his "United States" album with Freddie Nelson, give it a spin. Lots of Queen-sounding stuff there.

[Gary]

Gilbert is hands down one of the best there is out there. He can shred incredibly well, but he can also play with "feeling" and write catchy hooks/songs , which is something a lot of the speed demons can't do to save their lives.

[Jack]

Mr. Big is great, Racer X is great, but I really think his solo albums are the best stuff he has done (speaking mostly of the vocal oriented albums, though the instrumental albums are killer too). Only thing I don't know is the US album, but have been meaning to check it out.