MusicRadar
The No.1 website for musicians
Paul Gilbert explains Mr Big's reunion
"I ran out of reasons to say 'no'"
Joe Bosso, Thu 2 Apr 2009, 6:43 pm UTC
When Mr Big announced earlier this year they were getting back together for a June tour of Japan, many people assumed it was a crass attempt to grab some big bucks - or yen, as it were.
"I would probably think the same thing myself," says guitarist Paul Gilbert, who split the mega-platinum band (which also included bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Pat Torpey and singer Eric Martin) in the late '90s under less than harmonious circumstances
"But the great thing is, time really does heal all wounds. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, and this reunion is anything but a nostalgia cash-in."
MusicRadar already spoke with Billy Sheehan about the much-anticipated Mr Big reunion, so we decided to check in with Gilbert to get his thoughts on what it feels like to get the ol' gang back together.
What the the first step in reuniting the band?
"There's nothing like sitting down and playing music with somebody. It breaks down all the barriers...It makes you forget all the bullshit"
"What happened was, I started to reconnect with the Mr. Big members. I took part in a Who tribute band called Amazing Journey with Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater, and Billy came on board for that. It reminded me in the nicest way possible how fantastic Billy is. He's such an amazing player, and he's gotten even better over the years. It was a blast to hear him play all those John Entwhistle licks. So we had a terrific time doing that - smashed up the gear at the end, the whole bit. It was awesome!"
So that was the seed, that gig?
"That was definitely the ice-breaker, yeah. After Billy and I reconnected, he came over to play on one of my solo records, and that was a blast.
"It's really weird: There's nothing like sitting down and playing music with somebody. It breaks down all the barriers in life. It makes you forget all the bullshit, all the negative things that went down. It makes you realize, 'Hey, this person brings out something in me, and I bring out something in him.' Maybe that's not such a bad thing, you know?"
Had there been bad blood between you and Billy? Fences that needed mending?
"I don't think so. Not really. When I look back at the span that Mr Big lasted, we had some unbelievable times. But there were grueling times, too. Being in a band is hard. Even if you like somebody, you start to argue over silly things. So, in getting back together, we told one another, 'Let's try to remember those great times, because they'll help us musically, as well as on a human level.'"
After you and Billy hooked up, then what happened?
"I was doing a show at the House of Blues in LA, and as it turned out, Richie Kotzen [who replaced Gilbert in Mr Big] was the support band. I always thought it'd be cool to bring Richie up and do a song. Then I found out that our old drummer, Pat Torpey, was playing in Richie's band. So I said, 'Let's bring both of them up.' And then I found out that Billy Sheehan was in the audience. So it became something of a bizarre sort-of Mr Big reunion without Eric Martin. That really helped bring everybody together."
