<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Okay, this is a time when one of these ramblings must open with a disclaimer:\u00a0 This <\/span>FTV <\/span><\/i>is about the band, Mr. Big, but it started out as a musical trivia question posed to me at a local grocery emporium by Dan Bigge.\u00a0 The original question escapes me, but the answer was \u2018Mr. Big\u2019.\u00a0 Dan was delighted to hear confirmation that he was indeed correct (apparently there was a good natured debate about a song taking place behind the scenes).\u00a0 We had a good laugh about it because over the years, \u2018Mr. Bigge\u2019 (pronounced as \u2018Big E\u2019) had become my normal greeting to this former student.\u00a0 On a semi-related note, I will also apologize if I have slipped up and called him \u2018Ron\u2019 by mistake.\u00a0 Getting tagged with my brother\u2019s name in my younger years (also a Ron) was slightly irritating, so I do not want to do the same thing to someone else. \u00a0 A third omen pointing me toward an article about Mr. Big showed up in <\/span>Classic Rock<\/span><\/i> magazine (Issue 293, October 2021).\u00a0 Dave Ling\u2019s interview with two of the three surviving members connected the dots for a band whose 1990s heyday has long since passed.\u00a0 As with all things <\/span>Classic Rock, <\/span><\/i>this time gap doesn\u2019t mean the band\u2019s surviving members wouldn\u2019t be open to a reunion of some sort<\/span>s, <\/span><\/i>but it would have to be without original drummer Pat Torpey who developed Parkinson\u2019s Disease and died in 2018.\u00a0 Both founding bassist Billie Sheehan and vocalist Eric Martin discussed the possibility in the <\/span>CRM <\/span><\/i>article, but each has their own idea of how it would be done if it happened.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Eric Martin\u2019s career as a solo artist in the late 1980s was not lighting the world on fire.\u00a0 Martin had a major-label record deal with Capitol Records but they weren\u2019t excited about the soulful direction his music was taking:\u00a0 \u201cI was down in the dumps because it looked like I was going to be dropped – again.\u00a0 I <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> didn\u2019t know what I was doing.\u00a0 I liked the records I made, but no one else did.\u201d\u00a0 A call from Shrapnel Records founder and producer Mike Varney changed his career arc.\u00a0 Martin recalls, \u201cMike told me to pick a team, to be rock or to be soul.\u201d\u00a0 Varney then put bassist Sheehan on the line to pitch a new band he wanted Eric to join.\u00a0 Sheehan was a veteran of Talas and the <\/span>Yankee Rose<\/span><\/i> era David Lee Roth Band.\u00a0 Martin says, \u201cAlthough I had seen him in the [David Lee Roth] <\/span>Yankee Rose<\/span><\/i> video<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>I didn\u2019t know who he was.\u201d\u00a0 Sheehan said other potential band members included his David Lee Roth bandmate, drummer Gregg Bissonette, and Billy Idol\u2019s guitarist, Steve Stevens.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By the time Mr. Big began working on their self-titled debut album, Torpey was occupying the drum throne and RacerX alum Paul Gilbert was on guitar.\u00a0 Martin opted to not commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles to do the record.\u00a0 He also did not relish living out of a suitcase in a hotel so he brought along his bag of cassette tape demos and crashed at Gilbert\u2019s apartment in a seedy, crime ridden part of the city.\u00a0 Among this treasure trove of potential songs hid the keys to their future:\u00a0 \u201cI still remember playing Paul a demo of <\/span>To Be With You<\/span><\/i>, which he really liked.\u00a0 I had written it many years earlier about a girl I knew who was always looking for her knight in shining armor.\u00a0 Paul also really branched out on <\/span>Green Tinted Sixties Mind, <\/span><\/i>which was really left-field for us.\u201d\u00a0 Both songs would eventually appear on their second LP (<\/span>Lean Into It<\/span><\/i>), but that album was still two years away.\u00a0 The focus in 1988 was taking their speed metal roots and putting out a record that would feature both Sheehan\u2019s and Gilbert\u2019s formidable chops but also garner radio play.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Mr. Big <\/span><\/i>was the culmination of this writing and recording cycle.\u00a0 Released in 1989, it sold reasonably well (reaching No. 46 on the album charts), but <\/span>Mr. Big <\/span><\/i>did not make them household names in the United States (although they gained a notable following in Japan).\u00a0 The suits at Atlantic Records grumbled about the album sales, but as Sheehan recalls, \u201cWe were lucky enough to have one of the best managers in the business in Herbie Herbert to buffer us from those demands.\u00a0 Herbie was right in there and fighting for us – sometimes literally.\u201d\u00a0 Though the band immediately felt pressure to deliver on their sophomore effort, they concentrated on the music and not the image.\u00a0 Sheehan told <\/span>CRM\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Dave Ling, \u201cBack in 1991, we sell 250,000 copies, and we see corporate record labels draw some guys together who have amazing make-up and hair, they use samples on stage, and they sell five million records.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say that doesn\u2019t rub me the wrong way.\u00a0 I still feel the same today, and we still don\u2019t use any samples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Martin also remembers the emerging glam-rock scene as well:\u00a0 \u201cBack then, everybody in the band had long hair but none of us were prepared to wear make-up.\u00a0 Maybe we were too ugly to be pin-ups.\u00a0 But you know what?\u00a0 We kinda liked our ugliness.\u201d\u00a0 They also liked their reputation as the new \u2018supergroup\u2019:\u00a0 \u201cAt first we thought it was cool, like being acknowledged as the best of the best, though it brought some baggage.\u00a0 Herbie was our Svengali and mentor, but we wrote those records completely for ourselves.\u00a0 We really were not trying to chase a trend.\u201d\u00a0 The biggest change from the first album to <\/span>Lean Into It<\/span><\/i> was a matter of time:\u00a0 <\/span>Mr. Big<\/span><\/i> was written in about eight days.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a good freshman effort,\u201d\u00a0 says Martin, \u201cbut with the second one we put a lot more energy and time into the writing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Besides Sheehan\u2019s and Gilbert\u2019s virtouistic abilities on bass and guitar, it was Martin\u2019s voice that helped set Mr. Big apart from the rest.\u00a0 Looking back, Martin says, \u201cI was still fairly new to the world of rock music.\u00a0 I felt like a bit of a chameleon.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to just sing corporate rock,\u00a0 If we were going to do that I would always add my little-devil soul stuff.\u00a0 The guys would say:\u00a0 \u2018Hey, Otis Redding, do you want to dumb that down a little?\u2019\u201d As much as the band prided itself for playing guitar driven rock, it was the release of a ballad that put them on top of the charts. \u00a0 In 1992, <\/span>To Be With You<\/span><\/i> went to No.1 in fifteen countries and was put into heavy rotation on both pop radio stations and MTV.\u00a0 Their live shows still featured numerous moments of Sheehan and Gilbert displaying their shred chops.\u00a0 As a joke, Gilbert answered a journalist\u2019s question about how fast he could play by taping a guitar pick on an electric drill bit to show everyone how fast his nimble fingers could fly across the neck of his guitar while keeping up with the pick spun up to dizzying speed by the drill.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One thing led to another.\u00a0 The idea of \u2018drill picking\u2019 his strings was turned into a song, then became part of their stage show.\u00a0 Sheehand followed suit and to their surprise, someone at the Makita power drill tool company approached them inquiring how much of an endorsement fee they would like for using their product.\u00a0 Sheehan says, \u201cHerbie called them and said \u2018One million dollars\u2019 and they actually agreed to it.\u00a0 True story.\u201d\u00a0 The effect was used on the song <\/span>Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy <\/span><\/i>but then the record company stamped (<\/span>The Electric Drill Song<\/span><\/i>) ahead of the song\u2019s title on the record.\u00a0 Martin sighed as he remembered the incident:\u00a0 \u201cIt detracted from the novelty of the real title –\u00a0 kind of like \u2018You want more sugar to the sugar?\u2019\u201d Another demo track was labeled \u2018CDFF\u2019 for \u2018Compact Disc fast forward\u2019 but the record company made it part of the title for <\/span>CDFF – Lucky This Time. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0Martin still does not understand why they did it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Using power tools on stage can be a dicey proposition.\u00a0 Think of the mess that could ensue if Jackyl lead singer Jesse James Dupree slipped up while chainsawing a guitar or stool apart during their signature tune, <\/span>The Lumberjack<\/span><\/i>!\u00a0 Using a couple of electric drills on stage should be much safer, right?\u00a0 \u201cWe were playing to twenty thousand people in Atlanta opening for Rush,\u201d Martin says trying not to smirk too much.\u00a0 \u201cI was behind the amps, and when we came to that part of the song, I heard \u2018diddle diddle, diddle\u2026\u2019 and then it stopped.\u00a0 The crowd burst out laughing.\u00a0 Paul was running across the stage like a chicken with its head cut off.\u201d\u00a0 Gilbert\u2019s hair had gotten tangled up in the spinning drill bit mounted pick.\u00a0 Sheehan finishes the story:\u00a0 \u201cOne of the crew guys hit the \u2018reverse\u2019 button [on the drill], and although Paul\u2019s hair unzipped, it got caught in the other direction.\u201d\u00a0 Their next tour, the band decided to have a little fun with this gaff when they again played Atlanta:\u00a0 \u201cPaul decided to wear a wig and recreate that scene as a joke, only the drill caught his real hair from beneath the wig.\u00a0 Oh, dude. That was a good Mr. Big laugh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was still a long slog to the top of the charts.\u00a0 Mr. Big was playing at Finky\u2019s in Daytona Beach, Florida when <\/span>To Be With You <\/span><\/i>reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts.\u00a0 \u201c[Finky\u2019s] was a (expletive deleted) club and until that point none of the fans knew who I was,\u201d Martin recalls.\u00a0 \u201cAfter a show, people would ask me to go backstage and get Billy and Paul\u2019s autographs.\u00a0 I swear to God.\u00a0 They\u2019d ask, \u2018When is the singer coming out?\u2019 and I\u2019d reply, \u2018I\u2019m right here!\u2019\u00a0 Then <\/span>To Be With You<\/span><\/i> happened, and the devil inside me went;\u00a0 \u2018<\/span>Hey-y-y-y\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Sheehan grins broadly when he notes that being Number One is a life-changing event:\u00a0 \u201cTo this day we still feel the effects of that point in our lives.\u00a0 Wherever we go in the world, somebody knows us thanks to that song.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band never reached that rarified air again.\u00a0 When Gilbert departed the band, Richie Kotzen came on board for the period between 1999 and 2002.\u00a0 After two albums made with Kotzen, they disbanded in what Ling calls, \u201cfairly acrimonious circumstances.\u201d\u00a0 They managed to regroup for the 20th anniversary of their debut album and released three more records after that.\u00a0 With Torpey\u2019s ticket already punched to <\/span>Rock and Roll Heaven,<\/span><\/i> Gilbert\u2019s solo work and Sheehan\u2019s other band commitments (Winery Dogs, Sons of Apollo) complicate the idea of the band mounting another tour.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Martin would love to go on the road using a rotating cast of drummers:\u00a0 \u201cI would do that in a heartbeat.\u00a0 I had this idea of using all the drummers that Pat liked – the guy from Korn (Ray Luzier), Gregg Bissonette (ex-David Lee Roth & current Ringo Starr\u2019s AllStarr band), Matt Sorum (Guns N\u2019 Roses, Velvet Revolver, Billy Gibbons) – a different one on each song.\u00a0 Billy and Paul told me I had lost my mind.\u00a0 Matt Star did a great job drumming [with Mr. Big] but without Pat, who was the anchor of the band, I\u2019m not so sure about touring again.\u201d\u00a0 As the band wrapped up their last engagements in 2019, Martin commented, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s the last hurrah – that\u2019s it.\u00a0 It feels a little uncomfortable to keep going without Pat Torpey.\u201d\u00a0 Sheehan\u2019s idea?\u00a0 \u201cI would like for us to go out and tell stories and play songs, without a drummer.\u00a0 That could be a good evening, I think.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gilbert did not weigh in on any of the reunion speculations, but Ling either did not reach out to him or did not get a reply if he did.\u00a0 A busy man, Gilbert has been focusing on solo projects, instructional articles published in several guitar magazines, and his own humor-filled instruction videos.\u00a0 He spent the first decade of the new millennium joining with many high profile musicians in tribute band projects.\u00a0 Watching the videos made by these (mostly) one-off groupings show Gilbert to be more than just a guitar shredder.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 2003, Gilbert joined with ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to form Yellow Matter Custard.\u00a0 Taken from a lyric in <\/span>I Am the Walrus<\/span><\/i>, the name correctly leads one to the idea they were a Beatles cover band.\u00a0 This group reformed in 2011 and performed three shows across America.<\/span><\/p>\n In November of 2003, Gilbert and Portnoy again teamed up for a Led Zeppelin tribute band, Hammer of the Gods.\u00a0 In 2005, they produced an epic show dubbed Cygnus and the Sea Monsters honoring the work of Rush.\u00a0 Gary Sherone (Extreme) and Bill Sheehan joined the fun when Gilbert and Portnoy formed Amazing Journey to play the music of The Who.\u00a0 I called these outings \u2018tribute bands\u2019 but the level of musicianship and the quality of the music they produced transcend the \u2018tribute\u2019 level.\u00a0 These were masterfully done \u2018bands\u2019 done to honor the music Gilbert and Portnoy obviously love.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul Gilbert has not been sitting idle in the third decade of the 2000s, either.\u00a0 In May of 2021, he released a music video for <\/span>Werewolves of Portland<\/span><\/i> and this November, his holiday CD \/ digital release <\/span>TWAS <\/span><\/i>\u00a0(the vinyl version came out on December 10th).\u00a0 Gilbert recently described his first holiday outing on his webpage:\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>TWAS<\/span><\/i> is my new album of Christmas songs!\u00a0 My guitar rips through the classics, while respecting the melodies.\u00a0 Portland\u2019s fines blues & jazz musicians provide soulful grooves & smart chords,\u00a0 I hope you will find some good times here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n