Gilby Clarke has played in both Guns N’ Roses and The MC5 – who else can claim membership in two of the most life-altering and influential rock ’n’ roll outfits to ever exist on the planet? None of that however overshadows the fact this guitarist, singer and songwriter was a 17-year-old punk from Cleveland whose Hollywood dues were paid in full. Now he’s just about to release a new solo album ‘The Gospel Truth’, and if you’ve loved his solo work in the past then you’re going to love this too. This is a record that’s all about those wonderful guitar tones of the 70’s. We caught up to talk about the new record and why it took so long and also check in on some stops along the way in what has been a wonderful career so far. We also talk Kings of Chaos and Kill For Thrills…
Gilby: Hello
Mark: Hey Gilby it’s Mark from The Rockpit in Australia, how are you?
Gilby: I’m great, how are you today?
Mark: I’m good thanks, and even better since I heard the new album ‘The Gospel Truth’.
Gilby: (laughs) Thank you!
Mark: It’s been a while coming though, we were expecting to hear it a couple of years ago now.
Gilby: Yeah, well it is a long time coming but then there’s a couple of answers to that. Number one, I never really set out to be a solo artist and having to make an album every couple of years and have to do the whole record tour cycle thing. It’s just kind of something that happened, you know in the beginning doing a couple of records and touring, but it wasn’t a real priority for me for a while there; so that’s one answer. Number two is I did kind of get into the train of thought of “Why do I need to make a new record?” It’s a different world. You know the music industry has changed, the traditional record companies aren’t there. And that was the wrong way of thinking to be honest. I had to be corrected. I ran into a friend and we had a conversation about this, and I jokingly said “Why do I need to make a record?” And he kind of gave it to me and said “You do consider yourself an artist?” and I said yes, and he goes “Well what are you creating?” and he kind of caught me off guard, and I thought about it and I thought “You know what, you’re right.” So then I had to challenge myself to really start that process of writing and recording a record for me. I mean I have been working with other people but this was for me. So it’s a log answer, but it’s a little complicated.
Mark: But it’s a good answer as well and that’s how I think fans look at it, they always wonder why without realizing all the factors involved. And then when we do hear an album like ‘The Gospel Truth’, it’s that good we just want more. I’ve actually just been listening to one of your old albums that I always go back to, one of my favourites from 1990: Kill For Thrills – Dynamite from Nightmareland.
Gilby: Wow.
Mark: It’s 31 years since you made that record and I know that live you sometimes revisit at least one of the songs from that album. How do you look at that record now after such a length of time? I still love that record.
Gilby: Well thank you. For me making that record was a big win because it was the first time that I was the leader of a band, it was my band. I wrote the songs, I was the singer, I was the primary guitar player. So just getting the record deal and going through the process of making a record, I was on cloud 9, I was extremely happy but, and there’s a ‘but’ – in all the bands I’d been in before I was a guitar player, you know, I stayed out of the business, I trusted the people around me, and rightfully so – they were good. But when it came to that, maybe I could have been a better business person. We did have management, we had a huge management company, we had an agent, I had a publishing guy, we had all those things but I didn’t navigate those well. And I also didn’t navigate the band well, I loved the band, I loved everybody that was in the band but we had inner turmoil, you know. Some of the guys didn’t get along and I always hoped it would have a way of working out, a little success goes a long way, but those little problems became big problems later – guys wanting to kick other guys out of the band, things like that.
Mark: That whole dynamic does play out in so many ways, and sometimes things bring you together and sometimes they pull you apart.
Gilby: Yeah, I look back now and realise that I handled the musical side well but I didn’t really handle the business side well. I really wasn’t the leader I needed to be within the band, there was so much turmoil. But musically I think we did a good job.
Mark: The last time I saw you play live was in an amphitheater in Oklahoma City.
Gilby: We’ve played Oklahoma City a few times, I can’t remember the last time.
Mark: It was a Festival.
Gilby: Was it outdoors?
Mark: It was and it was raining when you played. It was Rock in America, it just happened the one time at the Zoo Amphitheatre.
Gilby: I remember! That’s because I remember my bass player had played there the year before and broke his arm or something and he just kept talking about it! (laughs.
Mark: It was a great show and great to hear you play songs from throughout your career and that’s what I get in the mix of the new album, all of those great ingredients. And musically you’re out there doing such a lot, so before we get on to the wonderful new album I just wanted to cover a few other things. ‘Kings of Chaos’ the wonderful collective came out to see us about 5 or so years ago but you’ve since joined the line-up. How much fun is it to play with those guys?
Gilby: That is the icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. Actually before we talked I was on the phone with Matt Sorum talking about some dates. I’m so happy when Matt involves me with Kings of Chaos because these guys are my heroes too – you know Robin Zander, Steven Tyler, Gene Simmons, Joe Elliott – these are guys that I look up to, so when Matt calls and says we have these gigs I get so excited! (laughs) I love it! I love it! There is nothing better than standing on stage playing Cheap Trick songs, or Aerosmith songs, even Twisted Sister with Dee Snider, Dee is one of the most incredible fun men there is. I love the Kings of Chaos shows.
Mark: Seguing into your album now, I saw you had Nicki Sixx play bass on a couple of songs?
Gilby: (laughs) What’s funny when I’m doing my record, I don’t think that way, like I don’t think oh I need to put a name guy on for publicity. I’m including my friends, I’m just lucky that my friends are really talented. I usually start with the drummer. When I have a song and I want to track it, and I don’t go in and record like 5 songs, it’s usually one or two at a time. So I try to find a drummer that’s really right for the track. So we then cut it together and then I’ll add who’s going to be on it next. But having Nicki – we were out to dinner one night and we were talking about records, and I was like “Dude I’m doing my record right now and I need you on a track and I have the perfect track for you.” So I sent him the song, and I didn’t tell him what to play – he had a drum track and a guitar track – he didn’t even have the vocal yet! And he just nailed it, it was like he was just made to play bass on that track.
Mark: And there’s very few drummers like Kenny out there!
Gilby: He’s just a monster! He makes tracks come alive! And that’s so hard to do, but he makes them come alive. Like, he can pay the simplest beat – like some of his stuff with John Cougar Mellencamp, you know, not technically hard, but it’s the right beat – he comes from like a songwriter’s perspective on how he plays drums.
Mark: He’s definitely got that groove. Now right to the album – the title track ‘The Gospel Truth’ – when I heard that track I knew that this was going to be a real Rock and Roll album and that’s exactly how it turned out. I love that first track And especially those horns!
Gilby: Those are real horns!
Mark: It’s a song with everything in there – that huge guitar, the big chorus and like a lot of songs on the album it’s the guitar that really takes over – it really comes alive on this record!
Gilby: Well thank you. The great thing about when I get to make my records is that I get to use all the trick that I’ve learned over the years. And there are tricks on there! It sounds simple – just like guitar bass and drums, but it’s not there are horns – and the idea for the horns was it’s kinda going for a sound like ‘Bitch’ by The Stones – that’s what I was going for – I wanted the horns to accent that! Cleto Escobedo is on horns – he’s the band leader on the Jimmy Kimmel show, he did a great job. But I do a lot of things underneath those guitars – there’s not just one guitar track, there’s little bits under there – it’s always guitars, but it’s little tricks – there’s a fuzz octave underneath there, just to try to make it sound a little bit different.
Mark: It does make it sound fresh. There’s plenty of great songs though, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Getting Louder’ is probably my favourite at the moment but there’s stiff competition. One thing I really love though is when someone does a version of a song that you’ve loved all of your life and they do it real justice. You do Alex Harvey’s ‘Make Me Smile’ and really nail it, but that got me thinking about the wonderful guitar tone you have on the album as a whole.
Gilby: Well, you know it’s important, well to me it’s important when you’re doing a solo record once again, it’s not a band record, this is really ‘you’. And to me it’s important to use your influences, not ‘be’ your influences. So when I’m riding my motorcycle I’m lucky that in these modern days I can have music in my helmet (laughs) and I can listen to records, and I’m still listening to what I was listening to twenty years ago, sure it’s good to pull in a new band every now and again, but I still love all those old guitar sounds. You know like Paul Kossoff (Free), or Mick Jones (Foreigner) – what great guitar sounds on those records! And what about Ace Frehley on those early Kiss records! Man the guitar tones are so good! And when you listen to the modern stuff I just feel like some of the guitar players are getting too distorted, there’s too much gain and we’re losing those great tones of that great 70’s classic rock. And I know nobody wants to go backwards, but those sounds to me are important and when I made this record I purposely went for more of that 70’s era guitar tone. On that track ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll is Getting Louder’ it’s a 1959 Les Paul Jr. one pick-up guitar (laughs).
Mark: There’s some great songs, great sounds, but I also love the lyrics, particularly on songs like ‘Wise Old Timer’ and the single ‘Tightwad’. That’s one of the things I really enjoyed – the lyrics and the stories.
Gilby: Well thank you. One of my bad habits that I had during this time off from making a solo record was I was feeling “Why do I need to make a record? I’ve already recorded a bunch of songs at my home, what do I need to do to contribute?” One of the things that helped me fix that bad attitude was when I was writing these songs I thought – “I don’t want to be redundant, I don’t want to be repetitive, I don’t want to be clichéd – there’s no I love you, you love me and you’re the one type songs!” And I worked hard on it. It took a lot of time. Probably what took me most time on the record was the lyrics – trying to make them a little more unique, even if I am saying the same old thing, after all I’m still the same old person! (laughs). I just wanted a new way of saying it. A fresher approach.
Mark: Take it all the way back for us, I love asking this question to people the first time we chat – where did it all start for you? When did you know music would be such an important part of your life? Was it a blinding flash of light or a gradual realization?
Gilby: I had a couple of ‘Ah-ha’ moments – my first one was when I was a young kid I would go to what we would call a ‘Head shop’ at the local mall and I saw a poster of Jimi Hendrix – it was Jimi Hendrix from the Monterrey Pop Festival where he was wearing that blue outfit and had the white Stratocaster. And I saw that image – not having heard the music and I thought – “That’s the coolest motherfucker I’ve ever seen in my life!” (laughs), I wanted to be that guy! So that was the first and then the second was as I started listening to music and hanging out with friends that listened to music, we had a cover band that used to play in a local bar by our house in Cleveland Ohio and during the day they would let in underage kids on Sunday afternoon. And so I used to see that cover band and the guitar player played a white Stratocaster just like Jimi Hendrix and I was just enamored with him. I’d just stare at the guitar player not really understanding what he was doing – but those were my two moments that really shifted me into that way of thinking.
Mark: That’s a great story. Just a couple of quick questions to close.
Gilby: Cool.
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic was made in the studio – what would you have liked to have seen coming to life?
Gilby: The Beatles – Let it Be, no doubt about it. To be in the room with those guys even with Yoko Ono sitting in a chair across from John Lennon (laughs) – I want to be in that fucking room man! I mean what are the chances that two of the greatest songwriters in the whole world being in the same band? (laughs)
Mark: A lot of people choose The Beatles but you’ve chosen my favourite of theirs, I love that record! And we always close with the easiest question of all – what is the meaning of life?
Gilby: Wow! What is the meaning of life? It’s probably a bit clichéd, but it’s finding your personal happiness. You know, it’s not easy to find things that make you happy – it’s hard to identify that. But that’s always been mine – just finding that personal happiness and that’s what you need to stop at no cost to achieve.
Mark: Great answer, you’ve put a big smile on my face over the last few days listening to the new album. Hopefully you’ll come out and see us after all this craziness ends and we got through the whole interview without a Guns and Roses question!
Gilby: (laughs) Well the whole thing about that is I’m just tired of answering the same old questions so thank you! (laughs). If it’s a new question I have no problem!
Mark: I don’t blame you mate, thank you so much, take care.
Gilby: Be good, take care!
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