GILBY CLARKE

GILBY CLARKE - Good Enough For Rock ‘N Roll

BW&BK scribe Mitch Lafon recently chatted with ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA guitarist GILBY CLARKE and has filed the following report:

The first time middle America heard of Gilby Clarke was when the guitarist joined Axl Rose and the rest of the Guns N' Roses boys on their never-ending Use Your Illusions tour in the early ‘90s. The second time he became part of middle America’s consciousness was last summer as a star on the Mark Burnett produced Rockstar:Supernova TV show on CBS, but Gilby’s music and career extend beyond that. His new album simply titled, Gilby Clarke, is a ‘Best Of’ collection of everything he did while yesteryear’s poodle-haired vixens became today’s soccer moms. I had a chance to catch up with Gilby moments before he hit the stage in Montreal with his current band Rockstar:Supernova.

Mitch Lafon: Tell me about your new ‘greatest hits’ album.

Gilby Clarke: “Well, I don’t have any hits, so it’s more a ‘compilation record’. We just thought that now was the time to do something. The audience that watched the show may know our bands, but they don’t know who’s who. Tommy has become more of a celebrity, but people don’t know what records he’s played on. So, we just thought it was a good way to have something out there. People don’t want to go buy seven records. They’d rather buy one and it was the perfect time to do it.”

ML: You’ve re-done the song ‘Black’ with Rockstar:Supernova contestant, Dilana, singing on it...

GC: “Dilana and I were working on her new record and this was one of the songs I presented to her to do. So, when this came up the idea was to add one track and I just didn’t have the time to add a new track. Everything that I had that was new I used on the Supernova record. It was weird though because I’ve never heard anybody sing my stuff, but me. It was hard to produce that and the other tunes on the album are re-mixes because a lot of the stuff was recorded a while ago, so I changed some stuff. There is something slightly different to every song. The Virgin cuts ‘Cure Me’, ‘Tijuana Jail’ and ‘Skin and Bones’ are exactly the same because they capture a moment in time and I’m happy with it.”

ML: Will you be making a new Gilby Clarke record soon?

GC: “Well, I try to make a new record every couple of years whether it’s with somebody else or myself. So, I’m always writing new songs and getting ideas and when Supernova came along I was writing new songs for one of my records. So, I don’t know what I’m going to do next. The future of Supernova is up in the air. Let’s see what happens. Let’s do this tour... you know this record didn’t sell very well.”

ML: Except in Canada where it went platinum...

GC: “In Canada, it did great because they (SonyBMG) did their job. In America, they didn’t do their job. But let’s see – you don’t want to repeat something if it isn’t successful. We’re not money driven, but we are success driven, so let’s see.”

ML: Were you hesitant to join the cast of Supernova?

GC: “No, not at all.”

ML: It seemed anti-rock.

GC: “Well, of course. I’m a purist, so when the idea of the show came up – I hesitated, but the band members – no! I thought about it good and hard and five years ago – maybe I wouldn’t have done it. But nowadays – I put out a Col. Parker and solo record and there was nothing out there. There was no radio. There was no MTV. There was nothing and I thought long and hard about it and if I make a record – how am I going to get it to people? Television is the new way. This was a unique opportunity and the conversation I had with Mark Burnett – he’s like ‘look – you get to have your guys. You get to write your own songs. You get to pick your own singer – we do not pick him for you and when you’re on TV you’ll be speaking your own words. How rare is that? Even the biggest actors have their words written for them. I was hoping we could let people peek in to what real rock ‘n roll is about.”

ML: The songs on the show seemed a little weird for you guys – c’mon REM every week...

GC: “I totally agree. We didn’t have any control over song choice which was hard ‘cause I was hoping for some Judas Priest or something. Myself, Tommy and Jason fought them week after week, but a lot of things are involved in that - such as song writers have to approve when they’re on TV. It’s not like you can cover anybody’s song as long as you give them their money – on TV you have to have their permission. They also know that a hard rock audience is a small audience. So, they had to cater to people.”

ML: Did it make it harder for you to choose a rock singer when you have some guy singing REM?

GC: “The reality (and Tommy and I talked a lot about it during the show) is that we know a rock star when we see one. You know the guy or girl you want in your band when you see him. The producers didn’t want Dilana or Lukas on the show – we did.”

ML: Are you going to produce Crash Kelly’s third CD?

GC: “I just emailed Sean Kelly (Crash Kelly’s lead singer) today and he does want to make another record and I just produced a band called ‘Boys Play Girls’ (which is coming out this year).”

ML: Are you producing Dilana’s as well?

GC: “I’m working on Dilana’s, but I’m not working on the whole record. I’m just going to do a couple songs. I’d love to make one of my own records because I have a new inspiration. The show taught me a lot of things that I would never think of and vindicated a lot of things I already knew.”

ML: How was it working with the other guys? Tommy seems to be more into techno and Jason is more old school metal and you’re more Rolling Stones meets Cheap Trick...

GC: “It was strange. It was really strange. The one thing we decided on in the beginning was to not make a hard rock record. We didn’t want to make a Metallica, GNR or Motley record – that was the one thing we decided on. We wanted to make a rock record, but it turned out a lot more pop than any of us imagined and that was Butch’s (Walker) influence. We all knew where Butch came from, but we were all hoping we’d meet some way. He was our stand in singer until we got Lukas.”

ML: Are you happy to be on tour now and were you hoping it could have started sooner?

GC: “Absolutely. I wish it could have started the week after it ended. We didn’t have a choice. Tommy had the Motley Crue tour and there was no way he could get out of that. For American record sales it would have been better, but what can you do.”

ML: Anything else to plug.

GC: “My web site is www.gilbyclarke.com and www.myspace.com/gilbyclarke ”

ML: One more thing – were you ever asked to join Velvet Revolver?

GC: “No, I was never asked, but as a band I like’em. It’s a record I’d buy and a band I’d go see play live, but I don’t think I’d fit in that band. Dave plays a particular part in that band and that’s what makes them different from GNR or Slash’s Snakepit. But look – I love rock and I love it loud and they’re a loud rock ‘n roll band so I support it in anyway and Velvet Revolver having a successful career is good for me. It’s good for Supernova. It’s good and it goes to show that rock still sells and it’s viable. I don’t know if Supernova, in America, will ever get a fair shake and who knows if we’ll give it that much time. The first pressing didn’t sell up to expectations so it’s probably already over with. Even Guns ‘N Roses didn’t work that first year. It took a while to catch on and bands don’t get that chance they used to get anymore.”

ML: Were you more hopeful for Supernova?

GC: “Oh, absolutely! I got into this for all the right intentions. I wanted to have a new band. Tommy is one of the greatest rock drummers of all time. Jason is the guy we wanted in the band and Lukas is the guy we chose. I’m very happy – this is the right band, but I’m disappointed with the American record sales. But watching the Canadian record sales shows to me that it works. It would be different if it didn’t do well everywhere, but it shows that with the proper attention it did do well.”