GILBY CLARKE - Classic Rock Renaissance Man
by Martin Popoff

Gilby Clarke has been a soldier of rock for years, briefly serving as foil to Slash in Guns N' Roses, producing hidden treasures like Crash Kelly, but most prodigiously, creating a number of earthy, classic rock, sleazy metal, Stones-updated solo records. The latest album from Gilby, the solo artist, is a compilation culled from these fine efforts, simply entitled Gilby Clarke.

"No, it's a compilation," laughs Gilby, asked if there was any deeper theme to the song selections. "It really is in its truest form. I think more than anything, through this show (Rock Star Supernova), it's a new fan base. These are people who never knew I existed (laughs). So basically this is just a compilation of what I think I have liked the best over the years, and if you want to find out what I do, this is what I do. This is my heart and soul. And I remixed everything and reworked things for the people who had already bought the records and were familiar with it, so if they want to spend an extra 12 bucks, it is different. I couldn't put in enough effort to... I didn't have time to re-record stuff, and for me, if I'm going to re-record, I'm going to make another record. I just like to do things that way."

Killer dark ballad 'Black' is one of the cooler bells 'n' whistles on this thing, as it features Rock Star Supernova contestant Dilana. "Yeah, Dilana was just a fun thing," says Gilby. "I had been working with her for her record, and we were just throwing songs back and forth, and that was one of the songs that I suggested for her, of one of my tunes, and so I just took a cut at re-tracking it, and when I heard her do it, I said, you know, that's got to be a my record (laughs). We'll do something different for her record."

Still if anybody wants a blast of Gilby swagger, just take a listen to opener 'Cure Me... Or Kill Me', which contains a riff that would have capably kept the Gunners (of either Roses or L.A. variety) firmly entertained and entertaining. "Well, 'Cure Me... Or Kill Me' is my favorite song I've ever written. I think, for me, which is what is key for every artist, is basically write a three or four minute version of what you are, what you're all about, lyrically and musically. And to me, everything I'm about is in that one song. Lyrically it's just the blues (laughs) - it's just singing the blues - and musically it's just exactly what I like about music. It's like, if someone was to say to me, what is the song you would want to play to the end of all days, it's that song. That is perfectly me - in four minutes."

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