GILBY CLARKE - Classic Rock Renaissance Man Page 4
by Martin Popoff

And reticence surrounds the Jason Newsted piece... "We don't know. We have no idea what's going on with Jason at this point. He's recovering. His thing was, 'I can't do the tour.' I don't think anybody knows how long this tour is going to go, until we're done. I don't think we can really make a fair assessment of that."

Asked about pleasant surprises surrounding the Supernova experience (notwithstanding the Canadian platinum record awards, to be handed to the band a couple hours after we spoke), Gilby calls out the band's legendary drummer Tommy Lee. "With Tommy, I learned how well-rounded a musician he is. You know, look, I'd heard his solo records, and I'd heard what he brought to Motley Crue. And I didn't hear, you know how good he was at making pieces of music, loops and all that kind of stuff, and how he never takes no for an answer. There is always a way. And I like that persistence. That's pretty incredible."

Closing off, Gilby brings light to a few more projects coming up in a life that's always been busy and productive, but rarely this flash-bulbed. "I just produced a band called Girls Play Boys. They're from Scotland of all places (laughs). They came out from Scotland to my studio to make a record, so that's going to come out this year. And I'm going to see Sean from Crash Kelly tonight, and talk to him about his record. I love working with him, man. That's the kind of music I really like. It's always a challenge for me, because when you're working with a band... this is a bad word, but you're 'limited' to within that structure? And what a band is, basically a singer/songwriter... I'd like to expand that a little bit more. You know, 'Use your guys, but also use these guys and these guys.' So I think he learned a lot from doing that, and I think he's going to take what he does to another level. And I love the way he plays guitar, I love his songs, it's fun, I like his record."

See www.gilblyclarke.com for more.