Paul Gilbert: ultimate guitar interview

How would you say the music industry has changed since you originally left Mr. Big in 1997?
There's one word: internet (laughs). I don't really follow it that closely. I just don't feel like I have control over it. The one thing I do have control over is making music, and fortunately, I have a manager whose job is to look at the business part. All I can really ever do is try to play good guitar and write good songs, and if I can pay for a good dinner with that, then I'm happy.

Where does Mr. Big's reunion leave your solo career?

In the old days, we were much more strict about the fact that we could only do Mr. Big, and we tried to not do solo projects. I think now we're a lot looser about that, between Mr. Big albums I'll still do solo albums now and then. I like that because I still like doing crazy guitar records, and my musical tastes are really wide. There's a lot of stuff I want to try that might not fit with Mr. Big, but there's still a lot of stuff I want to try with Mr. Big too, so it's really satisfying to be able to try everything I want to try.

In terms of your solo career, is there anything in the works?

I'm on tour right now with my solo band, so I'm in the middle of the works (laughs). Right now, I'm sitting on a bus in Slovenia, and we're gonna do a show tonight. My bassist went to the venue and said it's really cool, so I'm excited about the show. full interview