Guitarist Paul Gilbert (MR. BIG, RACER X) is featured in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com. He discusses the band's reunion and their new album, What If... An excerpt is available below:

Q: Writing the riffs for What If..., did you have any specific influences?

Gilbert: "Let's see... Our influences span across our whole lives, like the music we grew up with. You could never lose that, because that's the roots. We were definitely thinking about the tour though; we were thinking about going to all the places we went to on the last tour, and were just thinking about those audiences and what they would like, and what we would have fun playing. We really had the picture of the live show in mind when we were writing."

Q: Would you deem What If... Mr. Big's heaviest album to date?

Gilbert: I think 'What If...' is definitely high energy. I don't know. There's high energy aspects in all the records, though I think there's probably less ballads, especially than... I'm trying to remember. I haven't really analyzed it that way. It's funny, because I'm having trouble with the question. When I think of the albums, I never think 'That one's heavier' or 'This one's heavier'. I just think of the songs as one. I don't normally judge records that way.

Q: Would you attribute the uptempo nature of What If... to Mr. Big's reunion shows? Mr. Big could've written a load of slow tracks if it had wanted to, but as you said, the album is "high energy."

Gilbert: "You said 'if we wanted to,' but I don't know if we're in control that much. We really write what we feel, and that's what we were feeling at the time. I think we never really steered one way or the other. If there was a record that had more ballads on it, then it wasn't because we planned beforehand to write a bunch of ballads - that's what just came out. For us, it was a very natural process. That's what happened when we got together and wrote some music. I think we had done touring pretty recently, so those memories were fresh in our minds. I think when you've got the live show in mind, it definitely gets you excited about things."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

What If… is Mr. Big’s first all original album since the reunion of the four original members, Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey back in early 2009.

Guitarist Paul Gilbert comments: “This is the first Mr. Big album I have been a part of, since 14 years and it was done in a snap. It was fun and we had really a good time in making this one.”

Drummer Pat Torpey further comments: “Some of the recording process is different now from what we were used to in the old times. But I think this record really managed to capture the performances of the band, not of the individual musicians”

What If… was produced by Kevin Shirley (AEROSMITH, RUSH, IRON MAIDEN) and the release will be followed by a world tour which will kick off in South America in March and will hit Europe in early summer.

What If… will be released in a special edition CD + DVD in digipak, regular CD, vinyl and digital download and in a limited edition luxury box including the CD, DVD, LP and exclusive memorabilia.

The tracklist is as follows:

‘Undertow’

‘ American Beauty’

‘Stranger In My Life’

‘Nobody Takes The Blame’

‘Still Ain’t Enough For Me’

‘Once Upon A Time’

‘As Far As I Can See’

‘All The Way Up’

‘I Won’t Get In My Way’

‘Around The World’

‘I Get The Feeling’

‘Unforgiven’ (exclusive bonus track for Europe / North America – not on vinyl edition)

The DVD will include the videoclips of ‘Undertow’ and ‘All The Way Up’ plus a documentary “Making of” the album including interviews and exclusive behind the scenes features of the four members.